As the first lady’s bodyservant, Judge helped dress her mistress for special events, traveled with her on social calls and ran errands for her. Many slave mothers were less fortunate as the birth of their children added value property for their owners who could sell the child or the mother separately. Ona married John Staines, a seaman, on Jan. 14, 1797, and settled in Portsmouth. The Washington slaves knew that the president had taken precautions to prevent them from taking advantage of this law. When Law arrived in Philadelphia, he brought his two illegitimate children that he had fathered while in India and he was plagued by rumors about his character. Few enslaved workers left written records, let alone participated in interviews with reporters. “Improving upon this direction of her husband, Mrs. Washington, ... Martha actively tried to recapture her enslaved maid Ona Judge after Judge ran away in Philadelphia. So, Ona Judge and six other enslaved people are taken to New York, where the nation’s first capital is. And Ona really becomes, and had already really become, Martha Washington’s top … 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. She may have thought she had found safe haven, but that summer she was recognized on the streets of Portsmouth by Elizabeth Langdon, the teenage daughter of Senator John Langdon and a friend of Nelly Custis. He subsequently wrote to Washington that she had agreed to return, on the condition that she be freed when Martha Washington died. Thank you to Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar for her work on Ona Judge. There are no records of Andrew Judge’s departure from Mount Vernon, or whether his relationship with Betty was consensual. 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. Ona Judge was a slave of the Washington’s who escaped to freedom while George was President of the United States. Four months later, George Washington died, freeing all of his enslaved workers according to his will. Ona probably lived with Betty in a small cabin near the mansion house, completing simple chores, helping her mother with easy tasks in their cabin, or playing unsupervised with other enslaved children.2 When Ona was twelve, Martha brought her into the mansion house to begin her official training as a housemaid. Judge, who … Vernon as a slave, when Martha accepted the hand of George Washington to marry him as her second husband in 1759. In 1773, Ona Judge … Her mother, Betty, was recognized as the finest seamstress on the plantation and was a “dower slave,” technically still owned by the estate of Martha Washington’s first husband, Daniel Peake Custis. Trying to act discreetly, Washington got in contact with Joseph Whipple, the collector of customs in Portsmouth and the brother of famed Revolutionary General William Whipple. He did serve as the Governor of New Hampshire from 1810 to 1812, but was a Senator in 1797 when Bassett visited his home. At sixteen, Ona may have been growing still and she may have outgrown her earlier shoes. Jack Staines was at sea at the time, but Ona managed to escape to the neighboring town of Greenland, where she and her infant daughter hid with a free black family, the Jacks, until Bassett left Portsmouth, empty-handed. Though marriage gave her some additional legal protection, Ona remained vigilant–with good reason. But New York City, and then Philadelphia, offered new opportunities.4 Ona encountered a sizable free African-American community for the first time, saw interesting sights, tasted different foods, and met new people. Ona Judge was afforded more comforts than most slaves, however, she risked it all to escape the nation’s capital and reach freedom. She has written several books, including the award-winning middle grade novel Drizzle. Which administration holds the record for the number of Christmas trees displayed at the White House? Whipple owed his position to the Washington administration, so he reluctantly agreed to help send Ona back to Mount Vernon. During the summer after she escaped, Judge was walking in Portsmouth when she saw Elizabeth Langdon, the daughter of New Hampshire Senator John Langdon. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. She continued in this role until 1789, when she traveled with Martha to the President’s House in New York City. 1846 interview with Ona Judge Staines. 248-50.. Unlike Washington’s other enslaved servants in Philadelphia, Ona received new shoes several times per year while working in the President’s House.6 Perhaps Ona wore out her shoes while accompanying Martha on her visits. She has many changes of good clothes, of all sorts, but they are not sufficiently recollected to be described.11, The advertisement also listed a $10 reward for her capture and return, and conveyed the Washingtons’ shock and outrage that Ona would escape: “As there was no suspicion of her going off nor no provocation to do so, it is not easy to conjecture whither she has gone, or fully, what her design is.”12 Of course, it never occurred to the Washingtons that enslavement served as plenty of provocation for Ona to escape. He worked for Washington until 1781 1784, when she traveled with Martha to the ’. 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