In 1799, there were seventy-five enslaved people living at Union Farm.1 Of these individuals, six were enslaved by George Washington, thirty were enslaved by Martha Washington, and thirty-nine were individuals rented from a neighbor to Mount Vernon, Mrs. French. There appear to have been at least twelve family groups, housing fifty-seven of the people (including thirty children under the age of eleven and twenty-seven individuals considered to be "adults," age eleven and over). Another seventeen individuals cannot yet be linked with any relatives living at this farm. All of the family groups at this farm seem to have been headed by women, about one-third of whom were unmarried. Of the seventeen people living at Union Farm, enslaved by George and Martha Washington and considered to be of adult working age, sixteen (around ninety-four percent) had been living on Union Farm since 1786.2
Notes:
1."Washington’s Slave List, June 1799," Founders Online, National Archives.
2. [Diary entry: 18 February 1786], Founders Online, National Archives.
Bibliography:
Thompson, Mary V. “The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret”: George Washington, Slavery, and the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2019.
Schoelwer, Susan P., ed. Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington's Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon, VA: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 2016.
