Ona Judge

Ona Judge
Ona Judge
	Advertisement in the May 24, 1796, edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette, published in Philadelphia, offering a reward for Judge's return
Born	c. 1773; Mount Vernon, Colony of Virginia, British America
Died	February 25, 1848 (aged 75); Greenland, New Hampshire, U.S.
Spouse	Jack Staines
Children	Eliza Staines; Nancy Staines; Will Staines
Parent(s)	Andrew Judge; Betty
Relatives	Austin (half-brother); Tom Davis (half-brother); Betty Davis (half-sister); Delphy (half-sister)

Ona Judge Staines (c. 1773 – February 25, 1848), also known as Oney Judge, was a slave owned by the Washington family. She was born and held at the family's plantation at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

New York City served as the first national capital, from January 1785 to December 1790. George Washington was elected the first President of the United States under the U.S. Constitution in early 1789, and was inaugurated at Federal Hall on April 30, 1789. Judge worked in both the New York presidential households, and later in the President's House in Philadelphia.^[1] Although Pennsylvania had begun a gradual abolition of slavery in 1780, slaveholding members of Congress were specifically exempted from the state law. In December 1790, when Philadelphia became the temporary national capital for a 10-year period, the question of whether the president, vice-president, justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other officers of the federal government also were exempted from Pennsylvania's abolition law remained untested.

Judge was in her 20s when she escaped from the Philadelphia household in May 1796, to get to freedom farther north. She was classified as a fugitive slave and Washington advertised for her return. She had learned that Martha Washington intended to transfer her enslavement to her granddaughter, which meant Judge would be returned to Virginia with little chance of freedom.

Judge reached Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, a free state. There she married, had children, and converted to Christianity. Though Judge was never formally freed, after Washington's death, his survivors ultimately stopped pressing her to return to enslavement in Virginia.

Early life

Judge was born about 1773 at Mount Vernon, the plantation of George Washington and his family.^[a] Her mother, Betty, was of mixed race and enslaved, and her father, Andrew Judge, was a white English tailor working as an indentured servant at Mount Vernon. Though Judge was predominantly of European heritage, she was born into slavery under the premise of partus sequitur ventrem, by which a child was assigned the legal status of the mother.

Judge had a half-brother, Austin, born before 1757 (father unknown);^[4] a half-brother Tom Davis^[4] and a half-sister Betty Davis^[4] (both fathered by white indentured weaver Thomas Davis).^[5] In addition, she had a half-sister, Delphy (father unknown),^[6] born to Betty about 1779.^[4] Delphy died on December 13, 1831, after years of freedom.^[7]^[8]

Their mother Betty was among the 285 African-descended persons enslaved by Daniel Parke Custis (1711–1757), Martha Washington's first husband. Since Daniel Custis died without a will, his widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, received what was called a dower share of his Estate. This meant that, until her death, she was entitled to the use of a third of her deceased husband's wealth, which included the enslavement of at least 85 enslaved people.^[9] Though Martha had some control over these dower slaves, they were legally enslaved by her late husband's Estate, so she could neither free nor sell them. She could transfer one or more to other Custis descendants.

After Martha wed George Washington in 1759, she took Betty with her to Mount Vernon as one of her “dower slaves,”along with then-infant Austin. Under the legal principle of partus sequitur ventrem, incorporated into Virginia colonial law in 1662, because Betty was enslaved, her children were born into slavery and legally also enslaved by the Custis Estate, while under the control of Martha Washington.

Upon completing his indenture, Andrew Judge settled in Alexandria, Virginia, some 11 miles away. He did not maintain contact with Betty, Ona, or any other of his enslaved children.

When Ona Judge was around ten years old, she was brought to live at the Mansion House at Mount Vernon, likely as a "playmate" for Martha Washington's granddaughter Nelly Custis. Judge eventually became Martha Washington's personal attendant or body servant.

In an 1846 interview late in her life, Judge said she had received no education under the Washingtons nor religious instruction.^[10]

More is known about Judge than any other enslaved person on the Mount Vernon plantation because she was twice interviewed by abolitionist newspapers in the mid-1840s, decades after she claimed freedom in New Hampshire.^[11]

The presidential households

In 1789, Washington took seven enslaved Africans, including Judge, then 16, to New York City, which was then the nation's capital, to work in his presidential household. The others were her half-brother Austin, Giles, Paris, Moll, Christopher Sheels, and William Lee.

