Browse Items (128 total)

These two documents from 1837 provide an account of the death and burial of Margaret Smallwood, an enslaved woman who worked and died at Georgetown College at the age of 45. Margaret was born in St. Mary's County and was buried at the College…

Holy Trinity Church recorded the death and burial of Susanna Becraft in the College Ground on November 12, 1834. A 15-year-old postulant from the Oblate Sisters of Providence, Becraft died after battling consumption. According to historian Diane…

This "Statement of the Balance of Debts Due" for Georgetown College, dated January 1, 1839, shows the College's books for 1838. Note the substantial debts that the College had incurred, and the $15,000 loan from the Fr. Provincial (Rev. Thomas…

Jo, likely Joseph Edlen, was hired by Georgetown College from Mary Fenwick from December 1845 to November 1846. He was hired to work on the farm at the rate of $8 per month. An entry from the college Day and Cash Book from January 16, 1846 records a…

This is a record of the 1808 sale of an unnamed enslaved woman as preserved in Georgetown's financial ledgers. Rev. Francis Neale, who would become president of the College the following year, purchased the woman from St. Inigoes for $240 "for the…

On July 6, 1810, Philip Bussard, a Presbyterian living in Georgetown, purchased "1 Negro Woman" from Georgetown College for $220. That same year Bussard served as defense council in a local freedom case, Mima Queen & Louisa Queen v. John Hepburn.…

In November 1859, Georgetown College hired an enslaved man named Aaron Edmonson to work in the dormitories as a domestic servant. Edmonson belonged to a local Catholic woman named Ann Forrest Green, who had inherited him from her mother, Rebecca…

On January 9, 1848, an enslaved man named James Henry Young began working at Georgetown College as a domestic servant in the dormitories. Young belonged to a local woman named Mary B. Hook, but first appears in the financial account of Hook's…

On December 9, 1795, the College debited Peter Carlisle's account "To cash for the return of a negro Sent you by yr. uncle." This is a curious entry. It is unclear if Carlisle was paying to transport a slave back to his uncle, for the rendition of a…

On May 1,1796, Georgetown hired the time of an enslaved woman named Milly belonging to one Judge Craik—most likely William Craik of Port Tobacco, Maryland. While serving the College, Milly was to be "found in common clothes." When Milly absented…