JEM – Page 2 – stories of Then

goodwood: calvert-carter alliance

George Calvert‘s position as a nexus in the Wootton’s Landing Neighborhood was cemented not only through his vast landholdings but also through strategic affinal kinship ties that extended his influence into Virginia. This was a common practice within the planter class to consolidate wealth and forge powerful alliances. This pattern is evident in the 1830 marriage of his daughter, Rosalie Eugenia Calvert, to Charles Henry Carter, a son of the Carter family of Shirley Plantation, one of Virginia’s most powerful slaveholding dynasties. This alliance forged a strategic affinal bridge between a powerful Maryland enslaver network and the Carter dynasty of Virginia.

The scale of the Calvert operation that Carter would come to control is evident in earlier tax assessments. While George Calvert resided at Riverdale in the Bladensburg District in the 19th century, his maintained his Mount Albion plantation in the Wootton’s Landing Neighborhood. In 1828, George Calvert was assessed for 2,777 acres and 93 enslaved people in the Horsepen and Patuxent Hundreds. By 1833, his personal property assessment for the Third District (including what would be Queen Anne District) showed an increase to 100 enslaved people on one list, likely representing the workforce at Mount Albion. Another 1833 list for the same district enumerated 26 enslaved people, possibly those at Oatlands, another Calvert property in the Partnership Neighborhood of Queen Anne District.

Image from 1836 Deed of Trust | mdlandrec.net
Calvert George H_Rosalie Eugenie Carter + husband_AB-11-32-Deed of Trust

Calvert would transfer this property to his daughter in the 1830s. This transfer of property was not merely a familial gift but a calculated transmission of a massive agricultural operation and the enslaved labor force that made it profitable. A Deed of Trust dated November 12, 1836, solidified this alliance and detailed the significant transfer of wealth. The indenture documents how George Calvert conveyed a substantial estate into a trust for his daughter Rosalie’s sole and separate use, managed by himself and Robert E. Lee of Arlington. The assets included a 728 ½-acre tract of land known as “Goodwood,” formerly the core of Mount Albion. Critically, the deed also explicitly transferred the legal title to a community of enslaved people, listing 42 men, women, and children by name and age in an attached schedule. This single transaction established the material basis for Charles H. Carter’s standing within the Prince George’s County enslaver network.

The enslaved population at Goodwood grew under Carter’s control, from the initial 42 individuals in 1836 to 52 by the 1840 census, 58 in 1850, and 76 by 1860. After Rosalie Carter’s death in 1848, the land was conveyed directly to her husband, fully transferring this portion of the Calvert family’s Maryland wealth into the Carter lineage. By 1860, Charles H. Carter’s real estate was valued at $70,000, and his personal estate—a value primarily derived from the external market value of the people he enslaved—was assessed at $55,000. This concentration of wealth and power in the Wootton’s Landing neighborhood was further solidified in the next generation through the marriages of Carter’s daughters, Rosalie Eugenia Carter and Alice Carter, into the Francis Magruder Hall and Oden Bowie families, respectively, perpetuating the cycle of elite kinship consolidation within Prince George’s County.

The reconstruction of kinship networks among the people enslaved at Goodwood is fundamentally obstructed by a documentary void. Two key record sets that typically name enslaved individuals from the late antebellum and emancipation era are missing: a probate inventory for Rosalie E. Carter and a post-emancipation compensation claim from Charles H. Carter. While Rosalie E. Carter created a will, it functioned primarily to affirm the conditions of the 1836 Deed of Trust, which stipulated that all real and personal property would be conveyed to her husband for his lifetime, precluding the need for a separate probate inventory. Furthermore, Charles H. Carter, as a nephew of Robert E. Lee, did not file a compensation claim in 1867 for his formerly enslaved human property, likely due to his Confederate ties.Consequently, research must proceed using a limited set of documents. The primary sources are the 1836 Deed of Trust, which provides a schedule of 42 named individuals, including one, Nelly Brown, with a family name, and the anonymous demographic data in the 1840, 1850, and 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedules. This direct evidence is supplemented by three runaway slave advertisements that identify additional family names: Lloyd Wood, William Brown, John Williams, Dory Williams, Daniel Nelson, and Davy Hall.

Adverstisements

Daily National Intelligencer, Dec 16 1839 | newspapers.com

📍 wootton’s landing

geographic mapping

enslaver network

Wootton’s Landing Neighborhood, located in the southeastern part of Queen Anne District, bordered the Patuxent River to the east and Marlboro District to the south. The neighborhood’s namesake, Wootton’s Landing, provided direct control for enslavers over the collection, storage, and transport of agricultural commodities produced by enslaved labor. Martenet’s 1861 map shows the landing situated south of Queen Anne Towne and near a mill. This area’s proximity to the Patuxent River, a vital waterway for connecting inland agricultural production to the global market system, and its shared border with Marlboro District, which contained the county seat of Upper Marlboro, underscored its economic significance in pre-emancipation Prince George’s County.

Excerpt from Simon Martenet’s Map of Prince George’s County highlighting Queen Anne District.
Edits by the researcher from original map sourced from Library of Congress.