Following the transfer of the national capital to Philadelphia in 1790, Judge was one of nine enslaved persons, two of whom were female, whom Washington took to Philadelphia to work in the President's House. Others were Austin, Giles, Paris, Moll, Hercules Posey, Richmond, Christopher Sheels, and "Postilion Joe" (Richardson).^[12]^[13]

Gradual Abolition Act

With the 1780 Gradual Abolition Act, Pennsylvania became the first state to establish a process to emancipate enslaved persons. However, no one was freed immediately. The process was to play out over decades and not end until the death of the last person enslaved in Pennsylvania.^[14]

The law immediately prohibited the importation of enslaved people into the state and required an annual registration of those already held there. But it also protected the property rights of Pennsylvania slaveholders. If a slaveholder failed to register enslaved people, they would be confiscated and freed; however, if a slaveholder complied with state law and registered them annually, they would remain enslaved for life. Every future child of an enslaved mother would be required to work as an indentured servant to the mother's master until age 28, after which the child would be free.

A slaveholder from another state could reside in Pennsylvania with the people they enslaved for up to six months, but if slave-owners kept those enslaved people in Pennsylvania beyond that deadline, the law gave them the power to free themselves.^[15] Congress, then the only branch of the federal government, was meeting in Philadelphia in 1780, and met there until 1783. Significantly, Pennsylvania exempted members of Congress from the Gradual Abolition Act.^[14]

A 1788 amendment to the state law closed loopholes, such as prohibiting a Pennsylvania slave-owner from transporting a pregnant woman to a state where slavery was not abolished so that the child would be born enslaved, and prohibiting a non-resident slave owner from rotating enslaved people in and out of the state to prevent them from establishing the six-month Pennsylvania residency required to qualify for freedom.^[16] This last point would affect the lives of Judge and the other enslaved people in the Washington household.

In March 1789, the U.S. Constitution was ratified, creating a federal government with three branches. New York City was the first national capital under the Constitution; it had no laws restricting slaveholding. In 1790, Congress transferred the national capital to Philadelphia for ten years until the permanent national capital in Washington, D.C. on the banks of the Potomac River was completed in 1800.

With the move of the national capital from New York to Philadelphia, in the increasingly free state of Pennsylvania, there was uncertainty about whether its slavery laws would apply to officers of the federal government. By a strict interpretation, the Gradual Abolition Act exempted only slaveholding members of Congress. But there were also slaveholders among the officers of the judicial branch in the Supreme Court and the executive branch, including the President of the United States.^[14]

Washington stated privately that his presence in Philadelphia was solely a consequence of the city being the temporary seat of the federal government. Washington held that he remained a resident of Virginia and should not be subject to Pennsylvania laws regarding slavery.

Attorney General Edmund Randolph enabled enslaved workers he held to establish a six-month residency and assert their freedom. Randolph immediately explained to Washington that the same mechanism - which Randolph employed intentionally, so that his enslaved people would escape being claimed by his Virginia creditors—would result in Washington enslaved workers claiming their freedom if they achieved residency. But Washington could interrupt that passage by sending them out of the state before six months had passed.^[b]

Although such a rotation violated the 1788 amendment, Washington's actions went unchallenged due to his position and a lack of enforcement. Washington continued to rotate enslaved people in and out of the President's House throughout his presidency. Washington also was careful never to spend six continuous months in Pennsylvania himself, which would have established his legal residency there.^[14]

Philadelphia had a large free Black population. In addition, both Black and white people were active in abolition activities. In the course of their work, enslaved members of Washington's and other politicians' households met free Black people in the city and many learned about laws related to slavery. They learned why masters would move them in and out of the city.

When the first six-month deadline approached, Washington was on his Southern Tour in May 1791.^[18] Giles and Paris left Pennsylvania with him in April; Austin and Richmond were sent back to Mount Vernon before the deadline to prevent them from qualifying for freedom. Martha Washington took Judge and Sheels to Trenton, New Jersey, for two days to interrupt their Pennsylvania residency.^[19] Moll and Hercules Posey were allowed to remain in Pennsylvania for a couple of days beyond the deadline, then traveled back to Mount Vernon with the First Lady.^[14]

Faced with heated opposition by the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the Pennsylvania legislature abandoned a 1791 proposal to amend the Gradual Abolition Act to extend Congress's exemption to all federal officers who held enslaved people.^[14]

In 1842, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Prigg v. Pennsylvania that the 1788 amendment to the Gradual Abolition Act, including the section of it that empower Pennsylvania to free the people enslaved by non-resident slaveowners, was unconstitutional.^[14]

Escape

*Washington's Residence, High Street*, a lithograph in *Annals of Philadelphia*, an 1830 book by John Fanning Watson

Judge escaped the household on May 21, 1796, as the Washingtons were preparing to return to Virginia for a short trip between sessions of Congress. Martha Washington had told Judge that she was to be “given” as a wedding present (or otherwise later bequeathed) to Martha's granddaughter Elizabeth Parke Custis Law, who was known among the workers for her fierce temper.^[20]

