While Austin had left before to travel with Washington, Betty had never been separated from Ona and the experience must have been distressing for both of them. She was there to say goodbye to two of her children, Ona and Austin. 5 Betty was one of the people standing in the crowd. More likely, they were mourning the departure of their enslaved family members that were traveling with Martha, and wondering when they might be reunited, if ever. Perhaps they were sad to see her go for her presence offered some degree of stability and insurance they wouldn’t be sold or given away. Lewis noted, “numbers of these poor wretches seemed greatly agitated, much affected.” He assumed they were upset at Martha’s departure. He reported that most of the enslaved community at Mount Vernon gathered to say goodbye to Martha and the enslaved individuals she was taking with her. In 1789, Robert Lewis, one of Washington’s secretaries, arrived at Mount Vernon to escort First Lady Martha Washington to New York City. Christopher Sheels and other enslaved people who acted as messengers may have been able to pass notes and verbal messages, but those visits were infrequent. By the time of his presidency, Washington had determined not to break up families through sales, but he had no objection to separating them physically.
The enslaved people in the President’s House were also separated from their families back at Mount Vernon. The disparity in their status would have been obvious and painful. Working in the President’s House may have been the first time the enslaved laborers had worked in such close proximity to paid white servants. The enslaved people who worked and slept in the stables enjoyed a bit more of an escape, but those who worked in the home either slept in the children’s bedrooms, outside of George and Martha’s bedroom, or had to walk past the Washingtons’ bedrooms to get to their rooms on the third and fourth floors. The Washingtons and other white secretaries and servants in the home were nearly always present and there was almost constant oversight.
First, with up to thirty people living in the home, the houses were incredibly cramped and offered very little privacy and space. Life for enslaved people in the President’s House in New York City and then Philadelphia presented a number of unique challenges and opportunities. Every aspect of the home depended on enslaved labor to run smoothly. 3 They tended the horses and carriages in the stables, escorted Washington and his family when they left the house, cooked in the kitchen, did laundry, cleaned the home, cared for the Washingtons’ grandchildren, helped the Washingtons dress in the morning, did their hair, mended their clothes, waited on the dining table, and greeted guests. 2 During Washington’s presidency, at least ten enslaved people worked at the president’s houses in New York City and Philadelphia: Ona, Hercules, Moll, Giles, Austin, Richmond, Paris, Joe, Christopher Sheels, and William Lee.
ONA JUDGE DEATH FREE
at least ten white or free black paid servants that worked and may have boarded in the home and several enslaved individuals. Although spacious, the house barely contained all the people cramped inside: George and Martha their grandchildren, Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis and George Washington “Wash” Parke Custis Tobias Lear Washington’s private secretaries, David Humphreys, William Jackson, and Thomas Nelson, Jr. He rented the home for one year from Samuel Osgood. When Washington arrived in New York City in late April 1789, he moved his household into a large private house at 1 Cherry Street. Although the president-elect made no mention of their presence in his diary, he was also accompanied by several enslaved individuals. He was accompanied by Charles Thomson, the secretary of Congress, and Colonel David Humphreys, Washington’s longtime friend and secretary. On April 16, 1789, George Washington left his home at Mount Vernon to travel to New York City to be inaugurated as the first President of the United States.
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