An 1851 advertisement placed by Margaret Wootton in The Baltimore Sun details the logistical importance of these riverfront properties. In seeking to lease her two landings, Wootton described them as being ‘in the heart of a rich country, producing heavy crops of wheat and tobacco,’ a direct acknowledgment of the output generated by the region’s enslaved workforce. The landings had large stores and granaries to hold both tobacco and grain. Some of the landings were accessible by steamboats, while others required scows, flat bottom sailboats to transfer the goods to the larger vessels likely traveling to Baltimore where merchants would handle the inspection, sale, and final shipment of the hogsheads to international buyers.

advertisement

THE GREEN LANDING FOR RENT.– The undersigned wishes to lease for the year, or for a term of years, her TWO LANDINGS on the Patuxent river. These Landings are in the heart of a rich country, producing heavy crops of wheat and tobacco. One of them, known as the “Green Landing,” is the highest point on the river, accessible by steamboats at all times. It has a splendid wharf attached to it; a large Store House sufficient to hold 80 bhds. of tobacco, and an extensive Granary. The other Landing, called “Wootton’s Landing,” and purchased of William Elliott, is still higher up the river, being near Queen Anne. It is accessible at all times by “scows,” which have always carried off an immense deal of freight to boats moored at the Green Landing. There are erected on this Landing also a Store House and Granary, in good repair and of good size. MARGARET WOOTTON. Queen Anne, August, 1851.

Baltimore Sun, Sep 16, 1851 | newspapers.com

calvert nexus: influence and alliances in the Wootton’s Landing neighborhood

This economic significance was directly tied to the individuals who comprised the enslaver networks in the Wootton’s Landing Neighborhood, profoundly shaping agricultural production and commerce. The enslaver networks of Wootton’s Landing were influenced by George Calvert (1768-1838), who married Rosalie Stier, and was one of the wealthiest landowners and enslavers in Prince George’s County during the Imperial Tensions Generation.

The enslaver networks of Wootton’s Landing were dominated by figures like George Calvert (1768-1838), who married Rosalie Stier and, during the Imperial Tensions Generation, became one of the wealthiest landowners in the county. As a lineal descendant of Benedict Swingate Calvert of Mt. Airy, George Calvert inherited a vast portfolio of land that he consolidated into the Mount Albion plantation. This holding, totaling 2,233 acres, was composed of numerous tracts, including “Swanson’s Lot,” “Part of Coolspring Manor,” “Addition to Leaving,” “Griffith’s Purchase,” “Part of Cuckolds Delight,” and “Part of Riley’s Landing,” among others, firmly rooting his economic power in the Wootton’s Landing neighborhood.The 1798 Federal Direct Tax provides a stark inventory of the infrastructure required for such an operation. On this land, Calvert maintained a frame dwelling house, a kitchen, a ‘brick cow house and stables,’ a large corn house, and, critically, an overseer’s house and 14 quarters for enslaved people. This collection of buildings documents a large, forced-labor camp designed for the mass production of tobacco and other crops. The tax list assessed Calvert for 69 enslaved people, making him the largest single enslaver in the Patuxent and Horsepen Hundreds. The scale of his operation, built on the labor of these 69 individuals, surpassed even that of the Jesuit-owned White Marsh plantation managed by John Ashton.

Nancy Fletcher | Widowhood

James Stewart (Jr) and his wife, Ann (Nancy) Fletcher, liberated themselves during the Civil War from their enslavement in Prince George’s County. Nancy was enslaved by Marsham Waring and his heirs, while her husband was enslaved by Waring’s brother-in-law, Benjamin Lee. Both Waring and Lee were large landowners along the Western Branch in Queen Anne District.

Following the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia in 1862, neighboring enslaved individuals seized an opportunity for freedom. Despite monitored roads and patrols, many fled their bondage and headed toward the District. Barbara Jeanne Fields highlighted in her book, Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground that “Many an ex-fugitive later reported having left Maryland for the District during or after the spring of 1862. Families packed up such of their possessions as could be compactly assembled and departed, sometimes appropriating means of transportation from their owners.” (111)

Camps emerged in and around the District to accommodate these incoming refugees from slavery. One such camp, Camp Springdale, comprised of tents on the grounds of the “Arlington Estate,” owned by Robert E. Lee’s wife. James and Nancy Stewart were recorded as residents of Camp Springdale in 1864 along with their three children: John (Henson), George (Anthony), and Frances. During this time, Nancy was a new mother, taking care of her infant daughter and her older sons.

Freedmans village–Greene Heights Arlington, VA. | loc.gov

Post-War Life

1870

James and Nancy survived the war with their sons. After the war, they are living in the District, as recorded by the 1870 Census. Living in Ward 5, James is working as a scavenger while Nancy is “keeping house”. Scavenger is a euphemism, like night-soil man, for a person who collected human waste from households and transported the waste away from residential areas. The Evening Star reported in 1869, that because there was no designated place for depositing the “night soil”, it was dumped into the Potomac, the Tiber creek and the Canal.

The 1870 Census did not record addresses or street names (like in later census records), however, by comparing names in the Census to the City Directories, a more precise location can be determined. The Stewart Family is enumerated immediately after Benton Russ, a guard at the Jail; in the City Directory, Benton Russ is recorded as living at 2d and A NE, near the location of another refugee camp, Duff’s Green Row.

