Ona Marie Judge Staines

 Located at The Greenland Parade Gazebo.
Post Road, Greenland, NH.

In 1796, Ona Judge fled to freedom from her enslavement by President George Washington and his wife, Martha. She arrived in Portsmouth, where she lived briefly, and married Jack Staines, a free Black Mariner. Pursued for years, she was in danger of capture in 1799 when her husband was at sea. She and her infant daughter temporarily took refuge with John and Phillis Jack, members of Greenland’s formerly enslaved community. After her husband’s death in 1903, Ona Judge Staines again moved in with the Jack Family. The two families lived out their lives in Greenland. As they aged, the town provided them with goods and services including firewood, medical assistance, and burials. Ona’s story inspired the abolitionists T.H. Adams and Benjamin Chase, who interviewed her before her death in 1848.