Judge later recalled in an 1845 interview:

Whilst they were packing up to go to Virginia, I was packing to go, I didn't know where; for I knew that if I went back to Virginia, I should never get my liberty. I had friends among the colored people of Philadelphia, had my things carried there beforehand, and left Washington's house while they were eating dinner.^[21]

Runaway advertisements in Philadelphia newspapers documented Judge's escape to freedom from the President's House on May 21, 1796. Some offered a reward for her return. This one appeared in The Philadelphia Gazette on May 24, 1796:

Absconded from the household of the President of the United States, ONEY JUDGE, a light mulatto girl, much freckled, with very black eyes and bushy hair. She is of middle stature, slender, and delicately formed, about 20 years of age.
She has many changes of good clothes, of all sorts, but they are not sufficiently recollected to be described—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; but as she may attempt to escape by water, all masters of vessels are cautioned against admitting her into them, although it is probable she will attempt to pass for a free woman, and has, it is said, wherewithal to pay her passage.
Ten dollars will be paid to any person who will bring her home, if taken in the city, or on board any vessel in the harbour;—and a reasonable additional sum if apprehended at, and brought from a greater distance, and in proportion to the distance.
FREDERICK KITT, Steward. May 23

New Hampshire

Judge secured passage or was secretly placed aboard the Nancy, a ship piloted by Captain John Bowles and bound for Portsmouth, New Hampshire.^[22] Judge 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. Washington knew of Judge's whereabouts by September 1, when he wrote to Oliver Wolcott Jr., the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, about having her captured and returned by ship.^[23]

At Wolcott's request, Joseph Whipple, Portsmouth's collector of customs, interviewed Judge and reported back to him. The plan to capture her was abandoned after Whipple warned that news of an abduction could cause a riot on the docks by supporters of abolition. Whipple refused to place Judge on a ship against her will but relayed to Wolcott her offer to return voluntarily to the Washingtons if they would guarantee to free her following their deaths.^[24]

... a thirst for compleat freedom ... had been her only motive for absconding.

— Joseph Whipple to Oliver Wolcott, October 4, 1796.

An indignant Washington responded directly to Whipple:

I regret that the attempt you made to restore the Girl (Oney Judge as she called herself while with us, and who, without the least provocation absconded from her Mistress) should have been attended with so little Success. To enter into such a compromise with her, as she suggested to you, is totally inadmissible, for reasons that must strike at first view: for however well disposed I might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire emancipation of that description of People (if the latter was in itself practicable at this moment) it would neither be politic or just to reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference [of freedom]; and thereby discontent before hand the minds of all her fellow-servants who by their steady attachments are far more deserving than herself of favor.^[25]

Washington could have used the federal courts to recover Judge — the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 (which he had signed into law) required a legal process to return an escaped enslaved person over state lines. Any court case, however, would have been part of the public record and attracted unwelcome attention.

Washington retired from the presidency in March 1797. In August 1799, he wrote to his nephew, Burwell Bassett Jr., requesting help capturing and re-enslaving Judge.^[26] Bassett traveled to New Hampshire in September and tried to convince Judge to return to enslavement in Virginia.

By this point, she was married to a seaman named Jack Staines (who was away at sea) and was the mother of an infant. Bassett met with her, but she refused to return to Virginia with him. Bassett was Senator Langdon's houseguest that night, and over dinner, he revealed his plan to kidnap the young woman. This time Langdon helped Judge Staines, secretly telling her to go into hiding immediately. Bassett returned to Virginia without her.^[22]

Following Judge's 1796 escape, her younger sister, Delphy,^[27] was “given” by Martha Washington to her granddaughter. Eliza Custis Law and her husband manumitted Delphy and her children in 1807, after they were already living with Delphy's husband William Costin in Washington City.^[28]

Family

Greenland in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, where Judge married her husband Jack Staines in January 1797

In New Hampshire, Judge met and married Jack Staines, a free Black sailor. Their January 1797 marriage was listed in the town records of Greenland and published in the local newspaper.^[29] They had three children:

Eliza Staines (born 1798, died February 14, 1832, New Hampshire, no known offspring)
Will Staines (born 1801, death date & location unknown, no known offspring)
Nancy Staines (born 1802, died February 11, 1833, New Hampshire, no known offspring)

In freedom, Judge Staines learned to read and became a Christian.^[10] Judge and her husband had fewer than seven years together; he died on October 19, 1803.^[30] As a widow, Judge Staines was unable to support her children and moved in with the family of John Jacks Jr.^[22] Her daughters Eliza and Nancy Staines became wards of the town and were hired out as indentured servants; her son Will was apprenticed as a sailor.^[22]

