, Betty

Betty, also known as Betsy, and her children, Nelly and Eady, appear in three folios of the Mason family manuscript account book. Betty was held in bondage by Armistead T. Mason in trust for his underage cousins, Elizabeth and Mary Armistead.

In 1813, along with a handful of other enslaved people, Betty and her children were hired out. In 1814, they were hired out again to Mrs. Edwards. In 1815, the family was hired out again to work for Armistead T. Mason, but Betty fell ill. By 1816, Betty recovered, and she and her children were hired out again to an unknown person.

Although Betty was apparently hired out with her children, it was common for mothers to be separated from their children once they were weaned. Enslaved children were often left in the care of other enslaved children or elderly enslaved women or men; sometimes plantation mistresses cared for enslaved children alongside her own. Because Betty and her daughters were hired out together, they may have been able to care for each other at work.

In 1818, Betty’s daughters Nelly and Eady were hired out for their “first year” to two separate households. Young enslaved women typically began working without their mothers between the ages of twelve and sixteen. People who hired enslaved people during their first year as working adults usually regarded that year as akin to a training period and therefore paid a reduced fee for their labor. In 1818, Nelly and Eady brought $7.00 and $5.00 in income, respectively, for the Armistead sisters, while the more experienced enslaved women Phyllis and Duanna were each hired out for a rental fee of $25.00.

By Cecilia Ward