Category Archives: Prince George's County

Rachel Weldon

Collateral

A series of financial transactions between Richard W. W. Bowie and others in the 1850s shows Bowie in debt and using Rachel and her children, whom he enslaved, as collateral for his debt. 

Richard W. W. Bowie’s father had died in 1839, and his inheritance was controlled by his mother until her death in 1852.  Bowie married the same year; joining in matrimony to Elizabeth L Waring, the daughter of Marsham Waring. 

In 1852, Richard W. W. Bowie signed an indenture on account of having borrowed $500 from Septimus I Cook.  To secure the loan, he sold the legal authority to enslave Rachel (about 30 years old) and her four children: Elizabeth, 10 years old, Mary, 8 years old, John, 6 six years old, and Sophy about three years old to William Holtzman, who secured the loan.  (ON 1:157)  Holtzman was a merchant living in Vansville District. 

In 1854, Richard W. W. Bowie signed another indenture on account of having borrowed $1200 dollars from James T. Perkins.  He secured the loan through the conveyance of Rachel (32 years old), Catherine (12), Sophy, (6) and Edward (4).  and a “boy” by the name of Isaiah (18) to Richard D Hall, a planter, also residing in Vansville.  (ON 2:148)

NameAge in 1852 IndentureAge in 1854 Indenture
Rachel3032
Catherine/Elizabeth1012
Mary8–
John6–
Sophy36
Edward–4

Baptismal Records

The same year that Bowie mortgaged the family to Hall, Rachel had a child baptized by the priests of White Marsh.  Baptismal records for White Marsh prior to 1853 perished in the fire, and the baptism in 1854 is the first after the fire. 

In August 1854, the priests of White Marsh baptized Philomena, the daughter of Eduard Weldon and Rachel Galloway.  Rachel was recorded as property of Richard Bowie.  

In May 1856, the priests baptized Ann. Elis Welden, the daughter of Eduard Welden and Rachel Galloway.  Rachel was again marked as property of R. Bowie. 

In July 1859, the priests baptized Anne Maria, daughter of Edward and Rachael Weldon, at Mr. Bowie’s residence.

In April 1863, the priests baptized Mary, daughter of Rachel and Edward Weldon at Rob. Bowie’s residence.

Waring’s Purchases

In March 1857, Richard W. W. Bowie sold the family to Marsham Waring, his father-in-law for $2000, most likely allowing him to maintain possession of the family at his estate for the use of Waring’s daughter, Elizabeth L. Bowie.  (CSM 1:538)  This transaction was not secure a debt, rather was a bill of sale, in which he sold the legal authority to enslave Rachel, age 35, Catherine, age 13, Sophia, age 7, Edward, age 5, Philla, age 3, and Elizabeth age 1.  The Bill of Sale does not mention her husband Edward Welden; it is unclear who enslaved him, as priests did not consistently record the father’s slaveholder. 

NameAge in 1852 IndentureAge in 1854 IndentureAge in 1857
Bill of Sale
Rachel303235
Catherine/Elizabeth101213
Mary8–
John6–
Sophy367
Edward–45
Philla (Philomena)3
Ann Elizabeth1

In February 1859, Richard W. W. Bowie was paid $3000 by his brother Walter W. W. Bowie to relinquish claim to land described in the 1839 will of his father, Walter Bowie, particularly “Locust Grove”.  (CSM 3:117)

Then, in the same month, Marsham Waring purchased the lot and parcel of land “known as part of Darnall’s Grove” and called “Locust Grove”, for $15,190 from Walter W. W. Bowie.  (CSM 3:538) The Daily Exchange, a paper out of Baltimore, reported the sale.  

In Waring’s 1860 will, he directed that the farm “Locust Grove” go to his son James Waring, “for the use and benefit of my beloved daughter Elizaebth L Bowie [Richard W. W. Bowie’s wife], the plantation which I purchased of Walter W. W. Bowie”  In his inventory, the people enslaved by Waring were organized by estate and 9 people were named as laboring on Locust Grove:  Anna, 22, George, 4, Mary 15, Sam, 35, and Rachel 28, Catherine, 16, Edward, 8, Eliza, 8, and Maria, infant.  Rachel and her children made up the bulk of the people named on the estate.  

After Waring’s Death

In May 1862, Catherine Weldon, the daughter of Edward and Rachel, fled to the District with other people from the Waring estates.  She is named in the affidavit that James Waring took out.  The month prior, in April 1862, the District had abolished slavery and those enslaved in the neighboring jurisdictions fled to the freedom it promised along with the Federal Troops who offered a modicum of protection against slave patrols and slave catchers.  Many named in affidavit and their extended family are found in the records of the freedmen’s camps (see Jones Family Group and Stewart Family Group posts).  Records connected to Catherine have yet to be located.  Though in February 1867, Rachel Weldon is recorded as receiving a nominal amount from a Freedmen Bureau’s agent in the District. 

In April 1867, the priests of White Marsh baptized Edward, the son of William Franklin and Catherine, his wife.  Martha Sprigg, a woman formerly enslaved by the Warings, sponsored the baptism.  Martha’s son, Daniel, was baptized the same day.   Edward was likely named for her brother and father.  

In 1870, Edward and Rachel Weldon were living in the District of Columbia, in Ward 6 with their son Edward.  Both Edward’s are working as laborers.  City Directories place them near Lincoln Park.  In 1880. the census records Edward and Rachel  at 328 Ninth Street SE with their grandchildren.   Rachel died in October 1884 and was buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery.  Edward died in 1889 and is also buried at Mt. Olivet.  


In 1870, Catherine and William were living in Queen Anne District in the vicinity of Collington with three children and in 1880 they were living in the vicinity of Bowie.  FrankWeldon, age 48, is living in their household.  He is perhaps an older brother or uncle of Catherine.

Rachel’s Family Group

Rachel partnered with Edward Weldon. The extended Weldon family had multiple baptisms recorded in the surviving White Marsh Baptismal records and many were connected with the Mary Hall estate. In the 1861 Inventory of Mary Hall’s estate, two elderly people are named: Frank and Becky. Based on their age in the inventory, they were born around 1790. In 1822, a priest of White Marsh baptized Catherine, daughter of Francis “Welden” and Becca Sprig. The name Catherine would also be used by Edward and Rachel suggesting a relationship between the Weldons enslaved by the Bowies (Edward Welden and his children) and the Weldons enslaved by the Hall family (Francis Weldon and his children)

Two direct sources provide two possible names for Rachel’s family: Galloway and Mahoney. The Baptismal Records lists Rachel as Rachel Galloway in 1854 and 1856 baptisms of her children. This source most likely had either Rachel or her enslaver providing the name for her family, and therefore directly knowledgeable about her family connections. The second source is a death record for Catherine Franklin, who died in Dec 1911, almost thirty years after Rachel. Her son listed his grandparents, and Catherine’s parents as Edward Weldon and her mother as Rachel Mahoney.