Judge Staines's daughters died fifteen years before she did. Her son reportedly never returned to Portsmouth. After the elder Jacks died, Rockingham County donated firewood and other supplies to Judge Staines and the Jacks sisters, all too old to work by then.^[22]

Never freed

George Washington died on December 14, 1799; his will directed that the 124 people he enslaved be free after his wife died.^[31] Martha instead signed a deed of manumission in December 1800,^[32] and the enslaved persons were free on January 1, 1801.^[33] The 153 or so “dower slaves” at Mount Vernon remained enslaved, as neither George nor Martha could legally free them without reimbursing the Custis estate.

Following Martha Washington's death in 1802, the “dower slaves” reverted to the Custis estate. They were divided among the Custis heirs, her grandchildren.^[34]

Judge Staines remained a “dower slave” all her life, and legally, her children also were “dower slaves,” property of the Custis estate, even though their father, Jack Staines, was a free man. Article IV, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed the property rights of enslavers from whom enslaved people had escaped; under U.S. law, this superseded Staines' parental rights.^[35] Under the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, a child's status as enslaved or free followed that of the mother.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 — passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by Washington — established the legal mechanism by which a slaveholder could recover persons who had escaped enslavement. The Act made it a federal crime to assist an escaped enslaved person or to interfere with their capture and allowed slave-catchers into every U.S. state and territory.^[36]

Following Washington's death, Judge Staines probably felt secure in New Hampshire, as no one else in the Washington family was likely to mount an effort to take her.^[22] But legally, she and her children remained fugitives until their deaths. Her daughters predeceased her by more than a decade, and it is unknown what happened to her son.

Ona Judge Staines died in Greenland, New Hampshire, on February 25, 1848.

Interviews on slavery

Interviews with Judge Staines were published in the May 1845 issue of The Granite Freeman and the January 1847 issue of The Liberator, both abolitionist newspapers. They contained a wealth of details about her life. She described the Washingtons, their attempts to capture her, her opinions on slavery, her pride in having learned to read, and her strong religious faith. When asked whether she was sorry that she left the Washingtons since she labored so much harder after her escape than before, she said: "No, I am free, and have, I trust, been made a child of God by the means."^[37]

Legacy and honors

On February 25, 2008, the 160th anniversary of Judge's death, Philadelphia celebrated the first "Oney Judge Day" at the President's House site. The ceremony included speeches by historians and activists, a proclamation by Mayor Michael A. Nutter, and a memorial citation by the City Council.^[38]

In January 2026, President Donald Trump ordered that this exhibit be removed. The next month, on President’s Day, a federal holiday honoring Washington’s legacy, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ruled that the exhibit be restored to its original condition. She cited a quote from George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four “Ignorance is Strength.” The George W. Bush appointee compared the Trump administration to the book’s Ministry of Truth, which altered historical records to suit its false narrative. ^[39]

"Oney Judge Freedom Day," the 214th anniversary of her escape to freedom, was celebrated at the President's House site on May 21, 2010.^[40] The President's House Commemoration: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation, at 6th & Market Streets in Philadelphia, opened in December 2010. It includes a video about Oney Judge and information about all nine enslaved people held at the house.^[41] It also honors the contributions of African Americans to Philadelphia and the U.S.

On June 19, 2021, known as Juneteenth, a Virginia State Historical Marker honoring Judge was unveiled on Mount Vernon Memorial Highway near the Mount Vernon estate in Fairfax County, Virginia.^[42]^[43]

On May 3, 2025, the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire unveiled a marker honoring Judge in Greenland, New Hampshire.^[44]^[45]

In popular culture

Books

Taking Liberty (2002), a novel by Ann Rinaldi
The Escape of Oney Judge (2007), a children's book by Emily Arnold McCully
My Name Is Oney Judge (2010), a children's book by Diane D. Turner
Oney: My Escape From Slavery (2017), a novel by Diana Rubino and Piper Huguley
Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge (2017), a biography by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington's Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away (2017), a Young Readers Edition by Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve
Runaway: The Daring Escape of Ona Judge (2021), a children's book with verse by Ray Anthony Shepard and illustrations by Keith Mallett
My Name is Ona Judge (2022), a novel by Suzette D. Harrison