1880

By 1880, the family appears to have been split up by economic necessity. Three separate census records have been identified that appear to represent the family based on the geographic proximity to their 1870 address of 2d and A NE. Nancy is living at 107 2nd NE while Ella and John Henson are working as servants at nearby addresses. George Anthony has yet to be found.

Nancy Stewart is enumerated in her household, a widow. Ella, age 12, is working as a servant at 18 2nd Street NE in the household of Isaac Bassett, a doorman at the Capitol Building. Both addresses are clustered around the intersection of A St NE and 2nd St NE.

(John) Henson Stewart is working in the household of Mary J Wheeler, who lived at 136 Pennsylvania Ave SE, which was at the the intersection of Independence Ave SE (then B St SE) and 2nd St SE. Essentially, Nancy and Ella lived by the Supreme Court and John Henson Stewart lived by the Library of Congress, a few short blocks away with East Capitol Street separating them.

On the other hand, George (Anthony) is much more elusive. George Stewart was a common name and several men with the name were working as servants in city; none were near George Anthony’s family members. In 1885, a city directory entry records Anthony Steward living as a laborer at Bassett Alley NE, which is one block north of where Nancy Stewart was living in 1880.

1900

By 1900, Nancy Stewart has moved east of Lincoln Park and is living at 15 Fitzhugh Court, SE with her two sons: John and George A. She is living with Mary Jones, who is listed as her sister in the census record.

Although the census lists inaccurate ages for them, shaving decades off of their ages, the address aligns with other records that suggest the high probability that this is the same family. The following records support this connection:

1907 City Directory entry for Nancy Stewart, wid. James, residing at 15 Fitzugh Court SE
1910 Census Entry for Nancy Stewart and John at 15 Fitzhugh Court, the age of Nancy is 71, aligning more closely with previous records.
1919 Death Record for a widowed Nancy Stewart living at 15 Fitzhugh Court, with burial in Mt. Olivet, a Catholic Cemetery

John Woodard (1821-1892)

John Woodard lived most of his life area between Sheriff Road and the current Central Avenue in Prince George’s County.

Prior to the Civil War it was Bladensburg District and after the war the district was divided and he lived in the part was christened Kent District.

He was married twice, first to Rachel Contee and second to Sarah Jones. He was drafted into the USCT and after the war, returned to his family and the land which he continued to labor for the profit of others, his life before and after emancipation connected to the white Wilson family that had been his enslavers.

USCT

He was drafted in July 1864, the Baltimore Sun listing him as “John Woodward, slave of Virginia Wilson“. The enlistment of Black men into the army was a matter of controversy in Maryland, as both slaveholders and non-slaveholders protested various directives and commands that first enlisted free Black men, which appeared to favor slaveholders by exempting the enslaved, and then the slaveholders protested the confiscation of their property. Ultimately, the slaveholders received compensation for their male slaves who enlisted (See Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground, Chapter 5).

Woodard’s service records notes that he “failed to report” and in Dec 1864, he was arrested in Prince George’s County and brought to John Woolley, provost marshal for Baltimore. Later in 1866, the charger of desertion was removed due to “Special Order 15” suggesting that Woodard had been prevented from reporting as opposed to actively resisting enlistment.

With the exodus of Black people from Maryland seeking freedom and with the enlistment of able male bodies, the number of men aged 20 to 45 were increasingly scarce and his enslavers may have resisted letting go of Woodard. A superintendent of Black recruitment in Maryland told his superiors “whenever the US gets a soldier, somebody’s plow stands still”. (Slavery and Freedom, page 126-127). John Woodward was one of three adult males (the other two were 18 years) claimed by Mortimer Wilson in the 1867 compensation lists.

*U.S., Colored Troops Military Service Records, 1863-1865*

The records show that William B. Galer was paid $30 for the “apprehension and delivery” of John Woodward to the army. This detail helps to support the idea that Woodward was prevented from reporting to his drafted enlistment.

Galer was a 26-year-old white man living Bladensburg according to the 1860 census. Galer was enumerated living in the household of his inferred mother (DN 681). They did not have listed property (real or personal). Mortimer L. Wilson was enumerated at DN 668 and his widowed mother, Amelia Wilson, at DN 719. Galer’s immediate neighbors were horse traders, hostlers and stage conductor, suggesting that they lived in Suitsville or Brightseat, which was situated between Lawrence and his mother on the 1878 Hopkins map of Kent District. Galer’s father had been listed as a wheelwright in the 1850 census.

After the war, Mortimer L. Wilson claimed $100 for the service of John Woodard in the 4th USCT Infantry Regiment.

Second Wife, Sarah Jones

John Woodard returned to his wife, Sarah, and his children after the war. In 1870, they are living near Philip Hill and Edward Magruder, two landowners connected to the Wilson family through marriages. This places Woodard and his family on Sheriff road which connected the District with Brightseat P.O.

In the 1870 Census they had four children:

Arthur Woodard, age 14
Matthew Woodard, age 12
Ellen Woodard, age 6
Michael Woodard, age 4

Sarah applied for a widow’s pension when John died in 1892. She included affidavits from William W. Wilson, the son of her husband’s enslaver and as well as two people who served as groomsmen and bridesmaid at her wedding ceremony in 1852. Nathan Thomas and Sallie Hickman served as the witnesses to the ceremony. They attested to the fact that she and John were married by Father Dietz at White Marsh, the Catholic Church near Priest’s Bridge and the Patuxent River.

