Dinah Descendant – stories of Then

Dinah Brown & Lawrence Wood

After the Civil War ended, Dinah Brown married Lawrence Wood. Dinah was the daughter of Charles Brown and Susan Wood. She was named for the grandmother of Susan, who had been enslaved by Robert Darnall. [See Fishwick v. Sewall, and the post on Dinah’s Descendants] Dinah and her descendants were enslaved by the Robert Darnall and then devised to Robert Sewall and his heirs.

Dinah was listed as the youngest of Susan “Suck” Wood’s children in the 1853 Inventory of Robert D Sewall’s estate at “Poplar Hill”. Her age was recorded as 7; her estimated birth year was 1846.

Her marriage to Lawrence Wood was solemnized in January 1866 when she was 22 years old.

early marriage years

After their marriage, they lived near “Poplar Hill” and Dinah’s brother, Joseph Henry Brown, near the Catholic Church where Rosaryville would develop into a town. The first map is from Martenet’s Map of Prince George’s County in 1863. The second map is from Hopkin’s Atlas of Prince George’s County in 1878. The development of Cheltenham and Rosaryville results from the building of the railroad and the development of villages after emancipation.

Excerpt from Martenet’s 1863 Map with my annotations | loc.gov

Excerpt from Hopkin’s 1878 Atlas with my annotations | loc.gov

In the 1870 census, they lived with their two children: Louisa and Buddy, and a teenager named Thorton. The 1870 census did not record relationships leaving us to infer relationships.

In the 1880 census, they are still living near Dinah’s siblings and her mother. They have an additional son, which they named after Lawrence. Dinah is working as a cook.

searching for Lawrence Wood prior to emancipation

Dinah’s family has strong ties to “Poplar Hill” and the “Woodyard”, her family having lived there since Susan’s grandmother was brought from Dorchester County prior to 1775, when Darnall moved to “Poplar Hill” with his step-daughter Jane Fishwick who had enslaved Dinah prior to Darnall taking possession of Dinah.

Lawrence does not appear in the 1853 inventory and his name, Lawrence is not one that appears in the 1821 inventories or other identified records related to “Poplar Hill”.

enslaved by Charles F Calvert

A “Lorenzo Wood” appears in the lists submitted to Prince George’s County Commission on Slave Statistics and compiled in 1867 & 1868. As enslavers had been been compensated for their “lost property” when the District had emancipated the enslaved in 1862, Maryland enslavers also hoped for compensation and many submitted lists to the commission. The Dangerfield family who owned “Poplar Hill” did not submit a list. However, Charles F Calvert submitted the name “Lorenzo Wood” along with sixteen other names.

Charles F Calvert was descendant from “the Calverts”. He purchased the tract of land he called “Belle Chance” which situation on the north part of the land that would become Andrews Air Force Base in the 1840s. Prior to his purchase of “Belle Chance”, he is listed in the 1840 census near Wm. P Brinham and Joseph B Hill, suggesting he owned land near the southern edge of “Poplar Hill”.

Calvert, before and after his purchase of Belle Change” was a neighbor of the Sewalls and the Dangerfields at “Poplar Hill”. As evidenced by the “Early Records of White Marsh”, Sewall allowed the people he enslaved to enter into relationships on neighboring estates. 1828 Baptismal Records identifies the following relationships:

James and Sarah were identified as husband and wife; James was enslaved by Arthur West and Sarah was enslaved by Sewall.
Barney and Betsey were identified as husband and wife; Barney was enslaved by Jane Stone and Betsey by Sewall.
Nicholas and Ann were identified as husband and wife; Nicholas was enslaved by Sewall and Ann by Joseph Hill.

The same may be possible for the Dangerfields who inherited “Poplar Hill” after 1853, allowing Lawrence “Lorenzo” Wood to meet Dinah Brown.

The list submitted by Calvert lists 4 people with the surname Wood:

Betsy Wood, age 49
Francis L. Wood, age 17
Josephine Wood, age 15
Lorenzo Wood, age 18

Lawrence Wood is listed as 27 in the 1870 Census records, nine years older than the age reported in the “Slave Statistics”. It is often ambiguous what age the enslaver used for the “Slave Statistics”. For example, Marsham Waring’s heirs used the same ages as on the early 1860s inventory compiled for his estate, even though the list suggests it represents their age at 1864. Others used their 1867 age. For Lawrence Wood and Lorenzo Wood to be within 9 years of each other suggests that they are the same.