Mahoney is connected with a family with direct ties to White Marsh, as Charles Mahoney had sued John Ashton, manager of White Marsh for his freedom in the 1790s. William G. Thomas wrote a fascinating book about this suit and others, called A Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War. The Hall Family was descended from Benjamin Hall who is said to have taken possession of Ann Joice after she was illegally denied freedom at the end of her indenture. The Mahoney family was descended from Ann, and three Mahoney’s were named in the will of Francis Magruder Hall in 1826. Francis Weldon and Becca Sprigg were named by Hall as well in his will. The death record that connects Rachel to this family group is from a less reliable informant than the informant of the baptism records due to the nature of memory. Based on depositions given by the members of the Mahoney family during their freedom suits, their family passed on an oral tradition of how they were related to Ann Joice, which may have continued after the end of the freedom suits.

The family name Galloway has fewer baptisms than Mahoney or Weldon. In 1832, the priests baptized Charles, the son of Patrick and Henrietta Galloway who was enslaved by Robert Bowie. The sponsor was Kitty from White Marsh. Seven years earlier, a Charles Galloway escaped the captivity of Mary Weems living in Prince George’s County. He was described as a mulatto man about 21 years of age with relations in the city of Washington. Mary Weems, who advertised for Galloway’s return, may be Mary Margaret Hall who married James William Loch Weems and the grandmother of Walter W. W. Bowie and Richard W. W. Bowie. Mary Margaret Hall and Francis Magruder Hall were siblings, and therefore likely to partner their enslaved young adults.

The two diagrams below show the relationships visually. The first shows the connections between the slaveholders. The second diagram shows the family connections of Edward and Rachel Weldon as constructed from direct and indirect evidence, and the estates they were were associated with.

Mary Weems died in 1849, and the 1850 inventory of her estate shows a family group that may be Rachel and children born prior to the surviving baptismal records of White Marsh. (PC 1:384) Rachel, age 30, would have an estimated birth year of 1820, similar to Rachel Galloway’s age given in the multiple Bowie transactions. Additionally, she had a daughter, Catherine, age 5, would would have an estimated birth year of 1845. The 1857 Bill of Sale between Bowie and Waring had an age of 13 for Catherine which would result in an 1844 estimated birth year. Additionally, the oldest daughter, Henny, may have been named for Henrietta Galloway, the mother named in the 1832 baptism, an inferred relative of Rachel.

William Crawford | Civil War Drafts

In 1863, the US Federal Government began to actively recruit Black men for the Union Army. In the fall of 1863, the War Department authorized the systematic enlistment of enslaved men in the Border States, including Maryland. General Order 329 promised freedom to the soldier and compensation to slaveholders loyal to the Union. The slaveholders were resistant to the enlistment of what they perceived as their “property”, despite promised compensation.

Barbara Jean Fields wrote in her book Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground that “Full-scale recruitment put an end to slavery in Maryland. Before the war was over some ten thousand Black men served in the Union army and navy. If only half of them were slaves, they would represent well over a third of the slave men aged eighteen to forty-five.”

In October 1864, the War Department organized a round of the Draft and the names were published in the Baltimore Sun. Among those pulled for the Seventh District of Prince George’s County (Queen Anne District) were Samuel and William Crawford, “slave of the estate of Benjamin Lee”.

Oct 21, 1864, Baltimore Sun, page 1 | newspapers.com

Not every name was called into service and of the two brothers, William Crawford served. A service record for the 6th regiment of the USCT Infantry, Company H shows that he was born in Prince George’s County, Maryland and was drafted from the 5th Election District (Prince George’s County).. He was enlisted for one year.

The service record describes William Crawford as 28 years old [1836] and of average height at 5 feet 8 1/2 inches. His eyes, hair, and complexion was described as Black. By April 1865, he was ill and marked as “absent sick” in the muster rolls. He was mustered out in Sept 1865 in Wilmington, NC.

For the time that Crawford was enlisted in the 6th regiment, it appears to have been fighting in North Carolina as part of the attacks on Fort Fisher, North Carolina and at Sugar Loaf Hill. In February it took part in the Battle of Wilmington and in March took part in Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign.

In 1870, William Crawford filed for a pension as an invalid. It does not provide a place of residence and Crawford has yet to be identified in the 1870 census.

Davy and Kizzy Crawford

Davy and Kizzy were listed about two-thirds of the way through the 1863 Inventory of Benjamin Lee’s estate. Davy, age 63, and Kizzy, age 58, were among the oldest listed in the inventory. Listed with them were several adults: Jack, age 36, Sam, age 24, Billy, age 21, and Nelly, age 33 and then what appears to be Nelly’s children, and likely Davy and Kizzy’s grandchildren.

In 1870, “Danl” Crawford and Kizzie Crawford were enumerated in Queen Anne District of Prince George’s County, living in the household of Delaney and Lucy Brown. They are living in close proximity to the white landowner Jeremiah Duckett, who lived outside the village of Woodmore, and near the estates of Northhampton (Sprigg) and Oak Hill (Lee). They do not appear to be living during the 1880 census.

Benjamin Lee, their enslaver prior to Lee’s death in 1863 and emancipation in 1864, was from Anne Arundel County, the son of Stephen Lee who owned land in and around South River. His father had remarried and the bulk of his father’s estate had gone to Lee’s half-siblings upon his father’s death in 1833. In the previous decade, Lee had married Eleanor Lansdale Belt, the daughter of Captain James Belt, a merchant in Prince George’s County, in 1824.

James Belt died in 1832, and Benjamin Lee and his brother-in-law, Marsham Waring served as administrators of the estate. On the 1832 Inventory of Belt’s estate, the name Kizzy, age 27, is listed along with John, Kizzy’s son, age 4. Davy Crawford does not appear on the inventory list with any variation of the name David, suggesting that Lee acquired the legal authority to enslave Davy from a different person than James Belt.

John, listed on the James Belt 1832 Inventory, is likely Jack of the Benjamin Lee 1863 Inventory. Young John, on the Belt Inventory, was 4 years old, allowing an estimated birth year of 1829. Jack, of the Lee Inventory was 36, giving him an estimated birth year of 1831, only two years later. Jack is a diminutive form of John.

Update

The death certificate of Mary Anna Stewart was located. Mary Anna Stewart, Robert Stewart’s wife died in 1903 and her death certificate was informed by her sister, Lucy Brown. Lucy reported their parents as David Crawford and Ida Jackson.

Both Anna and Lucy are listed in the 1863 Benjamin Lee Inventory below David (Davy) Crawford and Keziah (Kizzy). Anna was twenty and Lucy were 18. They were not immediately identified as children of David and Keziah as there were other children and grand-children listed between them and David. However, it also allows for the identification of other possible children.

