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Betty ( – 1795) was a biracial enslaved woman owned by
Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...
. She was owned by the Custis Estate and worked at
Daniel Parke Custis Daniel Parke Custis (October 15, 1711 – July 8, 1757) was an American planter and politician who was the first husband of Martha Dandridge. After his death, Dandridge married George Washington, who later became the first president of the Unit ...
' plantation, the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...
, on the
Pamunkey River The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in eastern Virginia in the United States. Via the York Rive ...
in
New Kent County, Virginia New Kent County is a county (United States), county in the eastern part the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 22,945. Its county seat is New Kent, Virginia, New Kent. Ne ...
. Custis married Martha Dandridge (later
Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...
) in 1750 and, when he died in 1757, Betty became one of Martha's dower slaves whom she brought to George Washington's plantation,
Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is ...
, after the Washington marriage in 1759. Betty worked at Mount Vernon until she died. Betty was the mother of Ona Judge, who escaped from the Washingtons. Betty worked as a seamstress both at the White House and Mount Vernon plantations. Her story exemplifies the sexual vulnerability that enslaved women faced.


Early life

Betty was of mixed European and African heritage. Since Betty was born enslaved, her mother would have been of African descent as slavery was inherited through the mother per the law of ''
partus sequitur ventrem ''Partus sequitur ventrem'' (L. "That which is born follows the womb"; also ''partus'') was a legal doctrine passed in colonial Virginia in 1662 and other English crown colonies in the Americas which defined the legal status of children born t ...
''. As Betty's mother had a child with a white man, her mother was most likely a slave in the domestic sphere, as that occupation would have caused Betty's mother to be in close proximity to white men. Betty was born and spent her childhood cared for by someone besides her mother as enslaved parents worked sunup to sundown and only had time with their children at night. Enslaved children younger than twelve did not work with their parents and did not yet have specified occupations. Instead, their owners had them do chores, like collecting water and firewood, or taking care of younger enslaved children. Because enslaved children did not typically work as long as adults, they did not receive shoes or blankets, and were often forced to share blankets with their family members. Enslaved children were also given less than the normal food ration and often helped to grow gardens so their family could have more food than just the meager rations they were provided. As with many other slaves, Betty likely only had one set of clothes for the whole year. Children like Betty were given shifts to wear.


Life at the Custis Plantation

By the time she was a pre-adolescent, around 11–14 years old, Betty trained to be a seamstress, a skilled occupation that gave her a higher status among the enslaved workforce at the White House. Betty started work before sunrise and ended work after the sun went down. Slaves working in the domestic sphere, like seamstresses, were often biracial. As a seamstress, Betty was not only tasked with making clothes for her master and his family, but also for other enslaved people on the plantation. The master and his families' clothes would have been made with materials like silk, cotton, or anything that the master could afford, while slaves' clothes tended to be made from linen or wool, which were much cheaper materials. Betty would also have been tasked with repairing clothes of both the enslaved people and her master and his family. As an enslaved domestic worker, Betty worked closely with Martha Custis (Washington) both at the White House plantation and at Mount Vernon. Betty was one of Martha's favorite slaves and while working at the White House, "Betty watched... artha Washingtonsurvive the sudden loss of her first husband" and two of her four children. She also saw her meet and marry George Washington. While working at the Custis plantation, Betty gave birth to her first child, Austin, at the age of nineteen in 1757. Austin's father is unknown, but it is likely that his father was white as Austin was reported to have lighter skin. Since lighter skin was favored for domestic occupations, Austin worked as a waiter for the Washingtons.


Move to Mount Vernon

Daniel Parke Custis died in 1757, leaving Martha Custis a very rich widow. As part of Martha's widow dower share she received 84 slaves from the Custis estate. Scholar Erica Dunbar notes that the death of an owner would have made 21-year-old Betty nervous, as slaves were often sold and families separated in order to pay off any outstanding debts their owner may have had. Luckily for Betty, she and her two-year-old son, Austin, were not separated and Martha Washington picked both of them to go to Mount Vernon with her in 1759. At the time of Betty's and Austin's move to Mount Vernon, together the two of them were worth sixty pounds. Eventually a total of 155 slaves from the Custis estate were brought to Mount Vernon. Dunbar notes that Betty's anxieties would not have subsided with her move to the new Virginia plantation, as she was likely nervous about the sexual vulnerability she faced with her new owner. Dunbar writes that at 21, Betty was the perfect age for childbearing, and she did not know how Washington would treat her. It was never recorded that George Washington sexually abused any of his slaves, but Betty was still vulnerable to exploitation by other men at Mount Vernon, as well as at the White House plantation.


