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The Fleet Family of Washington, D.C.
Posted in General Research, History, Misc, tagged fleet, freed blacks, freedmans bank, georgetown, margaret fleet, washignton d.c. freed blacks on August 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Sometimes—well, probably a lot of times—our research veers off into an unexpected direction. Usually its because we come across a person or a circumstance that is of interest.
My 3rd great-grandfather, Perry Simpson, married a woman named Margaret Fleet. I found her family quite interesting, even though she technically is not a blood relative.
After their marriage, they lived in Montgomery County, MD, but Margaret was originally from Washington, D.C, which is my own birthplace. Margaret can be found on the 1850, 1860, and 1870 census records in the 1st Ward of Washington D.C., a freed black woman before general emancipation came. By 1860 she had 7 children: Robert, Annett, Cora, Edward, Augustus, Willy and Mary. After those years, Margaret appeared in Montgomery County, MD with her new husband Perry Simpson.
This is the record that made me "turn left" (click image to enlarge):
I was fascinated by the fact that Mary's father's birthplace was "Mexico." Was this a fluke? Was he really Mexican? I started tracking this family through the available records. Although Margaret birthed many children before her marriage to Perry –9 according to the 1900 census—no known record documents a marriage to any other man.
In 1850, Margaret was a freed black woman in a city bursting with contradictions. Amid thousands of freed blacks living and working in the city, were enslaved "quasi-free" people, many of whom were working and living on their own while paying their masters monthly fees. Washington had been the site of an active slave trade, and a notorious slave pen making it an easy target for abolitionists looking to shame the young nation. In 1850, the slave trade was finally outlawed in D.C. During the next decade, events would continue to escalate around slavery, finally culminating in Civil War. In 1862, slavery itself was outlawed in the district creating a haven for thousands of enslaved people from the surrounding states. "First Freed: Washington D.C. in the Emancipation Era," edited by Elizabeth Clark-Lewis is a good book to read to understand what life was like for African-Americans in D.C. at that time.
Margaret had been fortunate; she came from a family of skilled artisans. Her father was Henry Fleet Jr., a freed black shoemaker from Georgetown, who learned the trade from his father, the senior Henry Fleet. Today, Georgetown is a mecca of white wealth and privilege, but it had historically been home to a thriving freed black community. Henry Fleet Sr. purchased his wife Ann and "5 or 6 children" and later freed them, something many skilled blacks were able to do if allowed by the slaveowner. Henry Fleet Sr. was doing well enough that several boys were apprenticed to him in the early 1800s to learn the trade of shoemaking. An 1803 apprenticeship document notes that "He purchased his son Henry Jr. in 1812 and he is also a shoemaker.
In 1864, while living at K Street and 21st street, Margaret was assessed $25 in the brand new federal tax system as a "Retail Liquor Dealer". In 1870, Margaret is still in D.C., and her daughters Annie (living with her) and Cora living next door are both dressmakers. This would have been one of the best occupations for a freed blackwoman of that era. I wonder if they would have known Elizabeth Keckley, the freed black dressmaker for Mrs. Lincoln?
In that same 1870 census, Sarah Carter, Margaret's mother, is living with her and is 100 years old! Margaret also owns $1000 worth of real estate, no small feat for a black woman.
1864 Tax Assessment
1870 Fleet
In 1873, Margaret opened an account with the Washington D.C. branch of the Freedmen's Bank, naming her new husband Perry and her children:
Freedmans Bank
Her sons Robert (a policeman) and Edward also opened accounts. Most of Margaret's children can be tracked through their marriages, vital and land records and city directories in D.C. The death certificate of her daughter Annett names a "Greg Jarvis" as her father. That man, Greg Jarvis, appears in the 1850 and 1860 Washington D.C. census also living in the 1st Ward. By 1860 he is married with children:
1850 Jarvis
In these records, Jarvis is shown as being from Mexico and also New Mexico–it was probably the Territory of New Mexico (it was not a state yet). The Mexican War had just been ended by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the country was also reeling from the recent Compromise of 1850. I wonder what would have brought him East?
Jarvis also went from being a "mulatto" in 1850 to being "white" with an Irish wife in 1860. So what his racial background is exactly we can't quite tell. This man appears to be heading two families, at least for awhile: one black, one white. It is unknown whether he fathered all of the children of Margaret Fleet, but documents tie him to at least 3 of her children.
A mortgage executed in Montgomery County in 1911 noted Margaret's date of death and listed all of her heirs living at the time, who had inherited her land:
"Edward G. Fleet, Sr. & wife Lucinda William Fleet & his wife Blossie, Mary Fleet, widow Harry Fleet, unmarried, Anna Grant, widow Cora Lemos, widow Augustus Fleet & his wife Sarah, Mary Lemos & her husband Beverly"
Margaret, amazingly, lived into her early 90s, long enough to leave a death certificate:
Death Cert
Margaret's life was pretty interesting and only goes to prove that sometimes veering off-course is absolutely well worth it.
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