The organization of his list makes it hard to tell if those with the same surname are closely related and if they are family groups. If we assume that they are, this suggests that Betsy Wood if the mother of the three teenagers.

Sources

Early Records of the White Marsh Church, Prince George’s County, Maryland. Bowie, MD: Prince Georges County Genealogical Society, 2005. Print.

Dinah and her Daughters

In a previous post, we explored the children of Susan Wood, who married Charles Brown, both of whom were listed in the 1853 Inventory of Robert Darnall Sewall. One of Susan’s children was named Dinah. She was likely named after Susan Wood’s grandmother, Dina.

Dina in 1821

Dina, age 66, is listed in the 1821 inventory of Robert Sewall. She would have been born in 1755. She is listed with two adult males, Abraham, 38, and Jack, 19. Their relationship to Dina is unclear.

Dina before the Sewalls

Robert Sewall inherited the legal authority to enslave Dina and her offspring when Robert Darnall died in 1803. Prior to that Dina had been in the possession of Robert Darnall and his step-daughter, Jane Fishwick.

Prior to reacquiring “Poplar Hill” in 1773, Robert Darnall had lived in Dorchester County across the Chesapeake Bay, with his wife, the wealthy widow, Sarah Fishwick. When he was able to buy back “Poplar Hill”, Darnall brought his wife and his step-daughter from Dorchester County to Prince George’s County.

When the Darnalls moved, Jane Fishwick brought her personal “servant” with her, separating Dina from kin in Dorchester and bringing her to work in the Darnall household.

While in Prince George’s County, Jane fell ill and died in 1775. Her illness required medical care, which Darnall was not prepared to pay without being recompensed out of Fishwick’s estate. As a result, he claimed Dinah and her children as his chattel property.

Decades after Fishwick’s death, other kin laid claim to Dina and her children, saying that Darnall had illegally taking possession of her and her subsequent children.

The ensuing legal case, “Fenwick v Sewall” [1818], named Dinah and her children and grandchildren, which when compared against the 1821 Sewall Inventory [TT 4:352], provides additional connections between family members. Those named include: Fanny, Phillis, John, Paul, Moses, Susannah, Pat, Isaac, Charles, Nelly, Sally, John, Sampson, Tom, Nancy, Kit, Anna, Harriott. [p. 397]

“Dinah had seven children, to wit, Fanny, Patt, &c named in the declaration all of whom were living, and were born after the death of the plaintiff’s intestate:

John &c are the children of Fanny
Isaac, Nancy &c are the children of Patt and
Harriott is the daughter of Nancy who is deceased and who is the daughter of Dinah.”

[Bulleting mine]

In the dispositions, Dinah was said to have been the mother of seven children and ten grandchildren. In a later case, an additional claim was made as Sal, Pat, and Phyllis [1821] had a child in the interim.

Many of these names correspond to the names included in the 1821 Inventory of Robert Sewall [TT 4:352], the heir of Robert Darnall who is alleged to have taken unlawful possession of Dinah and her offspring after Fishwick’s death.

Dina

Inventory Line Number	Name	Age	Est BY	Notes
81	Dina	66	1755	There are two women named Dinah enumerated (age 66 and 37) in the inventory. If Dinah was old enough to be a mother and grandmother of 17 people in 1818, as well as seen by Dr. Digges in 1775 with a nursing child, then this excludes the younger Dina whose estimated birth year of 1784 makes her too young. And assumes the older Dina who would have an estimated birth year of 1755. Dina is listed with Abraham, age 38, and Jack, age 19; neither are listed in the court case.

Fan & children (1 child + 4 grandchildren) [Wood]

In the 1821 Inventory of Robert Sewall, the following family group is recorded:

Fan is listed with her four children, John, Paul, Suck, and Moses, and her daughter-in-law Phillis and her two grandchildren, Eliza and Kitty.

Previous posts have talked about the children as individuals, and their children as identified in the 1870 census. [John Wood, Eliza Wood, William Hannibal Brown Gantt].

