Oney Judge


Oney Ona Judge , known as Oney Judge Staines after marriage, was an AfricanAmerican slave on George Washingtons plantation, Mount Vernon, in Virginia. Beginning in 1789, she worked as a personal slave to First Lady Martha Washington in the presidential households in New York City and Philadelphia. With the aid of Philadelphias free black community, Judge escaped to freedom in 1796 and lived as a fugitive slave in New Hampshire for the rest of her life.

She was born about 1773 at Mount Vernon. Her mother, Betty, was an enslaved seamstress her father, Andrew Judge, was an English tailor working as an indentured servant at Mount Vernon. Oney had a halfbrother Austin , and later a halfsister Delphy .

Source: Wikipedia