An Enslaved Community: Tracing Ancestors from 1867-68 Slave Statistics in P.G. County, part 2

If you are descended from a formerly enslaved person declared in 1867-68 by Edward Magruder, Lewis Magruder, Thomas B. Beall, or Henry Phillips, here is some information that may help trace your family back another generation or two. My project is to identify the multiple pathways by which an enslaved person might have become the property of a particular Magruder or related slaveholder in the statistics, in hopes of providing new directions for your search.

This page includes two downloadable files: a transcription of the Prince George’s County Slave Statistics, and a database of people enslaved by this extended family. I have also provided links to most of my sources.

  1. Intro to the Slave Statistics
  2. White family relationships
  3. Probate records of the four key estates
  4. People they enslaved
  5. Analysis
  6. Where else could Lewis Magruder, Edward E. Magruder, Henry Phillips, or Thomas Birch Beall have acquired slaves?
  7. People on the move: runaway ads & arrest warrants by the three Magruder brothers
  8. Post-Emancipation
  9. All people declared by Lewis & Edward Magruder, Henry Phillips, & Thomas Birch Beall
  10. Other family members of Edward & Fielder Magruder, Sr.

Intro to the Slave Statistics

In a law passed in 1867, the Maryland General Assembly complained that “under the Military of the United States, a large number of slaves owing service to loyal citizens of Maryland, were induced to leave their owners and enlist in the military service of the United States.” Hoping that the federal government would repay the state’s loyalty to the Union and compensate its citizens for the human property lost, the General Assembly ordered that a record be made of all slave owners and those they had held in slavery as of November 1, 1864, when the new state constitution took effect. Neither the federal government nor the state ever compensated the enslavers.

These records are far from complete. Declaration was voluntary, and was not open to citizens who could not demonstrate that they had remained loyal to the Union. Even so, these records—created primarily in 1867 and 1868 and known as the Slave Statistics—are the most extensive and accessible evidence available of slaves and enslavers at the time of state emancipation. Lists of the enslaved include age (as of 1864), sex, physical condition, and term of servitude for each individual. The schedules also indicate those who enlisted or were drafted into the Union Army, and sometime provide the regiment.

There are at least three places to search the Slave Statistics for Prince George’s County.

  1. Declarations are included in the online index of Prince George’s County Freedom Records, which also include Certificates of Freedom and records of manumissions–a good place to start, because they are cross-indexed by name of the formerly enslaved, as well as the original indexing by slaveowner;
  2. A downloadable PDF transcription (see below), providing a printable and searchable list of every name declared by any single enslaver and others with the same surname; or
  3. Scans of the original declarations as recorded by the Commissioner for Slave Statistics, and available on the MSA website..

Scans of the originals should always be consulted once you have zeroed in on your targets. You can check accuracy of the transcriptions, look for descriptive or other detail about an individual, and occasionally find a name that was missed in the transcriptions–as I did in this cluster of four related slaveowners. Each declaration had to be corroborated by two witnesses who could confirm its veracity. Make note of those names, as most are relatives and all are close associates of some kind.

The original declarations can be searched on the Maryland State Archives (MSA) website in this record series:

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF SLAVE STATISTICS
(Slave Statistics)
1867-1869
CE157

CE157-1 is the index to CE157-2 through CE157-5, which contain the bulk of the records, created in 1867-1868. You will see filings by slaveowners themselves, by relatives representing them, and by the executors or administrators of estates. In CE157-2 you will find Lewis Magruder on p. 36; Edward Magruder on p. 38; and Henry Phillips on p.19. Thomas Birch Beall is in CE157-5, on p. 272.

The last entry on the MSA list, CE157-6, contains an additional 36 pages of declarations made as late as 1869 and not included in the index. There appear to be some duplicate or amended filings there, so be sure to check this document for the name of any enslaver you are interested in. Some declarations by attorneys representing more than one estate are also filed here, so take the time to browse these pages.

Here is the downloadable PDF transcription. Like most 19th c. records, this document groups surnames that begin with the same letter, but is not fully alphabetized–you won’t even find all entries of a given surname listed together, so keep scrolling. And, as usual, it is organized by name of the enslaver. Unfortunately, the PDF cuts off the columns for condition, term of enslavement, and military enlistment, but you will find names and ages, as well as the election district where the slaveowner lived, which can be useful in putting together relationships among the enslaved, as well as the owners, and for searching old maps. Thomas B. Beall appears on page 24, the two Magruders on 92, and Henry Phillips on 113. One name, William Brown, is missing from Lewis Magruder’s list.

