William J Stone – stories of Then

In May 1842, George Brown escaped.

Escape

The ad placed in the National Intelligencer by Robert D. Sewall’s plantation manager, Wm. G Jenkins, described George as “25 or 26 years old, 6 feet 2 or 3 inches high, dark complexion, very high forehead.” He was also described as “when spoken to has a quick speech and a smile on his countenance”.

He most likely worked in the fields of the large estate, raising the tobacco and wheat for the Sewall as he was described with a scar on his knee, “occasioned by a cut from a scythe”. Scythes were use to harvest crops or clear fields.

An allegorical 1863 print using a scythe to criticize the plantation system.
See loc.gov for more details.

During his escape he was seen on the stage road leading from Upper Marlboro to Washington. A 1848 Baltimore Sun edition posted the male stage routes and included route 1936 “From Washington DC by Long Old Fields, MD., Upper Marlboro, Queen Anne and Davidsonville to Annapolis, three times a week. [24 Jan 1848 | newspapers.com]

Excerpt from 1863 Martenet Map of Prince George’s County annotated with location of Poplar Hill in relation to the describe mail route

Fanny and Henrietta Brown, Sold

The same year, Robert D Sewall sold the legal authority to enslave eight people to William J Stone, a resident of the District. Stone owned a tract of land called “Mount Pleasant” and a residence in town.

In August 1842, four months after George’s escape, Fanny and Henrietta Brown was among those included into the sale to Stone. [Civil War Washington] Fanny was described as twenty-two years old in the sale. Henrietta Brown was fifteen.

It is possible that George, Fanny and Henrietta were siblings, as they shared the same surname and were enslaved by the same person and similar in age.

Unlike George, who toiled in the fields, Fanny was described as a “cook and house servant” in the 1862 petition paperwork Stone presented to be compensated for her emancipation. Henrietta Brown was not included in the 1862 petition for compensation from her emancipation. A note was included regarding the 1842 sale “Fanny Brown & Cornelius Digges were valuable Servants (the bill of Sale is for 7 servants)—but the others were not so much so & some of them an actual expense for many years before their services were of any value $2200 was the price for all”. This suggests that Stone may have sold the other five included in the Bill of Sale prior to emancipation as he did not see value in their labor.

In 1850, William J Stone [real estate valued at $250000] enumerated 14 enslaved people in the US Federal Census Slave Schedule, included three adults females, ages 30, 29, 27. Fanny is likely listed among them (she would have been 29 in 1850) and possibly Henrietta as well. In 1854, a William Stone (note no use of middle initial) committed two enslaved people, Simon and Henny, to the DC Jail for “safekeeping” [Hynson, 42-43]. They were released to him nine days later. In “Freedom Seekers: Fugitive Slaves in North America, 1800–1860”, Pargas states that enslaved people were put in the jail for “safekeeping” pending a sale or estate division (110). Henny may have been Henrietta.

1821 Robert Sewall Inventory

Fanny and Henrietta are not listed in the 1821 Robert Sewall Inventory [TT 4:352]. Fanny was likely born around the time of the inventory and therefore born after its compilation, while Henrietta, at 15, was born five years after the compilation of the inventory.

George has an estimated birth year of 1816 calculated from the age of 26 given in the advertisement. If he and his family had been enslaved by the Sewall’s in 1821, his name and age [George, 6] should be expected.

On the second page of the inventory, there is a family group listed that included George, 8. This may be the same George.

folio 354 of the 1821 Robert Sewall Inventory.

There is no documentation located that connects the three, other than the Bill of Sale and Runaway Advertisement that details that they both left “Poplar Hill” in 1842. If Fanny and Henrietta’s forced departure from “Poplar Hill” was connected to George’s escape, it was not detailed in the Bill of Sale.

Sources:

Pargas, Damian Alan. Freedom Seekers: Fugitive Slaves in North America, 1800–1860. United States, Cambridge University Press.

Hynson, Jerry M.. District of Columbia Runaway and Fugitive Slave Cases, 1848-1863. United States, Willow Bend Books, 1999.

This post is one in a series in an attempt to identify members of the Clarke family groups among the people enslaved by Robert D Sewall at “Poplar Hill” in Prince George’s County.