Theater

A Thirst for Freedom (2000), a play by Emory Wilson, produced at The Players' Ring Theater in Portsmouth, New Hampshire^[46]
A House with No Walls (2007), a play by Thomas Gibbons, initially produced at InterAct Theatre Company in Philadelphia, with subsequent productions throughout the United States.^[47]
Parallel Destinies (2010), a dance and theater piece by choreographer Germaine Ingram, composer Bobby Zankel, and visual artist John Dowell, a work-in-progress at the Philadelphia Folklore Project^[48]

Video

Oney Judge's Escape from the Washingtons (2008), the third episode of Drunk History on Comedy Central^[49] in which stand-up comedian Jen Kirkman recounts Judge's life for the Funny or Die web video series
The Freedom Quest of Oney Judge (2015), a video by HERO Live! in Colonial Williamsburg for students in fourth to eighth grades that uses 21st-century technology and dramatizations with reenactors to play the roles of historical figures^[50]

Notes

^ The February 18, 1786, Mount Vernon slave census lists "Oney" as Betty's child and "12 yrs. old".^[3]
^ "This being the case, the Attorney General conceived, that after six months residence, your slaves would be upon no better footing than his. But he observed, that if, before the expiration of six months, they could, upon any pretense whatever, be carried or sent out of the State, but for a single day, a new era would commence on their return, from whence the six months must be dated for it requires an entire six months for them to claim that right."^[17]

References

^ Dunbar, Erica Armstrong (February 16, 2015). "George Washington, Slave Catcher". New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
^ "Washington as a Farmer at Mount Vernon". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved January 31, 2026.
^ Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds., The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 4, (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia), p. 278.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d 1786 Mount Vernon slave census from Founders Online (National Archives).
^ Brendan Wolfe, "Oney Judge (ca. 1773-1848)," Encyclopedia Virginia, posted April 19, 2017.[1]
^ Austin, from Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington.
^ "A Community Divided". George Washington's Mount Vernon. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
^ In 1800, Delphy married William Costin and moved to Washington, D.C. Costin was named as a cousin of Mary Simpson (c. 1752-March 18, 1836), of New York in her will.
^ The 85 dower slaves is a minimum number because the Daniel Custis Estate Inventory lists some women with the notation "& children," but not the number of children. See Edward Lawler Jr., "President's House Slavery by the Numbers," Archived February 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine from ushistory.org
^ ^a ^b Rev. T.H. Adams, "Washington's Runaway Slave", The Granite Freeman, May 22, 1845, at President's House website, US History.org, accessed April 1, 2012
^ Two 1840s interviews with Oney Judge, President's House, US History. In the interviews, her first name is spelled "O-N-A", but all prior references spell it "O-N-E-Y".
^ The President's House in Philadelphia, US History.org
^ Postilion Joe's wife Sarah took the surname Richardson after Washington's will freed her. As a "dower slave," Joe could not be freed by Washington.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Edward Lawler Jr. "Washington, the Enslaved, and the 1780 Law". President's House of Philadelphia. US History.org. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
^ "Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act (1780)" Archived December 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, President's House of Philadelphia, US History.org
^ 1788 amendment, President's House of Philadelphia, US History.org
^ Tobias Lear to George Washington, April 24, 1791.
^ Archibald Henderson, "Washington's Southern Tour, 1791," The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 26, No. 1 (January 1925), pp. 59–64.
^ Gen. Philemon Dickinson House
^ Susan P. Schoelwer, ed. Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington's Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon, VA: MVLA, 2016. (page 21)
^ "Washington's Runaway Slave", The Granite Freeman, Concord, New Hampshire (May 22, 1845); carried at President's House in Philadelphia, Independence Hall Association, accessed 11 February 2011
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Gerson, Evelyn (2000). "Ona Judge Staines: Escape from Washington". Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2012. Seacoast Black History.
^ George Washington to Oliver Wolcott, Sept. 1, 1796
^ Joseph Whipple to Oliver Wolcott, October 4, 1796, Library of Congress
^ Washington to Whipple Archived 2017-09-02 at the Wayback Machine, November 28, 1796.
^ George Washington to Burwell Bassett, Jr., August 11, 1799 from National Archives.
^ Jackson & Twohig, Diaries, vol. 4, p. 278. Note: Delphy is listed as "6 yrs. old" in the February 18, 1786, Mount Vernon slave census.
^ Washington, D.C. Land Records, Liber H, #8, p. 382; Liber R, #17, p. 288, as quoted in Henry Wiencek, An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), p. 383, n.13.
^ Fritz Hirschfeld, George Washington and Slavery: A Documentary Portrayal (University of Missouri, 1997), pp. 112-17.
^ Evelyn Gerson, A Thirst for Complete Freedom: Why Fugitive Slave Ona Judge Staines Never Returned to Her Master, President George Washington (M.A. thesis, Harvard University, June 2000), p. 130
^ "Rediscovering George Washington . Last Will and Testament - PBS". PBS. February 6, 2005. Archived from the original on February 6, 2005. Retrieved November 3, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ George Washington Pamphlets. January 1, 1885.
^ "George Washington and Slavery · George Washington's Mount Vernon". September 5, 2015. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
^ The numbers of people enslaved by Washington and Custis come from the 1799 Mount Vernon slave census. Archived April 27, 2005, at the Wayback Machine, George Washington Papers, University of Virginia
Without documentation, the names of which dower slaves were distributed to which Custis grandchild have to be inferred by comparing names in Mount Vernon records with Custis family records. This has created a frustrating obstacle for genealogists and people researching their family history.
^ The legal status of a child born following an enslaved mother's escape to another (free) state was the same as if that child had been born in the mother's native (slavery) state. The U.S. Constitution protected the property rights of the slaveholder, which superseded the rights of the child's father. See U.S. Supreme Court, Jones vs. Van Zandt (1847).
^ Finkelman, An Imperfect Union: Slavery, Federalism, and Comity
^ "Washington's Runaway Slave", The Granite Freeman, Concord, New Hampshire (May 22, 1845), President's House, Independence Hall Association, US History.org, accessed February 11, 2011
^ Stephan Salisbury, "City honors Washington's slave - and 'power of archaeology'", The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 26, 2008, at President's House of Philadelphia, US History.org
^ Schoenbaum, Hannah (February 17, 2026). "Citing Orwell's 1984, Judge Orders Trump administration to Restore Slavery exhibit removed in Philadelphia". Retrieved April 4, 2026.
^ "Slave's escape commemorated at President's House", The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 21, 2010
^ "The President's House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation", City of Philadelphia, accessed February 11, 2011
^ "Ona Judge Historic Marker Unveiling at Mount Vernon". Fairfax County, Virginia government. June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
^ "Ona Judge Historic Marker Unveiling". Fairfax County, Virginia government. June 19, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
^ "New Hampshire honors Ona Judge Staines with historical marker unveiling in Greenland". citizenportal.ai. May 3, 2025. Retrieved May 8, 2025.
^ Bowker, Gina (May 5, 2025). "Greenland Marker". blackheritagetrailnh.org. Retrieved May 8, 2025.
^ "Tea Talk details life of escaped slave Ona Judge Staines", Foster's Daily Democrat, February 28, 2015.
^ A House with No Walls, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
^ Philadelphia Folklore Project, "Parallel Destines," Works in Progress, vol. 23, no. 1–2 (Spring 2010), pp. 4–5, 24–26, 29.
^ "Drunk History vol. 3" Archived February 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
^ "Colonial Williamsburg HERO Live! : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site". www.history.org. Retrieved November 19, 2015.

