Caroline Branham

In the 1820s, Jared Sparks interviewed her for his biography of Washington, which she did in exchange for the freedom of her grandson, a toddler at the time, Robert H. Robinson.[2] In the early morning, she lit fireplaces in the mansion to warm the rooms, including the occupied bed chambers, before the family and any guests awoke.[6] Her work included: washing clothes and linens, dusting furniture, cleaning floors, and other household duties.[2] A house bell system, built in the 1780s, summoned domestic workers to the piazza, dining rooms, or bedrooms.[2] I beg you will make Caroline put all the things of every kind out to air and Brush and Clean all the places and rooms that they were in…On the first, second, and third floors, bed chambers were frequented by visiting relatives, friends, and strangers."[9] Washingtons provided luxurious accommodations with furniture, china, soap, wine, cheese, and other foods from Europe.[11] House maids prepared bed chambers for visitors with fresh linens and jugs of water for washing.They would also wear aprons, shoes with buckles, stockings, a type of corset, and caps over their hair if they interacted regularly with family members and visitors.He was concerned that Caroline kept pieces of fabric (for mending clothes and for quilts) and that Hardiman took longer than needed when traveling between the five farms on Mount Vernon.[6] Mount Vernon operated corn and wheat mills and a blacksmith shop where iron tools were made.Washington's lawyer, Tobias Lear recorded that Branham and three other enslaved people were in his room when he died.[4][5] Martha decided to manumit the enslaved people early and signed a deed of manumission in December 1800, and they were freed on January 1, 1801.Branham and their children, as well as Peter Hardiman, were inherited by Martha's grandson, George Washington Parke Custis.[6] Around 1806, Branham gave birth to a daughter named Lucy whose father was likely Custis, based upon scholarship performed for the Mount Vernon exhibit Lives Bound Together.[2][21][e] Custis's daughter Mary Anna married Robert E. Lee at Arlington House when Branham lived there.Washington lent Hardiman to his friend William Fitzhugh to prepare his horse Tarquin for a race in the autumn of 1785.[24] In the 1820s, Branham agreed to in-depth interviews with historian Jared Sparks on the condition that her grandson Robert H. Robinson, a toddler at the time, was to be freed.[2][4] Branham was portrayed in two documentaries I Ain't No Three Fifths of a Person: Slavery and the Constitution and Hear My Story: The Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon.
Caroline Branham was standing behind the foot of George Washington 's death bed, 1799. Cropped from a colored engraving of Death of Washington .
Junius Brutus Stearns , The Marriage of Washington to Martha Custis . The painting recreated the scene of the wedding on January 6, 1759. Made in 1849, the couple are depicted on the right. Behind them stand Martha's two surviving children— John Parke and Martha—from her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis . George Washington adopted the children as his own.
Mount Vernon Estate , Mount Vernon, Virginia
George Washington welcoming Marquis de Lafayette to his home at Mount Vernon
Death of Washington , colored engraving by John Rodgers after John R. Chapin , 1799, Amon Carter Museum of American Art . From Tobias Lear 's diary account: "Mrs Washington was sitting near the foot of the bed... Caroline, Molly & Charlotte were in the room standing near the door." [ 15 ]
Martha Washington's Bed Room. Following George Washington's death in 1799, Martha moved from their shared bedroom on the second floor to a bed chamber on the third floor, where she spent most of her time until she died in 1802. [ 9 ]
Arlington House from a pre-1861 sketch, published in 1875
Map of Mount Vernon plantation. Branham worked at the Mansion House Farm (lower center), one of five farms on the Mount Vernon estate. Hardiman and, later, their son Wilson worked at the stables located just south and west of the mansion. The other farms on the plantation were River Farm, Muddy Hole Farm, Doque Run Farm, and Union Farm.
Rev. Robert H. Robinson , Branham's and George Washington Parke Custis 's grandson (1824–1909)
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