Christopher Sheels

Christopher Sheels was born enslaved in 1776 at George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation.¹

He was thirteen years old when the Washingtons brought him to work as a waiter at the presidential households in New York City. He then moved with the family to Philadelphia. In a letter describing the move, George Washington stated that Christopher embarked the day before them by boat.² According to the 1780 Gradual Abolition Law in Pennsylvania, an enslaved person residing in the state became free after six months’ time. Therefore, Washington rotated enslaved people between Mount Vernon and Philadelphia to ensure he did not have to free them. While determining how to get around the law with his secretary Tobias Lear, Washington concluded that Christopher was not yet of age, and therefore would not pose an issue.³ Still, in late 1791, the Washingtons sent Sheels back to Mount Vernon to work as a carpenter. He did not return to the President’s House.⁴ 

When George Washington’s presidency ended in 1797, Sheels became his valet upon his return to Mount Vernon. In 1797, Christopher was bitten by a dog and Washington sent him to be treated in Lebanon, Pennsylvania by William Stoy, who was known for his treatment of rabies. The treatment was successful and Chistopher returned to work.⁵ In 1799, Christopher married a woman who was enslaved by a man named Roger West, which Washington allowed and recognized. His wife’s name is unknown. However, Washington later intercepted a letter that implied the couple planned to self-emancipate, and wrote to West to stop them.⁶ They evidently did not escape because just a few months later, Christopher appeared in Tobias Lear’s account of Washington’s death. Lear stated that Christopher was at the former president’s side throughout his last day.⁷

Unlike other enslaved people at Mount Vernon, Christopher was not freed upon Martha Washington’s death in 1802. Because he was the grandson of Doll, a dower slave from Martha Washington’s first husband, he was considered part of the Custis estate, not the Washington estate. Martha Washington’s first husband, 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. Therefore, George Washington’s wish to free the people he owned after Martha’s death did not apply to Christopher. Martha Washington’s grandson George Washington Parke Custis likely inherited Sheels upon Martha’s death, meaning Christopher may have moved to the Custis plantation at Arlington House.⁸ No further information is currently known about his later life and death.