It also shows the connection between the Crawfords and the 1870 household of Delaney Brown, whose wife was Lucy Brown.

John and Patsy Hamilton

The eruption of the Civil War and the subsequent abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia disrupted social hierarchy of Prince George’s County The Cecil Whig estimated in March 1864 that over 30,000 enslaved people escaped their captivity across the state and found freedom from their enslavers. Census records show the same for Prince George’s County.

In the decades prior to the Civil War, the enslaved population of Prince George’s County grew from 10,636 in 1840 to 12,479 in 1860. In these decades, the birth rate of the enslaved population was likely offset by high mortality rates among children, a short life expectancy for adults, and sales to the Deep South. The Evening Star in October 1863 called it “the late very large exodus from [Maryland] of free [Black] and slave labor”

In 1860, at the start of the Civil War, the combined total for the free and enslaved population was 13,677. After the war ended and a new economic relationship between White employers and Black employees was being established, the Black population of Prince George’s County had dropped to 9,780, a total comparable to the enslaved population in 1810. About thirty percent of the population had disappeared during and after the war, either having fled their estates or having died from starvation and disease inevitable during times of war.

While John and Patsy Hamilton survived the war, their family group did not and their children had disappeared.

In 1863, as the war raged on, Dr. Benjamin Lee died. A large landowner in Queen Anne District of Prince George’s County, his inventory named seventy-six people he enslaved. He resided at “Oak Hill” near the Sprigg Northhampton estate and near the Western Branch. His inventory also indicated his “Chelsea Farm” and his “Stewart Farm”. Benjamin Lee’s nephew, James Waring, was one of the appraisers for the inventory, who notated at the end of the inventory:

Owing to he unsafe condition of the above property consistent of seventy-six [Black people] produced by the war, we can value them at but an average of one hundred dollars per head.”

WAJ 3:132 Inventory of Benjamin Lee

In his inventory are included the names John and Patsy. They are listed near the beginning of the inventory suggesting they were more likely to be house servants rather than farm laborers. With them are the names of four people who are likely their children and grandchild:

  • Pink, age 24
  • Frank, age 15 months
  • Egbert, age 17
  • Letty, age 14

The children/grandchild have yet to be located in the 1870 census, suggesting they fled or died during the War and the ensuing chaos. Barbara Jeanne Fields, in her book Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground: Maryland During the Nineteenth Century, wrote that after the abolition of slavery in the District, “families packed up such of their possessions as could be compactly assembled and departed, sometimes appropriating means of transportation from their owners”. The escape to DC was often along roads lined with slave patrols and local constables. James Waring, Lee’s nephew, had gone to DC in May 1862 to return a group of enslaved people who had fled from Waring’s estates. Because fleeing to DC meant the possibility of physical punishment resulting from exposure to elements and torture from patrols, it was often the “vigorous young men and women” who took their chances with the intention to come back for the rest of their family.

In June 1863, the Evening Star in the District of Columbia ran the headline:

EXTENSIVE STAMPEDE OF SLAVES

A FIGHT BETWEEN THEM AND AN INDEPENDENT PATROL

On Sunday night, some seventy-five slaves, belonging in the neighborhood of South River, Anne Arundel count and Queen Anne’s Prince George’s county, MD, stampeded, taking with them a wagon and cart, with horses and brining with them a portion of their effects. The party left the first named neighborhood about 11 o’clock at night, and travelled all night, at various points on the road being reinforced, until the number reached about seventy-five.

Yesterday morning, they were stopped near the “Long Old Fields” by a number of men styling themselves “patrols” armed with shot guns and pistols, but the party of slaves massed themselves and pushed on, the patrollers attempting to stop their profess and to drive them from the teams, and when about one mile from Fort Meigs, they fired into the fugitives, when it is said, one of the slaves returned the fire and selves other shots were fired. The party of fugitives separated and led and the patrollers also made off.

Among the fugitives there was two men an one woman killed and five wounded as far as known. The wounded persons were taken in charge and brough to the city, and th company in different bands arrived here yesterday afternoon and during the night– fifty having reported at Contraband Camp up to the his morning. Some of the wounded are not expected to live. One man received four balls in his head, face, shoulder and hip.”

Evening Star, 16 Jun 1862, page 3

Letitia Hamilton shows up in the White Marsh Records in 1868. In October, “Letitia, daughter of John and Betsy Hamilton, 18 years old” had converted to Catholicism and was baptized. The same day, she stood as a sponsor for the baptism of Eliza, the daughter of John Cameron and his wife, Matilda. The priests of White Marsh were inconsistent spellers, often from non-English spelling countries and using phonetic spelling. Hence, Betsy for Patsy. This record helps support the belief that the four names after John and Patsy in the Inventory are their children/grandchild.

In 1870, John and Patsy Hamilton are living in household of Violetta Harding, the daughter of Benjamin Lee, and heir of the estates. Patsy is given an estimated age of 50, while John is given an estimated age of 60. Despite their age, which for the formerly enslaved is quite elderly, they are working. Patsy is listed as a servant. John is listed as a farm hand. The next household listed is James Duvall, an overseer, who likely oversaw the tenant farmers, who were formerly enslaved.

By 1880, they are no longer listed in the census.

Prior to the war, John Hamilton had attempted an escape of his own from the estates of Benjamin Lee. In 1841, the Washington Daily Globe ran an advertisement for the return of John Hamilton.  He was described as “about 21 years of age, five feet seven or eight inches high, dark complexion, large head and short neck”.   Benjamin Lee offered a $100 reward for his return.

His clothing was described as “a dark kersey roundabout, white kersey pantaloons, blue and red striped home-spun waistcoat with metal buttons, and an old furred hat; he has other clothing and the probability is that he will change them”.

Kersey is a kind of coarse woolen cloth. Lee’s inventory showed he had about hundred sheep across his three estates with over 500 lbs of wool. Despite the wool production from the labor of the people he enslaved, there was no mention of a spinning wheel among his inventory. The kersey and the “home-spun” waistcoat was probably purchased from a local merchant or artisan rather than produced on the estate. Along with the world, was listed a small trunk with 16 pairs of stockings, 26 servant shirts, cloth for 12 coats and 6 servant frocks.

The color and the metal buttons of the homespun waistcoat suggests a more extravagant waistcoat than typically worn by a field laborer. The expense of the waistcoat suggested by the dye and metal buttons opens the possibility that John Hamilton is wearing a waistcoat handed down from Benjamin Lee; or that John Hamilton worked in the house and as such was dressed in his livery. Patricia Hunt-Hurst writes in her article about the clothing of the enslaved: “Unlike other items of clothing, vests [or waistcoats] were likely optional apparel, more decorative than functional, and thus rarely worn by slaves. They may have been a winter allotment for some plantations, perhaps as a hand-me-down or gift.”

