Austin
Cite this Page
"Austin," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/8.
- Positions
- Butler
- Footman
- Years in President's House
- 1789 – 1794
- Legal Status
- Enslaved Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Presidency
- George Washington
- Biography
- Austin was born enslaved sometime before 1757 in New Kent County, Virginia. (1) He first appears in a 1757 inventory related to the estate of Daniel Park Custis, Martha Washington’s first husband. He was listed with his mother, Betty, and they were valued together at 60 pounds. (2), 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. Austin was one of these individuals. (3) When Martha married George Washington, Austin and his mother went to Mount Vernon. In 1774, Austin appeared in documents working in the Mount Vernon mansion. He also received a smallpox inoculation in 1776. (4) When Washington became president in 1789, Austin worked in the presidential households in New York and later Philadelphia as a waiter, butler, and footman. His half-sister, Ona Judge, also worked alongside Austin. (5) According to the 1780 Gradual Abolition Law in Pennsylvania, an enslaved person residing in the state became free after six months’ time. To evade freeing the enslaved workers in his household, including Austin, Washington rotated them between Mount Vernon and Philadelphia. (6)
- (1) Mount Vernon states that by 1786, Austin was in his late twenties. Because he appears with his mother in the inventory and they are valued together, this likely means he was a young child or infant. “Austin,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed September 10, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/austin#note1. (2) Mary V. Thompson, “Austin,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed September 10, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/austin#note1. (3) “Martha Washington as a Slaveowner,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed September 2, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/martha-washington-as-a-slaveowner (4) Mary V. Thompson, “Austin,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed September 10, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/austin#note1; “Austin A, Database of Mount Vernon’s Enslaved Community,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed September 11, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/slavery-database?purpose=&person=&skill=&time=&owner=&gender=&location=&page=221&event_type=&date_range=&search=&order=unique_name&sort=desc. (5) Mary V. Thompson, “Austin,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed September 10, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/austin#note1; “Austin A, Database of Mount Vernon’s Enslaved Community,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed September 11, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/slavery-database?purpose=&person=&skill=&time=&owner=&gender=&location=&page=221&event_type=&date_range=&search=&order=unique_name&sort=desc. (6) “Gradual Abolition Act of 1780,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed August 26, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/gradual-abolition-act-of-1780. (7) “Herman Stump to George Washington, 20 December 1794,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-17-02-0206. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 17, 1 October 1794–31 March 1795, ed. David R. Hoth and Carol S. Ebel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, pp. 294–296.]
- Birthplace
- New Kent County, Virginia, USA
- Related Association Content
- https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-enslaved-household-of-president-george-washington