Christopher Sheels (born , Mount Vernon, Virginia – year and place of death unknown), was a slave and house servant at

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

's plantation,

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

, in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, United States. As a teenager, he worked as Washington's "body servant" in the presidential households in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, 1789–90, and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, 1790–91. In September 1799, Washington foiled an escape attempt by Sheels from Mount Vernon. Three months later he was present at the former president's deathbed.

Dower slaves

Sheels was the property of the estate of

Daniel Parke Custis Daniel Parke Custis (October 15, 1711 – July 8, 1757) was an American planter and politician who was the first husband of Martha Dandridge. After his death, Dandridge married George Washington, who later became the first president of the Unite ...

(1711–1757),

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

's first husband. As widow, she was granted the lifetime use of one-third of the Custis Estate slaves, hence the term "dower" slaves. At the time of her January 1759 marriage to George Washington, the dower slaves numbered at least 85 persons."Slavery By the Numbers"
/ref> Under Virginia law, the legal status of a slave was traced through the woman, so all the children of an enslaved mother were also born slaves, no matter who the father was. Multiple generations of dower slaves were born at Mount Vernon. The July 1799 Mount Vernon Slave Census lists 153 dower slaves. While George Washington freed his 123 slaves through his 1799 will, the dower slaves remained the property of the Custis estate. Following Martha Washington's 1802 death, the Custis estate was settled, and the dower slaves were inherited by the four Custis grandchildren.

Background

Sheels was the son of Alyce (also spelled Alce), an enslaved spinner at the Mansion. His father may have been Christopher Sheldes, a white wagon driver, who worked at Mount Vernon until December 1773, and he is listed as "11 yrs. old" in the February 1786 Mount Vernon Slave Census. His grandmother, "Old Doll," was a cook at the Mansion, and had been among the original dower slaves who were brought to Mount Vernon in 1759.

Will Lee William Lee (born William Lubovsky; August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982) was an American actor who appeared in numerous television and film roles, but was best known for playing Mr. Hooper, the original store proprietor of the eponymous Hooper' ...

had been Washington's "body servant" through the Revolutionary War, the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and at Mount Vernon. In April 1789, when Washington set out for New York City to be inaugurated as the first

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

, Lee was too ill to make the trip. The fourteen-year-old went in Lee's place, although Lee joined Sheels in the presidential household several weeks later. The two were related: Lee's brother was married to Sheels' aunt.

Presidential households

Following ratification of the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

, New York City served as the national capital from December 1788 to December 1790. Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789. The first presidential household consisted of about twenty servants, including seven slaves from Mount Vernon —

Oney Judge Ona "Oney" Judge Staines ( 1773 – February 25, 1848) was an enslaved woman of mixed races who was owned by the Washington family, first at the family's plantation at Mount Vernon and later, after George Washington became president, at the ...

, Austin, Giles, Paris, Moll, Christopher Sheels, and William Lee. Under the July 1790

Residence Act The Residence Act of 1790, officially titled An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States (), is a United States federal statute adopted during the second session of the First United States Co ...

, Congress moved the national capital to Philadelphia for a ten-year period, while the permanent national capital was under construction in the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. The Philadelphia President's House had a larger household, about twenty-four servants initially, including eight slaves from Mount Vernon —

, Austin, Giles, Paris, Moll,

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

, Richmond, and Christopher Sheels. Will Lee was never part of the Philadelphia presidential household. He was permanently returned to Mount Vernon, where he became the plantation's shoemaker. Following Austin's 1794 death, "Postilion Joe" (Richardson) joined the Philadelphia presidential household.

Gradual Abolition Act

With the 1780

Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, passed by the Fifth Pennsylvania General Assembly on 1 March 1780, prescribed an end for slavery in Pennsylvania. It was the first act abolishing slavery in the course of human history to be adopted by a ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

's government was the first to begin an abolition of slavery. But the state law was very gradual, and highly-respectful of the property rights of slaveholders. It freed only the future children of enslaved mothers. Every person enslaved in Pennsylvania before the law went into effect remained enslaved-for-life. Non-resident slaveholders could keep their slaves for six months while in the state. But, if those slaves were held in Pennsylvania longer than six months, the state law empowered them to legally free themselves. Philadelphia had functioned as the national capital during the Revolutionary War. When the Gradual Abolition Act was drafted, the federal government had a single branch – Congress – which met in the city. Pennsylvania specifically exempted Congressmen and their personal slaves from the 1780 state law. Ten years later, when the national capital returned to Philadelphia, the U.S. Constitution had been ratified and the federal government had three branches. Members of Congress remained exempt from Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act, however, the law's effects on slaveholding officers of the Judicial and Executive branches remained unclear. Washington argued, privately, that his presence in Pennsylvania was solely a consequence of Philadelphia's being the temporary seat of the federal government, that he remained a citizen of Virginia, and Pennsylvania law should not apply to him. On the advice of his attorney general,

Edmund Randolph Edmund Jennings Randolph (August 10, 1753 September 12, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States, attorney, and the 7th Governor of Virginia. As a delegate from Virginia, he attended the Constitutional Convention and helped to create ...

, he systematically rotated the President's House slaves in and out of the state to prevent their establishing a six-month continuous residency. This rotation was arguably a violation of a 1788 amendment to the Pennsylvania law, but Washington remained unchallenged through his residency in Philadelphia. As the first six-month deadline approached in May 1791, Martha Washington took Sheels and

on a two-day trip to

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784."Slaves at the President's House"
, ''Obit'' magazine Three months later, Sheels was at his bedside when Washington died on December 14, 1799. As a dower slave, Sheels was not among the 123 slaves freed by George Washington under the terms of his 1799 will. Following Martha Washington's 1802 death, Sheels became one of the 153 dower slaves inherited by the four Custis grandchildren. There is no documentation of where he lived the rest of his life or when he died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheels, Christopher 1770s births 19th-century deaths Year of birth uncertain Year of death unknown Mount Vernon slaves People from Mount Vernon, Virginia Virginia colonial people

Dower slaves

Background

Presidential households

Gradual Abolition Act

See also

References