During the war, on 12 July 1864, the Baltimore Sun ran a list of draftees for the Civil War.  Listed in the Seventh District for Prince George’s County is the name Jno. Hamilton, slave of the estate of Benj. Lee. Due to his age, it is unlikely he enlisted; no record has been found.

Sources:

Fields Barbara Jeanne. Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground : Maryland during the Nineteenth Century. Yale University Press 1985.

Hunt-Hurst, Patricia. “‘Round Homespun Coat & Pantaloons of the Same’: Slave Clothing as Reflected in Fugitive Slave Advertisements in Antebellum Georgia.” The Georgia Historical Quarterly, vol. 83, no. 4, 1999, pp. 727–40. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40584195. Accessed 21 May 2023.

Elizabeth Jones & Sally Woodard | Runaway

On August 29, 1858, Elizabeth Jones and Sally Woodward were committed to the DC Jail as runaways by S. W. Chipley. They were released to “Marshall Warren” two days later, on August 31.

In Chocolate City, the authors details that the Jail was built in 1839 and sits where the National Building Museum now sits. In the decades before the Civil War, the DC Jail was in the northeast corner of the block, near 4th and G, with the Tiber Creek trickling behind it. The building was known as the “Blue Jug” for the color of its walls and was three-stories of barred windows and stone cells and iron cages.

Secrets of the prison-house–the black hole of Washington, D.C. / from sketches made on the spot by our special artist, Mr. A. Lumley | loc.gov

In 1861, The Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper ran an article entitled “Persecution of Negroes in the Capitol-Astounding Revelations” (28 Dec 1861). One of the people quoted in the article describe the conditions of the jail:

“I find incarcerated in the city jail in this city, in the midst of filth, vermin and contagious diseases, on a cold stone floor, many without shoes, nearly all without sufficient clothing, bedding or fire, and all in half-starving condition, 60 colored persons, male and female, confined because — in the language of their commitments — they were suspected of being runaways, and no proofs had been adduced that they were not runaways.

The man who captured Elizabeth Jones and Sally Woodward was a police officer who likely patrolled the Island. This suggests that Elizabeth and Sally had made it across the Eastern River from Prince George’s County and into the District near the southern side of the Mall.

Samuel N. Chipley was recorded in the 1860 Census as a policeman living in Ward 7, who had been a County Constable in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1850. He was elected for County Constable for several years in Alexandria. By 1858, he is working in the District. The Daily National Intelligencer announced his commission as a police officer in the Seventh Ward in July 1858. The 1858 City Directory lists the address for Samuel L. Shipley as 124 C South, on the Island and southwest of the Capitol. He died in 1887, and was buried in Alexandria, Virginia.

The women were released after two days in the DC Jail to “Marshall Warren” which is likely an error and reference Marsham Waring.

Elizabeth Jones was likely the daughter of Joseph Jones and Barbara Ridout. In 1858, she would have been twelve years old. She escaped the Warings again in 1862 with her family when they fled to the District. They were listed in the Camp Barker registrations. In 1861, Lizy Jones and Notley Steward had her son Augustus baptized by the priests of White Marsh. No record of her after the 1862 escape has been found.

Sally Woodard was claimed by M. Virginia Mackubin, the daughter of Marsham Waring, on the compensation list submitted to the 1867 Commission on Slave Statistics for Prince George’s County. Mackubin had inherited the legal authority to enslave Sally when her father, Marsham Waring, died in 1860. Sally was listed in Waring’s Inventory as one of the people enslaved on the main estate, Warington. In the inventory, she had three children: Maria, age 8, Arthur, age 7, and an infant child.

In the 1870 Census, Sally is living in Bladensburg District of Prince George’s County, near the Zachariah Berry and Edward Magruder, and so along the boundary between Bladensburg and Queen Anne District and near the estates of the Warings.

She is living with her husband, John, and four children: Arthur (14), Matthews (12), Ellen (6), and Michael (4).

Mathew is likely the infant child based on a 1860 White Marsh record which records the baptism of Mathew, son of John and Sarah Woodward. Edward Wood sponsored the child.

John Woodard was claimed by Mortimer L. Wilson, on a compensation list submitted to the 1867 Commission on Slave Statistics. Mortimer was the eldest son of Joseph Hickman Wilson, who lived in Bladensburg District, near the border of Queen Anne District in Prince Geore’s County, Maryland in the antebellum years, before his death in 1857. He was the stepson of Amelia Violetta (Weems) Wilson, Jospeh Wilson’s second wife.

This contrasts with records related to the Civil War. In 1864, John Woodard was drafted and called into service with the USCT. His selection is announced in the 12 July 1864 edition of the Baltimore Sun, “John Woodward, slave of Virginia Wilson” (Amelia Virginia Wilson, was Mortimer’s step-sister). Woodard’s USCT Service records show that he did not report as order and was arrested; the charge of desertion was removed by Special Order #15. Additionally, the army considered him free as they did not receive papers for him on some muster rolls; others cited him as a slave.  Mortimer Lawrence Wilson submitted an oath sewing that he was the master and owner, and that he was loyal to the United States in order to claim compensation for the enlisted slave.  In 1892, Sarah Woodard filed a claim for a widow’s pension for her husband’s service in the A Unit of the 4 USCT Infantry.

Bachelor Jackson | Escaped

Washington Globe 13 Mar 1835, Washington | newspaperarchives.com

In 1835, Bachelor Jackson fled the capticity of Benjamin Lee, a physician and planter in Prince George’s County. His estate “Oak HIll” was located in Queen Anne District along the Western Branch of the Patuxent River.

Benjamin Lee most likely acquired Bachelor Jackson from his father-in-law, James Belt, who died in 1832. Bachelor, age 20, was listed in the 1832 Inventory of James Belt’s estate between Washington and Charles, both age 30.

Bachelor Jackson of Frederick County, MD

There was another Bachelor Jackson living in “Frederick Town” of Frederick County, Maryland, as a Black man with free status. Based on the census, he was betweeen the ages of 55 and 99. He had five other people in his household, both adults and children. It is possible that the enslaved Bachelor Jackson was related to him.

While geographically separated from Prince George’s County, there were connections between the two counties. Francis Scott Key, of “Star Spangled Banner” fame, was a lawyer in Frederick Town, and he was on the boat to observe the bombardment of Fort McHenry in order to secure the release of William Beanes, a Prince George’s County planter. Beane’s sister, Eleanor Beanes married James Mullikin of Mullikin’s Delight, situated to the northeast of the Sprigg and Lee estates. Samuel Sprigg, Lee’s neighbor, had lived in Frederick County prior to inheriting Northampton from his uncle Osborn Sprigg. Sprigg’s wife, Violetta Lansdale Sprigg was niece of James Belt via his wife Elizabeth Lansdale. Violetta Lansdale was the daughter of Thomas Lancaster Landale, a merchant in Queen Anne. Belt’s connection with the Lansdale and therefore Sprigg family suggests that Belt had connections with Frederick County.