0-pg-sl-stats-transcribed-copyDownload

You should explore all the online resources at the MSA, including Flight to Freedom: Beneath the Underground Railroad, Legacy of Slavery in Maryland.

Once you have the name or names of enslavers of interest, check land ownership maps at the Library of Congress. Here is P.G. County in 1861. These maps were commercial projects, and landowners had to subscribe to be included, but they will usually show at least the major landholders. Edward “Ed” Magruder shows up in Bladensburg, District 2. Lewis lived near him, but apparently didn’t pay to be included. Their brother, Fielder Magruder Jr., shows in two locations on either side of the rail line southeast of Bladensburg and near the D.C. line. Thomas B. Beall is north of them, in District 1, Vansville, just southwest of Beltsville. Henry Phillips is not shown.

White family relationships

Lewis Magruder (1822-1897) and Edward E. Magruder (1827-1891) were brothers, sons of Fielder Magruder Sr. (1780-1840) and Matilda (Magruder) Magruder (1789-1849).

Their older brother, Fielder Magruder Jr. (1814-1888), owned slaves before the war and lived beyond 1864, but did not file for compensation, possibly because he could not prove he had been loyal to the Union. The youngest brother, William T. Magruder, was a Confederate officer killed at Gettysburg.

Their sister Susannah Beall Magruder married Henry Phillips (1804-1876), and a first-cousin, Jane Beall Magruder, married Thomas Birch Beall (1818-1879). Beall and Phillips both filed in 1867. Jane was the daughter of Fielder Sr.’s brother, Edward B. Magruder (1778-1842) a.k.a. Edward Sr.

These four men–Edward E. Magruder, Lewis Magruder, Henry Phillips, and Thomas Birch Beall—acquired slaves from the estates of four family members: Fielder Magruder Sr. (d. 1840); his wife Matilda (Magruder) Magruder (d. 1849); Fielder’s brother Edward B. Magruder (d. 1842); and Oliver Barron Magruder (d. 1852), who was Edward’s son and Jane Beall (Magruder) Beall’s brother.

Of the four, only Edward Sr. (d.1842) left a will, but all their estate inventories and sales have survived. The amount of detail provided by appraisers and executors varies, but for Oliver and for Fielder Sr. we have the names of those who purchased slaves from their estates.

An early death like Oliver’s (at age 32) was surely traumatic for his family and for slaves whose families and friendships were shattered by dispersal. For those of us trying to reconstruct the families and movements of enslaved people, however, such a death is a gift. By creating a set of records that fall midway between the death dates of generations—in this case, just ten years after the death of Oliver’s father and twelve years before state Emancipation in 1864—it increases the chance of finding the same individuals in more than one record.

Probate records of the four key estates

Fielder Magruder Sr., d. 1840, intestate

Edward B. Magruder, d. 1842

Matilda (Magruder) Magruder, d. 1849, intestate

Oliver Barron Magruder, d. 1852, intestate

People they enslaved

NOTE: This page is under revision. As of 5 July 2023 I have corrected and expanded the text but have not updated the spreadsheet. When completed, it will include the names of everyone enslaved by this family in the 1833 personal property tax schedule.

The first page of this spreadsheet includes basic information for all the people I know to have been enslaved by this extended family–around 100 individuals–including all the people claimed in 1867 by Edward E. Magruder, Lewis Magruder, Thomas B. Beall, and Henry Phillips. For each person there is an entry for each event I can document. This results in redundancy, but also allows you to sort by name, then date, to compare and track individuals over time.

I would not ordinarily add further redundancy by creating a “purchased” event in addition to a “sold” event. I did so here because nearly all named purchasers were family members, so creating those lines allows you to better track the enslaved and/or refine the picture of those enslaved by each family member.

On the second sheet, labeled “Flow,” I arranged a few of the enslaved into possible through-lines from the four key estates to the 1867 declarations. This page functions as a chart and should not be re-sorted. Be sure to scroll down to the lower section. The identities and relationships presented on this sheet range from “possible” to “highly likely.” Some that appear likely when looking at probate records alone are thrown into question when tax records are added to the mix.

Analysis

In these four estates—falling close together, in 1840, 1842, 1849, and 1852—we catch a glimpse of a small and fairly cohesive enslaved community, with most being members of the Wright, Semmes, Crawford, Edmondson, and Brown families. Individuals bearing other names might also be related, though less obviously.