External links

"Two 1840s Articles on Oney Judge", The Granite Freeman (1845) and The Liberator (1847), at President's House website, US History
(Video) Silent No Longer: The Story of Oney Judge, Philadelphia Inquirer (via YouTube)

[4] The February 18, 1786, Mount Vernon slave census lists "Oney" as Betty's child and "12 yrs. old".^[3]

[19] "This being the case, the Attorney General conceived, that after six months residence, your slaves would be upon no better footing than his. But he observed, that if, before the expiration of six months, they could, upon any pretense whatever, be carried or sent out of the State, but for a single day, a new era would commence on their return, from whence the six months must be dated for it requires an entire six months for them to claim that right."^[17]

[NYT-20150216-1] Dunbar, Erica Armstrong (February 16, 2015). "George Washington, Slave Catcher". New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2015.

[2] "Washington as a Farmer at Mount Vernon". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved January 31, 2026.

[3] Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds., The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 4, (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia), p. 278.

[1786_Census-5] 1786 Mount Vernon slave census from Founders Online (National Archives).

[6] Brendan Wolfe, "Oney Judge (ca. 1773-1848)," Encyclopedia Virginia, posted April 19, 2017.[1]

[7] Austin, from Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington.

[8] "A Community Divided". George Washington's Mount Vernon. Retrieved July 17, 2020.

[9] In 1800, Delphy married William Costin and moved to Washington, D.C. Costin was named as a cousin of Mary Simpson (c. 1752-March 18, 1836), of New York in her will.

[10] The 85 dower slaves is a minimum number because the Daniel Custis Estate Inventory lists some women with the notation "& children," but not the number of children. See Edward Lawler Jr., "President's House Slavery by the Numbers," Archived February 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine from ushistory.org

[Adams-11] Rev. T.H. Adams, "Washington's Runaway Slave", The Granite Freeman, May 22, 1845, at President's House website, US History.org, accessed April 1, 2012

[12] Two 1840s interviews with Oney Judge, President's House, US History. In the interviews, her first name is spelled "O-N-A", but all prior references spell it "O-N-E-Y".

