Abigail (died December 1783), called Abby, was an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

woman owned as a slave by the American statesman

John Jay John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the first ...

. She died after attempting to escape in 1783 in Paris, where Jay helped negotiate the

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

to secure America's independence. Abigail belonged to the Jay household since at least 1776; she was one of at least 17 slaves owned by Jay. In 1779, she was the only slave to accompany Jay and his family on their trip to Paris. When he left Paris for London in 1783, his family and Abigail remained in Paris. His wife

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...

regularly wrote to him about the household's affairs, and it is from this correspondence that almost all that is known about Abigail is drawn.Stahr cites the following primary sources for the correspondence pertaining, ''inter alia,'' to Abigail: Sarah Jay to John Jay, 6 November 1783, 2 JPM 635–36; John Jay to William Temple Franklin, 11 November 1783, 2 JPM 639; Sarah Jay to John Jay, 18 November 1783, 2 JPM 643; John Jay to Sarah Jay, 23 November 1783, 2 JPM 647;

Peter Jay Munro Peter Jay Munro (January 10, 1767 – September 22, 1833) was an American lawyer and Federalist politician from New York. Early life Munro was born on January 10, 1767, in Rye in the Province of New York in what was then British America. He wa ...

to John Jay, 7 December 1783, 2 JPM 658–59; John Jay to Sarah Jay, 26 December 1783, 2 JPM 669–70. "2 JPM" refers to the book these letters are published in: Richard B. Morris, ed., ''John Jay: The Winning of the Peace. Unpublished Papers, 1780–1784,'' Harper & Row, 1980. While Sarah's letters initially praised "Abbe"'s "attention & proofs of fidelity" and her "usefulness", she was isolated in Paris, with few friends or opportunity to make any, and separated from her loved ones in America. In summer of 1783, she suffered from toothache and rheumatism. By then, it appears that she felt unsettled; Sarah suggested that an "English washerwoman" might have enticed Abigail with the promise of wages in exchange for her work. In October 1783, Abigail left the Jay home, intending not to return. At Sarah Jay's request, the

Paris police The police prefecture (french: préfecture de police) is the unit of the French Ministry of the Interior that provides police, emergency services, and various administrative services to the population of the city of Paris and the surrounding t ...

searched for Abigail, and found her in the English washerwoman's company. By ''lettre de cachet'', she was detained in ''La Petite Force'', the women's wing of the city jail, the ''Hôtel de la Force''. But she refused to return to the Jays unless she was promised passage back to America. Jay reacted with pique to Abigail's escape attempt, writing that he could not "conceive a motive" for it, given that, he wrote, he "had promised to

manumit Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...

her upon our return to America, provided she behaved properly in the meantime." He wished for her to be "punished, though not vigorously", and on the advice of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, he suggested that she be left in prison for 15 to 20 days to change her mind: "Little minds cannot bear attentions & to Persons of that Class they should rather be granted than offered." To his biographer Walter Stahr, this reaction indicates that "however much aydisliked slavery in the abstract, he could not understand why one of ''his'' slaves would run away." While imprisoned, Abigail fell ill, and asked to be allowed back to the Jays.

William Franklin William Franklin (22 February 1730 – 17 November 1813) was an American-born attorney, soldier, politician, and colonial administrator. He was the acknowledged illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin. William Franklin was the last colonial Gov ...

arranged her release by paying 60 ''livres'' to the jail, probably to cover her meals. Still sick, she was cared for by Sarah Jay, but died about two weeks after her release from prison. No grave, nor records or signs of her life remain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abigail African-American women 1783 deaths 18th-century American slaves Year of birth unknown