Sallie Hickman and Sarah (Jones) Woodard were enslaved on the same estate by the Marsham Waring family. In 1900, Sarah (Sallie) Hickman was living with her son on Sheriff Road within the District of Columbia.

Although their enslavers allowed their marriage, they were enslaved on different estates. Sarah raised her children at Warington, the Marsham Waring estate while John remained on the Wilson estate with children from his first marriage.

First Wife, Rachel Contee

The affidavit by William W. Wilson names John’s first wife. He states in his message that “John Woodard was married before to one Rachel Contee and died in June 1848 on “Baltimore Manors” in Kent District, Prince George’s County, Maryland.”

Baltimore Manor was the name of the estate owned by the Wilsons for generations. It sat on the land that FedEx field currently sits on. William Wilson was the father of Washington Wilson, Margery Wilson and Joseph H Wilson and other children. When he died around 1817, portions of Baltimore Manor were bequeathed to Washington Wilson and Margery Wilson and other lands (among them Beall’s Pasture) was bequeathed to Joseph H Wilson, the father of Mortimer L. Wilson and William W. Wilson. Joseph H Wilson acquired portions of Baltimore Manor after the death of his brother, Washington Wilson, in 1825 and a chancery suit. (MHT)

Children of Rachel Contee and John Woodard

In 1867, Mortimer L Wilson claimed John Woodard along with Jeffrey and Eveline/Emeline Woodard, who were about two decades younger than him. Their position in the list and their ages suggests they are his children. The two additional children: Charles and Peggy are children of Eveline as evidenced by later census records.

Compensation List for Mortimer L Wilson | MSA

In 1858, Eveline/Emeline was listed with a William, age 12, and a Jeffrey, age 11 in the inventory for Joseph H. Wilson’s estate. Their grouping would bolster the suggesting that they are siblings. Based on the omission of William in the compensation lists, it would suggest that William was separated from his family by death or sale.

Inventory of Joseph H Wilson (1858 | WAJ 1:681) | MSA

Jeffery Woodard died in Jan 1907 and his death certificate names his parents as John Woodward and Rachel Contee. His estimated birth year of 1847 from the inventory suggests he was born shortly before the death of his mother.

In 1880, Arthur and Matthew Woodward are living with Emily [Emeline] and her husband, Edward Hamilton, and children in the District at 910 Delaware Ave. They are listed as her husband’s brother-in-laws.

Rachel Contee

Rachel Contee died around 1848 and before the inventory of Joseph H Wilson in 1858. She is not listed in the 1833 Personal Property Assessment for Joseph H Wilson, suggesting that he acquired her after 1833.

In 1841, Joseph H Wilson became indebted to Levi Sherrif for over $5000 dollars. Levi Sheriff was married to Joseph’s other sister, Matilda. As was common, Wilson used the people he enslaved as collateral for the loan. This was recorded in the land records (JBB 1:413). He listed John, age 20, [est BY 1821] which is consistent with John Woodward. He also listed Rachel, age 19, [est BY 1822]. Since Wm Wilson notated that she died on “Baltimore Manor” in the pension affidavit and since her age is similar to John’s in the indenture, this would suggests that this is Rachel Contee.

The Baltimore Sun |Tue, Mar 3, 1874 | Page 2 | newspapers.com
Death notice for the widow of Joseph H Wilson names Baltimore Manor.

William Wilson, the patriarch of the Wilson family, died in 1817 conveying the main tract of land to his son, Washington Wilson. In 1825, less than a decade later, Washington conveyed the tract to his son, James A Wilson, while Joseph H Wilson was named estate executor and guardian of his nephew. After the death of his nephew, he acquired the property which passed to his son, Joseph K Wilson.

Jane Colbert | Kendall Green

In May 1862, shortly after the emancipation of enslaved people in the District of Columbia, a large groups of enslaved people made their way to the District in order to be free. The newspapers are filled with reports with descriptions of men carrying and baggage from Loudoun County, Virginia, and armed groups coming for the District carrying weapons. On May 7, 1862, the Evening Star reported “the first arrests under the emancipation law were made this morning” when police arrested “two slaves who had run away from their masters in Prince George’s County, were on their way to the city and had crossed the District Line”.

Jane Colbert‘s husband, Daniel Colbert (Calvert) was named in affidavit seeking his return by James Waring, along with others from his estates. The people named, like Daniel had wives and partners living on other estates who were not named, and were likely part of the group that sough freedom in the district.

Their marriage was recorded by agents working for the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1867. They noted along with hundreds of other freedmen marriages and partnerships. Daniel Colbert and Jane Dorsey were married in 1859 by a Jesuit Priest named Bague and had two children. In 1862, 5 months prior to their escape, they had their son, George W Colbert, baptized by the Jesuits at White Marsh.

Daniel Calvert was most likely born enslaved to Marsham Waring in Prince George’s County, the son of George Calvert and Amelia Jones. He was enslaved on Waring’s Chelsea estate and while Jane Dorsey was likely enslaved by the Hall family on their nearby estate. Both slaveholding families were Catholic and multiple people they enslaved were married by Jesuit Priests and had their children baptized.