Life at Mount Vernon

At Mount Vernon, Betty was part of the 6% mixed race (of mixed European and African descent) population at the plantation. Betty spent her entire day working primarily as a seamstress and spinner, but she also cooked and cleaned. Since Betty worked at the Mansion House, the domestic part of the estate, she was likely to be seen by visitors and so she was clothed better than her enslaved field working counterparts. Betty wore simple, ankle-length dresses that were made out of cheaper material, like linen or wool. Betty also had an apron, cap, stockings, and shoes. As a seamstress, like at the White House plantation, Betty was tasked with making clothes for her owners as well as for other slaves. She would make clothing for enslaved individuals, mostly out of linen and wool, according to the clothing ration Washington allocated for his enslaved people. Each week, Betty had to make a certain percentage of clothes or she would have been punished. During her time at Mount Vernon, it is not exactly clear where Betty lived. She possibly lived in a log cabin or in a brick building, called the "House of Families," which was the predominant slave quarter at the Mansion House. Domestic slaves were kept close to the Washingtons' home and Betty's possible living space was only 300 feet away. Only skilled, domestic slaves lived at the "House of Families," and it was located on "the north lane of outbuildings, directly across from the blacksmiths' shop." It was two stories tall and had chimneys. From archaeological evidence, it appears that slaves living at the "House of Families" cooked "one-pot meals" that consisted of low-grade meat and cornmeal, as well as any vegetables or fruits that they had grown in their gardens. Washington only provided his enslaved people rations of pork and cornmeal. In 1792–1793, the "House of Families" was destroyed. It was replaced with one-story quarters built next to where the "House of Families" used to be. These new quarters were 2,800 square feet and held sixty people in four rooms. Each room had one fireplace, one door, and some kind of bunk beds. Washington built these new quarters so that he could keep a closer eye on his enslaved people. The housing situation at Mount Vernon reveals a hierarchy, as slaves were housed according to their occupation. Skilled slaves tended to be housed in brick buildings at the Mansion House, while field workers were instead housed in log or wood cabins at the different farms in which they worked. Mount Vernon consisted of five farms. While at Mount Vernon, Betty had four more children: Tom Davis (born 1769), Betty Davis (born 1771), Ona Judge (born 1774 and died 1848), and
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
(born 1780 and died 1831). Tom and Betty were the children of Thomas Davis, a white man who worked at Mount Vernon as a weaver. Ona Judge was the daughter of Andrew Judge who was from England. Philadelphia's father is unknown, but in 1807 she was freed from slavery and married
William Costin William "Billy" Costin ( - May 31, 1842) was a free African-American activist and scholar who successfully challenged District of Columbia slave codes in the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia. Early life Little is known of Costin's u ...
, an
abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...
and free man, who was the son of an enslaved woman, Ann Dandridge, and whose father was
John Dandridge Col. John Dandridge of Chestnut Grove (14 July 1700 – 31 August 1756) was a colonel, planter, politician, and Clerk of New Kent County, Virginia from 1730 to 1756. He may be best known as the father of Bartholomew Dandridge and the first First ...
, the father of
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...
. While Betty had five children total, as a slave she would have been separated from her children for most of the day. Betty also had "little control... over the lives of... erchildren." Austin and Ona were selected by George and Martha Washington to accompany them to New York and Philadelphia after Washington was elected President. There was nothing Betty could do about this, and her children were forced to be separated from her because they were Martha Washington's property and she could do whatever she wanted with them. Every child Betty had enriched the Washingtons' and the Custis Estate, as children and young adults provided more enslaved labor. The number of children that Betty had and the varying white fathers may illustrate the sexual vulnerability that enslaved women faced, especially when they worked in the domestic sphere, which put them in close proximity to many white men, not just their owner. (See, for example, the biographies of
Alice Clifton Alice Clifton was an enslaved African-American woman owned by John Bartholomew in Philadelphia. She was brought to trial on April 18, 1787, for the murder of her infant daughter, found guilty, and sentenced to death. Following the sentence, a ...
,
Jane the Runaway, Bridge Town Jane from Bridgetown, Bridge Town, (late eighteenth-century), was an urban slave in Barbados under the ownership of John Wright. Jane's life illustrates a bigger picture regarding slavery and violence in the early eighteenth century. Jane was cap ...
, and
Winney Grimshaw Winney Grimshaw (c. 1826 – ?) was an enslaved African-American woman at the Mount Airy Plantation in Richmond County, Virginia. The Grimshaws are one of the most well-documented enslaved families who lived at Mount Airy. Though the Grimshaws ...
.)


Relationship with Andrew Judge

Andrew Judge, the father of Betty's daughter, Ona, came to the colonies in 1772 from England as an indentured servant. Washington bought Judge's labor, and Judge worked as a tailor at Mount Vernon. Betty was around 34 years old when Judge arrived at Mount Vernon and she likely met him due to the work that they both did with textiles and tailoring. Judge eventually worked off his indentured servitude and left Mount Vernon in the 1780s. We do not know if their relationship was consensual.


Later life and death

While her children Austin and Ona were working in Philadelphia, Betty labored at Mount Vernon. She became a grandmother to eighteen grandchildren. However, tragedy struck in 1794 when her son, Austin, drowned while traveling back to Virginia from Philadelphia. Erica Dunbar states that this "news was too much for Austin's mother
etty Etty, Ettie or Etti is a feminine given name, often a short version of Esther or Elizabeth. It is also a surname. It may refer to the following people: Given name * Etti Ankri (born 1963), Israeli singer-songwriter * Etty Darwin (1843 ��1927), edi ...
to bear." Betty at this point was fatigued by her lifelong work as a slave and had been sick. She eventually died at Mount Vernon in 1795, around 57 years old. Of her death George Washington said "It is happy for old Betty, and her children and friends, that she is taken of the stage; her life must have been miserable to herself, and troublesome to all those around her." Betty never escaped the bonds of slavery and labored at the White House plantation and Mount Vernon for her entire life. However, two of her daughters, Ona Judge Staines and Philadelphia Costin, did escape their bonds and lived out their lives as free women of color.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Betty Mount Vernon slaves 1795 deaths 1730s births 18th-century African-American women 18th-century African-American people Year of birth uncertain People who were enslaved by George Washington