TRAVELS WITH GEORGE : GEORGE AND MARTHA WASHINGTON and THEIR SLAVES

From previous reading on this blog about Martha Washington, I can tell you that she first married a much older man who happened to also be perhaps one of the wealthiest colonials and campaigned with his father to be his wife.  When that man died, she became the wealthiest widow in the colonies.  She brought with her into her marriage to George a fortune, which as her husband he was allowed to preside over. However, it would seem that George was good about discussing things with her and that they had a good relationship. One of the things I just learned in Nathaniel Philbrick's book is that half the slaves that the Washington's owned in their marriage came with her and were first owned by her as part of her "marriage dower."  A dowry is money, land, wealth, anything that is an asset that a bride brings with her into a marriage, and a dowry was most often provided by a woman's father upon her first marriage. 

In the passage I've selected from my reading of this book, the problem of owning slaves and wanting to free them, is one that George and Martha Washington contemplate. However, the situation becomes especially person when one slave runs away and the Washington's put out ads to have her tracked and re-enslaved. You could say that historically this is not their proudest moment.

Page 113 Excerpt and Notes:  "Even though Washington had long been contemplating the emanicipation of his enslaved workers at Mount Vernon, he resolved to do everything possible to get Ona back.  (Ona was a twenty year old woman who had been Martha's personal servant.  The issue arose because Martha planned to give Ona over as a present when her "tempermental" grand-daughter Eliza as a wedding present.)  Ona was the property not of Washington but of the estate of Martha's deceased husband and was therefore known as a dower slave, meaning that technically he couldn't free her if he wanted to.  Upon Martha's death, Ona and the other dower slaves would go to Martha's grandchildren.  As Washy's and Nelly's guardian, Washington was legally bound to look after their financial interests, and he went after Ona with all the remorseless zeal that had characterized his pursuit of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown."

Notes: Ona was absconded and to do so Washington may have abused his Presidential power.  However, Ona had not been seduced by a "Frenchman" as the Washington's proposed and she said she would only come back to serve the Washington's if they agreed to free her once they were both deceased.  They refused and she was free and married.  The Washingtons attempted to get her back another time but failed.

When Washington died in December of 1799, as in his will, all his slaves were freed.  But not Martha's dower slaves.

Ona had a difficult life as her husband died less than seven years into the marriage and she had by then three children to raise alone.

Page 305 " Many white SOuhterners condemned Washington's decision to free his enslaved workers, using the transparent and spurious claim that the enslaved at Mount Vernn were ill prepared for freedom and 'succeeded very badly as freemen." IN truth, the first free Black COmmunity in Fairfax County was composed of, acording to contemporary tax reords, "George Washington's free negroes."

To learn more about author Philbrick's travels that followed George Washington's and slavery, I suggest that reading this book will fairly take you through history, especially as he goes into the Carolina's and the scene of one of the largest sale of human beings ever.  Washington was not impressed with the Carolina's which were covered in a type of pine tree that is now near extinct with pine cones as big as pineapples!

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To bring up past posts about Martha Washington, click on the label Martha Custis Washington.

TRAVELS WITH GEORGE : TOBIAS LEAR EVENTUALLY MARRIED INTO BOTH GEORGE and MARTHA'S FAMILY

 

One of the surprising things about genealogy research is that one never knows when some unexpected archival type documents will be found in an individual's possession or buried in some library where maybe no one ever understood the value of them...

Excerpt and Notes: Page 109 -110  (What is now Kittery Maine marks the northernmost point of Washington's tour.  He stayed in what was called "the Red cottage" built about 1740 and Washington stayed there November 2nd, 1789.  Author Philbrick and his wife called the present owner and met with him. It is on Portsmouth Harbor.  The owner Jim is related to Tobias Lear and Stephen Decatur a American naval hero during the War of 1812.  He opened a chest that belonged to his grandfather that had not been open in 80 years and there found a family and genealogy treasure.  It is a ledger kept by Tobias Lear when he served as George Washington's private secretary during his first term as President of the United States.

