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That encounter with Oney (who also went by Ona) was more than 20 years ago. Betty was lucky to be able to keep her son Austin with her with the move to Mt. Tobias Lear Account Books, Philadelphia Household Accounts, 1789-1797. Ona’s father was an English indentured servant who had worked at Mount Vernon. But Ona certainly met her father and likely had some relationship with him given his extended stay, which was not always the case for enslaved children. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Betty was lucky to be able to keep her son Austin with her with the move to Mt. Ona took the opportunity to share her thoughts on the institution of slavery, proclaiming, “that she never received the least mental or moral instruction, of any kind, while she remained in Washington’s family.”30 She also criticized the Washingtons’ piety, saying she never saw or heard any indication of “piety and prayers” while she was enslaved. There are no records of Andrew Judge’s departure from Mount Vernon, or whether his relationship with Betty was consensual. Washington’s term ended on March 4, and he returned to Mount Vernon without her. Four months later, George Washington died, freeing all of his enslaved workers according to his will. 1 Ona’s father was Andrew Judge, a white indentured servant who was employed on the estate. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. He complained that they were unreliable and lazy, yet George seemed to like and trust Andrew. Stunned by Ona’s lack of cooperation, he returned to Langdon’s house to regroup. In September 1798, he sent his nephew, Burwell Bassett, to bring Ona Judge Staines back. A depiction of George Washington during a harvest. Ona also accompanied Martha on her social visits and attended to the first lady’s needs at home. After his election, John Adams resided in the same house in Philadelphia, before moving into the White House in Washington, D.C. on November 1, 1800. Oney had three children with Staines, all of whom predeceased her, as did her husband. Ona Judge Staines lived with her husband and their three children until Jack’s death in 1803. Martha announced that she planned to give Ona to Eliza as a wedding present, separating Ona from her family and the life she knew in Philadelphia and at Mount Vernon. When he was just 11 years old, George Washington inherited 10 slaves from his father’s estate. The judge ordered the registration of a case against Syed Ali Azhar, Arzoo's purported husband, as well as against cleric Qazi Abdul Rasool Naqshbandi, the justice of … Members of the free black community helped her get aboard a ship commanded by Captain John Bowles, who sailed frequently between Philadelphia, New York and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. ‘MasterChef Australia’ judge Melissa Leong has announced her separation from husband Joe Jones. When Martha brought Ona to the President’s House, Ona left her family for the first time. With an active and growing free black community of some 6,000 people, Philadelphia had become the nation’s leading hotbed of abolitionism. On October 4, 1796, Whipple wrote to Wolcott that he had failed to secure Ona. She has written several books, including the award-winning middle grade novel Drizzle. Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar is a very informative and interesting read. Though marriage gave her some additional legal protection, Ona remained vigilant–with good reason. So, as the household prepared for the Washingtons’ return to Mount Vernon for the summer, Judge made plans for her escape. Ona Judge had come to the Washington's massive collection of over three hundred slaves when she was an infant. Upon her death, they were to be divided among the Custis heirs. While the newspapers did not print the interviews verbatim, the quotes are rare examples of a formerly enslaved person describing their experiences in their own words. After she became too old for physical labor, Ona herself lived in poverty, relying on donations from the community. This book puts a face and a story to that of early enslaved people and makes it clear that enslaved people always desired the ability to make choices for themselves. Bassett insisted Ona return to Virginia and “used all the persuasion he could” but Ona “utterly refused to go with him.”22 He even promised that the Washingtons would free her once she returned to Virginia, to which she replied “I am free now, and choose to remain so.”23, As an elite white southerner, Bassett was accustomed to African Americans obeying his every command. He would acquire many more in the years to come, whether through the death of other family members or by purchasing them directly. To evade a gradual abolition law that took effect in Pennsylvania in 1780, the Washingtons made sure to transport their enslaved workers in and out of the state every six months to avoid them establishing legal residency. At age 10, she began serving as a personal maid to Martha Washington at the Virginia mansio… Philadelphia's father is unknown, but in 1807 she was freed from slavery and married William Costin, an abolitionist and free man, who was the son of an enslaved woman, Ann Dandridge, and whose father was possibly John Parke Custis, Martha Washington's son. Ona Maria Judge was born around 1774 at Mount Vernon. Letter to the editor, The Liberator, January 1, 1847..As quoted in Slave Testimony, Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies, John W. Blassingame, ed. In August 1799, Washington made one more attempt to find and recapture Ona Judge. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. How many weddings have been held at the White House? Never Caught Summary. Instead, “Card-playing and wine-drinking were the business at his parties; and he had more of such company Sundays than on any other day.”31 The newspapers included these arguments to criticize the institution of slavery and its many cruelties. It would have made her a fugitive in the eyes of the law and she likely would never be able to see her family again. Far from a passive bystander in the perpetuation of slavery, Washington at this point was actively engaged in returning Judge to his (or his wife’s) possession. Ona died on February 25, 1848, in Greenland, New Hampshire as a free woman.32. Dunbar writes in her book that Judge never intended to honor this agreement: “She told Whipple what he wanted to hear, agreed to return to her owners, and left his presence with no intention of ever keeping her word.” In any case, Washington bluntly refused Whipple’s proposal, writing that “To enter into such a compromise…is totally inadmissible.” Though he might be in favor of gradual abolition of slavery, the president continued, he didn’t want to reward Judge’s “unfaithfulness” and inspire other enslaved people to try and escape. The South Church is pictured, where Ona Judge was married in 1797 to Jack Staines. The baby Eliza grows into a toddler and one day when Ona's husband Jack is out at sea there's a knock at the door. When Ona opened the door, perhaps with her one-year-old daughter, Eliza, in her arms, she may have recognized him from her time at Mount Vernon. As Dunbar writes, “Martha Washington’s decision to turn Judge over to Eliza was a reminder to Judge and everyone enslaved at the Executive Mansion that they had absolutely no control over their lives, no matter how loyally they served.”. 248-50.. Ona Judge was a slave of the Washington’s who escaped to freedom while George was President of the United States. (Credit: Martin Falbisoner/Creative Commons). She worked exclusively for Martha Washington in every capacity of a personal maid and was shocked and horrified that Martha would callously give her away to her incredibly selfish and nasty-tempered granddaughter as a wedding present! Instead, she … Erica Dunbar: [00:00:13] She found out that she was going to be given away as a wedding gift to her owner's granddaughter, that she would be returned to the South, a place that she had no interest in living. And Ona really becomes, and had already really become, Martha Washington’s top slave, for the lack of a better term or phrase. 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