Inventory Line Number	Name	Age	Est BY	Notes
50	Fan	46	1775	Fan is likely Fanny. She is listed with her children, one of who has children of their own. Based on her age, she is inferred to be the daughter of Dinah.
52	Phillis*	24	1797	She is listed with two children: Eliza, 6, Kitty, 2. Neither of these children would have been born when the suit was brought forth in 1812, and are not likely to be listed in the original list of seventeen. Phyllis is named in the 1821 appeal for having a child in the interim and this could refer to Kitty born around 1819. In the case summary, Richard Burgess testified that all Dinah was mother or grandmother of all, except one which the witness believed was a female but her name he did not recollect” As Eliza was listed in the 1853 as a Wood, and John &c is named as a child of Fan and Phillis is listed prior to John in the list, it suggests that Phillis is John’s partner and not his sibling. [see below]
51	John	23	1798	John is likely the John Wood, age 55, named in the 1853 Robert D Sewall inventory [JH 2:699] who is listed between the family groups of Eliza and Kitta in the inventory. It is unclear from the 1821 inventory if John and Phyllis are siblings or partners. However, based on Burgess’s recollection it is likely they are partners. Since he is listed as a descendant of Dinah in the court case, therefore the grandson of Dinah.
56	Paul	19	1802	Based on his age and the fact he is listed below Fan, he is inferred to be the grandson of Dinah. Three Pauls appear in the 1853 Inventory, all born after the 1821 Inventory was compiled. One of the Pauls is the son of Charles and Suck. See more about this relationship in the row about “Suck”/Susannah.
57	Moses	13	1808	Based on his age and the fact he is listed below Fan, he is inferred to be the grandson of Dinah. He is likely the Moses named in the will of William H B Sewall, the son of Richard Sewall and the brother of Robert D. Sewall. William had inherited the St. Mary’s County properties from his father Robert Sewall upon his death in 1820 and the legal authority to enslave a portion of the people enslaved by the Sewalls. In his will dated 1824, he requested that Robert D Sewall “give my servant Moses his freedom when he arrives at the age of 23.” [St. Mary’s EJM 1:225] A Moses, 22, was included in Wm HB Sewall’s St. Mary’s County 1831 Tax Assessment. This is consistent with the age of Moses in the 1821 Inventory. In 1832, Robert D. Sewall fulfilled the request and registered Moses’ certificate of freedom in St. Mary’s County. As he was freed in 1832, it is not expected to find him in the 1853 inventory.
56	Suck	17	1804	Based on her age and the fact she is listed below Fan, she is inferred to be the granddaughter of Dinah. She is in the 1853 inventory as “Luck” and is grouped with Charles, her inferred partner, and their children. Among her children’s names are Paul, Susannah, Phillis, Dinah, John, Charles. All of these names occur in the list compiled for the court case. Death certificates for Susan’s children (who lived in Rosaryville after the Civil War and emancipation) name their parents as Charles Brown and Susan Wood.

Pat & children (1 child + 3 grandchildren) [Brown]

Inventory Line Number	Name	Age	Est BY	Notes
59	Pat	42	1779	Based on her age, she is inferred to be the daughter of Dinah. She is listed with Andrew, age 47, and who is not named in the list, suggesting that Andrew is Pat’s partner and not her sibling. In the 1821 inventory she is listed with children ranging from ages 1 to 18 [eight children total]. Of the children: Isaac, Kitty and Charles were born prior to 1812 and the start of the court case. Pat is named in the 1821 appeal for having a child in the interim and this could refer to her other children: Tom, Nancy, Milly, William and Nelly. Of these children, the names Tom, Nancy, and Nelly appear in the list, suggesting the familial relationship. She appears in the 1853 Inventory with her son, William.
60	Isaac	18	1803	Based on his age and the fact he is listed below Pat, he is inferred to be the grandson of Dinah. Isaac is likely the Isaac Brown, age 50, listed in the 1853 Robert D Sewall inventory. He is listed with an inferred partner, Sally Ann, and his children, among whom are Patsey, 20, Isaac, 19, Kitty, 11, Charles, 8, and Sam 6. These names correspond with the original list.
62	Charles	11	1810	Based on his age and the fact he is listed below Pat, he is inferred to be the grandson of Dinah. Charles does not appear to be listed in the 1853 inventory. Susannah “Suck” Wood, daughter of Pat, partnered with a Charles Brown and fathered many children. It is possible that she partnered with her first-cousin Charles, son of Pat. This has been ruled out due to the estimated birth years of both Charles. In 1821, Charles Brown, son of Pat, has an estimated birth year of 1810. In 1853, Charles, partner of Susannah, is listed as 54 years old, giving him an estimated birth years of 1799, a full decade earlier. His age in the 1853 inventory is consistent with the 1870 census which lists him as 75 and gives him an estimated birth year of 1795, ruling this Charles out as her partner.
61	Kitty	15	1805	Based on her age and the fact she is listed below Pat, she is inferred to be the granddaughter of Dinah. The five inferred children of Fan were listed immediately after Fan in the list provided by Berry and assumed to be copied in the same order as the primary source. However, Kit in the list, is not immediately after Charles, which suggests that it may be a different Kit/Kitty.

