Aunt Charity, enslaved by Archibald Graham McIlwaine

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Petersburg, Virginia, United States

• Servants of Archibald Graham McIlwaine (1801 - 1878) as described by his son, Richard McIlwaine (1834 - 1913) in his book, Memories of Three Score Years and Ten
• Chapter II, Household Servants, Pages 19 - 20 ^[1]

• Remembering Aunt Charity

How can I ever forget old Aunt Charity, although she passed into the skies, after a long life of consecrated service, more than sixty-five years ago! She was my mother's cook, the first servant my father owned. She had been in the family for years before my birth, and was regarded as one of its members. She treated us children with affectionate tenderness, and we all loved and reverenced her. She was a sincerely pious woman, efficient and helpful, and along with other servants, attended family prayers, which were held morning and evening, after breakfast and supper, before the family arose from the table. The servants were fed largely from the table, which was abundantly supplied with the best that could be had, and fared pretty much as their master did. I remember on one occasion, when I was three or four years old, after eating dinner with the family, going out to the kitchen to share some of the old woman's menu; where, with me standing beside her, she would take a mouthful, then pinch off some of the soft part of her bread, dip it in gravy and put it into my mouth, and how good it was!

A year or two later I paid a visit with my father to Aunt Charity's sick-chamber, and I remember who kindly and tenderly he ministered to her, and that he offered prayer before taking his leave. I also distinctly recall the morning following the night in which she died: - what a solemn stillness and sadness rested on us all, and how my father told and prayed with the old saint, remaining with her until her translation. My sisters have the same recollections of this godly and faithful woman. I believe that such relations between master and household servants were not uncommon throughout the South.

Sources

1. ↑ Memories of Three Score Years and Ten; Richard McIlwaine; Neale publishing Company, 1908. Digital download