Ona Judge: A Life of Courage in the Founding Era
Born Into Enslavement at Mount Vernon
Ona Judge, sometimes recorded as Oney Judge, was born into slavery around 1773 at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia. Her mother, Betty, was an enslaved seamstress in the Washington household, and her father, Andrew Judge, was a white indentured tailor. Under colonial law, a child followed the status of the mother, which meant Ona was enslaved from birth.[1]
She grew up within the structure of a large plantation household where skilled labor, including sewing and textile work, supported both the estate and the Washington family’s public life. As she grew older, Judge was assigned to serve as Martha Washington’s personal attendant. That role required trust and responsibility, but it did not change her legal condition. She remained enslaved.
Readers interested in the broader context of people and events of this period can explore additional profiles in our Founding Generation collection.
Life in the Presidential Household
When George Washington became president, the executive household moved first to New York and then to Philadelphia, which served as the nation’s capital during the 1790s. The judge was among the enslaved workers brought into presidential residences to maintain household operations.[1]
Pennsylvania had passed a gradual abolition law that allowed enslaved people to claim freedom after six months of continuous residence. Historical records show that the Washington household rotated enslaved workers in and out of the state to avoid meeting that legal threshold.[2] Judge later recalled that she became aware of both the law and her limited window of opportunity.
Her position placed her close to the center of national power, but her personal status remained unchanged. The contrast between revolutionary ideals and the persistence of slavery formed part of the lived reality of the era.
A Carefully Planned Escape
In May 1796, Ona Judge decided to escape while the Washington family was living in Philadelphia. With assistance from members of the city’s free Black community, she left the presidential household and boarded a ship bound for Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[2][3]
Her departure triggered immediate efforts to locate and return her. George Washington authorized attempts to recover her through intermediaries and private correspondence. A newspaper advertisement described her and offered a reward for her capture.[3][4]
Despite these efforts, Judge was not returned to the Washington household. Correspondence from the period shows that Washington weighed further legal action but ultimately did not pursue a public court case in New England, where enforcement could prove difficult and politically sensitive.[1][2]
Creating a Free Life in New Hampshire
In New Hampshire, Judge worked as a domestic servant and established a new life under her own direction. In 1797, she married Jack Staines, a free Black sailor. The couple had children and remained in the Portsmouth area.[2][3]
Years later, Judge gave interviews to abolitionist newspapers in which she described her escape and her determination to remain free. She acknowledged the hardship she faced but stated she would not return to slavery voluntarily.[2] Those interviews provide rare first-person testimony from someone who freed herself from the Washington household.
After her husband’s death, Judge lived in modest circumstances, supported in part by her community and family. She died in New Hampshire in 1848, having remained free for more than fifty years after her escape.
Why Ona Judge’s Story Matters in Civic Learning
Ona Judge’s life is part of the larger civic story of the Founding Era. Her experience illustrates how the early United States contained both expanding ideas about liberty and the continued reality of slavery. Her escape demonstrates how individual decisions, local laws, and community networks shaped outcomes in that period.
Primary sources — including advertisements, letters, and later interviews — allow modern readers to study her story through documented evidence.[1][3][4] For civic learners, Judge’s life offers an opportunity to examine how law, rights, and personal courage intersected in the early republic.
Exploring stories like hers alongside those of legislators, soldiers, and signers helps create a fuller understanding of the Founding Generation and the complex society they inhabited.
Explore more stories from the Revolutionary era in our Founding Generation series.
Footnotes
- George Washington’s Mount Vernon, “Ona Judge,”
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/ona-judge/ - National Park Service, “Ona Judge Staines,”
https://www.nps.gov/people/ona-judge-staines.htm - National Archives, “Runaway Slave Advertisements and Notices,”
https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/slavery/runaway-slave-ads