The gap between the dates of these estates and the end of slavery in Maryland ranges from just twelve to twenty-four years—easily bridged within a lifetime. This makes it likely, for example, that two boys named Elias and George, purchased from Edward’s estate in 1842 with no ages provided, are identical to Elias Wright and George Wright listed by his son-in-law, Thomas Birch Beall, in the 1867 declarations.

Where ages are provided in the probate records, a line of identity through to 1864 is fairly trustworthy, though not always certain. In at least one case, tax records raise questions about what had appeared to be fairly obvious.

For three people purchased from Fielder Magruder Sr.’s estate in 1840, identity seems highly likely–at least thus far in my search.

  • Martha Ann Brown, purchased by Henry Phillips and still in his possession in 1864, along with her apparent children, Wesley and Richard Brown;
  • Harriet Semmes, purchased by Fielder’s widow Matilda; sold from Matilda’s estate in 1849, with one child; found in possession of their son Lewis in 1864, along with Ellen Semmes, born about 1849, who likely was that child; and
  • Mary Crawford, also purchased by Matilda in 1849, with one child; sold from Matilda’s estate with three children; found in Edward’s possession in 1864, with a number of apparent children and possibly grandchildren, including three–Samuel, Henry, and Fillmore–born 1849 or before, though none was born before 1840.

For another child in Fielder’s estate identity may not be quite so straightforward. At first examination, Tobias Edmondson, born about 1829 and claimed by in Henry Phillips in 1867, seems to be the Toby purchased by Phillips from Fielder’s estate in 1840. Questions arise in the 1833 personal property tax schedule, which includes a boy named Toby, one-to-three years old and therefore born about 1830-1832, already in Phillips’ possession. Given the slipperiness of ages provided for enslaved people, this easily could be Tobias Edmondson. Were there two such boys, cousins perhaps? Did Toby pass from Phillips to his father-in-law and back again between 1833 and 1840? Did either the tax assessor or the estate appraisers mistake ownership of Toby? Any of these theories seems possible. One might be proved eventually, perhaps with additional tax records, but at the moment this is the limit of the evidence. (Prince George’s County Levy Court (Assessment Record), 1830-1850; 1833, Personal Property, Election Districts 1-3; Second District, p. 49, Henry Phillips, MSA CM784-11; microfilm CR34702-8, scanned to PDF, p.45.)

Where ages are missing in the probate records, equating individuals is even more hypothetical; a later record could be for a family member with the same name. Hypotheses can be useful, though, as in the identification of the children of Martha Brown, Harriet Semmes, and Mary Crawford, or the possibility that John Williams (declared by Thomas Birch Beall) or William Wright (declared by Lewis Magruder) might be traceable to the estate of Edward Magruder in 1842.

My identification of Kitty Semmes (b. 1819), declared by Edward E. Magruder, is a combination of near certainty that she is the Kitty he purchased from the estate of his cousin Oliver in 1853, and a strong possibility that she came originally from the estate of Oliver’s father, Edward Sr., in 1842. I also look at the estimated age for Joe Semmes, declared by Edward E., and suspect that he might be the young child sold with Kitty in 1853.

We can never see the full picture. We don’t know who might have come and gone in the years between records—children born and died, or family members sold. Those we see here would have had additional family scattered over the farms of other enslavers—Magruders, their relatives, and neighbors. Unique surnames in these lists could be the result of the random sales and transfers of enslaved people over time, but we should also consider “broad marriages,” to people (free or enslaved) from neighboring farms. If you are on the trail of a particular person or family, go back to the maps described above, identify neighboring slaveowners and search their records, in both the Slave Statistics and probate. In addition, runaway ads often identify the slaveowner of a fugitive’s spouse.

For all these reasons we have to look carefully, and not be too quick to draw conclusions. Returning to the 1867 Slave Statistics, for example, if Harriet Wright is the wife of either Elias or George, Alice and Ann at a glance look like their daughters, though the girls’ surnames are missing. Yet if Thomas Birch Beall was accurate about their ages Alice was only twelve years younger than Harriet. This raises as many questions as it answers, but at least we have an enduring association of Elias and George, and the names of potential family members.

Another name pops up immediately, William Wright, declared in 1867 by Lewis Magruder. According to Magruder, he was 30 in 1864, giving him a birth date around 1834. He could be the William purchased by Lewis Magruder in 1853 from the estate of his cousin, Oliver B. Magruder. Ten years before that, a boy named William was purchased by an unnamed buyer from the estate of Oliver’s father, Edward Sr. If that buyer was Oliver, it is possible all three records refer to the same person, William Wright. If George and Elias were his brothers, he was separated from them at age eight, then traumatized again at eighteen when Oliver’s sudden death led to another move, this time to Oliver’s cousin, Lewis.

