George Washington gains control of 11 enslaved people inherited from his father: Fortune, George, Long Joe, Winna, Bellindar, Jenny, Adam, Nat, London, Milly, and Frank. They are valued at about £202. Washington inherited at least 23 enslaved people from family members.
1759Washington marries widow Martha Dandridge Custis, who brings 84 enslaved people to Mount Vernon as part of her “dower share” of her first husband’s estate. She retained life rights to these people but did not legally own them. By 1799, the number of “dower slaves” at Mount Vernon had grown to 153 through natural increase, as children inherited the status of their mother.
1766Washington sells Tom, a foreman, to Saint Kitts in the West Indies as punishment for trying to run away. Enslaved people left Mount Vernon when they were sold, escaped successfully, or died.
1768Washington pays £148 to a Virginia widow for four individuals: brothers William and Frank Lee, and two boys named Adam and Jack. Washington purchased at least 65 men, women, and children from the 1750s to the 1770s.
1776Washington pays a white midwife to attend to Betty and Daphne in childbirth. At least 293 babies were born to enslaved women at Mount Vernon between 1750 and 1799.
1786Washington begins renting 23 enslaved people and a plot of land from his neighbor, Penelope French. At the end of his life, Washington was renting 41 individuals.