"The large red-leather book, filled with daily transactions, from the purchase of theater tickets to that leopard-skin saddle pad, provided a remarkably detailed window into Washington's household during his first term as President.  Drawing upon this and other Washington-related documents that had come into Lear's possession after the President's death and never before seen the light of day, Decatur compiled Private Affairs of George Washington: From the Records and Accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, His Secretary.

Excerpt page 111 (How this became part of Jim's family's possessions.)

By the time the President had died, Lear was married into the family.   His first wife died of the Yellow Fever epidemic in 1793, and he first remarried Frances "Fanny" Bassett Washington.  After he was widowed again, because she died within the year of TB, he married Frances Dandridge Henley, who was niece of Martha's.  Therefore he had married into BOTH George Washington's family and hi wife Martha's.

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HONORARY or HEREDITY or LINEAGE SOCIETIES - A PARTIAL LIST

 HONORARY or HEREDITY or LINEAGE SOCIETIES 

BASED ON WHO YOU DESCENDED FROM 

THAT REQUIRE GENEALOGY RESEARCH TO PROVE IT

General Society of Mayflower Descendants  (PILGRIMS)

Daughters of the American Revolution   (DAR)

National Society, Sons of the American Revolution  (SAR)

General Society of the War of 1812

Descendants of Mexican War Veterans

Sons of Confederate Veterans

Presidential Families of America

Hereditary Order of the Families of the Presidents and First Ladies of America

The National Society of Washington Family Descendants (George Washington and his immediate family.)

The Monticello Association

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas

There are many more...

TRAVELS WITH GEORGE : PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S BARGE - THE GREETING IN NEW YORK : ABOUT THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

Excerpt and Notes: Page 43-34  (Washington goes by barge to New York from New Jersey and his presidential barge is  greeted by a flotilla....

"... This forty-five foot open boat featured an awing and cushions and was towed by thirteen oarsmen dressed in white.  Washington was accompanied in the barge by a group of dignitaries...  But the New Yorkers were just getting started....

(There was singing - groups of singers - greatly effecting the President.)

Suddenly the waters surrounding the barge erupted into foam.  "At this moment a number of porpoises came playing amongst us, as if they had risen up to know what was the cause of all this joy." But the most impressive sight was still to come as the barge continued its advance toward the New York City waterfront.  "We now discovered the shores crowded with thousands of people.  Men, women, children.  Nay I may venture to say tens of thousands; from the fort to the place of landing although near a half a mile, you could see little else along the shores in the streets and on board every vessel but heads standing as thick as ears of corn before the harvest."  (quoting Boudinot)

(Still, this display just made Washington more anxious about his new role and how he might please the people.)

Excerpt: (Author Nathaniel Philbrick and his wife go to Battery Park - where the Statue of Liberty is.)

... "And yet we did see quite enough: The Statue of Liberty looming above the water, her oxidized copper skin darkened with verdigris  I had always thought the statue depicted the goddess of liberty standing proudly with her gilded torch held high --a welcoming beacon of hope for the millions of immigrants bound for nearby Ellis Island throughout much of the twentieth century.  But once our boat, appropriately named Liberty, had taken us to the landing spot on the south side of the island. I could see that, no, the goddess was not standing still;she was striding forward, the broken shackles of a chain at her feet.

The Statue of Liberty, I soon learned, had been inspired by the abolition of slavery during the Civil War.  A gift from France, it had been left to the Americans to raise the money for the statue's 150 fott-high- pedestal.  Fund raising had lagged until the newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer appealed to the readers of the New York World and raised a significant portion of the required fields.  The Statue of Liberty was finally dedicated in 1886."

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GEORGE WASHINGTON in 1783

 

George Washington in 1783

Artist John Trumbell

Looking a lot younger than we're used to seeing him.