1842 Bill of Sale

In April 1862, Congress emancipated people enslaved within the District the Columbia. In May 1862, William J Stone, Sr. submitted a petition certifying that he was loyal to the US and that he claimed to have enslaved 8 Black people at the time of the act. Among them, Fanny Brown, age 43, “a good cook & family servant” and Cornelius Digges, age 23, “a good house servant, waiter and driver”, both of whom were purchased of Robert Sewall of Prince George’s County.

Petition #314 of William J Stone | ancestry.com

As part of Stone’s documentation that he was the rightful “owner”, he submitted the Bill of Sale between Robert D Sewall and William J Stone [Civil War Washington] which included the names and ages of other enslaved people that he purchased:

Fanny Brown, age 22
Henrietta Clarke, age 23
[Her Son] Nealy, age 2
Henrietta Brown, age 15
Minty Carroll, age 21
John Johnson, age 13
Basil Lee, age 8

Except for Henrietta Clarke, the people named were born after the 1821 Inventory of Robert Sewall’s Prince George’s Property.

1821 & 1853 Inventory

Henrietta, age 3 months old, appears in the 1821 Inventory in the family group with the inferred mother, Charity. This family group is immediately after the Polly [Clarke] family group with Abraham Clarke, who was manumitted by Robert D Sewall in 1852 and Charity (younger) who married Daniel Jackson [see additional posts].

1821 Robert Sewall Inventory [TT 4:352] | family search.org

I had assumed previously that Nelly was short for a female’s name. Comparing the 1862 Emancipation Petition and the 1842 Bill of sale with the 1821 Inventory, its possibly that Nelly is short for Cornelia for a female or Cornelius for a male. Cornelius Digges is listed in the petition as Cornelius, and assumed to be Nealy in the Bill of Sale.

While Henrietta is not included in Robert D Sewall’s 1853 Inventory, her parents, Thomas and Charity are.

1853 Robert D Sewall Inventory [JH 2:699] | familysearch.org

Thomas, while not included with Charity and her children in the 1821 inventory, appears to be included in the inventory:

He is on the previous page, about two-thirds of the way down the column, grouped with a cluster of adult men: Tom, 32, Sampson, 37, Capt. John, 41, and Capt. George, also 41.

Freed, Cornelius Digges

Based on the petition, which did not include Henrietta Clarke (or Digges), it is likely that Henrietta did not survive her captivity. Her son, Cornelius “Nealy” Diggs, did however, and was emancipated in 1862. The petition by William J Stone notes that he has a place near “Mount Pleasant”; it is unclear if Cornelius was held at “Mount Pleasant” in the county or at a city residence on 14th Street between F & G (Evening Star, 15 Sept 1859).

He was drafted into the 22nd Regiment of the US Colored Infantry and fought for the emancipation of all enslaved people.

After the war, he returned to DC where he found work as a coachman [1869], servant [1867] and waiter [1870], similar to the labor he preformed when he was held captive by Stone. (City Directories listed his occupation and residence in Ward 1).

In 1868, he married Evelina Moore, who had been brought to the District from Virginia by her enslaver, Mildred E Ewell, who was bequeathed the legal authority to enslave Evelina from her parents, Jesse Ewell and Mildred Ewell of Prince William County, 1848. She brought them to DC in 1851. (Emancipation Petitions, ancestry.com)

Notes on the Enslavers

William J Stone, Sr

In the 1860 US Federal Census, William J Stone is listed in Ward 2. He is estimated to have real estate valued at $157,000. In contrast, Robert D Sewall had real estate valued at $93,500 in 1850 and he was considered a wealth landowner by his peers. Stone was listed as a “Gentlemen” from England. He had an Irish servant listed with him in the census. His 1860 Slave Schedule lists six people (though he claimed eight on the petition). The ages roughly correspond with the petition (The Pleasants family and Fanny Brown) and appears to omit Cornelius. A web search shows that William J Stone was a engraver who was commissioned to reproduce the the “Declaration of Independence” and political ally of John Quincy Adams.

Tag Archives: William J Stone

George Brown | Escape