When I was in Pennsylvania, one of my friends from Virginia told me the same thing. The lady who had raised her was African American, and she considered her to be her mother. She said that when the lady died she cried at her funeral. My ancestor, Patty Bowden, and Elizabeth Washington-Spotswood, maintained a close relationship throughout their lives. Patty owned a house in Fredericksburg, and was a seamstress there, after completing her indenture. I believe it was because of the influence of the Washington's in Fredericksburg that Patty was able to prosper.
Anita
> Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 19:00:28 -0400
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Cleanliness
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Anita --
>
> This is an important and largely unconsidered historical truth. The
> Southern planter class, like the Russian gentry were often bereft
> when deprived of their servants (slave or serf), who had nursed them
> and their children, cleaned them, run their houses, made their jams
> and hams, dipped their candles, made their soap, raised their food,
> kept their carriages operating, their horses groomed, and on and on.
> When I was a teenager in Gloucester I counted as friends a man and a
> woman, both born into slavery, and two women who had owned slaves. I
> talked with them, individually, for hours, and all four recounted for
> me how desperately unequipped for life white people, particularly
> white women were in the early years after the war. Not all white
> people certainly, but I have never forgotten this thread common to
> them all. In the 1980s and 90s, when I was going to, and living in,
> Russia I talked to many elderly Russians who told me almost identical
> stories.
>
> -- Stephan
>
>
> On 15 May 2008, at 20:03, Anita Wills wrote:
>
> > ay.
> >
> > One of my ancestors was a personal servant to George Washington's
> > niece. By the time she was freed, she was skilled at managing a
> > household. So I have to disagree on the assessment that those who
> > served Jefferson and his ilk, were unclean.
> >
> > Anita
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -- "Stephan A. Schwartz" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Jeffrey --
> >
> > I forgot to add that I would bet you the price of a nice meal in D.C.
> > that Sally Hemmings was clean. Whether he slept with her or not may
> > be a subject of disagreement with some, but it is hard to imagine a
> > man as fastidious as Jefferson (a personal preference noted at the
> > time) having any chambermaid attending him whose body odor was rank,
> > and whose clothing was dirty.
> >
> > -- Stephan
> >
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