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African American Residents

Though it is unclear exactly who might have worked for the Decatur’s, they certainly could not have managed their home without help – likely provided by individuals hired from three different groups: white servants, free blacks, and enslaved persons “hired out” by their owners. “Hiring out” was a common practice in southern urban areas that offered the possibility of the enslaved person eventually “buying” their own freedom.

Charlotte Dupuy, however, is one well-known enslaved woman who worked at Decatur House, for in 1829, seventeen years before Dred Scott undertook his well-known legal challenge to slavery, she filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Circuit Court petitioning for the freedom of herself and her two children from her owner, Secretary of State and Decatur House resident Henry Clay. She based her claim on a promise of freedom made to her by her previous owner, which she believed transferred to Henry Clay when he purchased her in 1806, after she married Aaron Dupuy, a man already enslaved in Clay’s household. The couple had two children, Charles and Mary Ann, and most likely moved to Washington with Clay when he became a Congressional representative in 1810.

Because Clay was preparing to return to Kentucky, the court instructed him to leave Dupuy behind pending the outcome of the case. During this period she continued to reside at Decatur House and was employed by the home’s next resident, U.S. Secretary of State Martin Van Buren. The Court ultimately ruled that the earlier promise to Dupuy was not applicable to any new ownership, and thus rejected her claim against Clay. Dupuy was soon thereafter forcibly removed from Washington to the home of Clay’s daughter in New Orleans. It was not until October 12, 1840, eleven years after her petition, that Charlotte Dupuy and her daughter finally gained their freedom. Charles Dupuy remained enslaved by Clay for another four years, during which time he traveled with Clay to speaking engagements throughout the country as an example of how well Clay treated his slaves.

During the Gadsby ownership of the house, three generations of the King and Williams families occupied this space, as well as a few other individuals. The following people are listed in John Gadsby’s 1844 will:

Nace (Ignatius Newton), age 50
Henry King, age 40
Maria King, age 35
Celia King, age 16
Charles King, age 9
Sarah Jane King, age 4
George King, age 18 months
Maria Williams, age 30
Martha Ann Williams, age 7
Mary Ellen Williams, age 4
James Williams, age 18 months
Kesiah Williams, age 28
Mary Frances Williams, age 7
William Williams, age 5
Rosa Marks, age 48
Nancy Syphax, age 45
James Long, age 24

Bequeathed in Gadsby's will to his wife Providence, most of the members of these families and their descendants remained with the Gadsbys and their children, August and Julia, until President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery abolished in the District of Columbia in 1862. Of the Williams family, Kesiah, William, Martha Ann, Sarah Jane, and Mary Ellen disappear from the record after being listed in Gadsby’s 1844 will.