[USHist-13] The President's House in Philadelphia, US History.org

[14] Postilion Joe's wife Sarah took the surname Richardson after Washington's will freed her. As a "dower slave," Joe could not be freed by Washington.

[Lawler-15] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Edward Lawler Jr. "Washington, the Enslaved, and the 1780 Law". President's House of Philadelphia. US History.org. Retrieved February 11, 2011.

[16] "Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act (1780)" Archived December 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, President's House of Philadelphia, US History.org

[17] 1788 amendment, President's House of Philadelphia, US History.org

[18] Tobias Lear to George Washington, April 24, 1791.

[20] Archibald Henderson, "Washington's Southern Tour, 1791," The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 26, No. 1 (January 1925), pp. 59–64.

[21] Gen. Philemon Dickinson House

[22] Susan P. Schoelwer, ed. Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington's Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon, VA: MVLA, 2016. (page 21)

[23] "Washington's Runaway Slave", The Granite Freeman, Concord, New Hampshire (May 22, 1845); carried at President's House in Philadelphia, Independence Hall Association, accessed 11 February 2011

[Gerson-24] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Gerson, Evelyn (2000). "Ona Judge Staines: Escape from Washington". Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2012. Seacoast Black History.

[25] George Washington to Oliver Wolcott, Sept. 1, 1796

[26] Joseph Whipple to Oliver Wolcott, October 4, 1796, Library of Congress

[27] Washington to Whipple Archived 2017-09-02 at the Wayback Machine, November 28, 1796.

[28] George Washington to Burwell Bassett, Jr., August 11, 1799 from National Archives.

[29] Jackson & Twohig, Diaries, vol. 4, p. 278. Note: Delphy is listed as "6 yrs. old" in the February 18, 1786, Mount Vernon slave census.

[30] Washington, D.C. Land Records, Liber H, #8, p. 382; Liber R, #17, p. 288, as quoted in Henry Wiencek, An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), p. 383, n.13.

[31] Fritz Hirschfeld, George Washington and Slavery: A Documentary Portrayal (University of Missouri, 1997), pp. 112-17.

[32] Evelyn Gerson, A Thirst for Complete Freedom: Why Fugitive Slave Ona Judge Staines Never Returned to Her Master, President George Washington (M.A. thesis, Harvard University, June 2000), p. 130

[33] "Rediscovering George Washington . Last Will and Testament - PBS". PBS. February 6, 2005. Archived from the original on February 6, 2005. Retrieved November 3, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[34] George Washington Pamphlets. January 1, 1885.

[35] "George Washington and Slavery · George Washington's Mount Vernon". September 5, 2015. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2016.

[36] The numbers of people enslaved by Washington and Custis come from the 1799 Mount Vernon slave census. Archived April 27, 2005, at the Wayback Machine, George Washington Papers, University of Virginia
Without documentation, the names of which dower slaves were distributed to which Custis grandchild have to be inferred by comparing names in Mount Vernon records with Custis family records. This has created a frustrating obstacle for genealogists and people researching their family history.

[37] The legal status of a child born following an enslaved mother's escape to another (free) state was the same as if that child had been born in the mother's native (slavery) state. The U.S. Constitution protected the property rights of the slaveholder, which superseded the rights of the child's father. See U.S. Supreme Court, Jones vs. Van Zandt (1847).

[38] Finkelman, An Imperfect Union: Slavery, Federalism, and Comity

[39] "Washington's Runaway Slave", The Granite Freeman, Concord, New Hampshire (May 22, 1845), President's House, Independence Hall Association, US History.org, accessed February 11, 2011

[40] Stephan Salisbury, "City honors Washington's slave - and 'power of archaeology'", The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 26, 2008, at President's House of Philadelphia, US History.org

[41] Schoenbaum, Hannah (February 17, 2026). "Citing Orwell's 1984, Judge Orders Trump administration to Restore Slavery exhibit removed in Philadelphia". Retrieved April 4, 2026.

[42] "Slave's escape commemorated at President's House", The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 21, 2010

[43] "The President's House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation", City of Philadelphia, accessed February 11, 2011

[44] "Ona Judge Historic Marker Unveiling at Mount Vernon". Fairfax County, Virginia government. June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.

[45] "Ona Judge Historic Marker Unveiling". Fairfax County, Virginia government. June 19, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.

[46] "New Hampshire honors Ona Judge Staines with historical marker unveiling in Greenland". citizenportal.ai. May 3, 2025. Retrieved May 8, 2025.

