Austin

Austin was born enslaved sometime before 1757 in New Kent County, Virginia.¹ He first appears in a 1757 inventory related to the estate of Daniel Park Custis, Martha Washington’s first husband. He was listed with his mother, Betty, and they were valued together at 60 pounds.² Daniel Parke Custis was one of the wealthiest plantation and slave owners in Virginia. When he died in 1757, Martha received one-third of his property through dower property laws, including eighty-four enslaved people. Austin was one of these individuals.³ When Martha married George Washington, Austin and his mother went to Mount Vernon. In 1774, Austin appeared in documents working in the Mount Vernon mansion. He also received a smallpox inoculation in 1776.⁴ 

When Washington became president in 1789, Austin worked in the presidential households in New York and later Philadelphia as a waiter, butler, and footman. His half-sister, Ona Judge, also worked alongside Austin.⁵ According to the 1780 Gradual Abolition Law in Pennsylvania, an enslaved person residing in the state became free after six months’ time. To evade freeing the enslaved workers in his household, including Austin, Washington rotated them between Mount Vernon and Philadelphia.⁶

On December 17, 1794, Austin received $20.00 to pay for expenses to travel between Philadelphia and Mount Vernon. However, three days later, a letter was sent to President Washington detailing Austin's tragic death: "this Morning before Sun Rise your Mullato Man in attempting to cross the Run by this place between this & Abbingdon fell from his Horse & went a small distance down the Stream…he was taken to Mrs. Stiles & a Physician procured immediately but nothing could save his life. The letter also detailed that a coffin had been procured for Austin and that he was to be buried near Havre de Grace, Maryland where the accident occurred.⁷