Nelly (1 child)

Inventory Line Number	Name	Age	Est BY	Notes
St Mary’s Inventory[TT 5:25]	Nelly	30	1791	Based on her age, she is inferred to be the daughter of Dinah. Like Moses, son of Fan, she appears to have been separated from her family and kept at the St. Mary’s County properties. She was listed with a child, Eliza, who would have been born after 1812 and prior to the 1818 judgment. She appears in Wm HB Sewall’s St. Mary’s County 1831 Tax Assessment; she is listed as 40, giving her the same estimated birth year of 1791. The assessment is sorted by age and so it is difficult to infer if she had additional children.

Sally (1 child + 1 grandchild)

There are three Sal/Sal/Sale listed in the Inventory, all roughly the same age: 26, 29, 24.

Inventory Line Number	Name	Age	Est BY	Notes
19	Sale	24	1797	She is listed as “Sale”, which makes her name the most phonetically similar to Sally, listed in the court case. However, where she is positioned in the 1821 inventory places her far away from the other children and grandchildren of Dinah. This suggests that is not the daughter of Dinah.
68	Sal	29	1792	She is listed amidst the other children and grandchildren of Dinah, heading a household that immediately follows Pat’s. This would lend circumstantial support that this is the correct “Sally” Additionally, she has two children: Hariot, age 9 and William, age 5. Sal is also named in the 1821 court case which suggests that William was born after the 1818 judgment, although his age of 5 suggests he was born before 1818.
St Mary’s Inventory[TT 5:25]	Sal	26	1795	Like Nelly and Moses, if this is the correct Sal, she would have been in St. Marys County. She is listed with her children immediately prior to Nelly, which suggests the relationship between the two as inferred sisters. Likewise, she is listed with three children: Tom, born 1811 and possibly named in the list, and two children born after 1818 (17 months and 3 weeks). The ages of the children align better with the details from the court case. Based on her age and the ages of her children, she is inferred to be the daughter of Dinah.

The Brothers Clarke (3 children)

Inventory Line Number	Name	Age	Est BY	Notes
73	John	41	1780	John Clarke “old” is listed in the 1853 Inventory after the Kitty (Wood) family group. He is listed without an age. Pat, his inferred sister, at 74 is listed as the oldest person in the inventory with a listed age. If “old” John Clarke is Pat’s brother, and the Capt John identified in the 1821 inventory, then he would have been born one year after Pat. The designation of Capt would indicate that he was trained as a carpenter.
72	Sampson	37	1784	After Sal, the inventory lists 4 adult males: Tom, Sampson, Capt John, and Capt George. These names [John, Sampson, Tom] occur in the same sequence and what we have seen is that the list of people mostly mirrors the list in the 1821 inventory.
71	Tom	32	1789	Thomas Clarke is listed in the 1853 Inventory near the start, between other identified Clarke children. He is listed as 70 (which may be an estimation of his old age). In the 1821 Inventory he is listed with his brothers away from his partner and children, as was typical of plantations. The 1853 inventory lists him with partner Charity, allowing us to infer that his partner and children are listed in the 1821 inventory, albeit in a different section [Line Number 90-93]. This places them as the second family group after Dinah the matriarch.

Nancy [deceased] ( + grandchildren)

[Nancy], Kit, Anna, Harriott “Harriott is the daughter of Nancy, who is deceased”

Nancy does not appear in the 1821 inventory and it is unclear if Anna or Harriot are listed. A Harriot is listed as 9 years old who is the daughter of Sal, who was previously discussed and set aside as the Sal mentioned in the courtcase. However, she is listed between Fan and Pat (and their offspring) before the Brothers Clarke and their inferred wives and offspring. This suggests that Ann and Sal may be the same, as Sally Ann is a common combination.

