The abolition of slavery in the nation’s capital was made possible by the departure of the Southern congressional delegations when the Civil War began. The terms were dictated by wartime expedience: to keep them loyal to the Union, local slave owners were to be compensated for their property. Most took advantage of the offer while it lasted. They filled out a form, giving the name, age, and sex of each person who was their property “by reason of African descent and acquired title,” swore allegiance to the United States, and got a check. That was the end of the “peculiar institution” in the District of Columbia.
Between them, local slave owners Mrs. Margaret Barber and Miss Mary Ann Clark, neighbors and friends, owned fifty people, and obtained a lawyer’s assistance in the preparation of their slave schedules. They made use of the Particular Description column on the form to say a word or two about each adult slave’s occupation: “good cook”, “seamstress and lady’s maid”, “good currier”, “shoemaker and carpenter.” Because these slaves had skills and trades, and hiring them out brought in a steady return, the two women hoped to be compensated accordingly.
The master butchers of Georgetown Heights, on the other hand, generally only used the Particular Description for entries such as “mulatto, about five feet high.” By all indications, they were so prosperous that they could contemplate the loss with greater equanimity than women dependent on hiring out.
Surnames
The compensation claims of local slave owners, preserved in the National Archives, contain much that is of interest to local history. One thing they reveal, that other records do not, is family names of slaves that were once here. While surnames do occasionally appear in some deeds of manumission, or as aliases in runaway slave advertisements, most other documents give only the first names of slaves, giving rise to the impression that first names were all they had. Occasionally a surname can even provide a clue to a slave family’s whereabouts before being brought to the District. Briscoe, for example, the most prevalent slave surname in this neighborhood, points to origins in southern Maryland, where an Englishman of that name stepped ashore in 1634.
With a list of slave surnames in hand we can guess at family ties that cross property lines. Mary Ann Clark and her immediate neighbor Charles Homiller, for example, both had slaves named Hutchins and Jackson, and Mrs. Barber and Henry Kengla both owned slaves named Briscoe. The picture comes into clearer focus when the ages of slaves (recorded in the claims) are also taken into account: since Margaret Barber lived right next-door to Conrad Schwartz, it seems likely that Barber’s coachman, John Thomas (age 41), was married to Schwartz’s cook Ellen Thomas (age 39, with six children).
The local emancipation papers also contradict the widespread belief that freed slaves took the last names of their master; locally, at any rate, this was definitely not the case. Barber, Homiller, Clark, Kengla, Weaver, and Cox were the leading slaveholders in this neighborhood, but the most frequent surnames of their slaves were Briscoe, Hutchins, Toyer, Etchison, Dover, Hawkins, and Ridgeley. In fact, only 2 out of 114 slaves in this area shared a name with an owner, and Miss Clark, who owned Lucy Clark and her child, also owned fourteen slaves with other last names.
“A common supposition is that emancipated slaves assumed the surnames of their last owners. If this had been the case in all instances, this critical stage of slave genealogy would be a less difficult one than it generally is; however, the truth is more complex, making research more problematic. Although there were many instances when the common assumption held true, there is ample evidence for slaves maintaining their own surname traditions, regardless of who their owners might have been. Following emancipation, a slave did not necessarily assume a surname, but instead may have taken a name that had been in his or her family for several generations. A different surname than that of his last owner could, for example, be that of the owner of a grandparent, so such a name might be a valuable clue for future research. More studies are still needed, but it is possible that there were regional patterns in this regard. For example, a study of a West Virginia county found no instances of ex-slaves with the surnames of their final owners, while studies of Texas and South Carolina freed people indicate approximately a quarter to one third had the surnames of their last owners.”