This is plausible, though by no means proven, in part because Lewis Magruder also declared another William to have been his property in 1864.

William Magruder is the only person named Magruder known to have been enslaved by this extended family, which strongly suggests that his father was one of the white Magruders. Lewis reported that William was eighteen in 1864, born around 1846. If Lewis Magruder was not his father, suspicion would fall on his father, uncles, and brothers. Of the women Lewis owned in 1864, and declared in 1867, only Harriet Semmes, born about 1830, was old enough to be William’s mother.

It is worth noting that I have not found a single manumission by any slaveholder in this family. The only possibility arises from the 1850 and 1860 censuses of George Henry Howell, husband of Virginia Teresa Magruder, one of Edward Magruder Sr.’s daughters and a sister-in-law of Thomas Birch Beall. In 1860, George and Virginia’s Baltimore household included a twenty-seven-year-old black woman servant named named Wright. The handwriting is imprecise and Ancestry’s AI-generated transcription calls her Laura, though it could say Louisa. In 1850, when “G.H. Howell” was as yet unmarried, his servant was clearly called Louisa Wright. It is possible this young woman was the enslaved child named Louisa, one-to-three-years-old, for whom Edward Magruder Sr. was taxed in 1833. If so, her parents may be sought among others enslaved by Edward or his parents or siblings. (Prince George’s County Levy Court (Assessment Record), 1830-1850; 1833, Personal Property, Election Districts 1-3; First District, p. 18, Edward Magruder, MSA CM784-11; microfilm CR34702-8, scanned to PDF, p.17.)

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Where else could Lewis Magruder, Edward E. Magruder, Henry Phillips, or Thomas Birch Beall have acquired slaves?

Matilda Magruder’s father

Matilda Magruder, mother of Lewis & Edward, was the daughter of Dr. Jeffrey Magruder of Montgomery County. He died in 1805, creating a 35-year gap between his probate and that of his son-in-law Fielder Magruder Sr. who died in 1840. Matilda lived till 1849, 44 years after her father’s death. Four people in Fielder’s inventory were born before 1805, but their names are not found in Jeffrey’s inventory. His list did include two unnamed children, who could be among those recorded later.

  • James 37 ($160), Dick 32 ($280), Bill 16 ($280), Sam 12 ($185), Harry 11 ($185), Isaack  or Jack? 9 ($155), Little James 5 ($90), Willson 2 ($50) Hannah 45 ($80), Mary & child 35 ($185), Dinah 37 ($130), Eve & child 30 ($210), Sal 15 ($180), Poll 12 ($10), Lydia 11 ($135), Nel 6 ($100).
  • Montgomery County, Register of Wills; Accounts, Inventories, Wills, Vol. E (1802-1807), pp. 371-373, Inventory of estate of Jeffrey Magruder (1806); digital images FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TBG-SHGC?i=215&wc=SNYH-ZN5%3A146535001%2C146582201&cc=1803986

Lewis & Edward Magruder’s father-in-law

Lewis & Edward married two sisters, daughters of Thomas Noble Wilson & Sarah Phillips, of Montgomery County, Maryland. In 1845 Lewis married Susan Evelyn Wilson, and in 1851 his younger brother Edward married Susan’s young sister, nineteen-year-old Laura Wilson.

  • Sarah Phillips may have been an older sister of Henry Phillips. His father, Samuel Phillips (d. 1824) pointedly disowned three of his ten children, including a son, Richard, and two married daughters, Susan Barnes and Sarah Wilson. If so, the sisters Lewis and Edward Magruder married were their nieces by marriage.

Thomas N. Wilson died in September 1862. His will focuses on his extensive land holdings, leaves all personal property to his wife, and does not mention slaves, but his estate inventory included seven enslaved people: Old Sam (valued at $25), Hanson ($400), Erasmus ($200), Eliza ($200), Sarah & child ($350), and Fanny ($150). The latter could be Fanny Smith, born about 1850, declared in 1867 by Lewis Magruder. None was declared by Edward Magruder.

Thomas Birch Beall’s family

Thomas Birch Beall got his start in life from the generosity of an uncle, George Beall, who died in 1834. He bequeathed to Thomas a 440 acre farm near Beltsville, as well as the residue of his personal estate after specific bequests were subtracted. The earnings of the farm and the proceeds of the sale of his personal property were to be invested by his executor and conveyed to Thomas on his twentieth birthday.