If “Isaac, Nancy &c are the children of Patt”, this would suggest Sal/Ann took in Harriott after Nancy died. Without further documentation it is speculation.

Eliza Wood

Eliza Wood is the daughter of John Wood; both are listed in the 1853 Inventory of Robert Darnall Sewall [JH 2:699].

Eliza’s Children

In the 1853 Inventory, Eliza is 38 years old and listed with six children. Her children are about two years apart. She is not listed with a partner, unlike other family groups. This suggests that her partner was likely enslaved by another. If Martha Ann is her oldest, then she began to have children when she was 26.

Name	Age	Est BY	Identified Name Connections
Martha Ann	12	1841
Henny	10	1843
John Robert	8	1845	John is the name of Eliza’s father
Mary Jane	6	1847
Fanny	4	1849	Fanny is the name of Eliza’s grandmother
Phillis	1	1852	Phillis is the name of Eliza’s mother

After Emancipation

Eliza and some of her children are identified in the US Federal Census as still living in close proximity to Poplar Hill after emancipation in 1870 and 1880. I have yet to locate John Robert and Mary Jane.

“Poplar Hill” can be identified on the 1863 Martenet Map of Prince George’s County by the name H(enry) Dangerfield, the guardian of Sewall’s nieces who inherited land from Sewall. Immediately south of Woodyard in the north part of Surrats District, the road leading south to Surratsville (present-day Clinton) cut the land into two pieces.

Martenet labeled a Mill near Henry Dangerfield and the Woodyard intersection. This mill can be identified in the 1870 Census as dwelling number 21, with Head of Household Henry Tarman who was identified as a Miller. Immediately enumerated after him is Annie Marshall in dwelling number 22. She is the mother of WH Marshall who is named on the map and who had moved out of state after the Civil War.

Households 23-32, 35-42, 47-49 are freed Black families who have names with connections to the 1853 Inventory. The enumerator appears to have followed the road south from Woodyard and then turned right [northwest] onto the road to the Jenkins property.

Members of the Eliza Wood family are enumerated among these households.

Eliza & ‘Feles’ with grandchildren

In the 1870 census, Eliza is listed as the head of household with her occupation listed as “keeping house”, a phrase usually reserved for a woman taking care of her own house (as opposed to “domestic” which indicated work as a servant). There is no indication of a partner. She is living with ‘Feles’, age 19, likely to be Phillis who was one in the 1853 inventory, and two children: Susanna Johnson, age 7, and Fannie Johnson, infant.

They are listed in dwelling number 26.

Phillis was married in 1870; the officiant McDonald, was a priest for the Catholic Church. She married James Clarke in September. James was listed in dwelling number 25 of the 1870 census.

Martha Ann & Charles Johnson

In 1870, Martha and Charles are not found in the US Federal Census, though to of their children are listed with Eliza (Susanna and Fannie). This suggests that they either lived separated from the Wood family, or the enumerator only listed those “at home” at the time of the record, rather than asking about additional family members.

In 1880, Eliza is living with the Charles Johnson household (dwelling number 173). She is listed as a “Cook”. She likely worked for a private family. She may work for the same private family as her granddaughter, Christiana, age 16, who is listed as a servant. They are living adjacent to the Tenley family and Walters Family, both white. James Walters is indicated on the 1878 Hopkins map of Surratts District, allowing us to identify their residence in 1880.

On the same Census page, James and Phillis (Wood) Clarke are listed. They are listed with three grandchildren: Rose, James, and Agustus.

James Wood

Between the two Wood families in the 1880 census, sits James Wood, age 45. He is living with his wife, Annie, and their children: Eliza, Catherine, Edward, Nancy, Susanna, and Martha.

Name	Age	Est BY	Identified Name Connections
Eliza A	16	1866	Possibly named after Eliza Wood, subject of post
Catherine A	13?	1867	Possibly named after Eliza’s sister, Kitty
Edward H	9	1871	[Not discussed in this post and “Ned” is a name that will repeat in generations of Woods]
Nancy	7	1873
Susanna	4	1876	[Not discussed in this post and “Susanna” is a name that will repeat in generations of Woods]
Martha	2	1878	Possibly named after Eliza’s oldest identified daughter.

The relationships of James Wood with Eliza Wood is unclear. The names of his children and his geographic proximity suggests a kin relationship.

