“Can Do All Sorts of Housework”: The Labor of Enslaved Women

by Ian Mumpton

In the last installment of  “The Servants” we looked at the disparity of records for the lives of women held in bondage by the Schuyler family compared to those of enslaved men. Despite women making up roughly half of the enslaved workforce, they are mentioned by name far less frequently than are the men, and the details of their specific lives and labor often went unrecorded except in the most general terms. Too often these difficulties place a mantle of silence over the experiences of a group of people already marginalized in the documentary record by virtue of their bound status. However, breaking that silence is far from impossible. Where direct documentation is lacking, evidence of general experiences gleaned from a variety of sources, when looked at in the context of the Schuyler family and household, can help paint a surprisingly detailed picture, especially of the sorts of labor performed by these women.

While slave holders might be less likely to record the specific work that they tasked women with on their properties, the skillsets that they sought in their slaves is telling. Slave merchants advertised their “wares” through a variety of printed sources, including handbills, broadsides, and advertisements in newspapers and gazettes. Marketing is nothing new; the advertisers specifically highlighted the skills and backgrounds most likely to appeal to prospective buyers.

The Adverts 250 Project hosts an amazing collection of 18^th century advertisements for all manner of things, from property and tools, to services and wanted ads. They have also amassed an excellent collection of slave advertisements from all across the colonies (which they publish on their Twitter feed). The specific form taken by slavery varied considerably across the colonies however. The experiences of someone in South Carolina could differ markedly from that of someone in Rhode Island, and both of these could differ from the experiences of someone in Albany, New York. Most of the people that the Schuylers enslaved over the years were purchased in Albany or New York City, so we can restrict our search to advertisements published in New York itself. For the purposes of this article, we will be sampling from advertisements published between April 13^th and June 25^th, 1767, just two years after the construction of the Schuylers home in Albany. Let’s dig in!

The most common descriptors applied to the women in these advertisements refer to their ability to do housework. On April 13^th, 1767, a Mr. H. Gaine advertised a 28 year old woman, “who is a tolerable cook, and can do all sorts of housework, fit for town or country.” The same advertisement was run a week later, presumably for the same woman and with the same description.[1] On April 16^th, the New York Journal ran an advertisement for a young woman 17 or 18 years old, described as able to do, “all sorts of House-Work.” This specific phrase, or near identical variations, abound in the sources. On April 16^th of the same year, the New York Gazette ran an ad for, “A Smart likely active Negro Girl, about 14 Years of Age, has had Small-Pox; is very handy, and sold for no Fault but Want of Employ.” On the 20^th, the New York Mercury listed a 25 year old woman, described in the exact same language, with the addendum that she could also cook. H. Gaine used the same sort of terminology to advertise an 18 year old woman and her four month old infant on June 22^nd, saying, “she is a good cook and can do all manner of work, belonging to a house.” These examples indicate that the ability to cook and familiarity with housework were considered two separate areas of accomplishment.

Many of these advertisements are vague to modern eyes, unfamiliar with the types of labor that would have been obvious to a prospective 18^th century buyer. For example, it is clear that an ability to do housework was a desirable skill, but what exactly did that entail? Another posting from April 13^th offers a few specific examples of essential household tasks: “A likely handy Negro Girl, between 13 and 14 Years of Age, that can make Beds, sweep, and do many other Things about the House…” 
In this case, housework refers to general housekeeping ability. Another specific example comes from a June 25^th advertisement, which describes a young woman of sixteen years as being “forward with the Needle, and handy in a family”.

Other advertisements emphasized skills specifically related to country life. On June 22^nd, Robert Lettice Hooper advertised the sale of an entire estate near Trenton in the New York Mercury. In addition to 200 acres of land, a dwelling house, and sundry other property, Hooper advertised that, “The Gentleman that purchases the plantation, may be supplied with three negro men and a wench, that understands all manner of farming.” While the vast majority of Philip Schuyler’s farmland was tended to by tenant farmers, the people enslaved by the family were sometimes tasked with clearing new fields and assisting with agricultural labor. It was also not uncommon to rent the labor of enslaved men and women to assist with such tasks. For example on February 5^th, 1762, Col. John Bradstreet, Philip’s friend and mentor, paid 68 pounds, 9 shillings on Philip’s behalf for, “ye Labour of a Negro man and Wench from ye 9^th of April to ye 29^th of Septembr [sic].”

One area of women’s work that is less often mentioned in the advertisements is personal attendance. Enslaved servants to wait upon one’s person and to assist in daily tasks were considered a clear status symbol and part of the comfortably refined lifestyle of a gentleman or lady. Philip Schuyler was attended by a man named Prince, while several references indicate that the women of the family were attended by female servants. For instance, there are references to an enslaved woman named Caty Betty (or possibly “Caty’s Betty”) who accompanied Catharine Schuyler on travels. In 1781, Alexander Hamilton negotiated the purchase of a woman specifically for his wife, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, likely as a personal attendant. Catharine and Elizabeth would have expected their attending women to aid them with their toilette, caring for children, and as travel companions and assistants.

From sources like these, a picture emerges in which women were assigned a wide variety of tasks associated with the smooth running of an 18^th century estate such as the Schuylers' Albany property. The beautiful furnishings of the house itself required constant upkeep. Seven of the eight chambers of the house featured flocked wallpaper, and the furniture throughout the home was upholstered in fine silks and wools. These ornate textiles are prone to collecting dust, and needed special attention. The carpets- five rooms of which were purchased for the equivalent price of 9,000 loaves of bread- needed to be carefully swept to avoid damage from dirt or gravel being ground into the pile. At times these same women would be expected to assist Catharine and her daughters as personal attendants.

The Schuyler’s home in Albany was more than just an elegant mansion however. The working courtyard attached to the West face of the house, hidden from the view of guests approaching from the river, was the scene for other labor associated with the house, labor which was often assigned to enslaved women. The working courtyard featured a brick kitchen structure where all of the meals would have been prepared. The women assigned to the kitchen would not only have been responsible for food preparation, but for the laborious work of cleaning dishes and laundry, which required hauling large amounts of water, and for the odiously odoriferous task of rendering animal fats to make tallow for soap and candles. While it is unclear to what degree Philip rented out the agricultural labor of enslaved women, livestock in the back courtyard were likely tended to by both men and women, but may have also been assigned to the children of the women working in the courtyard.

Unfortunately, due to the limited number of sources specifically referencing the experiences of the women held in slavery at the site, most of our understandings of their lives comes through extrapolation and generalization, however these generalizations hold true in the wider Albany community, and there is little evidence to suggest any meaningful divergence from the norm at the Schuylers’ home. Work is only one aspect of a person’s life however, and while it is often the first question that we ask in regards to an enslaved person, other important questions can help us uncover even more about the lives of these women. One of our next projects on “The Servants”, will be to try to piece together the familial relationships of the men, women, and children held in bondage by Philip Schuyler. Check back soon! In the meantime, check some of the other series on our blog with the links at the top of the page, and be sure to check us out on Twitter @SchuylerMansion. You can follow the Adverts250 projects on slavery @SlaveAdverts250

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[1] Gaine posted another ad the week after, with the same terminology, however in this third iteration he paid for an eye-catching floral border to the ad and larger, italicized, text. Interestingly, he lists the woman in question as being only twenty years old. This raises questions- Was this a different woman than was advertised previously, or was Gaine trying to make his “wares” more appealing by listing her as younger than she was?