George did not bequeath to Thomas any enslaved people. Fifteen were left to his second wife, Deborah: Rachel, Nat, Jerry, Marshall, Charles, Basil, Coty? Delilah, Fanny, Airy [or Anny?,] Rachel, Harriet, Peggy (“now living in Montgomery with Dr. Duvall”), Eliza and old Fanny. One old man, Sam, was to have his freedom and, if necessary, be supported by another nephew, John Beall. The remainder were to be manumitted, provided they emigrated to Liberia. The will was constructed to make emigration the best of their options.

Item, I will and bequeath unto my negroes hereafter named not already disposed of, their freedom on the condition that they shall emigrate to Liberia, to be sent thither by my executor so soon as it can be effected. Charles, Henry, Isaac and Jim and Basil now in Washington [illegible]. Old man Sam to have his liberty and remain here, my nephew John Beall shall support him provided he shall live not to be able to maintain himself. It is my wish that, if any of the aforesaid servants should refuse to go to Liberia, that such so refusing, shall be sold at public sale, and the proceeds shall be equally divided among those who have gone and may hereafter go. It is also my will that my executor shall give all and each of them a good suit of clothes, a good narrow axe and grubbing hoe, to be paid for out of the estate.

I have not yet found sales from George Beall’s estate, nor have I identified any records that tell us who, if anyone, actually took ship for Africa. If any of the slaves were sold, it is possible that some may have been purchased on Thomas Birch Beall’s behalf. However, at some point the court replaced the executor named in the will with a court-appointed administrator and accounts he filed over several years suggest that terms of the will may not have been carried out. Income from the hiring-out of slaves owned by the estate run for at least nine years, through 1843, while expenses include “coffins for two old servants,” and a bill for “sundry work done for the servants of the estate.”

As well, there were expenses for “advertising for the deceased’s Representatives” in both local and “western” newspapers. Whoever they were looking for apparently was not found, for when final cash distributions were made, half went to Lucy Barrett and half to “the other not known.” Accounts also include expenses for defending a suit brought by “the heirs” in Chancery Court. More research needs to be done to uncover the fate of the twenty-two people named in George Beall’s will.

In 1839, Thomas Birch Beall married Jane Beall Magruder, daughter of Edward Sr. and his second wife, Teresa Ann Barron. The 1840 census shows them in Vansville District, Prince George’s County, with no children and eight slaves: one female 24-35, two females 10-23, three females under 10, one male 10-24, and one male under ten. Just two people are engaged in agriculture. Because no ages were recorded  in George Beall’s probate records, it is impossible even to guess if any of these people came from his estate.

In 1850 Thomas Birch Beall had five slaves, four of whom could be matches for those counted in 1840, plus a girl born about 1842. By 1860, there were seven slaves, but their sexes and ages are a poor match for the 1850 slave schedule; there appear to be just two people who were there ten years before.

Thomas’ father, Ninian Beall V, died in January 1856. A long-time resident of Georgetown, District of Columbia, his obituary says he had lately been living in Montgomery County. The 1850 census confirms that, showing him in Rockville, Maryland. (His name is mis-transcribed on Ancestry as Mirian Beall; you can search for that or for his last wife, Rachel Beall.) I have not located probate for him in either Washington or Montgomery counties.

People on the move: runaway ads & arrest warrants by the three Magruder brothers

In April of 1853, a woman named Kitty removed herself from Edward E. Magruder’s farm. He placed an ad in the Baltimore Sun, describing her as 30 years old, five feet tall, and “very black.” This likely was the Kitty he had just purchased from the estate of his cousin, Oliver B. Magruder, whom I have identified as Kitty Semmes. Some runaways were seeking their freedom; others just longed to see family on other farms and were willing to bear the consequences. Kitty taking off so soon after the dispersal of people from Oliver’s farm suggests the latter, or a strong aversion to her new situation. http://slavery.msa.maryland.gov/html/mapped_images/mnpage15569.html

Jerry M. Hynson’s District of Columbia Runaway and Fugitive Slave Cases 1848-1863 (Heritage Books, 2012, pp. 111-113) includes six people who “absconded from the service” of Lewis Magruder, and one from his brother Fielder Jr. In May of 1862, a month after Emancipation in the District of Columbia, Lewis requested D.C. arrest warrants as fugitive slaves against William Wight [sic], Elizabeth Dorsey (a.k.a. Taylor or Burr), Ellen Simms, Jane Simms, and Harriet Simms. Many in Maryland hoped D.C. emancipation would signal the end of their own enslavement, and some made their way to the District in pursuit of that hope. These five were presumably recovered by Magruder, as their names appear among those he declared in 1867, as does a sixth runaway, William Henry Burns.

