Question
What information can I find out about Jane’s life prior to her arrival in Washington DC?
Known Information
- Jane Reeder is listed in the 1873 City Directory for DC at 17 14th NE. This is a couple of blocks east of Lincoln Park.
- Jane is listed as the widow of Thomas.
- Jane is also listed in the Freedmen’s Bank Records for James Reeder and Mary Fountain.
| Detail | James Reeder’s Bank Records | Mary Fountain’s Bank Records |
|---|---|---|
| Birthplace | St. Mary’s County | not listed |
| Jane Reeder | mother | mother |
| John Reeder | brother | |
| Thomas Reeder | brother | |
| James Reeder | borther | |
| Walter Reeder | brother | |
| Mary Ellen Fountain | sister |
Source 1: St. Mary’s Slave Statistics
“The Slave Statistics consist of lists of slaves owned as of 1 November 1864, the date when the Constitution of 1864, which abolished slavery in Maryland, took effect. In the hope that the federal government would compensate former slaveholders, the General Assembly in 1867 authorized the compilation of records to establish slave ownership and the value of slave property. The governor appointed a commissioner of slave statistics for each county with a term in office of two years. Former slaveowners furnished the commissioner with descriptive information on each slave for whom they claimed ownership. The commissioner then recorded the lists and filed the records with the clerk of the circuit court of his county. (Ch. 189, Acts of 1867; Ch. 385, Acts of 1868). Entries give date of registration, name of the owner, and, if applicable, name of person acting for the owner. For each enslaved person, the records show his or her name, sex, age, physical condition, term of servitude, date of emancipation, and, if applicable, information on and compensation for military service.”
Source: Maryland State Archives
Agnes Kane Callum indexed the slave statistics for St Mary’s County and her index can be found on the Maryland State Archives website.
Her index includes the Reeder family on page 170.
| Jane | 102 |
| John | 121, 124 |
| Thomas | 121, 124, 136 |
| James | 121, 124 |
| Mary Ellen | 121, 124 |
| Walter | not listed |
Jane Reeder
Jane Reeder is listed as the sole enslaved individual by Ann Chiveral. Ms. Callum indicates that she is unsure of the spelling for Chiveral with a question mark. The entry also indicates that Jane escaped Ms. Chiveral enslavement in February 1863.
Jane’s Children
John, James, Mary Ellen, and Thomas are listed in the index for Edward Abell as owner, and for Edward Abell as guardians of George L Smith and Sarah C Smith.
Source 2: Ann E. Chiveral Documentation
The intent here is to track Ann E Chiveral through the available documentation: marriage records, census records, slave schedules and probate records in order to identify how Ann enslaved Jane and what labor Jane may have performed.
Marriage to William Chiveral
Ann E Tarlton married William Chiveral on 17 Sept 1861 (ancestry.com) and they share a household in the 1870 census (Roll: M593_594; Page: 546B). William is listed as an oysterman and she has three children, including Virginia and Mary Tarlton. The household is listed in District 2, near the Great Mills post office with no personal estate or real estate.
In the 1860 Census (Roll: M653_479; Page: 14), Ann E Tarlton is listed with three children, including A. Virginia and Mary Tarlton. No adult male is listed in her 1860 household. She is living in District 1, St. Mary’s, near the St. Inigoes Post Office. She has personal estate worth $500. In comparison, her neighbors have personal estates worth thousands. In 1860, the personal estate included value of property, possession, or wealth and included estimated values of enslaved individuals.
Ann Tarlton is not listed in the 1860 Slave Schedule which would list her name and the gender and age of the individuals she enslaved. This suggests that either Ann E. Tarleton/Chiveral enslaved Jane after 1860, or failed to report her in the 1860 slave schedule. However, as William is not listed as the owner in the Slave Statistics, despite being alive, it suggests that Ann E Chiveral was the enslaver, not William, and that she brought Jane with her to her new household when Ann and William married in 1861.
William Chiveral is listed in the 1860 and 1850 Census with his mother, Ann Maria Chiveral in District 2, near Great Mills. His mother was a seamstress and William was a sailor. When Ann married William, she moved away from her residence to join William near his family.
Virginia Tarlton is indicated as an invalid in the 1870 Census and has the comment “idiotic” written on her record in the 1860 Census. This raises the possibility that Ann needed help taking care of Virginia and that Ann enslaved Jane to assume the role of caretaker.
Marriage to Basil Tarlton
Prior to her marriage to Chiveral, Ann E Wheatley married Basil Tarlton in 1853, who died by 1857, when his inventory and account of sales were listed in the probate records of St. Mary’s County (familysearch.org). Among his probate records is the distribution of the estate to his family: Ann as his widow got 1/3 of the estate, around $980, and his 9 children received an equal sum, around $220. Ann V(irginia) Tarlton and Mary E Tarlton are among the children listed.
His estate records named four enslaved individuals who were sold: two men, Lewis and John, and an unnamed woman and child. Records indicate that William M. Moore paid to enslave the unnamed woman as part of the estate sales. (St. Mary’s County, Account of sales 1851-1857 vol GC3, p 517 | familysearch.org). William W. Moore is the son of John T Moore, Ann’s neighbor in the 1860 Census.
Sister-in-law to John T. Moore
Ann Tarleton’s dwelling number is 86 in the 1860 census. Dwelling number 85 contains individuals with the last name of Moore and Tarlton. John Moore heads the household with a personal estate worth $4000. He employs and/or houses several young adult/children with the surname Tarlton. Their given names are similar to the list of children on Basil’s estate distribution record: William, James P, and George. Both John T Moore and William W Moore had an account of sales for their estate recorded in spring of 1865 (Account of sales 1857-1865 vol GC4), suggesting they died near the end of the Civil War.
In the 1850 census, Ann E Wheatley is living in the household of John T. Moore. He is 43 and his wife, Mary, is 28. Ann is 25. Marriage records show that John Moore married Mary Wheatley in 1843 in St. Mary’s County (ancestry.com).
Initial Conclusions
Ann was living with her sister in her brother-in-law’s household until her marriage to Basil Tarlton, a widower with several children. Ann Virginia Tarlton was born the same year he married Ann and had some sort of condition that resulted in the census taker indicating her status as invalid. The year of her birth, 1853, was the same year he married Ann. It is a possibility that his previous wife had had a difficulty delivery and died while giving birth to Ann Virginia, and that she became an invalid due to the complications during birth. Ann Wheatley/Tarlton continued to care for her step-daughter while the older step-children lived with her sister. This proposed one possibility for the labor that Ann expected from Jane, especially as Ann had no real estate and limited personal estate.
Ann enslaved Jane prior to 1862, possibly when William W Moore purchased the unnamed woman from the Tarlton estate in 1857. Ann remarried again, this time to a modest sailor who did not have property. Shortly after Ann’s marriage and move out of District 2, Jane escaped, making her way to DC.
This conclusion does not account for Jane’s children and how they came to be enslaved on the Abell estate. Additionally, this theory does not demonstrate with any documentary evidence that the enslaved woman was transferred from William W Moore to the Tarlton/Chiveral household.
stories of Then 