Collect Day #19, ONA MARIE JUDGE STAINES
God of Surprise, we marvel at the courage and ingenuity of Ona Judge. We are grateful for the community of free blacks and whites who concealed and supported her. We delight at the truth of such a small woman confounding one who is so mighty. Ona gives us hope. Bless her memory and her deeds. May all who face insurmountable odds find courage and inspiration through her story; in Your Name, who is our Father and our Mother, we pray. Amen.
DAY #19, March 7, 2018
Greenland
ONA MARIE JUDGE STAINES
(c. 1773–1848)
Angela Matthews
Born into enslavement to Betty Judge at Mount Vernon in 1774, Ona Marie Judge became, by 5 years of age, Martha Washington’s favorite personal slave who went everywhere with her mistress.
In November of 1790, a year into the first term of President George Washington, the household, including Ona, moved to Philadelphia, the temporary capital for the government of the newly formed United States.
Pennsylvania’s Abolition Act of 1780 required that any enslaved person living in the state for more than six months would automatically become free. The Washington’s addressed this law by, prior to the start of the sixth month, regularly exchanging the enslaved at Mount Vernon with the enslaved in Philadelphia. On May 21, 1796, the eve of the household’s latest planned exodus from Philadelphia, 22-year-old Ona slipped out of the Executive Mansion while the Washingtons ate their supper and disappeared into the free Black community of Philadelphia. She made her way to Portsmouth, NH, aboard The Nancy, captained by John Bowles, and upon her arrival was met and harbored by the free Black community.
Early in 1797 a local newspaper announcement of recent marriages listed two couples on January 14 … ‘In this town, Mr. John Staines, to Miss Oney Gudge [sic].’ Samuel Haven, reverend of Portsmouth’s South Church, married them. The Washingtons attempted and failed three times to reclaim their property. The first attempt was thwarted when Washington’s nephew explained his plan while dining with Gov. John Langdon. Langdon’s trusted servant Siras Bruce aided Ona in her escape to the Greenland home of Phillis and John Jack.
John (Jack) Staines died or disappeared in 1803 leaving Ona impoverished and with three small children. Ona made a meager living as seamstress, washer woman and house servant. She died in Greenland Feb. 25, 1848 at age 74, having outlived her three children, although a son might secretly have left the Seacoast to find a new identity as a free man.