(David T. Thackery, Finding Your African American Ancestors: A Beginner’s Guide, 2000, p.5)
After Emancipation
Only a few of the local slaves emancipated in 1862 can be found in the 1870 census, or in post-war directories. This is in keeping with an 1866 census of the District of Columbia which found that––anecdotes to the contrary notwithstanding––only seventy-seven of approximately three thousand former slaves were still working for their former masters. (Census Return of the Black Population of the District of Columbia, Freedman’s Bureau, 1866)
Some of the freed slaves who remained in the area after Emancipation may have been connected with the butcher trade of their former masters. Mary Ann Hawkins, for example, had been one of Charles Homiller’s slaves; after the war she and her husband Abraham lived for several decades on Tunlaw Road. Their sons Abraham and George learned the butcher trade, George with his former owner Charles Homiller, and Abraham with neighbor Louis Schneider; in later years both were butchers in Georgetown.
In the 1870 census a man named Colbert Edgison––probably related to the slaves of Charles Homiller surnamed Etchison––lived near what is now Tunlaw Road and Calvert Street, with several former Homiller slaves in his house. Banks Edgison, a former Homiller slave born just before Emancipation, was living in Foggy Bottom as late as 1943.
When Mary Ann Clark died in 1865, her will left her former slave Susan Hutchins, 39, a life tenancy on her house on Tunlaw Road, at the rear of Clark’s property.
Nace Foster (the carpenter for whom Mary Ann Clark was compensated in 1862) is probably Ignatius Foster, listed from 1886 to 1905 as a carpenter in Georgetown directories, at 6th and Frederick, 26th and O, and 27th and Poplar Streets. (Contributed by Mark Auslander, Central Washington University)
Of Margaret Barber’s thirty-four slaves, two were buried at Mt. Pleasant Plains/Young Men’s Cemetery (Walter Pierce Park): Ellen Jenkins (widow), a nurse, age 80, born in Maryland, who had lived in the District of Columbia since she was ten years old, died September 27, 1882, at 1327 Stanton Alley, between 13th, 14th, K & L Streets, NW. And Mary Brown (widow), age 40, born in the District of Columbia, died February 28, 1886, at 1613 12th Street, NW. (Information courtesy of Mary Belcher, Walter Pierce Park Archeology Project)
In 1862 the retired government engraver Conrad Schwarz––unmarried, and aged about 78––had a slave named Ellen Amelia Thomas, age 39, who had six daughters. It is only a guess that Ellen’s husband was John Thomas, age 41, and the only slave surnamed Thomas among the slaves of Schwarz’s next-door neighbor Margaret Barber. Schwarz had no heirs; in his 1862 will he devised his farm to his physician. To Ellen Thomas, who had been emancipated by Congress earlier that year, he willed his household and kitchen furniture, and the compensation the United States owed him for her. After the war Ellen’s daughters were employed in local households: Ann in the house of the German butcher Yeabower, Caroline Isabella at Weston, and Fannie (Frances) by William Kengla. (Conrad Schwarz, 1863, District of Columbia Wills, Box 31)
The Cephas family was owned jointly by Thomas and Joseph Weaver, and some of them may have worked at the cattle yard at Drover’s Rest on Conduit Road. The oldest member was John Cephas, born in 1801. Weaver tradition is that Joseph bought the Cephas family at public auction in Georgetown, on the spur of the moment, and that he bid high to keep the family together. After emancipation the Weaver brothers gave the Cephas family the land north of Conduit Road, north of what is now Key Elementary School, in the vicinity of “Five Points”: this black neighborhood––served by the Chain Bridge Road School (1923-1941)––lasted well into the 20th century. Descendants of John Cephas are buried at Union Baptist Cemetery, on Chain Bridge Road.
All of the slaves of Lewis Kengla had the surname Dover. The eldest was Ariana Dover––listed as Ary in 1862––who moved to the Freedmen’s settlement called Reno, in Tenleytown, after Emancipation. There she and her husband George (who had been owned by the Peirce-Shoemaker family) acquired three parcels in the southwest corner of Reno, and built two houses for their large family, where they lived “well into the 20th century.” (Alcione Amos, Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, cited by Neil Flanagan, “The Battle of Fort Reno”, Washington] City Paper, November 2, 2017)
Ariana and her sons George, Frank, and Henry Dover lived off Grant Road, around Ellicott and 39th Street. Her 1910 will leaves lot 4, block B, Onion & Butts’ Subdivision of the Estate of Giles Dyer, known as Reno, to daughter Mary M. Smith, and sons Thomas, Henry, and grandson Walter. (1878 Hopkins map; 1880 census; Ariana Dover, 1910, DC Wills, Box 389)
A. Ignatious Dover, eight years old when he was emancipated––appears in the 1870 census of Reno as Alfred Dover.
Oray [Ary] Dover is buried at Holy Rood Cemetery with her son George Dover, who died in 1886. (Holy Rood Cemetery, square 26/lot 322; Holy Rood Ledger, p.224)
(See also, Black Households on Georgetown Heights.)