As proof of his ownership of Elizabeth Dorsey, Lewis Magruder presented a bill of sale showing that he purchased her from Bernard M. Campbell in Baltimore, on 1 December 1857, as a term slave to be free in 1878. Campbell was a major slave trader in Baltimore, who is believed to have trafficked as many as 2,000 people to New Orleans and other deep-South ports. Had she not been protected by her “term” status–which prohibited out-of-state sale–Elizabeth most likely would have been shipped to New Orleans.

  • The bill of sale provides Elizabeth’s birth date as 9 February 1843 and states that she was to be free on her birthday in 1878. Campbell had purchased her three months earlier, on 17 September, from Richard Grooms. (Prince George’s County Court, Land Records, 1859-1860, Liber CSM 3, p. 568, MSA CE 64-6) In wills manumitting slaves after a term of bondage, it was commonly specified that children born during a woman’s term of service would serve to a certain age, and thirty-five was a popular choice. Were I to search for Elizabeth Dorsey’s origins, I would try to identify Richard Grooms, and then a deceased family member whose will might have included Elizabeth’s mother.
  • Because his surname is unique among the Magruder family slaves, it is worth considering that William Henry Burns might be identical to a boy named Henry whom Lewis Magruder purchased in 1860 from Moses Hindes, also in Baltimore, even though he did not present a bill of sale to prove ownership. Like Elizabeth, Henry was to be free after a term, to serve sixteen years from 1 October 1857. (Prince George’s County Court, Land Records, 1859-1860, Liber CSM 3, p. 569, MSA CE 64-6)

    Were I to search for William Henry Burns’ origins with a working assumption that he and Henry were the same, I would again start by looking for a manumission by will. Lewis Magruder’s 1867 claim places his birth around 1845, which would make him thirty-eight at manumission, rather than thirty-five as we might expect. Given the general unreliability of ages provided for the enslaved, and a tendency on Magruder’s part to shave years off the ages of those for whom he was seeking compensation, this is a close enough match that I would start with the hypothesis that William Henry had been born to a woman serving a term of years, and that he was meant to be free at age thirty-five. The first step would be to identify Moses Hindes.

In December of 1861, Fielder Magruder Jr. advertised Anthony (Tony) Crawford as a runaway. In 1862, Tony was either still at large or had run again, as Magruder requested an arrest warrant for him in Washington. Fielder Jr. lived past Emancipation but did not file for compensation in 1867, so we can’t look at those lists for evidence that Tony Crawford did or did not make good his escape. In 1870, an Antony Crawford, 35, was living in Spaldings District of P.G. County, but lacking any record of Anthony’s age in 1861 or 1862, he can only be tentatively attached to the Tony we are looking for.

Post-Emancipation

An extensive search for post-emancipation records is beyond the scope of this page, but here are a few worth noting.

Mary Crawford kept many of her family together. In 1870 she lived in Bladensburg District with Andrew Crawford, her presumed husband, and six of their children–Samuel 28, Milton 20, John 14, Albert 12, Delia, 7 and Harriet 5. In 1864, Edward E. Magruder stated that Samuel Crawford had been drafted, but ran away before reporting for duty. Deserters and draft dodgers often changed their names, making them nearly impossible to trace after the war, so I was relieved to see Sam back with his family a few years later. However, two daughters, Kitty and Fanny, are missing from this household. “Milton” has replaced “Fillmore” in the birth order, but may be the same person: a noteable number of black children born in 1850 in Maryland/D.C. area were named for Millard Fillmore, the Whig President who oversaw passage of the Compromise of 1850 which, among other things, abolished the slave trade in the nation’s capital.

All the Magruder brothers and many of the people they had enslaved stayed in the Bladensburg area after the war. On the census, Mary and Andrew Crawford’s residence is just three dwellings away not from Edward Magruder, but from his brother, Fielder Jr. We know from Anthony Crawford’s runaway ads that Fielder Jr. enslaved members of the Crawford family, and this continued proximity suggests that Andrew was one of them. It appears that he and Mary had had five of their children together while enslaved by these two Magruder brothers.