On 20 January 1868, “Jane Colbert” is recorded in the Freedmen’s Bureau records as living in the Kendall Green Barracks and receiving supplies. Her age and relationship to others is not noted in the document. The Barracks had suffered a fire in mid January, as reported by the Daily Morning Chronicle.

The names Mary Dorsey and Malvina Jones are also recorded on the list, suggesting the possibility that there may be a connection between Jane Colbert and the larger Calvert-Dorsey-Jones kin group. While Mary Dorsey has an extremely common given name, Malvina is a more unusual given name and may be used to show a connection between the individuals at Kendall Green and the kin group.

Malvina Jones, age 34, was claimed by Miss Mary Cornelia Wilson, the daughter of Joseph H. Wilson, in the 1867 Compensation Lists. The Wilsons owned land near Marsham Waring, who enslaved Daniel Calvert. Waring and Wilson enslaved other people who partnered, e.g., John Woodward and Sallie Jones.

Two children of Malvina Jones were baptized in the 1850s. In 1854, Cornelia “Johns”, daughter of Will. Johns and Livana “Ahlens”, “property of Jos. Wilson”, was baptized by the priests of White Marsh. In 1859, Richard Jones, son of William and Livinia Jones, was baptized by the priests of White Marsh; no enslaver was noted. William Jones, named in the baptismal records, is a brother of Amelia Jones, Daniel Colbert’s sister.

Like Daniel, Waring listed him in the 1862 affidavit. In 1864, William Jones, age 45, is listed in the Freedmen’s Bureau Records as a refugee from Prince George’s County living in Camp Springfield with multiple other names from the 1862 affidavit. In 1870, William Jones and his wife Malvina Jones were enumerated living in Ward 6, which is on the eastern side of the City near Kendall Green. While the 1870 Census does not lists specific street addresses, the Jones family was enumerated at DN 1533; Ignatius Tabbs was enumerated at 1538 and was also listed in the 1871 City Directory as living at 324 15th NE, near Howard’s Row and Tennessee Avenue. This connects with an 1872 address for Daniel Colbert. Daniel Colbert is listed in the City Directory (66 Howard’s Row NE), living close to William and Malvina Jones’ inferred address. Daniel Calvert is not listed in the 1870 census in their neighborhood.

Both Sallie Jones Woodward and William Jones are inferred siblings of Amelia Jones, the mother of Daniel Calvert and were enslaved by the Warings, like Daniel. The presence of both Malvina Jones and Jane Colbert on the same list suggests that Jane may be Daniel Calvert’s partner, and suggesting that she too escaped to DC.

Eliza Stewart

In 1830, Eliza Stewart was held in the prison in Washington County, District of Columbia. She was listed as 16 years old, wearing a country cloth frock, linen shift, and coarse shoes.

Burr, the jailor, advertised for her return to her enslaver: Joseph Wilson living near Bladensburg in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

(Daily National Intelligencer, DC, 12 April 1830)

From the age in the advertisement, she would have had an estimated birth year of 1814. Approaching puberty and her child-bearing years, it would have been an anxious time for Eliza Stewart. Enslavers often sold adolescents as the market valued the labor extracted from people aged 14 to 40. And as enslavers valued women who could be breeders to increase their chattel, the likelihood of sexual assault grew as well. While the advertisement omits much about her specific motivations, freedom from a system that reduce her to property and subject to abuse would motivate many to seek liberation.

Three years later in 1833, enslavers in Prince George’s County had their personal property assessed and the names of the people they enslaved were listed in the tax books. Joseph H Wilson had two women who were named with the diminutive “Bet“. One was given the external market appraisal value of $60, the other $120. These values, imposed on the women by men who commodified their bodies as property, allow us to estimate their age in 1833.

Elizabeth (Bet), appraised at $60, is likely either a small child between the ages of 3 and 6 or an elderly woman between the ages of 50 and 60. She was the first female listed which suggests that she was one of the oldest women on the estate. Usually at this age, the enslaved were no longer forced to labor in the fields, rather they took on labor roles that could be considered caretaker roles: cooks, nurses, midwives, seamstresses, caretakers of children. This Elizabeth is unlikely to have been the much younger Eliza Stewart who escaped to the District.

Elizabeth (Bet), appraised at $120, was likely between 6-10 years old, almost a full decade younger than the Eliza advertised in 1830.

This suggests that Eliza may not have returned to Wilson and instead was likely sold with other captured Black people into the domestic slave market, as the District was central to the forced migration of enslaved people from the Chesapeake Slave Society to the Deep South and the cotton plantations.

Joseph H. Wilson, the enslaver of Eliza Stewart, was married to Amelia Virginia Weems in 1825, five years prior to Eliza’s capture in 1830. Her brother, Nathanial Chapman Weems, Jr., owned a cotton plantation in Rapides Parish in Louisiana, after he migrated from Maryland to the Louisiana in the 1830s. While his migration was after the personal property assessment and the advertisement, it suggests the possibility that she was removed from Maryland and sent south.