Freed Slaves of Georgetown Heights
Surname, Name (age)––Occupation & Status, if listed––Owner
Bowie , Ann (22)––Morris Adler
Briscoe, Mortimer (39)––farm hand, hired out (absconded, 1861)––Margaret Barber
Brisco, Rebecca (35)––Henry Kengla
Brisco, Mary (16)––Henry Kengla
Briscoe, Betty (16)––house servant––Margaret Barber
Brisco, Henry (14)––Henry Kengla
Brisco, Joseph (12)––Henry Kengla
Briscoe, Milly (11)––house servant––Margaret Barber
Brisco, Washington (10)––Henry Kengla
Brisco, Martha (7)––Henry Kengla
Brisco, Fanny (5)––Henry Kengla
Briscoe, Margaret (2)––Margaret Barber
Brooks, Nathan (38)––butcher––Henry Kengla
Brown, Mary (20)––house servant––Margaret Barber
Carroll, Susan (36)––house servant––Margaret Barber
Carroll, Dennis (7)––Margaret Barber
Carroll, Ann Maria (3)––Margaret Barber
Carroll, William (2)––Margaret Barber
Cephas, John (61)––Thomas & Joseph Weaver
Cephas, Margaret (45)––Thomas & Joseph Weaver
Cephas, Emily (15)––Thomas & Joseph Weaver
Cephas, Mary (13)––Thomas & Joseph Weaver
Cephas, George (6)––Thomas & Joseph Weaver
Cephas, Jeremiah (4)––Thomas & Joseph Weaver
Cephas, Alexander (1)––Thomas & Joseph Weaver
Chapman, John (34)––farm hand, hired out––Margaret Barber
Clark, Lucy (32)––seamstress, lady’s maid––Mary Ann Clark
Clark, Jack (7)––Mary Ann Clark
Douglass, Mariah (26)––Joseph Weaver
Douglass, John (5)––Joseph Weaver.
Douglass, George Washington (3/12)––Joseph Weaver
Dover, Ary [Arianna] (35)––Lewis Kengla
Dover, Lucinda (20)––Lewis Kengla
Dover, Ida [?] (15)––Lewis Kengla
Dover, A. Ignatious [Alfred] (8)––Lewis Kengla
Dover, Clayghton (4)––Lewis Kengla
Dover, Henry (1)––Lewis Kengla
Etchison, Mary (38)––Charles Homiller
Etchison, Kingsla (22)––Charles Homiller
Etchison, Dallas (20)––Charles Homiller
Etchison, Adelaide (11)––Charles Homiller
Etchison, Laura (1)––Charles Homiller
Etchison, Banks (3/12)––Charles Homiller
Foster, Nace (34)––carpenter––Mary Ann Clark
Gage, Eliza (26)––Charles Homiller
Gage, Franklin (7)––Charles Homiller
Gage, Hannah (5)––Charles Homiller
Gage, Hanson (3/12)––Charles Homiller
Hawkins, Fanny (45)––Charles Homiller
Hawkins, Mary Ann (26)––Charles Homiller
Hawkins, Abraham (15)––Charles Homiller
Hawkins, James (11)––Charles Homiller
Hawkins, Virginia (10)––Charles Homiller
Hawkins, George (3/12)––Charles Homiller
Hutchins, Susan (36)––cook––Mary Ann Clark
Hutchins, Mary (19)––house servant––Mary Ann Clark
Hutchins, Rachael (16)––house servant––Mary Ann Clark
Hutchins, David (15)––house servant––Mary Ann Clark
Hutchins, Tobias (13)––house servant––Mary Ann Clark
Hutchins, George (12)––Mary Ann Clark
Hutchins, Eliza (9)––Mary Ann Clark
Hutchins, Louisa (5)––Mary Ann Clark
Jackson, Rachael (65)––cook––Mary Ann Clark
Jackson, Kate (17)––Charles Homiller
Jenkins, Peter (65)––farm hand, hired out––Margaret Barber
Jenkins, Ellen (60)––cook, hired out––Margaret Barber
Jenkins, Mary (58)––cook, hired out––Margaret Barber
Johnson, Jane (34)––Henry Weaver