If he is Eliza’s son, he would have been born around 1835 and he would have been older than the children listed in the 1853 Inventory. She would have been 20 when he was born which is within her child-bearing years.

It is possible, that he was sold as a teenager to a local enslaver, when Sewall needed ready cash. He was a reputed drinker and gambler. Berry, in The Price for Their Pound, describes how the teen years were when most separations from families occurred, as the children were older and able to perform heavy labor. “Most of the [enslaved people] sold in the Upper South were teenagers and young adults”. [p. 66]

In 1870, James and Ann are living in the Marlboro District with his two daughters, Eliza and Catherine and other freed people who appear unrelated (John King, Robert Smith, Henry Harley, Washington Marlow, Catherine Beall).

Henny

Henny, Eliza’s second oldest daughter, is listed with as the head of household of dwelling number 23 in the 1870 census. The enumerator records her as living with Lewis Brown, age 45.

Based on her listed occupation, “Domestic”, and that females were rarely listed as head of household if there was an older male, I propose the possibility that the enumerator miss identified the household. I suggest that Henrietta Wood, Domestic, age 28, should have been listed with the previous household, and Lewis should be head of household of his own house. If this is the case, then she would have been working the household of Annie Marshall, who lived in a dwelling house adjacent to the “Poplar Hill” tract of land.

Three years later, she married John H Jackson, in a ceremony officiated by Walsh. She and John moved to Rosaryville, nearby, and lived there with her children. They are living near the children of Charles and Susan (Wood) Brown, discussed in the post on William Hannibal Gantt Brown. Susan is like Henrietta’s great-aunt, as identified in the 1821 inventory [TT 4:352].

Sources

Berry, Daina R. The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation. United States: Random House Inc, 2018. Print.

John Wood

John Wood is listed in the 1853 Inventory of Robert Darnall Sewall’s estate [JH 2:699] as a 55 year old man who was appraised at $400.

In her book, The Price for a Pound of Flesh, Berry talks about the stages of an enslaved person’s life. For John Wood, age 55, he would have been considered elderly as he had surpassed the age of forty, the boundary between mature and elderly. John may still have be performing labor for the Sewall family, and yet, he had surpassed the age of most of the enslaved whose life span was shortened by hard work and captivity. Berry described the work of the “able-bodied enslaved people” over forty as performing tasks including serving as cooks, body servants, gardeners, and caretakers of enslaved children. [page 133]

Berry separates out the “soul value” — “an intangible marker that often defied monetization yet spoke to the spirit and soul of who they were as human beings.” As an elderly member of the plantation, he would have been a valuable member for the community in terms of wisdom and kin connections. He may have taken on the role of caretaker as evidenced by his placement in the 1853 inventory.

John Wood’s Daughters

He is situated between two family groups: Eliza and her children and John and Kitta Brown and their children.

Annotated excerpt from 1853 Inventory showing John Wood between the two families.

It is inferred that Eliza and Kitta are John’s daughters due to their placement in the 1853 inventory, and when names and ages are compared with the 1821 [TT 4:352] and 1853 Inventory.

Name	1821 Age & EST BY	1853 Age & EST BY
John	23 – 1798	55 – 1798
Eliza	6 – 1815	38 – 1815
Kitta/Kitty	2 – 1819	34 – 1819

John Wood may have taken care of his grandchildren and other small children as the adults and older children were sent to the fields to perform labor. He has not been located in the 1870 census suggesting that he may have died prior to 1870; he would have been 72 had he lived.

John and Phillis, partners

The 1821 Inventory shows John listed with a partner, Phillis, the inferred mother of his daughters, Eliza and Kitty. Phillis, age 24, in the 1821 inventory, would have been born in 1797. She would have been 18 when she gave birth to Eliza and 22 when gave birth to Kitty. The inventories do not indicate if they had additional children. Eliza named her youngest daughter after her mother. Phillis, the grand-daughter, is listed with Eliza in both the 1853 inventory and in the 1870 US Census.

Phillis is not listed in the 1853 Inventory when she would have been 56. This suggests that she either died prior to the inventory was taken, or that she was sold by the Sewall family.

It is also unclear if the relationship between John and Phillis was self-selected or if the overseers and enslavers chose the relationship between the two.

Sources

Berry, Daina R. The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation. United States: Random House Inc, 2018. Print.