, Milley

Milley, an enslaved woman held in bondage at Raspberry Plain, fell ill during the winter of 1790-1791. The Mason family tried to keep themselves and their enslaved people healthy. They took health very seriously because the profitability of their plantation depended on it. When Milley became ill, the Masons sent for Dr. James McClean, who treated her condition with medicine in January 1791.

It seems Milley survived her illness, since Mary Mason (the widow of Stevens Thomson Mason) bequeathed a “Milly” to her daughter Catherine Mason Barry upon Mary’s death in 1825. Milley may have worked closely with Mary Mason as a house servant, since Mary singled out Milley by name in her will, describing how she had “left a deed to my daughter Catherine in my secretary for Milly.” Mary chose to keep Milley in the family instead of including her in the “general stock [to be] sold with the rest of my ungrateful slaves,” as she wrote.

By Rachel Hughes