Susannah Ostrehan (died 1809) was a Barbadian businesswoman who owned a number of properties in

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The Cit ...

. She was a

freed slave A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

, and acquired a number of slaves herself, many of which were friends or family she purchased in order to expedite their

manumission 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 ...

Early life

Ostrehan was born into slavery. Her mother Priscilla had several other children and was owned by the Ostrehan family, who had been on the island since the 1600s and were prominent members of the

plantocracy A slavocracy, also known as a plantocracy, is a ruling class, political order or government composed of (or dominated by) slave owners and plantation owners. A number of early European colonies in the New World were largely plantocracies, usually ...

. Ostrehan was a

mulatta (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese i ...

, likely fathered by her mother's owner or one of his relatives. It is unclear at what point she was freed, but it occurred relatively early in her life; her mother and siblings remained enslaved.

Holdings

Property

By 1779, Ostrehan owned two houses in central Bridgetown, one on Reed Street and one on Back Church Street (now Suttle Street). Their tax assessment had increased significantly by the following year, suggesting substantial improvements had been made to the properties. Ostrehan continued to expand her property holdings over the following decades, and even expanded into other colonies – in 1799, she bought two seafront lots in St. George's, the capital of Grenada, which she had previously been renting. There is no definite evidence of what the properties were used for, but at least some of them were likely to have been hotels or boardinghouses.Candlin & Pybus (2015), p. 89.

Slaves

As was common for free blacks, Ostrehan dealt in slaves herself once she had the means to do so. Some of the people she owned were family members, including her mother and probably her siblings – she "clearly felt that personal ownership of her family members was the safest option in a society ruled by private property". Others she purchased solely in order to free. Barbados had extremely strict

laws at the time, which had been imposed in order to limit the number of free blacks on the island. Owners had to pay £200 for male slaves and £300 for female slaves, and also had to

show cause Show or The Show may refer to: Competition, event, or artistic production * Agricultural show, associated with agriculture and animal husbandry * Animal show, a judged event in the hobby of animal fancy ** Cat show ** Dog show ** Horse show ** ...

to the local authorities. It was often cheaper to manumit in other colonies, and Ostrehan assisted manumissions in Grenada, Dominica, and

Berbice Berbice is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 to 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Britain ...

at various times. She also used agents to manumit family members, like her mother and niece

Elizabeth Swain Bannister Elizabeth Swain Bannister (also known as E. S. Bannister and Elizabeth Swayne Bannister, ch. 22 February 1785–1828) was a free woman of colour from Barbados. She gained her freedom when her aunt Susannah Ostrehan manumitted her in 1806. She later ...

, in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. However, a number of her slaves were kept simply to work on her properties, and no attempts to free them were made before her death.

Death and estate

By the time of her death in late 1809, Ostrehan's wealth was concentrated in "two very large houses" in Bridgetown, which were valued at a combined total of £2,850. The total value of her estate was around £4,000, which included several smaller properties, household effects (mahogany furniture, silverware, porcelain), and thirteen slaves. Ostrehan had no children of her own, and willed most of her fortune to her two nieces, Mary and Susannah II.Candlin & Pybus (2015), p. 90. Her mother was still enslaved at the time of her death, and thus unable to inherit property; she was willed to a friend, Christian Blackman, with instructions to free her and provide her a house. Four white acquaintances received £100 each, demonstrating the extent of her connections in Barbadian society. Ostrehan's nieces carried on the same line of business, operating hotels in the new colonies of

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state f ...

and

; Susannah II continued to own slaves up until the

abolition of slavery 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 ...

in 1833, and received compensation for her loss.Candlin & Pybus (2015), p. 99.

References