page_title: Oney Judge
section_title: Early Life
hierarchical_section_title: Oney Judge / Early Life
caption_attribution_description: Washington standing among African-American fieldworkers harvesting grain; Mt. Vernon in background.
context_page_description: Ona "Oney" Judge Staines was an African American woman enslaved to the Washington family, first at the family's plantation at Mount Vernon and later, after George Washington became president, at the President's House in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital city. At the age of 20, she absconded, becoming a fugitive slave, after learning that Martha Washington had intended to transfer ownership of her to her niece, known to have a horrible temper, and fled to New Hampshire, where she married, had children, and converted to Christianity. Though she was never manumitted, the Washington family did not want to risk public backlash in forcing her to return to Virginia and after so many years of failing to persuade her to return quietly, the family let her be.
context_section_description: Judge was born about 1773 at Mount Vernon, the estate of George Washington and his family. Her mother, Betty, was an enslaved  mulatto, and her father, Andrew Judge, was a white English tailor working as an indentured servant at Mount Vernon. Though Judge was predominantly of European heritage, she was born into slavery under the premise of partus sequitur ventrem. She had a half-brother, Austin, born before 1757 (father unknown); a half-brother Tom Davis and a half-sister Betty Davis (fathered by white indentured weaver Thomas Davis); and a half-sister Delphy (father unknown). Delphy, born to Betty about 1779, lived until December 13, 1831. 
  Betty had been among the 285 African persons enslaved by Martha Washington's first husband, Daniel Parke Custis (1711–1757). Custis died without a will and so, his widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, received what was called a dower share of the estate, which meant, until her death, she was entitled to use of a third of her deceased husband's wealth, which included at least 85 enslaved Africans. Though Martha had some control over these dower slaves, she did not own them outright, the estate did, and so, she could neither free nor sell them. After Martha wed George Washington in 1759, Betty traveled with her to Mount Vernon, along with then-infant Austin. Under the legal principle of partus sequitur ventrem, incorporated into Virginia colonial law in 1662, because Betty was a slave and property of the Custis Estate, that meant that Austin, Ona and Delphy were also owned by the Custis Estate. Upon the completion of his indenture, Andrew Judge settled in Alexandria, Virginia, some 11 miles away, and did not maintain contact with his illegitimate family.
  When she was around 10 years old, Judge was brought to live at the Mansion House at Mount Vernon, likely as a "playmate" for Martha Washington's (family of George Washington) granddaughter Nelly Custis. She eventually became the personal attendant or body servant to Martha Washington. In an interview when she was nearly 75, Ona said she had received no education under the Washingtons, nor religious instruction.
  With the aid of Philadelphia's free black community, Judge liberated herself in 1796 and lived as a fugitive slave in New Hampshire for the rest of her life.
  More is known about her than any other enslaved person on the Mount Vernon plantation because she was twice interviewed by abolitionist newspapers in the mid-1840s.
caption: Life of George Washington: The Farmer by Junius Brutus Stearnes (c. 1853).
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