Ona Judge Staines ( 1773 – February 25, 1848), also known as Oney Maria Judge Staines, was a biracial enslaved woman who escaped from George Washington's presidential household, and eluded capture by him and by Martha Washington's relatives.
She was born to Betty, on the Washingtons' Mount Vernon Plantation in Virginia, and fled to freedom from the President's House in Philadelphia in 1796. Legally, Judge Staines was still a fugitive slave fifty-two years later, when she died in Greenland, New Hampshire in 1848.
Background New York City served as the first national capital under the ratified U.S. Constitution. George Washington was elected the first President of the United States in early 1789, and was inaugurated at Federal Hall on April 30, 1789. Judge worked in both of the New York City presidential households, and later in the President's House in Philadelphia.
Although Pennsylvania had begun a gradual abolition of slavery in 1780, slave-holding members of Congress were specifically exempted from that state law. By December 1790, when Philadelphia became the temporary national capital for a 10-year period — while Washington, D.C. was under construction — there were three branches of the federal government. The question of whether the president, vice-president, justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, or any other slave-holding officer of the executive or judicial branches also would be exempted from Pennsylvania's abolition law remained untested.
Judge was in her twenties in May 1796, when she escaped from the Philadelphia presidential household. She had learned that Martha Washington intended to make her a wedding gift to granddaughter Elizabeth Custis Law, which meant that Judge would be returned to Virginia with little chance of ever being free. The steward of the President's House placed runaways ads in several Philadelphia newspapers, and Judge was classified as a fugitive slave.
Judge reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire by ship, and settled into the Black community of the nearby town of Greenland. There she married Jack Staines, bore three children, and converted to Christianity. Although Judge was never freed, Martha Washington's grandchildren ultimately stopped attempting to return her to Virginia and enslavement.
Early life
Judge was born about 1773 at Mount Vernon, the plantation of George Washington and his family. 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); a half-brother Tom Davis and a half-sister Betty Davis (both fathered by white indentured weaver Thomas Davis).Brendan Wolfe, "Oney Judge (ca. 1773-1848)," Encyclopedia Virginia, posted April 19, 2017. In addition, she had a half-sister, Delphy (nickname for Philadelphia, father unknown),Austin, from Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington. born to Betty about 1779.1786 Mount Vernon slave census from Founders Online (National Archives). Delphy died on December 13, 1831, after years of freedom.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.
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 at least 85 enslaved people.The 85 dower slaves is a minimum number because the Daniel Custis Estate Inventory lists some women with the notation "& children," but not always the number of children. See Edward Lawler Jr., "President's House Slavery by the Numbers," from ushistory.org 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 her grandchildren.
After Martha wed George Washington in 1759, she took Betty with her to Mount Vernon as one of the 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 enslaved and legally were the property of the Custis Estate, although 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.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
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 fled to freedom in New Hampshire.Two 1840s interviews with Oney Judge, President's House, US History. In the interviews, her first name was spelled "O-N-A" (which may be how it was pronounced), but all prior references spelled it "O-N-E-Y".
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, taken by Washington to Philadelphia to work in the President's House. Others were Austin, Giles, Paris, Moll, Hercules Posey, Richmond, Christopher Sheels, and "Postilion Joe" (Richardson).The President's House in Philadelphia, US History.orgPostilion 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.
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, and the state law tried to balance emancipation against the property rights of Pennsylvania slaveholders. The process was designed to play out over decades and not end until the death of the last enslaved person born in Pennsylvania prior to March 1, 1780, the date the state law was enacted.
In other words, an infant born to an enslaved mother in Pennsylvania on February 29, 1780, would remain enslaved-for-life so long as the mother's master complied with all state laws regarding slavery, including registering the enslaved child annually. An infant born to an enslaved mother in Pennsylvania on March 1, 1780, would have the legal status of indentured servant at birth. The mother's master would be required to care for the child until age 14, then the child would be indentured to that master for 14 years, and not be free of legal obligations until age 28.
The law immediately prohibited the importation of additional enslaved persons into the state, and required the annual registration of those already held there. But the law also protected the property rights of Pennsylvania slaveholders. If a slaveholder failed to register an enslaved person, that enslaved person could be confiscated by the state and freed. However, if a slaveholder complied with state law and registered their enslaved annually, they would remain enslaved for life. Every future child of an enslaved mother would be born free, but was required to work as an indentured servant to the mother's master from age 14 to age 28.
A slaveholder from another state could bring their enslaved into Pennsylvania and hold them in the state for six months, but if that slaveholder held them in the state beyond that deadline, Pennsylvania law gave those enslaved the power to petition for their freedom."Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act (1780)" , President's House of Philadelphia, US History.org In 1780, Congress was the only branch of the federal government, and met in Philadelphia. Significantly, Pennsylvania exempted slave-holding members of Congress from its 1780 Gradual Abolition Act.
Once the U.S. Constitution had been ratified and the three branches of the federal government had been created, the issue of whether Pennsylvania's slavery law could be applied to slaveholding members of the Executive and Judicial Branches remained untested.
A 1788 amendment to the state law closed loopholes, such as prohibiting a Pennsylvania slaveholder from transporting a pregnant woman into another state so that the child would be born outside Pennsylvania and be enslaved; or prohibiting a non-resident slaveholder from rotating their enslaved in and out of the state to prevent those enslaved from establishing the uninterrupted six-month Pennsylvania residency required to qualify for freedom.1788 amendment, President's House of Philadelphia, US History.org This last point would affect the lives of Judge and the other enslaved people in the Washington household.
The U.S. Constitution was ratified by nine of the thirteen former colonies in March 1789, 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 while 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.
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's inaction enabled his enslaved workers to establish a six-month residency in Pennsylvania and petition for their freedom, which a court granted. Randolph immediately explained to Washington that the same mechanism could result in Washington's enslaved workers claiming their freedom if they established residency. But Washington could prevent that residency from being established by sending them out of the state before six months had passed.
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.