Eliza Stewart is of interest due to her family name. The slave-holding Wilson family owned property in Prince George’s County near Northhampton, the Sprigg estate as well Marsham Waring and Benjamin Lee’s estates. Marsham Waring and Benjamin Lee both enslaved members of the Stewart family. Waring enslaved James Stewart, born around 1805, as well as Patrick and Notley who were born later in the 1820s. Eliza Stewart, with an estimated birth year of 1814, could be a sister or cousin of the Stewarts enslaved by Waring.

the many Patrick Stewarts

The 1860 inventory of Marsham Waring’s estate lists a Patrick Stewart, age 35. Two years later, James Waring, Marsham’s son and heir, signs out an affidavit seeking the return of Patrick Stewart, along with other enslaved people who had fled to the District in 1862 seeking freedom. Five years later, Elizabeth L. Bowie, Marsham’s daughter and heir, claims Patrick Stewart on the compensation list submitted to the Prince George’s Commission on Slave Statistics in 1867. Jumping back 34 years to 1833, the Prince George’s County Personal Property Assessment for 1833 listed the names of people enslaved and assessed with their external market value based on age ranges. Patrick was listed for Marsham Waring, assessed at $250, allowing us to identify his age bracket as 10-15 years old.

Locating Patrick Stewart after emancipation is difficult as Patrick was a name repeatedly used by different branches of the Stewart Family Group and census enumerators often used estimated ages for Black freedmen who may or may not have known their birthday or birth year.

The purpose of this post and other related posts is to clarify and identify the various individuals named Patrick Stewart living in the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County after the Civil War, and to hopefully identify their relationships to each other and the larger Stewart Family Groups and the Patrick Stewart of Waring’s Inventory.

Patrick Stewart of Hillsdale

Patrick Stewart of Seat Pleasant

See “the many Patrick Stewarts” for the introduction to why this post was written.

Patrick Stewart of the Marsham Waring Inventory was 40 years old with an estimated birth year of 1820. Patrick Stewart of Seat Pleasant was 37 in the 1870 census, with an estimated birth year of 1833. It seems unlikely that they are the same Patrick Stewart. And as Patrick Stewart of Seat Pleasant is followed through the census records, it becomes even more unlikely that he is the Patrick Stewart of the Marsham Waring Inventory. In 1880, he was listed at 40, which shifted his birth year from 1833, to 1840, two decades after the Patrick Stewart of the Inventory was born; the same for the 1900 census, where he was listed as 60, making his birth year around 1840.

After Emancipation

In the 1870 US Census, Patrick Stewart and his wife, Lidia, are living near John E. Berry, the son of Dr. John E Berry. They are near the intersection of what is now Addison Road and Central Avenue in Seat Pleasant.

In 1880, Patrick Stewart is still living in Kent, the district formed from Bladensburg. In his household is Patrick and Mary Stewart, an elderly couple. Patrick is listed as 70 years old and Mary is listed as 65. They are most likely his parents. Patrick is enumerated as Pat. Hen., which is consistent with the land record that is recorded in 1892.

Patrick Henry Stewart purchased Lot #5 of the Seat Pleasant subdivision. The land contained about 10.5 acres. He paid $350 for the lot. (JWB 22:262; mdlandrec.net)

The land was situated near the corner of DC in the portion of Bladensburg District which was used to create the Kent District in the 1870s. It sat on the former land of John E Berry, Jr., an enslaver and landowner in Prince George’s County prior to the Civil War. Berry, Jr., purchased “Seat Pleasant” from his relative Thomas E Berry. At the close of the Civil War, the land was sold to real estate developers who created the town of Seat Pleasant. Berry’s father, Dr. John E Berry, Sr., had a nearby plantation called Independence, and Berry’s brother, Albert B Berry had a farm called Sunnyside in addition to his other real estate holdings.

MSA_C2380_155_Jackson Plat of Seat Pleasant | Maryland State Archives

The survey of Seat Pleasant was completed in 1873. In addition to detailing the lots, it marks what is likely the Seat Pleasant dwelling house and marks several cabins on the land, which may have be slave dwellings occupied by freedmen after manumission.

A death certificate records Patrick Stewart’s death in May 1929, when he died from “entero-colitis”. It lists his occupation as farmer and at the time of his death, he was living in the District at 30 H Street NE, the household of John Thomas Stewart, his son. The death certificate also lists his parents as Patrick Stewart and Mary Ridout, names consistent with the 1880 census.

Before Emancipation

Prior to emancipation, Patrick (Henry) Stewart was enslaved by John E. Berry, who submitted a compensation list to the 1867 Commission on Slave Statistics; Berry was also the landowner of Seat Pleasant. Patrick (Henry) Stewart was listed as 20 years old, giving him an estimated birth year of 1845. Also enslaved by John E Berry is Mary Stewart (II), who was 38, born about 1827.

John E. Berry also submitted a list as administrator of the estate of Albert B Berry, his brother, who owned adjacent land. On the list submitted for A. B. Berry are Mary Stewart (I), age 58, and Alexander, age 22. Working from the assumption that Mary Stewart (I) is Mary Ridout, this allows us to expand the outline of the family. I wrote another detailed post about Mary Ridout and her connection with other Ridout Branches (and therefore the Stewart family).

