The 1749 will of Richard Bennett III (Bennett’s Point, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland) allocates at least 36 enslaved people to Bennett’s cousin John Rousby, who also inherits the land of Bennett’s Point and southern Morgan’s Neck where Bennett had resided since around 1700. As I have discussed elsewhere, the named enslaved individuals bequeathed to Rousby were:
“To said cousin John Rousby, these negroes: Isaac & his wife, Little Kate, & their chldn; Molatto Tom & his wife, Sue, & their chldn; Jacob Gardner & his wife, Sarah, & their chldn; Old 1y, Lame Joe; Jorey the taylor & his wife & chldn.; Jack Gooby that attends in the house; Antigua George & his wife Kate Webb & their chldn.; Trippling & his wife & chldn.; the woman Maudling & her chldn.; the woman Mariah & her chldn. Jack & Will; also all the livestock & crops on the plntn. where I dw. & the wading place plntn.”
These individuals are likely to have remained on the local land, at least for some period of time, perhaps up until 1760, when the manor house burned. Among these 36 or more people, three couples are identified with a surname: “Antigua George and his wife Kate Webb,” “Jack Gooby that attends the house”, and “Jacob Gardner and his wife Sarah Gardner”. I have previously posted on Jack Gooby. What can we infer about the lives and possible descendants of Jacob and Sarah Gardner and Antigua George and Kate Webb?
1, Jacob and Sarah Gardner
Neither Jacob nor Sarah Gardner appear in the 1753 probate inventory of Bennett’s heir John Rousby, so they may have been sold or transferred elsewhere, or died in the interim. I have no seen subsequent reference ot them in local probate records or other documents.
Possible kin:
I have not seen references in 18th century records to ensalved Gardners on the Eastern Shore. Father Mosley, SJ diary, recording sacremental practices such as baptism, which mentions enslaved Thomas Gooby, does not mention any any Gardeners.
Free and enslaved Gardners mentioned 19th century records include:
—Maria Gardner, free Black woman, born around 1830, with her two year old son William Gardner, emplyed in the household of saddler John Ferguson in District 3, Centreville, Queen Anne’s County, in the 1860 census.
—Henry Gardner, evidently runaway, seemingly owned by a “Maxwell,: Queen Anne’s Co., Md. was released to W. H. Wilmer 30 May 1833. August 1847 advertisements records the escape of Ann Gardner, owned by Louis Maceron near the Navy Yard in Washington D.C.
—-Warner Gardner, freeman, born around 1804 in Caroline County, to the immediate east of Queen Anne’s County.
—William Henry Gardner of Anne Arundel County, across the bay from Queen Anne’s, was born free, according to an 1855 freedom certificate
In November 1864, under the new state constitution, the following seven individuals were emancipated (with compensation claims filed by their owners in 1867):
—Leathen Gardner and Wash Gardner, owned by Wm F Anderson, Anne Arundel County
—Lucy Gardner, Wesley Gardner, Sarah Gardner, Perry Gardner, Robert Gardner, owned by Ben O’Mulliken, , Anne Arundel County,
A possible Descendant: Jacob Gardner, 1845-1895
Jacob and Sarah from Bennett’s Point seem likely to be related to Jacob Gardner, 1845-1895, born in Caroline county, residing then on Kent Island,, who enlisted 24 March 1864 in Queen Anne’s County in the United States Colored Infantry 39th regiment, Company D. His military records indicate that he was a slave when he enlisted, although I am not sure whom his enslaver was.
He was hospitalized in North Carolina it appeared with an infectious disease and returned to duty on August 2, 1865. He lists as his closest relative on Kent Island, Queen Anne’s County a Charlotte Wright. (This may be the Charlotte Wright, age 35, who resided on Broad Creek in the 1870 census: so perhaps Jacob’s sister). He mustered out, December 4, 1865 in Wilmington NC.
