PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Stepping off a boat in a New Hampshire port in 1796, 22-year-old Ona Judge was on the run from the family of President George Washington.
Judge, who was born into slavery and served Martha Washington for most of her young life, had slipped away from the president’s official residence when the capital was in Philadelphia and boarded a ship as the Washingtons prepared to return to their plantation house in Mount Vernon, Virginia. With a $10 reward posted for her capture, Judge knew she had to keep a low profile. She turned to the network of free blacks in Portsmouth for help.
