What We Know About Judy
Judy was the mother of several young children in 1843 when her name appeared in a letter written by Dolley Madison. Dolley, who had been widowed for seven years, wrote to her niece with plans to come up to Washington D.C. for several months:
“I will send somebody on before me, tho’ I cant tell whom or when, as Judy, Beck & Caty have little babies.” [1]
Beck (Rebecca Stewart Walker) and Caty (Catherine Stewart Taylor) were daughters of Dolley’s enslaved personal maid, Sukey (Susannah Stewart). Judy was not Sukey’s daughter, as far as we know. Since Judy’s surname is unknown, it’s hard to say whether she was related to the Stewart family. These three young women likely cooked, cleaned, and waited on Dolley at Montpelier; the letter implies that they were the first enslaved domestic workers who came to Dolley’s mind when thinking about setting up temporary residence in Washington.
Judy’s “little baby” in 1843 was likely her son James, born ca. 1841. Judy had two older daughters as well: Mary, born ca. 1836, and Becca, born ca. 1838. (Was younger daughter Becca named for Rebecca Walker? If so, does this suggest that Judy and Becca were kin in some way?)
The birthdates of Judy’s children can be estimated because John Payne Todd, Dolley Madison’s son, noted their ages when he made a list of enslaved people at some point in 1844. Bracketing their names together as “Judy’s children,” Todd listed Mary as 8 years old, Becca as 6 years old, and James as 3 years old. He also estimated their monetary value: $200 for Mary, and $100 each for the two younger children.[2] Todd may have been planning to sell the people whose names appeared on the list, as he sold Harriet in December 1845.
Judy’s children (Mary, Becca, and James) appeared near the top of John Payne Todd’s 1844 list of enslaved people, but Judy did not. Library of Congress, Papers of Dolley Madison.
Another list drawn up in April or May of 1845 suggests that John Payne Todd did not know the exact ages of Judy’s children, but was estimating. He included on the list:
“3 children of Judy. 7.yrs 5.yrs 3.yrs”[3]
Several months had passed since Todd made the previous list, but he took Mary and Becca to be a year younger, while keeping James the same age.
Judy herself did not appear on either of Todd’s lists, and she never appeared in Dolley Madison’s letters again after 1843, when Dolley had written that “Judy, Beck & Caty have little babies.” Additionally, Judy’s name did not appear on the deeds in which Dolley Madison transferred nearly all of the people she enslaved to her son in the summer of 1844, just before the sale of Montpelier.[4]
What happened to Judy?
Unfortunately, the documentary record is silent on this question. Possibly Judy was sold apart from her children, although that would be unusual; the Madisons typically sold very young children along with their mother. Possibly Judy escaped, although that too would be unusual; a mother in her twenties or thirties was much less likely to attempt escape than a teenaged male like Anthony or Ezekiel. Perhaps the most likely scenario is that Judy died, due either to illness or to complications from bearing another child.
Absence and Presence
Judy’s story is outlined in the historical record through absence, moreso than presence. Judy is present as a young mother with a little baby in a single letter from Dolley Madison. Judy’s children are present, while Judy is absent, in lists prepared by John Payne Todd. And Judy is conspicuously absent from the deeds that name every person (with the exception of Paul Jennings) enslaved by Dolley Madison in 1844.
We may never know the full story of Judy’s life, but even the documents that point out her absence tell us that Judy had once been a presence – in her family, and in the larger enslaved community at Montpelier.
References
[1] Dolley Payne Todd Madison to Mary Estelle Elizabeth Cutts, 1843, Cutts Family Collection of Papers of James and Dolley Madison, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, accessed March 29, 2023, MRD-S 28588, Montpelier Research Database.
[2] John Payne Todd. List of slaves, foodstuffs shipped, and draft to Dolley Payne Todd Madison, [1844], box 2, folder June–Dec 1845, Papers of Dolley Madison, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, accessed March 29, 2023, MRD-S 28677, Montpelier Research Database.
[3] John Payne Todd, List of Slaves, [April or May 1845], extracted from John Payne Todd, Journal and Letterbook, 1844-1847, The Peter Force Collection; Series 8, MS 17137, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, accessed March 29, 2023,MRD-S 29160, Montpelier Research Database.
[4] Dolley Payne Todd Madison, Declaration of Certain Slaves to John Payne Todd, July 16, 1844, box 3, folder Deeds Conveying Slaves and other property from Dolley Madison to John Payne Todd, 1844 Jun 16-Jul 17, Papers of Notable Virginia Families, MS 2988, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Virginia, accessed December 2, 2023, MRD-S 27300, Montpelier Research Database; Dolley Payne Todd Madison, Deed of Certain Slaves to John Payne Todd, July 17, 1844, box 3, folder Deeds Conveying Slaves and other property from Dolley Madison to John Payne Todd, 1844 Jun 16-Jul 17 , Papers of Notable Virginia Families, MS 2988, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Virginia, accessed December 2, 2023, MRD-S 27218, Montpelier Research Database.
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