Two pieces from newspapers further suggest the connection between Frederick and Prince George’s County.

In 1799, James Belt advertised for the return of Bob and Bash, two enslaved men who left his estate in Anne Arundel county. In his advertisment he shared that Bash had relations in Montgomery County on Hallings River, where Thomas Lansdale lately lived. Hallings river is presumably Hawlings River, a tributary of the Patuxent, near Brookeville.

The Maryland Gazette
05 Sep 1799, Thu  •  Page 2
newspapers.com

In 1825, D Sprigg advertised, as an agent for James Belt, the sale of a House and Lot on Potomac Street in Hagerstown [Washington County], “belonging to Capt. James Belt of Prince George’s County, now occupied by Mr. John McCurdy.

The Torch Light And Public Advertiser
15 Nov 1825, Tue · Page 4
newspapers.com

Another Bachelor

In 1789, William Smith of Seneca, Montgomery County, MD, advertised for the return of Bachelor, no last name given. Bachelor was born in Prince George’s County, about 5 miles from Upper Marlborough, “and having a numerous set of acquaintances and relations, in that county, he may endeavour to get among them”. Smith, though, thought he was more likely to go to Baltimore-Town or Fell’s Pount, as “I understood his mother lives and is free, who is or was lately kept by a Spanish or Portuguese seafaring captain, and keeps his house.” Both Chelsea (the land tract Belt owned in Prince George’s County) and Hazelwood (the estate owned by Thomas Lancaster) were about 5-7 miles from Upper Marlborough.

I can’t help but wonder if Bash, age 36, in 1799 and Bachelor, age 25 in 1789, are the same man, determined to be free. Both men have an estimated birth year of 1764/1765 and Bash could very well be a shortened form of Bachelor. And I can’t help but wonder if they are Bachelor Jackson of Frederick County who would have been born before 1776.

Bachelor Jackson is not listed in the 1840 census, though other Black families of free status are: Maria Jackson and her son, William Jackson, with an eldery woman, and his family, Augustus Jackson and his family, Kitty Jackson and her children and finally John and his family. They are all living in District 8 of Frederick County.

Relatives Left Behind

When Bachelor Jackson escaped Benjamin Lee, he no doubt left behind people from his family and larger kinship group.

Bachelor’s family name Jackson connects him with others Jacksons, and Marsham Waring, Lee’s brother-in-law, had several Jacksons enslaved on his Chelsea estate as evidenced by the compensation lists submitted by his children to the Commission on Prince George’s County Slave Statistics.

This is significant as Waring inherited the Chelsea estate through his wife, Violetta Lansdale Belt, the daughter of James Belt — suggesting that he not only inherited the real estate associated with the estate but also its chattel and the people enslaved by Belt.

Given NameAgeEst Birth YearName
Martha351825Martha
Minita31857Araminta
Sally61854Sarah
Maria81852Maria
Matilda101850Matilda
Washington161844Washington
Anna161844Ann
Ellen301830Eleanor
Mary Ellen41856Mary
Charles301830Charles
Robert201840Robert
Jim41856James
The chart shows the identified Jacksons in the Inventory; their given names and ages were compared to the given names and ages in the compensation list provided by James Waring’s administrator to the Commision on Prince George’s County Slave Statistics.

William and sons Charles & Robert Jackson

In 1831, a year before the death of James Belt, the priests of White Marsh recorded the baptism of Charles, the son of William Jackson (of James Belt) and Amelia (of Marsham Waring). Based on the 1832 Inventory, William was 24 and Bachelor was 20, suggesting that if they both had the family name Jackson that they were brothers.

Charles baptized by the priest appears in the 1860 Inventory of Marsham Waring’s estate, as they both have an estimated birth year of 1830/1831.

In 1870, Charles has reunited with his wife, Caroline, who was enslaved by Mary Hall. She is the daughter of Susan Weldon and Walter Harrison. Susan was enslaved by Mary Hall and Walter was ensalved by Walter W W Bowie. In 1870, they are living in Mitchellville, near the estate of Mary Hall.

Listed under Charles in the 1860 Marsham Waring Inventory is Robert, age 20. When he died in 1902, his son listed his parents as Amelia Stewart and William Jackson. We know the Warings enslaved other Stewarts as identified on the Prince George’s Slave Statistics.

In 1870, Robert is living near Robert W. W. Bowie and his wife Elizabeth L Bowie, the daughter of Marsham Waring. The Bowies lived on the estate of Locust Grove, purchased for them by Waring. Robert Jackson is neighbors with Jacob Jones, another freedman from the estate of Waring. By 1880, he had moved near Woodmore, near other members of the Jones Family. The Jones family had been enslaved on the Waring estate as well.

Martha Jackson & Children

In 1870, Martha and her children have reunited with her partner William Jackson. They are living near Suitsville and William, in his work as a Carpenter, as acquired a bit of personal property. By 1880 William and Martha have moved near Robert Jackson, the inferred brother of Charles.

This chart shows the family trees with the sources for the inferred relationships. It is inferred that the William of the census records is the same William named in the James Belt Inventory and the White Marsh Baptism due to the geographic proximity to Robert and similar estimated birth year in the 1880 census record.

William is listed as a carpenter in the 1870 census. Interestingly, there is a Washington Jackson (estimated birth year 1811) that is also a carpenter who is living in Nottingham District of Prince George’s County. He is too old to be the Washington Jackson in the Marsham Waring Inventory and he could be a brother to William and Bachelor, and the Washington of the Marsham Waring Inventory could be a nephew named after the elder Washington.

Peter Stewart | Draft

The Baltimore Sun | 12 Jul 1864, Tue · Page 1 | newspapers.com

In 1864, the Baltimore Sun ran the names of the people drafted for the Union Army from Prince George’s County, including the name of “Peter Stewart, slave of the estate of Benjamin Lee“.

Dr. Benjamin Lee had died during the war and his administrators created an inventory of his estate in 1863. The inventory did not include the name Peter.

The 1867 Slave Statistics provide an incomplete list of people enslaved in Queen Anne District [District 7] of Prince George’s County as reported by their enslavers. While submission of the list was voluntary, and not all estates and enslavers submitted a list. That said, it provides the names of over fourteen hundred enslaved people. The 1860 Slave Schedule recorded almost twenty-three hundred enslaved people. The Prince George’s County Slave Statistics names about 62% of the enslaved population in Queen Anne District. Of them, there is only one named Peter: Peter Ridout enslaved by Violetta Sprigg, the neighbor of Benjamin Lee. He was also named in the list.