TRAVELS WITH GEORGE : NEW JERSEY WAS DIFFERENT : THE RIGHT OF WOMEN and AFRICAN AMERICANS TO VOTE : SUFFERAGE

 Excerpt: Page 32 

"In terms of suffrage and political access, New Jersey was different than from any other state in the Union. Since 1776, the state's constitution had given voting rights to any adult - male, female, white, or African-American - who had lived in New Jersey for a year and was worth at least fifty pounds. (This would remain the case until 1807, when the Anti-Federalist state legislature restricted the right to vote to white males in an effort to prevent women, who tended to vote Federalist, from participating in the 1808 presidential election, ultimately won by the Anti-Federalist Thomas Jefferson's heir-apparent, James Madison.) Whether or not New Jersey's liberal  voting laws in 1789 had anything to do with it, the women of Trenton took the leading role in celebrating Washington's return. Under their direction, a twenty-foot arch supporting thirteen pillars was constructed over the bridge across the Assunpink. Just as had been done in Philadelphia, the arch was entwined with branches of evergreen, laurel, and flowers.  Emblazoned across the arch's top in large gold letters was the phrase, "The Defender of Mothers Will Be the Protector of the Daughters. Above the inscription was a cupola of flowers encircling the dates of Washington's twin victories.  December 26, 1776, and January 3, 1777, topped by a large sunflower.

When given the choice, Washington seems to have preferred the company of women over men.  He loved to dance, and after a dinner party he could be found in conversation with Martha and her lady friends rather than his male peers.  He particularly enjoyed speaking with sharp-witted, articulate women..."

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THE WHITE HOUSE

 

TRAVELS WITH GEORGE : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BOOK REVIEW

Nathaniel Philbrick*** is adept at writing about the early inhabitants of the colonies and key figures in the foundation of the United States. This book is about George Washington, who took office in 1789 and was our first President after a successful Revolutionary War campaign. It's about his family, his wife Martha, and slavery, as well as other aspects of the man's personality and character. 

What Philbrick did was travel the route that Washington himself did: New England to South Carolina and a small area of Georgia. He went to some of the places where Washington's presence was well known enough to enjoy tours and reenactments today. He talked to people.  As he says on page 6, "But this wasn't going to be the same kind of carefree ramble enjoyed by Harry and Bess (Truman)  in the 1950's. We were, after all, following the travels of a slaveholder at a time when Confederate monuments were being removed across the South.  The country's political divide seemed to be widening by the day.  And yet I didn't want this trip to be about what separates us.  I wanted to find out how Washington attempted to bind us together into a lasting union of states.  Acknowledging and even delving into his weaknesses and failings, especially when it came to slavery, I wanted to know what Washington got right - what tools he and his generation had left us to begin to build a better nation.

Oh, and a little independent research on my part; our first three presidents, Washington, Jefferson, and Madison all spoke with English accents. They didn't just speak with that accent, they had that accent because they were British, and their thoughts had to be influenced by a certain mentality of that ethnic heritage, that political system - the King - even as they wanted different for a new nation.

(I try to think of my own ancestors who were in Europe in 1800.  I often wonder what they heard of the American Revolution and what they thought of it.)

There are a few passages in this book that I thought were especially telling or valuable which I will be excerpting. In particular the way Washington dealt with his slaves and those who were brought into the marriage by his wife Martha, called "dower slaves," was especially telling. Laws of inheritance at the time prevented him from decisions on Martha's.

As I have been, rather than do one extremely long session of excerpts, I will play it forward and readers who are interested in more can bring up all posts by clicking on the label or using the search feature...  Try the words George Washington.  This book is a recommended read for those of you who like to learn more about American History, especially as it might pertain to your own genealogy research.

Oh, and as a P.S.  The author and his wife took their dog with them on their travels.  Washington loved his dogs.  Page 23:  "Not only had he almost single-handedly developed what we call today the American fox-hound, but he had a great affection for his dogs, giving them names like Sweet Lips, Drunkard, and True Love.

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*** In the past I reviewed his book about the Mayflower.

 

Ancestry Worship - Genealogy