In brief, Mary Ridout is likely related to Ridout Family Group enslaved by the Sprigg Family (Northhampton) and Waring Family. The Sprigg family enslaved Margaret (Brooks) Ridout who was the inferred mother of Barbara Ridout who married Joseph Jones, both enslaved by the Warings. Many of the Ridouts can be found in the vicinity of Seat Pleasant after emancipation. This suggests the likelihood that Mary Ridout was married to Patrick Stewart of the Waring estate.

Disambiguation

Patrick Henry Stewart of Seat Pleasant is too young to be Patrick Stewart of the Waring estate and he can be found in the compensation lists of John E Berry with other relatives. However, Patrick Henry Stewart is the son of Patrick Stewart of the Waring Inventory, as evidenced by the direct evidence of his death certificate which names his father and his mother’s family name. His mother’s family name, Ridout, provides indirect evidence that there were connection to the Stewart estate.

Patrick Stewart of Hillsdale

See “the many Patrick Stewarts” for the introduction to why this post was written.

Patrick Stewart of Hillsdale was originally considered as Patrick Stewart of Queen Anne District due to his age and geographic location in the 1870 Census. The 1870 Census gave his age as 50 [1850] which makes him the same age as Patrick Stewart of Queen Anne District. Additionally, he was residing in Hillsdale, a community of freed Black people that had escaped to the District like Patrick Stewart of Queen Anne District had.

However, a review of further records related to him suggests he was not from Queen Anne District, but rather southern Prince George’s County and Charles County, Maryland.

After Emancipation

In the 1870 Census, Patrick Stewart is living in Hillsdale, a community of freed Black people, originally known as Barry Farm and run by the Freedmen’s Bureau. It was called Barry Farm as it had been built on a 375 acre of land that had been owned by the Barry family.

Topographical map of the original District of Columbia and environs showing the fortifications around the city of Washington | loc.gov

The 1878 Hopkins Map shows it as Potomac City. An act passed in 1873 changing the name of “Barry Farm, or Potomac” to Hillsdale in 1873. Charles R Douglass, a relative of Frederick Douglass, was a political leader within the Hillsdale community. Douglass was enumerated at dwelling number (DN) 602; Patrick Stewart at DN 599.

Atlas of fifteen miles around Washington, including the County of Prince George, Maryland | loc.gov

In 1870, Patrick Stewart was not listed in the Washington, DC City Directories. He appeared in the City Directories in 1875 as living on Howard Avenue, in Hillsdale. Howard Avenue is situated in the northwest portion of HIllsdale, running parallel to Stickfoot Branch. An 1867 Tax List ran in the National Republican and cited “Whole Tax on lot 38 and improvements in section 9, in Barry Farm subdivision, assessed to Patrick Stewart, $5.25”.

Map of the division of the north half of a tract of land called “St. Elisabeth,” situated on the east side of the Anacostia River in the county of Washington, D.C. : surveyed into one acre lots for sale to freedmen | loc.gov

This lot sat on the end of Howard Ave along the river and was larger than the other 1 acre lots. The acreage most likely allowed Patrick to ply his trade as a carpenter.

“In order to purchase property, entire families worked in the city all day and walked at night to Barry’s Farm to develop their land and construct their homes by lantern and candlelight. As one man described it, ‘the hills and valleys were dotted with lights. The sound of hoe, pick, rake, shovel, saw and hammer rang through the late hours of the night.’”
The Anacostia Story (1977) | Louise Daniel Hutchinson

In the 1870 Census, Patrick Stewart is living with his wife, Caroline, and his children: Julia, Georgie and Joseph. They are also living with Henry Stewart, age 93. Presumably, Henry is Patrick’s father.

Two of the children, Julia and Georgie, were born prior to emancipation. Joseph was born after emancipation and when the family was living in the District.

Before Emancipation

George Morton, a landholder and enslaver from the Eighth District, submitted a compensation list that included Caroline Stewart, Julia and Georgiana, as well as an older and younger daughter, who do not appear in the 1870 census with Patrick and Caroline.

Prince George’s Slave Statistics | Maryland State Archives

The Eighth District was in the southernmost part of Prince George’s County, along the boundary with Charles County. George Morton is shown on the Martenet Map as holding land east of Woodville.

Martenet’s Map of Prince George’s County, Maryland. | loc.gov

Maria Stewart Briscoe

Maria Briscoe and her two children Henrietta and Ben Briscoe are enumerated immediately following Caroline Stewart and her named children in the 1867 compensation lists for George Morton.

Like her parents and siblings, Maria and her partner, Richard Briscoe, left the Aquasco area and purchased a lot in Hillsdale. Richard Briscoe was assessed for his lot: “Whole Tax on lot 35 and improvements in section 8, Barry Farm Subdivision, assessed to Richard Briscoe, $4.13” His lot was near but not adjacent to the Patrick Stewart lot.

Both Richard Briscoe and Patrick Stewart were carpenters; many skilled workers found lots in Hillsdale.

Maria’s death record records her parents as Caroline Wood and Patrick Stewart and her husband as Richard Briscoe. Her transcribed death record inaccurately records her age as 61. Based on the emancipation records, she was in her eighties, which is consistent with her 1920 census record.