The list also included the names of Thomas Brown and Jno Hamilton, enslaved on the estate of Benjamin Lee.

Jno. Hamilton is named — he and his partner Patsy are named near the beginning of the inventory list. In 1870, he and Patsy are living in the household of C. A Harding, the son-in-law of Benjamin Lee, and Eleanor Lee, Benjamin Lee’s widow. Patsy is working as a servant in the household, while John is laboring in the fields.

Inventory of Benjamin Lee estate WAJ 3:126 | Maryland State Archives

Thomas Brown, like Peter Stewart, is not named in the 1863 Inventory. He may be the “Tom” who fled Lee’s enslavement in 1859. Lee described him as a 32 or 33 year old man. Further information about Thomas Brown has not been found. If Peter fled Lee’s captivity, like Tom, then Lee does not appear to have advertised for his return.

The question persists if Peter Stewart was the name of a person enslaved by Benjamin Lee, or if the editors of the Draft List in the Baltimore Sun made a mistake as they transcribed and inserted names.

related posts

Mary Ridout | Stewart Connection

In 1929, Patrick Stewart, age 84, died of a stomach ailment. His son, J. T. Stewart, furnished the information for the death certificate for the District of Columbia records.

Patrick Stewart, age 84, was the son of Patrick Stewart and Mary Ridout. He was born around the year 1845, twenty years prior to the emancipation of the enslaved in Maryland, where he and his parents were born into chattel slavery.

Enslaved by John E Berry

In 1867, John E Berry, of Bladensburg in Prince George’s County, Maryland, submitted a list to the Commission of Prince George’s County Slave Statistics of the people he enslaved prior to emancipation in hopes of compensation from the federal government. Among those he listed were Patrick Stewart, age 20 and Mary Stewart, age 38.

While we do not have an age for Mary from the death certificate, the ages of the two Patricks are consistent with each other, both are born around 1845 — and Mary, the other Stewart, is old enough to have borne Patrick as her son.

The identification of Patrick’s mother as Mary Ridout opens up a line of inquiry about whether or not Mary Ridout is connected to the Stewarts of the Waring estates and to the Ridouts enslaved in and around the Waring estates.

Connected Posts: Barbara Jones | Ridout Family & Benjamin Lee and Augustus Jones | Stealing Horses

The connected posts discuss the details of this diagram more fully

Seat Pleasant

In the post on Barbara Jones’ connection to the Ridout family, we saw that Peter and Priscilla Ridout moved to the boundary between DC and Maryland, near Charles H Hays and we saw that Margaret (Peggy) Ridout and her daughter moved into the household of Geo R Wilfred Marshall, also near the boundary of DC and Maryland. The two families essentially bookend the area where Mary Stewart and her son Patrick are enslaved.

In the 1880s, Patrick Stewart purchased Lot #5 of the Seat Pleasant subdivision.  The land contained about 10.5 acres.  He paid $350 for the lot.

It sat on the former land of John E Berry, Jr. Berry, Jr., who 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.  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 emancipation.  

In the 1870 census, Patrick and his wife, Lidia, are living with their three daughters: Mary E [1864], Margaret [1866], and Rachel [1868]. By 1880, they have five more children: William [1870], Daniel [1872], John Thomas [1874], Jane E [1876], and Christiana [1880]. The name of their last daughter, Christiana illustrates the connection with the Ridout family. As seen, Barbara Ridout Jones had both a sister and daughter named a variation of Christiana.

Mary Ridout Stewart

Mary Ridout Stewart was living next door to her son, Patrick, in the 1870 census in the household of George and Grace Johnson and their children.

1870 Census for Bladensburg District in Prince George’s County | ancestry.com

This leads us to the suggestion that Grace is Mary’s daughter and Patrick’s sister.

Like Mary and Patrick Stewart, George Johnson was enslaved by John E Berry.  The two men likely worked the tobacco fields of Seat Pleasant, first as enslaved men and then as tenant farmers.  

Unlike the Patrick and George who were held in bondage on a large tobacco estate, Grace and her children were enslaved by a farmer, Charles H Hays, who likely grew produce for the Washington markets.  Hay’s farm was north of Seat Pleasant, along the DC border, where Peter and Priscilla moved after the war. 

When large estates were often valued above $10,000, Hay’s farm was valued at $2000.   Farms were smaller in this part of Prince George’s County and often grew other products instead of tobacco.  In 1864, Charles Hays advertised a reward of $5 for a cow that had strayed.  Upon his death, his farm of 105 acres was advertised for sale; the soil was described as well adapted for grazing and market gardening.  The land had a dwelling of six rooms and a tenement house of three rooms.  

The 1860 Slave Schedule lists 8 enslaved people for Hays, and Hays submitted the names of 10 people whom he enslaved. In addition to Grace and her children, Hays enslaved Letty Hanson, age 25.  Her first name is phonetically similar to that of Lidia, Patrick’s wife.  

By 1880, Mary Ridout Stewart and her husband, Patrick Stewart, are living together in the household of Patrick Stewart and Lidia with their children. Patrick (Jr.) has yet to buy the land in Seat Pleasant. From neighboring houses, it appears that they are living near Buena Vista near the Waring Estates, in the newly created Kent District along the boundary with Queen Anne District and near close and extended family.

Dwelling NumberRelativeRelationship to Mary Ridout
253Patrick Stewart (Sr.)Husband
253Patrick Stewart (Jr.)Son
258Grace JohnsonDaughter
247Michael JonesSon of Barbara’s brother-in-law
244Bettie FletcherBarbara’s sister in law
92Geo StewartInferred Nephew, as he is son of James Stewart

The table lists the dwelling numbers of people related within the extended kin group of Mary Ridout. Dwellings 253 & 258 are members of her immediate family and include her children. Dwellings 247 and 244 are members of the Jones family that Barbara Ridout, Mary’s inferred sister, partnered with. Elizabeth (Bettie) Fletcher was the daughter of Richard and Mary Jones. And dwelling 92, which can be identified as being in the geographic vicinity as it is neighboring Jos. K Roberts house is the household of George Stewart, the son of James Stewart.

James Stewart was listed in Marsham Waring’s 1860 inventory with Notley Stewart, who fathered Barbara Ridout Jones’s grandchild, Augustus Jones. Also listed with James and Notley was Patrick Stewart. During the Civil War and shortly after the abolition of slavery in the District, Patrick and Notley fled to DC with many others from the Waring estates. James Waring, as administrator of his father’s estate, went to the District to seek their return, swearing an affidavit that they were from Maryland and therefore subject to his enslavement. Records of Patrick Stewart are not found, though records of the others in Camp Barker and Camp Springdale have been found. Likewise, Patrick in the 1870 census has yet to be identified. However, it appears he reunited with his family by 1880.

related posts

Barbara Jones | Ridout Family

Joseph and Barbara had several children and lived on the Waring estates.