The 1870 census provides circumstantial evidence about the three Wright men. William Wright and his wife Charlott lived in Bladensburg with their children, Ann and Charles. In Washington, D.C., Elias Wright, born in Maryland, appears in Ward 3, Dwelling #2304, with his wife Sarah or Sallie, and a recorded age of 33, making him five years younger than expected. However, the names of his three children-Charlotte, George, and Willie–tie him to this family. George is more difficult to pin down, as the Maryland census shows two black men named George Wright and born in 1840–one in Baltimore, one in Montgomery County.

An association with the Magruders, albeit indirect, is suggested by the proximity of C.F. [Charles Francis] Cummins, a white man in the boot & shoe trade, in Dwelling #2309, just five entries from Elias and Sarah. In 1874, the city directory shows that Sarah Wright, “wid Elias,” lived at 916 O Street, NW, with the Cummins family just around the block at 903 N Street, NW. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1032873641:2469

Cummins was the brother-in-law and sometime business partner of Fielder Montgomery Magruder (1828-1898). Fielder Montgomery as he is called, to distinguish him from his uncle and cousin, was Edward Magruder Sr.’s youngest child, making him Oliver Barron Magruder’s brother, Edward E. & Lewis Magruder’s first cousin, and Thomas Birch Beall’s brother-in-law. In 1867 he was one of the witnesses who confirmed Beall’s declaration in the Slave Statistics. He engaged in the boot and shoe trade, both wholesale and retail, throughout the 1860s, often in partnership with various relations. There is no evidence he ever owned slaves, though it’s possible that enslaved shoemakers worked in the business. I know little about the Cummins family, but they seem to have been middle-class tradesmen, not part of the slaveowning class. Mary Ann Cummins and Fielder Montgomery Magruder are my third great-grandparents.

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All people declared by Lewis & Edward Magruder, Henry Phillips, & Thomas Birch Beall

Underlined names can be found in probate records of the four key estates & are charted on the “Flow” page of the downloadable spreadsheet.

Names with * can be found in bills of sale in the PG County land records, and also appear on the spreadsheet.

Declared by Lewis Magruder
w/ approx. birth years
 
William Henry Burns 1845

William Brown 1845

*Elizabeth Dorsey 1846
a.k.a. Taylor or Burr

Henry Crawford 1839

William Magruder 1846

Ellen Semmes 1849 (sometimes Sims)

Harriet Semmes 1830

Jane Semmes 1851

Margaret [Semmes?] 1846

Fanny Smith 1850

William Wright 1834





Declared by Edward Magruder
 
William Bowie 1854

Albert Crawford 1857

Betty Crawford 1853

Delia Crawford 1859

Mary Crawford 1825

Fanny Crawford  1851

Fillmore Crawford 1849

Harriet Crawford 1861

Henry Crawford 1847

John Crawford 1855

Samuel Crawford 1845

Joe Semmes 1854

Kitty Semmes 1819

Ann Smith 1845
Declared by Thomas Birch Beall
 
John Williams 1826

Alice Wright 1858

Ann Wright 1861

Elias Wright 1842

George Wright 1840

Harriet Wright 1846		Declared by Henry Phillips

David Semmes 1848

Martha Brown 1822

Wesley Brown 1844

Richard Brown 1853

Tobias Edmondson 1829

James Edmondson 1842

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Other family members of Edward & Fielder Magruder, Sr.

Haswell Magruder (~1736-1811)
+ Charity Beall

  • Esther Beall Magruder, b.1764
    + James Moran
  • Edward Magruder (1778-1842), see below
  • Sophia Magruder (1771-1864)
    + Adam Crawford or Crauford (1767-After 1836)
  • Fielder Magruder (1780-1840), see below
  • William Washington Magruder (1773-1822)
    + Elizabeth Hilleary (1780-1857), m.1796
    William was a small farmer. Censuses 1800-1820 show he never owned more than three slaves and, oddly, all were children under 14. His estate inventory included Othey, age 5, and Marier, age 7. During the war, William & Elizabeth’s son Haswell was confined in the Old Capitol Prison for plotting against the Federal government. Tradition says he escaped hanging through the efforts of his daughters–Jane, who pleaded before the court, and Mary Caroline, who secured an interview with the Secretary of State. He was imprisoned at Ft. Delaware until pardoned in 1865. Im 1840, another of William and Elizabeth’s sons, Alfred Magruder, was murdered by Elizabeth’s cousin, Clement T. Hilleary.
  • Prince George’s County, Register of Wills, Wills, Liber TT 1, p. 40, Will of Haswell Magruder (1811); digital images FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GT1L-2HV?i=25&wc=SNYC-92W%3A146535401%2C147204001&cc=1803986
  • Prince George’s County, Register of Wills, Inventories, Liber TT 1, pp. 409-410, Inventory of Haswell Magruder (1811); digital images FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GT18-NLX?i=230&wc=SNYH-L2S%3A146535401%2C146949901&cc=1803986)
  • Ben 55 ($150), Nace 34 ($300), Jerry 18 ($300), Matilda 16 ($250), Minty 8 ($120), Mary 4 ($100), Harriott 18mos ($60), named in the inventory, are included in the spreadsheet, though the 29-year gap before the 1840 death of Fielder Sr. decreases the chance of finding continuity. It is likely this Nace is the same as “old man Nace” in Fielder ‘s estate. At sixteen, Matilda is not old enough to be the mother of Minty and Mary.
  • I have found no record of sales from Haswell’s estate, neither in ledgers nor in the original (loose) estate papers.
  • On 14 Dec 1789, Haswell gave two enslaved children to two of his own children: 7 year-old Dick to William Magruder; 5 year-old Nancy to Sophia Magruder. On 14 Nov 1792, he gave 8 year-old Bachelor to his daughter Hester Magruder.

