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- Collection: Slavery in the Maryland Province
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"They all have heard:" Fr. Havermans writes to Fr. Fenwick on the sale of slaves from Newtown, July 17, 1832
Fr. Havermans shares with Fr. Fenwick his worry that the slaves from Newtown are aware "that they are sold or about to be sold, and that they are to be carried out of the state."
"They want them... for their Plantations": Fr. Kenney to Fr. Neale on their plans to sell a group of people to a Louisiana planter, Sept. 10, 1832
In this letter from 1832 Fr. Kenney asks Fr. Neale to provide him with "the number and description of the Blacks, whom you would sell to Mr. John Lee and to Mr. Horsey." Kenney mentions Louisiana as their destination, stating that the planters…
"Tired of Blacks and Business": Fr. Kenney to Fr. McElroy on the administration of the Missions, Aug. 19, 1832
In this letter from August, 1832, Fr. Kenney notifies Fr. McElroy of the visit of Mr. Horzey, a Louisiana planter and potential buyer of people enslaved by the Jesuits.. He also remarks that Fr. Neale, in charge of St. Thomas Manor, is "tired of…
"To Humane and Christian Masters:" The Disposal of Sarah's Children, June 1809
In an 1809 meeting held at Georgetown University, the Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen decided to dispose of Sarah's orphaned children. Sarah was presumably a slave at the Jesuit estate of Arabia Petrea.
"unfit for human beings to live in": Fr. Adam Marshall to the Father General, February 6, 1821
Fr. Adam Marshall reports to the Father General in Rome the sad state of the Mission's lands and finances. He describes the slave quarters as "almost universally unfit for human beings to live in." He suggests selling property in order to ease the…
"Valuation of Rev. Ashton's Negroes," November 11, 1816
Upon Rev. John Ashton's death in 1815, his close friend Rev. Notley Young solicited a valuation of the people he owned. The valuation names and prices eleven people: Clem, Harrison, John, Michel, Ned, Bill, Isaac, Tagers, Barsil, Venus, and…
"We are in the dark as long as we keep slaves": Br. Joseph Mobberly, S.J. calculates the cost savings from emancipation, February 5, 1815
In this letter to Georgetown President Giovanni Grassi S.J,, Brother Joseph Mobberly, S.J. urges that the Jesuits' enslaved people be sold for a time or set free. Most of the letter is devoted to calculating the cost advantage of hiring free white…
"we lost a boy": Fr. Carbery requests a tax deduction for six St. Inigoes slaves sold by the Jesuits, 1836
On May 27, 1836, Rev. Joseph Carbery SJ, the manager at St. Inigoes, wrote to the clerk of the levy court of St. Mary's County to request that he remove eight slaves from his tax burden. The Jesuits had sold six children under the age of eight away…
"What the Farm Expends on the Blacks," The Mobberly Diaries, Part I, 1820
In this diary entry from 1820, Br. Joseph Mobberly calculates the money the farm invested in supporting slaves. His conclusion is "that the farm would do much better without them than with them."
"whose rule always is to work as little as possible": Fr. Marshall reports to Rome, March 5, 1821
Marshall reports that the Society is living beyond its means and must sell real property. No prospect that the Maryland farms will be profitable in the future due to bad management. Marshall states that the province has around 300 slaves of whom…