By 1870, Jacob was residing in Washington DC, on N street near 1st street SE. He married wife Julia. He applied for a pension on 12 July 1890. He worked at the Washington Navy Yard and died 1 June 1895 at home in southeast DC of heat-induced heart trouble, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
There are other enslaved Gardners documented in the area; eg William Gardner, escaped from Dr. Jarrett Snowden of Anne Arundel Co; Warner Gardner, freeborn in Caroline Co in 1804, etc. And I see in November 1864, enslaver Ben O’Mulkin manumitted five slaves with the surname Gardner, including a Sarah Gardner, in Anne Arundel County, MD. I do not know if any of these are related to the Jacob and Sarah Gardner of Bennett’s Point (1749
II. Antigua George and Kate Webb
Antigua George and his wife Kate Webb and their children, as noted , were bequeathed in 1749 to Richard Bennett’s cousin, John Rousby. Rousby died three years later of a “violent fever,” and his probate inventory mentioned the same Antingua George and Kate Webb. “Negro woman named Kate Webb, 24 years old at 35 pounds”
John Roubsy’s property passed to his widow Anne Frisby Rousby (after she sued to break her late husband’s will, claiming he was not of sound mind before his death, and thus secured Rousby Hall for herself). Within two years or so, Anne Rousby married, under coercion, Colonel William Fitzhugh, who acquired her property. (In a strange twist, Fitzhugh had convinced a nursemaid to bring Anne’s infant girl Elizabeth to him c 1752 and threatened to drown her in the Patuxent River unless Anne’s consented to marry him. Elizabeth later married George Plater, Maryland governor)
Then in April 1767, Matthew Bryan of Wye River (an agent of William Fitzhugh) placed advertisements in the Maryland Gazette for runaway Antigua George, between 50 to 60 years old, stating he had escaped multiple times, and been recaptured in Talbot County and then escaped yet again:
“Wye River, February 21, 1767. Ran away about a Year ago, a Negro Man, goes by the same of Antigua George, was born in Antigua, talks good English, is betwixt 50 and 60 years old, about 5 feet feet five inches hight, grey headed, and bends much in the legs when he walks, Had ona cotton Jacket and breeches, County made shoes and stockings and Osnabrigs Shirt. He has since been taken up twicen Talbot and made his escape and imagine he passes for a free Negro.“
Whoever talks up the said Negro, if in Talbot shall have Twenty Shillings reward, if brought home; if any farther distance, four dollars reqards and reasonable charges, if brought home, paid by the subscriber living at Wye River. Mathew Bryan” (Maryland Gazette Annapolis, Maryland · Thursday, April 16, 1767, p. 4)
I do not know if Antigua George made good his escape this time around, or if his wife Kate Webb was still alive at this point.
Cate, Possible Daughter of Antigua George and Kate Webb
The 1751 inventory for John Rousby, lists at a different location (perhaps Rousby Hall, Calvert County) an infant Cate, girl who may be the daughter of Kate Webb: “Negro girl named Cate, 2 years old at 10 pounds” (b. 1749)
Thirty years later, in 1781, most of the enslaved people owned by William Fitzhugh at Rousby Hall, Calvert County, made their escape on a British vessel. I am not sure if any of these individuals subseqeuently made their way to Nova Scotia or other British territory.
As noted above, the slaves and land passed from John Rousby to his widow Ann Frisby Rousby, and then to her second husband, Colonel William Fitzhugh. It would appear that the same infant Cate, born about 1749, appears later in the 1798 inventory of Col. William Fitzhugh in The Hive, Hagerstown, Washington County MD as enslaved “Cate, age 49”, so born 1749, which would match with the infant Cate.
In the 1798, inventory Cate, age 49. is listed in the same family grouping as Tom, age 50 (likely husband) and Jack, 18, Nacy, 23, Fanny, 21 (possibly, Cate’s children) and then Henry 3, Rebecca 1 (possibly Fanny’s children?)
The suspected marital relationship between Cate and Tom is confirmed in Colonel Fitzhugh’s 1798 will: ” I give and bequeath unto my son William (Frisby) Fitzhugh to him and his heirs forever the following slaves and their increase, Sucky, Charles, Betty, Maryann, Sucray?, Toby, Fanny, Black Bett, Carpenter James, Mulatto Rose, Mill James and Agnes his wife, Ned, Tom and Cate his wife. “
I do not know what happened to these enslaved people. The younger Col William Frisby Fitzhugh in 1800 held 76 slaves in Washington Co, Maryland but then movd eventually to western New York state and beccameone of the fonuders of Rochester. The 1830 census in Livingstone County, NY, show Wililam Fitzhugh with 5 free persons of color but no slaves.
Possible kin of Antigua George and Kate Webb:
The 1860 census lists about 95 Free Black people in Maryland with the surname Webb.
—The extensive family of the freeborn James Webb, b 1820, of Caroline County.. The cabin of James Webb was restored and still stands; he has many documented descendants in Caroline County and Pennsylvania. Among these was his son, the school teacher John R Webb of Caroline County. A kinswoman may be the free born woman Delia Ann Webb, born about 1832, who was granted a freedom certificate in 1847 inCaroline County.
Enslaved Webbs include:
On 26 August 1825, James Webb, runaway from Thomas Rinngold of Kent Island, Queen Anne’s County, was jailed in Easton, Talbot County. Three years later, on 17 May 1828, a Jim Webb (yellow mulatto) perhaps the same person, escaped from the same enslaver Thomas Rinngold.
I would be grateful for assistance in further tracing Jacob and Sarah Gardener, Antigua George and Kate Webb, and their descendants.
Mark Auslander 