Judith or Judy was an enslaved woman in Maryland.
She may or may not be a relative of mine, but she was enslaved by the family who did enslave some of my ancestors.
I found Judith in the will of Victory Dent. Victory was the spinster daughter of Michael Dent.
The Dent family are from Dent’s Inheritance, Charles County, Maryland. Several members left Maryland and made their way south to North Carolina and then to Wilkes County, Georgia. My family were enslaved by the Dents who left Wilkes County, GA and migrated to Harris and Muscogee Counties, GA.
Michael Dent died in 1795 in Maryland. In his will, he bequeathed Judith or Judy as he called her, to Victory. He also bequeathed a boy named Luke to her.
Judtih must have been enslaved by this family for years as she was listed as a woman when he willed her to Victory.
Seven years later in 1802, Victory dies. In her will, Victory wills enslaved to the children of her brother, Joseph Manning Dent.
She willed a man, Luke and a girl Mahaly, to Joseph’s daughter Elizabeth Dent. She willed a boy named Mark to Joseph’s son, John Turner Dent.
The reason why I think these enslaved could be members of my family tree is because the names Mark and Luke are names of ancestors throughout my family tree. That doesn’t prove anything, but it is something to think about or rule out. It could be that these are just common names and there is no relation.
Victory did not will Judtih to anyone, in her will she stated her “will and desire is that her negro woman Judith shall be set free”.
The laws of manumission (i.e. freeing of the enslaved) in Maryland actually prohibited this in wills. It had to be done through a property deed. The 1752 law basically stated:
That it shall not be lawful for any Person or Persons within this Province, by any verbal Order, or by his, her, or their last Will and Testament, or by any other Instrument of Writing, in his, her, or their last Sickness, whereof he, she, or they shall die, to give or grant Freedom to any Slave or Slaves. (Archives of Maryland, Volume 0050, Page 0076 – Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, 1752-1754)
This law was still in effect in 1802.
So, did the Executers of Victory’s will honor her wishes by freeing Judith by property deed as the law stated? Or, was she the matriarch of the enslaved that was divided up in these wills? If she was freed, did she decide to stay with the enslavers so she could be near who could be her children?
I feel I owe it to Judith, Luke, Mark and Mahaly to find out what became of them.