River Farm at Mount Vernon, Fairfax County, Virginia

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia
Surnames/tags: Washington Slavery

Index of Plantations

Virginia Plantations

Mount Vernon Estate

---Under construction---

Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 1768 Purchase 1.2 List of Negroes at River Farm 1786 1.3 Slavery at River Farm 1799 2 Sources

Introduction

The River Farm property was established in 1653–54 by Giles Brent and his wife, Mary Kittamaquund, a princess of the Piscataway tribe. ^[1]Brent received a grant of 1,800 acres (7.3 km2) named Piscataway Neck. In 1739 his successor George Brent transferred the property to his brother-in-law William Clifton, who renamed the property Clifton's Neck. In 1757 Clifton completed the brick house. Clifton sold the land to neighbor, George Washington, who obtained the property for £1,210 through a bankruptcy sale in 1760. Washington changed the name of Clifton's Neck to River Farm. River Farm was passed down through two immediate generations of Washingtons and later sold with 652 acres of Washington's original land to the Snowden brothers of New Jersey.

1768 Purchase

• Mary (Smith) Ball Lee is recorded in President George Washington's papers as having sold him 4 slaves: ^[2][3]
  • William "Billy" Lee (recorded as Mulatto Will) for £61.15,
  • Mulatto Frank for £50,
  • the “Negro boy” Adam for £19,
  • Jack for £19

It is unclear where they were situated.

List of Negroes at River Farm 1786

1786 River Farm List of Negro Women Brought over (18) (from where we don't know) with a list of their children and 4 men on the Mill.^[4]

NAMES	DISTINCTIONS	PLACES OF ABODE	CHILDREN	AGES
Agnus	Labouring Women	River Plant	Hucky	1
Suck	Labouring Women	River Plant	Rose	12
Suckey	Labouring Women	River Plant	Cynthia	6
			Daniel	4
Judy . m	Labouring Women	River Plant	Will	13
Judy . j	Labouring Women	River Plant
Hannah	Labouring Women	River Plant	Joe	12
Cornelia	Labouring Women	River Plant	Ambrose	1 mo
Lidia	Labouring Women	River Plant	Ned	7
Esther	Labouring Women	River Plant	Peter	5
Cloe	Labouring Women	River Plant	Phabe	3
Fanny	Labouring Women	River Plant
Alice	Labouring Women	old woman
Peg		River Plant	Ben	10
		River Plant	Penny	8
Daphne		River Plant	Joe	8
		River Plant	Moses	6
		River Plant	Lucy	4
		River Plant	Daphne	1
Ferry Doll's		River Plant	James	2
Neck Doll's		River Plant	Bett	7
		River Plant	Nat	4
		River Plant	Dolly	3
		River Plant	Jack	1
House Sal's		River Plant	Milly	7
Charlott's		River Plant	Billy	4
TOTAL	18		TOTAL	23

Names of 4 men on the same 1786 list for River Farm

NAMES	DISTINCTIONS	PLACES OF ABODE
Ben	Miller	Mill
Jack	Miller	Mill
Tom	Cooper	Mill
Davy	Cooper	Mill

Slavery at River Farm 1799

There were fifty-seven slaves living on River Farm in 1799, of whom twenty-seven were owned by George Washington. The other thirty slaves were dower slaves from the Custis estate, owned by Marth Washington. Nineteen of the individuals living at River Farm were children younger than eleven, and thirty-eight were "adults" older than eleven. Of those thirty-eight adults, nine had spouses living elsewhere, while five couples lived together at River Farm. Three of the family groups at River Farm in 1799 were comprised of the children of women who had passed away by the time of the list's composition. Because so many of those children were quite young, they were probably being raised by relatives, but their extended family members cannot be identified. By 1799, twenty-seven of the thirty-eight adults (71.05%) had been living at River Farm for at least thirteen years, since 1786.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Farm
2. ↑ Entry for Mary Smith Ball Lee. The Washington Papers, Center for Digital Editing, University of Virginia. (accessed 2 Feb 2022). Live Link and Archived Link
3. ↑ The Washington Papers, Center for Digital Editing, University of Virginia. General Ledger A, 1750 - 1772 p261, image 2 [Washington]. Image 2
4. ↑ http://catalog.mountvernon.org/digital/collection/p16829coll11/id/314/rec/1
5. ↑ https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/slavery-at-river-farm/