A White Marsh baptism record from 1854 gives a clue to her family before her union with Joseph. The priests recorded her family name as “Reyder”. Given the phonetic spelling of the priests who were not English, it suggests the possibility of Barbara being related to the Ridout family.

Peter and Priscilla Ridout, Inferred Brother

In the 1867 Commission on Slave Statistics, the estate for James Waring (dec.) submitted a compensation list that included other Ridouts:

Family NameGiven NameAge
RidoutPriscilla37
RidoutEliza22
RidoutHenny2

In the 1870 Census, Priscilla can be found in a household with Peter Ridout, which suggests that Priscilla’s family name is not Ridout, but adopted upon her union with Peter. Peter appears on a compensation list submitted by Violetta Sprigg, the widow of Samuel Sprigg, the former governor of Maryland. In 1870, Peter and Priscilla are living in Bladensburg, next door to Charles H Hays. They are also living within the vicinity of Alex McCormick, Barbara Jones’ neighbor in 1870.

1870 Census for Bladensburg District, Prince George’s County | ancestry.com
1861 Martenet Map of Prince George’s County with annotations marking McCormick, Hays, the Waring estate and the Sprigg estate | loc.gov

In 1880, Peter and Priscilla have moved into the District along Central Avenue, just as Joseph and Barbara have moved from McCormick’s farm to Central Avenue. Joseph and Barbara Jones are enumerated at household 169, while Peter and Priscilla are enumerated at household 171.

The likelihood of Peter and Barbara being siblings is based on a few things.

  1. Joseph and Barbara named one of their sons Peter, who would continue to live in the District near Central Avenue into the 20th century. It would appear they named Peter after Barbara’s brother Peter.
  2. Peter and Barbara’s estimated birth years: Barbara has an estimated birth year of [1829] based on the 1870 census, while Peter has an estimated birth year of [1817]. They are approximately 12 years apart; this difference falls within the range of a woman’s typical child-bearing years of 15-45 (or 30 years).
  3. Their geographic proximity to each other both prior and after emancipation. They resided on neighboring estates and left the immediate vicinity of the estates after emancipation and lived near each other after emancipation.

Ridouts of Sprigg’s Northampton Estate

Violetta Sprigg submitted not only the name of Peter Ridout to the 1867 Commission on Slave Statistics, but also the names of other Ridouts.

Family NameGiven Name [Name]Age
RidoutJames50
RidoutPeter48
RidoutPeggy [Margaret]66
RidoutHanson18
RidoutChristianna [Christina]25

Based on her age, Margaret (Peggy) Ridout is assumed to be the mother of the family group. The chart below was created to evaluate the likelihood that Margaret (Peggy) is the mother of the other Ridouts.

Using Margaret’s birth year, we can estimate her child-bearing years as when she was 15-45. In the 1870 census, Margaret (Peggy) Ridout is listed as 80 years old, which indicates it’s likely an estimated age, though it places her birth year as 1790. In the 1867 Prince George’s County Slave Statistics, she is 66, giving her an estimated birth year of 1801, a full decade later; while in Samuel Sprigg’s 1855 inventory, she is listed as 63, giving her an earlier estimated birth year of 1792, closer to her 1870 census age. For purposes of the chart, we will use the ages in the 1855 inventory, as it appears that the compiler of the compensation lists for the Prince George’s County Slave Statistics used the ages in the inventory.

Margaret is shown with her birth year mark and a line drawn to represent her child-bearing years, and her children’s estimated birth years are plotted as well. James and Peter appear to have been born toward the beginning of her child-bearing years while Christina was born later in her years. Henson falls outside of the 15-45 year range, though within a margin of error of five years.

In 1870, Margaret has also left the Sprigg estate and moved closer to the District. She is living in the household of [Geo R] Wilfred Marshall, a neighbor of Robert W. Brooke.

Annotated Excerpt of 1861 Martenet Map of Prince George’s County marking the Sprigg Estate and household of Robert W Brooke | loc.gov

Also living in the household is Christy Ann [Christina] Beall. She is 35 years old with an estimated birth year of 1835, which suggests she is Christina (Christianna) Ridout, the inferred granddaughter of Margaret (Peggy) Ridout and is confirmed by her son’s death certificate. In 1911, Daniel Bell (Jr.) died in New York City, where he had migrated and was working as a driver. His death certificate lists his parents as Daniel Bell and Christina Ridout.

1870 Census for Bladensburg District, Prince George’s County | ancestry.com

In 1822, the priests of White Marsh recorded a baptism of Richard, the son of Richard Ridout and Margaret Brockx [sic]. The transcriber proposed the family name Briscoe in brackets. However, based on the family names of other people enslaved by the Spriggs in the 1867 Prince George’s County Slave Statistics, I suggest the surname Brookes. This will be explored further in a different post.

Patterns in Given Names

When looking at the given names of the enslaved, it is ambiguous who gave the name. Was it the parents, or was it the enslaver?

When looking at names of those born within the 18th century, and especially earlier in the century when Maryland planters were importing larger numbers of Africans to labor on their fields, it is more likely the names were imposed on the Africans by the Marylanders. In later generations, especially after the abolishment of the international slave trade in 1808, the names originally given by the Marylanders to the first generation of African appear to be given to their African-American descendants by their parents and grandparents as a way of marking kin groups within a world that cared little for their families and relationships.

The identified generations of Ridouts have names that repeat across the generations, suggesting kin groups.

Generation 1

Two white-generated source documents allow us to identify the first generation of Ridouts living in the vicinity of the Waring/Sprigg estates along the Western Branch of the Patuxent River:

  1. the White Marsh baptism record that identifies Margaret’s (Peggy) partner as Richard
  2. a War of 1812 claim for two enslaved people (more about War of 1812 claims in general can be read about on the Maryland State Archives site)

In 1828, Tilghman Hilleary, a neighbor of Marsham Waring, sought compensation for the Andrew and Peter Ridout, who runaway from the Hillearys during the War of 1812.

Born before 1808, it is possible that Richard, Andrew and Peter were forced to migrate from Africa to Maryland as laborers. However, due to a common family name, it is likely that Peter, Richard and Andrew are born in Maryland to enslaved Africans or African-Americans. Their exact relationship to each other is unknown; the common family name suggests brothers or cousins. Given the few number of Ridouts identified in the Prince George’s County records (e.g., the Prince George’s County Slave Statistics, the White Marsh Baptism records, the 1870 census), it seems more probable that they are brothers, rather than cousins, from a father brought to Prince George’s County by his enslaver (either by the Hilleary or Sprigg families, who appear to be an intertwined family themselves in previous generations).

Peter’s name gets repeated in later generations.

