Maria Carter Syphax, otherwise spelled Mariah (1803 – ), was the

matriarch Matriarchy is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of authority. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege and control of property. While those definitions apply in general E ...

of the

Syphax family The Syphax family is a prominent American family in the Washington, DC area. A part of the African-American upper class, the family is descended from Charles Syphax and Mariah Carter Syphax, both born into slavery. She was the daughter of an en ...

, a prominent family of African Americans in the greater

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, area who became civic leaders, civil servants, and educators. She was born into slavery as Maria Carter, daughter of an enslaved woman and

George Washington Parke Custis George Washington Parke Custis (April 30, 1781 – October 10, 1857) was an American plantation owner, antiquarian, author, and playwright. His father John Parke Custis was the stepson of George Washington. He and his sister Eleanor grew ...

, a grandson of Martha Washington through her first marriage. Syphax was thus a great-granddaughter of First Lady

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 ...

. Maria Syphax was manumitted by Custis in 1826, along with her two children, and that year he granted her 17 acres of his Arlington plantation. He later bequeathed freedom by his will for her husband Charles Syphax. The family was established as landowning

free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...

before the Civil War. Although some of her land was initially confiscated with that of Arlington, her son

William Syphax William Syphax ( 1825 — June 15, 1891) was born into slavery but manumitted when he was about one year old, along with his mother Maria Carter Syphax and sister. As a young man, he became a U.S. government civil servant in Republican administ ...

was able to use his connections and gain passage of a relief bill by Congress to return it to her. Her descendants continued to live in the Washington, D.C., area, working as leaders in many civic roles.

Early life

Maria Carter was born in 1803, the daughter of

, grandson of

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 ...

, and a great-granddaughter of

. Her mother was an enslaved maid at

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 ...

named Airy or Arianna Carter. In an interview published decades later, Carter said that Custis had told her "face to face" that he was her father. Until 1826 Carter worked in

Arlington House Arlington House may refer to: *Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial * Arlington House (London) a hostel for the homeless in London, England, and one of the Rowton Houses *Arlington House, Margate, an eighteen-storey residential apartment blo ...

, the mansion Custis built in Arlington, Virginia. There she met

Charles Syphax The Syphax family is a prominent American family in the Washington, DC area. A part of the African-American upper class, the family is descended from Charles Syphax and Mariah Carter Syphax, both born into slavery. She was the daughter of an ens ...

, an enslaved man who oversaw Arlington House's dining room. Carter and Syphax were married in the parlor of Arlington House in 1826, a privilege not allowed to other slaves Custis owned. That same year Custis

manumitted Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...

Maria Syphax and her two children and gave her 17 acres of the Arlington estate. Custis freed Charles Syphax by his will in 1857, after his death. After Custis's death, his daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis and son-in-law

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

owned the Arlington plantation. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

, the government seized Lee's property and the Syphax land along with it, as there was no written record of Custis's land transfer. The

Freedman's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a U ...

created a Freedman's Village on part of the Syphax property, where newly freed slaves took refuge. Syphax's son

had become an employee of the

US Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the m ...

and a significant part of Washington, D.C., civil life. He drew on his connections to assist his mother. In 1866, a "Bill for the Relief of Maria Syphax" was passed by the US Senate and signed into law restoring the Arlington land to the Syphax family.

Family

Syphax had ten children: * Elinor B. Syphax Reeves (1823-1910) *

(1825-1891) * Charles Syphax (1829-1885) * Cornelius Syphax (1831-1885) * Colbert Syphax (1834-1896) * Austin Syphax (1836-1880) * John B. Syphax (1838-1916) * Shaulter Syphax (1840-1891) * Ennis Syphax (1841-1880) * Maria Syphax Frost (1844-1878)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syphax, Maria Carter Created via preloaddraft Washington family Syphax family Custis family of Virginia 1803 births 1886 deaths 19th-century American slaves People from Arlington County, Virginia