[47] Bowker, Gina (May 5, 2025). "Greenland Marker". blackheritagetrailnh.org. Retrieved May 8, 2025.

[48] "Tea Talk details life of escaped slave Ona Judge Staines", Foster's Daily Democrat, February 28, 2015.

[49] A House with No Walls, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

[50] Philadelphia Folklore Project, "Parallel Destines," Works in Progress, vol. 23, no. 1–2 (Spring 2010), pp. 4–5, 24–26, 29.

[51] "Drunk History vol. 3" Archived February 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.

[52] "Colonial Williamsburg HERO Live! : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site". www.history.org. Retrieved November 19, 2015.

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v t e George Washington
1st President of the United States (1789–1797) Senior Officer of the Army (1798–1799) Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army (1775–1783) Delegate to the Second Continental Congress (1775) Delegate to the First Continental Congress (1774)
Military career Revolutionary War	Military career French and Indian War Jumonville Glen Battle of Fort Necessity Battle of the Monongahela Forbes Expedition Washington in the American Revolution Commander-in-chief, Continental Army Aides-de-camp Washington's headquarters office and sleeping tent Boston campaign Siege of Boston Flag on Prospect Hill New York and New Jersey campaign Delaware River crossing Battle of Trenton Battle of the Assunpink Creek Battle of Princeton Philadelphia campaign Battle of Brandywine Battle of Germantown Battle of White Marsh Valley Forge Battle of Monmouth Battles of Saratoga Sullivan Expedition Yorktown campaign Siege of Yorktown Culper Spy Ring Newburgh Conspiracy Newburgh letter Asgill Affair Evacuation Day Springfield Armory Resignation as commander-in-chief Badge of Military Merit Purple Heart Washington Before Boston Medal Horses Nelson Blueskin
Other U.S. founding events	Initiated, co-wrote, 1769 Virginia Association Initiated, 1774 Fairfax Resolves Continental Association Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture 1785 Mount Vernon Conference Chairman, 1787 Constitutional Convention George Washington's political evolution
Presidency (timeline)	1788–89 United States presidential election First inauguration inaugural bible 1792 presidential election Second inauguration Reception at Trenton Title of "Mr. President" Cabinet of the United States Secretary of State Attorney General Secretary of the Treasury Secretary of War Judiciary Act of 1789 Oath Administration Act Nonintercourse Act Park Watchmen Whiskey Rebellion Militia Acts of 1792 Coinage Act of 1792 United States Mint Presidential Succession Act of 1792 United States Capitol cornerstone laying Proclamation of Neutrality Neutrality Act of 1794 Jay Treaty Pinckney's Treaty Slave Trade Act of 1794 Residence Act Thanksgiving Proclamation Farewell Address State of the Union Address January 1790 December 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 Cabinet Federal judicial appointments John Rutledge Supreme Court nominations
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Cultural depictions	Alexander Hamilton (1931 film) La Fayette (1961 film) George Washington (1984 miniseries 1986 sequel) A More Perfect Union (1989 film) The Crossing (2000 film) We Fight to Be Free (2006 film) Turn: Washington's Spies (2014–2017 series) The Revolution (2006 miniseries) The War that Made America (2006 miniseries) Washington (2020 miniseries) Hamilton (2020 film) The American Revolution (2025 miniseries) Young Washington (2026 film)
Related	Bibliography Outline Founders Online Founding Fathers of the United States Republicanism Federalist Party Federalist Era Virginia dynasty Coat of arms Cherry-tree anecdote River Farm Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation Washington's Crossing Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route 1751 Barbados trip Category Syng inkstand General of the Armies Conway Cabal American Foxhound American Philosophical Society American Revolution patriots Betsy Ross flag Mount Vernon Ladies' Association Mount Vernon replicas George Washington Memorial Building Attempted theft of Washington's skull
Family	Martha Washington (wife) John Parke Custis (stepson) George Washington Parke Custis (step-grandson, adopted son) Eleanor Parke Custis (step-granddaughter, adopted daughter) Augustine Washington (father) Mary Ball Washington (mother) Lawrence Washington (half-brother) Augustine Washington Jr. (half-brother) Elizabeth Washington Lewis (sister) Samuel Washington (brother) John A. Washington (brother) Charles Washington (brother) Lawrence Washington (grandfather) Mildred Gale (grandmother) John Washington (great-grandfather) George Reade (2nd great-grandfather) Bushrod Washington (nephew)
Slavery	George Washington and slavery list Betty Caroline Branham William Costin West Ford Sarah Johnson Oney Judge Philip Lee William Lee Hercules Posey Christopher Sheels Deborah Squash Harry Washington
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