Generation 1 Names
Peter
Andrew
Richard

Generation 2

Shifting to the second generation, or specifically the children of Richard Ridout and Margaret (Peggy), we can identify the children from the Samuel Sprigg Inventory, the Prince George’s County Slave Statistics and the White Marsh records. No doubt there are as yet unidentified children of Richard and Margaret.

Of note, Richard and Peter are repeated. Richard (Jr.) is mostly named after his father, while the use of Peter for their other son, suggests that Peter (Sr.) was a close relative. The use reinforces the idea that Peter, Andrew and Richard of Generation 1 were brothers.

Generation 2 Names
Peter
James
Richard
Henson
Christina
Barbara

Possible Generation 2

One of the possible unidentified children of Richard and Margaret may be the partner of Sophia Ridout, claimed by John Contee’s administrator in the Prince George’s County Slave Statistics. She may also be partnered with either James or Richard. No other records related to Sophia and her children have been identified. Contee’s list did not name an adult male Ridout, suggesting that he may have been enslaved on another estate, leaving open the possibility that he was James, Richard, and Henson.

She uses the name Richard (Dick) for her son, likely named for either his father or uncle.

Contee’s estate was in the same neighborhood of Waring and Sprigg.

Generation 3

This generation brings us to Barbara (Ridout) Jones, who initiated the line of inquiry. She was identified in the White Marsh record as Barbara Reyder. The names of her children reinforce the idea that she was a Ridout descended from Richard and Margaret.

The use of White Marsh Baptism Records, the Prince George’s County Slave Statistics, and the 1870 & 1880 Census records allows us to identify the following children for Barbara (Ridout) Jones:

Four out of six of Barbara’s children share the names of her inferred siblings. The fifth child, Sophia, shares a name with the inferred sister-in-law, Sophia, who lived with her children on the neighboring Contee estate.

Generation 2 NamesGeneration 3 Names
PeterPeter Jones
JamesJames Jones
RichardRichard Henson Jones
HensonRichard Henson Jones
ChristinaChristina Jones
Barbara

Tentative Conclusion

The use of repeated given names across generations; the proximity to other Ridouts on neighboring estates, along with proximity after emancipation as they congregated toward Seat Pleasant and Lincoln suggests that Barbara was a child of Richard and Margaret Ridout.

related posts

Joseph Jones

Connected Post: Richard (Dick) Jones & Mary (Polly) Jones | Old Age

Richard (Dick) Jones and his wife, Mary (Polly) were born at the end of the Revolutionary War and lived until the start of the Civil War in Queen Anne District of Prince George’s County. The vast majority of their life was spent on the estates of Marsham Waring. They and their children labored for Waring and his three children, as well as neighboring estates. This post explores the life of one of their sons, Joseph Jones.

Chart showing Mary’s estimated child-bearing years and identified children | Subject to Change

Joseph Jones was one of Mary’s younger sons. He labored on Warington, which was the main dwelling estate for the Warings, along with his parents, wife and children

Joseph and Barbara had three of their children’s baptisms recorded by the priests of White Marsh.

  • “Johns, Christina, daughter of Jos. Johns & Barbara Reyder, his wife, born May 3, 1854, property of Mr. Marsh. Waring. Godmother: Susana Steward.”
  • “Do: James, 2 weeks old, of Joseph & Barbara, property of M. Waring. Sp: Selley.” [1857]
  • “Bapt’. Richard of Joe & Barbara Jones, col’, 10 weeks old. Spons: Bettzy Fletcher for Martha Colbert.” [1860]

In May 1862, a group of enslaved people from Waring’s estates fled to DC with James Waring, Marsham’s son, pursuing them. He swore out an affidavit, swearing that they were enslaved in Maryland, not the District, and therefore he was lawfully able to seek their return to bondage. Joseph Jones was among those named by Waring.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Records of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Relating to Slaves, 1851-1863; Microfilm Serial: M433; Microfilm Roll: 3 | ancestry.com

Joseph and his wife, Barbara, and their children are listed on a registration list for Camp Barker, a refugee camp set up in the northern part of the City of Washington, near U street and Vermont Avenue.

The image places the 1860 Waring Inventory on top for comparison with the names on the registration list estimated to be either in 1863 or 1864 based on other lists in the book.
U.S., Freedmen’s Bureau Records, 1865-1878 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2021. | ancestry.com
Marsham Inventory WAJ 2:321 | Maryland State Archives
1869 Plan of the city of Washington : the capitol [sic] of the United States of America | loc.gov

“The present shelter of the refugees in Washington is called Camp Barker. We visited it on the 25th of 11th month. It consists of a large oblong square, surrounded on three sides by huts or barracks, and other buildings, all opening within the square; and by a high fence on the west side. The entrance is under a military guard. The huts, about forty-eight in number, are about twelve feet square, and each have from ten to twelve inmates. There are also several large tents, occupied by old or infirm men, and two buildings called hospitals—one for men, and one for women. The residence of the superintendent is within the enclosure.”

Report of a Committee of Representatives of New York Yearly Meeting of Friends upon the condition and wants of the colored refugees. | loc.gov

In 1861, the baptism for Augustus, the son of Lizy Jones and Notley Steward was recorded. Augustus is in the registration list for Camp Barker with Joe, Barbara [Patsy] and Elizabeth. Notley Stewart, with Joseph Jones, was listed on the affidavit by James Waring. Notley is not listed with the Jones family, though Elizabeth and Augustus are listed together.

At some point, they may have been transferred from Camp Barker to Camp Springdale, which was the precursor to Freedmen’s Village on the Arlington Estate (owned by Robert E Lee’s wife) and what would become Arlington Cemetery. They appear on a list of those who left Camp Springdale. The note indicates that they “gone to do for themselves”

U.S., Freedmen’s Bureau Records, 1865-1878 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2021. | ancestry.com

After the war, Joseph and his family settle outside the City of Washington in the District in and around Benning’s Road. In 1870, they lived near Alex McCormick along the Maryland-District Border. McCormick had used his location along the border to hide the people he enslaved in Maryland when the District abolished slavery. The family successfully petitioned for their freedom. See Civil War DC for more information about this petition. Living with McCormick in 1870 is Robert Jones, a nephew of Joseph Jones. Of their children, Sophia and Peter are not listed with them in 1870. Peter rejoins them in 1880, but not Sophia. This suggests the likelihood she died, though it is possible she married.

1861 Topographical map of the District of Columbia | loc.gov

It’s likely that Barbara died in 1896; a death record for a Barbara Jones, born around 1824 in Maryland can be found. She was buried in Mt. Olivet, a Catholic cemetery. No family members are listed.

Her son, Peter Jones, is still living in the vicinity of Benning’s Road in the 1900 Census. He is working in a stock yard, and his son, Peter Jones, Jr. is working as a jockey.

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