Edward Beall Magruder 1778-1842
+ (1) Ann Hellen, m.1800, d. before 1813

  • Jesse Hellen Magruder (twin) b.1801)
    + Rebecca Penn, m. 1825
    + Catherine Floyd, m. 1853
    Jesse H. Magruder practiced law in Baltimore.
  • Rebecca D. Magruder (twin) b. 1801 or 1804
    + Peoley or Peasley Brown, m. 1822
  • Dr. Edward R. Magruder, b.1806-1877
    + Mary McKinney, moved to Perry County, Ohio, not in Edward’s will.

+ (2) Teresa Ann Barron (1789-1881), m.1813, d/o Oliver Barron & Sarah Wilson

  • Oliver Barron Magruder (1817-1852)
    + Rosanna Deal Crowley, m.1842
  • Jane Beall Magruder (1818-1894)
    + Thomas Birch Beall m.1839
  • Ruth Barron Magruder (b.~1815-d. bef Apr 1852)
    + Henry Howell, m. 1842 [I have not fund confirmation of this marriage.]
  • Thomas Jefferson Magruder (1823-1891)
    + Sarah Boteler
  • Virginia Teresa Magruder (b.~1820)
    + George Henry Howell (1813-1902), m. 1852
    G.H. Howell was a plasterer, born in Charles County & living in Baltimore. In the 1850 & 1860 censuses, a free black woman named Laura or Louisa Wright (depending on the transcription) lived in the Howell household as a domestic servant.
  • Fielder Montgomery Magruder (1828-1898)
    + Mary Ann Cummins
    Fielder Montgomery registered for the Union draft in Washington, but did not serve. During the war, his older brother Thomas Jefferson Magruder served three months in the Old Capitol Prison, including two weeks in solitary confinement, for advocating the Confederate cause and refusing to sign the Oath of Allegiance. He was released due to efforts by some of his business associates, who prevailed on him to sign the oath. The following Christmas he sent a wagon load of turkeys to his former fellow inmates at the prison. T.J. Magruder helped organize the Shoe & Leather Board of Trade, and was one of the family members with whom Fielder Montgomery Magruder was in business in the 1860s.

Fielder Magruder, Sr. (1780-1840)
+ Margaret Magruder (d. 1849), d/o Dr. Jeffrey Magruder of Montgomery County, d.1805

  • Fielder Magruder, Jr. (1814-1888)
    + Ann Truman Greenfield Young
    Fielder Jr. was a slaveholder and lived past Emancipation, but did not file in 1867.
  • Susannah Beall Magruder (1816-
    + Henry Philllips
  • Lewis Magruder (1822-1897)
    + Susan E. Wilson, d/o Thomas N. Wilson & Sarah Phillips of Montgomery County, m. 1845
  • Edward E. Magruder (1827-1891)
    + Laura Wilson, d/o Thomas N. Wilson & Sarah Phillips, m. 1851
  • William Thomas Magruder (1829-1863)
    + Mary Clayton Hamilton
    William graduated from West Point in 1850, and at the start of the Civil War was a career cavalry officer with fifteen years experience in various western frontier posts. After fighting at First Bull Run and the Peninsula campaign, he came home on leave and resigned his commission in the U.S. Army. Commissioned as a captain in the Confederate army, he was killed at Gettysburg during Pickett’s charge. He was one of just four West Point graduates who switched sides during the war.

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