Montgomery, Mary (54)––estate of John Cox
Norris, Susan (35)––Morris Adler
Ridgeley, Clara (24)––house servant––Mary Ann Clark
Ridgeley, Jim (7)––Mary Ann Clark
Ridgeley, William (3)––Mary Ann Clark
Selby, Ned (27)––farm hand––Eliza Kolp
Silass, Kitty (37)––laundress, cook––Margaret Barber
Cylass, William (14)––(absconded, 1861)––Margaret Barber
Silass, Gilbert (8)––Margaret Barber
Silass, William (5)––Margaret Barber
Silass, Phillip (8/12)––Margaret Barber
Smallwood, John (28)––Morris Adler
Stewart, Edmond (47)––hostler, teamster––Mary Ann Clark
Thomas, John (41)––coachman, farm hand, hired out––Margaret Barber
Thomas, Ellen Amelia (39)––Conrad Schwarz
Thomas, Ann Eliza (17)––Conrad Schwarz
Thomas, Frances Elizabeth (16)––Conrad Schwarz
Thomas, Caroline Isabella (14)––Conrad Schwarz
Thomas, Louisa Alley (9)––Conrad Schwarz
Thomas, Susan Virginia (7)––Conrad Schwarz
Thomas, Sarah Baker (5)––Conrad Schwarz
Toyer, Sarah (51)––laundress, hired out––Margaret Barber
Toyer, Chapman (45)––farm hand, hired out––Margaret Barber
Toyer, Henry (25)––farm hand, hired out––Margaret Barber
Toyer, Joseph (24)––farm hand, hired out––Margaret Barber
Toyer, Eliza (18)––house servant, hired out––Margaret Barber
Toyer, Louisa (23)––cook, hired out––Margaret Barber
Toyer, Daniel (4/12)––Margaret Barber
Warring, Peter (47)––Henry Kengla
Williams, Richard (25)––shoemaker, carpenter, farm hand––Margaret Barber
Yates, Jane (36)––cook––Margaret Barber
Yates, Rezin (33)––hostler, farm hand, hired out (absconded, 1861)––Margaret Barber
Yates, Judah (31)––house servant, hired out––Margaret Barber
Yates, Samuel (24)––house servant––Margaret Barber
Yates, Townley (24)––farm hand, hired out (absconded, 1861)––Margaret Barber
Yates, Andrew (20)––currier, hired out (absconded, 1861)––Margaret Barber
Young, Mary (59)––cook, hired out––Margaret Barber
[Surname not recorded], Sarah (17)––Henry, Theodore, & Angeline Barnes
[Surname not recorded], Cato (34)––Henry, Theodore, & Angeline Barnes
[Surname not recorded], Dennis (57)––Henry, Theodore, & Angeline Barnes
(Records of the Board of Commissioners for the Emancipation of Slaves in the District of Columbia, 1862–1863)
Main Sources
Dorothy S. Provine, Compensated Emancipation in the District of Columbia: Petitions under the Act of April 16, 1862 (Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 2005),
US Census, 1860: Slave Inhabitants in First Division in the County of Washington, District of Columbia
Records of the Board of Commissioners for the Emancipation of Slaves in the District of Columbia, 1862-1863, in Record Group 217, Records of the General Accounting Office, National Archives and Records Administration.
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Carlton Fletcher
The citation and acknowledgement of my research is greatly appreciated.
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The support of the Advisory Neighborhood Council (3B) is gratefully acknowledged.