Mattawoman Baptismal Records

In a no longer extant parish, “Upper and Lower Zachiah and Mattawoman”, there were three chapels:

A private chapel on the estate of William Boaman (near Bryantown) in Lower Zachiah
A chapel on Thomas Reeve’s land on the Upper Zachiah (later St. Peter’s parish in Waldorf)
A chapel “located south of the later parish of St. Mary’s in Piscataway”

Topographical atlas of Maryland: counties of Calvert, Charles and St. Marys. | davidrumsey.com

There are three baptismal records in the Maryland, U.S., Births and Christenings Index, 1662-1911 Database associated with “Roman Catholic, Mattawoman, Charles, Maryland”.

25 Apr 1857, the baptism of Julia Stewart, daughter of Patrick Stewart and Caroline
8 May 1859, the baptism of Georgiana Stewart, daughter of Patrick and Carolina
27 Jun 1859, the baptism of Henrietta Briscoe, daughter of Richard and Marg Briscoe

Disambiguation

Despite Patrick Stewart having a similar birth year, and reasonable 1870 residence, he is not Patrick Stewart of Queen Anne District. He was a carpenter from southern Prince George’s County and northern Charles County.

Robert Stewart | Patriarch

This post explores the possibility that Robert Stewart is the patriarch of branch of the Stewart Family Group enslaved by Marsham Waring near Buena Vista and Woodmore along the border of Bladensburg and Queen Anne Districts in Prince George’s County.

Background Information

Marsham Waring died in 1860 and in the inventory of his estates are three adult males named James, Patrick and Notley. The men are enumerated with round ages of 50, 40, 30, suggesting that the listed ages are not precise ages, rather estimated. After the Civil War, the heirs of Marsham Waring submitted compensation lists to the 1867 Commission on Slave Statistics in hopes of being compensated for the emancipation of their “personal property”. While compensation never occurred, the lists provide the given and family name of people enslaved; the three men are listed with the family name Stewart.

During the Civil War, Patrick and Notley Stewart escaped Prince George’s County for the District of Columbia, where slavery had been abolished in 1862 with their extended kin group. James Waring, the son of Marsham Waring, filed an affidavit seeking the return of the refugees to his captivity in May 1862.

The relationship between James [est. 50 | 1810] and the other two men, Patrick and Notley, has been ambiguous due to a lack of definitive records stating a relationship between the men and due to the rounded ages. The thirty year gap between James and Notley leaves open the possibility of a son-father relationship, brother-brother relationship, uncle-nephew relationship, and no doubt other less likely relationships.

Post-Civil War records for Patrick Stewart are ambiguous as there are multiple Patricks with a wide range of birth years. A post seeking to differentiate between the Patricks and connect them with the appropriate branch of the Stewart Family Group is forthcoming.

White Marsh Baptism

Notley Stewart was baptized in 1829 by the Jesuit Priests at White Marsh, a plantation maintained by the Catholic Church near Priest’s Bridge in Queen Anne District, Prince George’s County.

Notley, son of Robert & Ann, his wife slave of Massin [Marsham] Waring, aged 4 months. Sponsor Amelia. JS
April 19, 1829

The baptismal record identifies the parents of Notley Stewart as Robert and Ann and does not mention James. This record removes the possibility that James is Notley’s father leaving open the two possibilities 1. that James and Notley are brothers, or 2. Robert and James are brothers, making Notley the nephew of James.

The baptismal records cover 1819-1833; they do not include James’ baptismal record as he was born prior to the extant records.

1833 Personal Property Assessment

In 1833, the tax assessors for Prince George’s county compiled a list that included the “Proprietors” Name (property owner) with the names of the people they enslaved and the enslaved person’s assessed property value. These values were determined by their gender and age range. For example, males age 50-60 were assessed at $100 and females age 50-60 were assessed at $60.

Marsham Waring’s property list includes the names of Robert, James, Patrick, and Notley.

Name	Value	Age Range	Birth Year Range
Robert (Bob)	$100	50-60	1773-1783
James (Jim)	$400	18-30	1803-1815
Patrick	$250	10-15	1818-1823
Robert	$150	6-10	1823-1827
Notley	$60	3-6	1827-1830
James (Jim)	$350	15-18 or 35-40	1815-1818 or 1793-1798

1833 Personal Property Assessment for Marsham Waring, 2nd District | Maryland State Archives

James Stewart was enumerated in the 1870 and 1880 US Federal Census. In 1870, he was listed as 63 years old, with an estimated birth year of 1807; in 1880, he was 70 with an estimated birth year of 1810. This allows us to reasonably identify James Stewart as the James (Jim) valued at $400.

Notley’s inclusion in the assessment list is consistent with the information recorded in the White Marsh Baptismal Record; he is valued as a toddler who was born around 1830. His father, Robert from the White Marsh record, is most likely Robert (Bob) valued at $100, as this value allows us to estimate his age as 50-60. The other Robert is valued at $150, allowing for an estimated age of 6-10; he is likely a brother of Notley.

Robert (Bob), between 50 and 60 years old, would have been born during the Revolutionary War (1773-1783). He is old enough to be the father of James, Patrick, Robert and Notley.

At 50-60 years old, Robert (Bob) would already be considered an elderly man. He most likely was no longer used in the fields and instead was laboring as a body servant, gardener or caretaker. As one of the older men on the estate, he was likely a source of stability and wisdom for the younger enslaved family and friends. See Daina Ramey Berry, The Price for Their Pound of Flesh for a discussion of the lives of elderly enslaved people.