Browse Items (458 total)

On May 4, 1818 Benedict Fenwick, a former President of Georgetown University recorded in the city of Washington the manumission of an enslaved woman named Jane Smith.

The document describes Smith as "formerly of Virginia," and "between five and…

The marriage of Ben and Nell, took place on March 13, 1803 at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown. Their union, officiated by Rev. Francis Neale, SJ, took place at the "request" of their owners, a Mr. Key & Thomas Sim Lee. The witnesses for this…

This 1795 entry records the marriage of an enslaved woman named Phillis to a man named David Thomas in the Georgetown College chapel.

This was the first marriage celebrated in Holy Trinity Church.

The marriage of William and Sarah, took place on September 22, 1836, at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown. Their union took place with permission from their owner, Mary Fenwick, a resident from Georgetown who regularly hired out slaves to the…

In this meeting from 1814, the Corporation agreed to sell Jem and his family to settle the claims of William Pasquet, a secular clergyman who had managed the Deer Creek mission.

Since 1804, the priests of the Corporation had been selling enslaved…

In these three meetings held at Georgetown College on May and September of 1813, and June of 1814 the members of the Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen discussed and resolved to "dispose for a limited time of the greatest parts of the blacks on…

At a meeting held at St. Thomas' Manor in 1820, the members of the Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergy decided "upon mature reflection," to repeal their 1814 decision to "dispose of... the greatest part of the blacks on the different plantations."…

In 1765, Fr. George Hunter SJ compiled a survey of the Jesuit missions in Maryland that accounted for 192 enslaved persons. Missions listed include St. Inigoes, Newtown, Port Tobacco, Deer Creek, and Bohemia. Hunter recorded the annual income of each…

Rev. McElroy's count of "the number of our family" includes "13 Colored Persons."

Rev. John McElroy, S.J. records the total number of people at Georgetown at the end of 1814, including "servants."