Alexander Walkup
MSA SC 5496-51589
Petitioned for Freedom, Queen Anne's County, 1821
Biography:
Alexander Walkup was enslaved by Edwin W. Pratt of Queen Anne's County during the early 19th century. In 1821 he decided to challenge the legality of his bondage by filing a petition for freedom with the local court system. Alexander and an enslaved relation Elizabeth Walkup hoped to prove that they were descended from a white woman, whose free status would establish that her progeny should also be free. A state law passed in 1681 stipulated that children born of "ffreeborne Englishe or white woman" and an African slave would also be manumitted from their service.1
Pratt owned 29 slaves as of 1820, more than half of them being African-American males.2 The court record does not explain what event, if any, spurred Alexander and Elizabeth to take their case public. The tactic had been used with varying effect in previous decades. The enslaved Butlers of St. Mary's County in particular, claimed descent from Irish Nell Butler, a white indentured servant.3 Elizabeth and Alexander Walkup were both hoping to prove that their 18th ancestor, "Violet," was a free woman without African blood. Their cases were therefore dependent upon the recollections of older, white members of the community who had been familiar with the servant woman. A 1717 state law prohibited any free or enslaved negro, mulatto, or Indian from testifying in a case "wherein any Christian White Person is concerned."4 The court brought forth numerous witnesses to recount their impressions of Violett.
As with the previous cases, Walkup's chances of success relied upon testimony of witnesses from the community. Luckily, much of the original material was preserved in the personal dockets of Judge Ezekiel F. Chambers, who covered the local circuit. The first witness, whose identity is unclear from the record, recalled his first conversation with the woman in 1766. He described her as having "an irish and indian look - long coarse black hair." He would further clarify that Violett was enslaved by Christopher Ruth, a resident of the county who died in 1775 or 1776.5 Ruth's inventory did include a 53 year old mulatto woman named Violett, who was then valued at 16 pounds. She, along with much of his personal estate were to be passed on to Henry R. Pratt, Elizabeth Walkup's owner at the time of the freedom case.6 There is no record of subsequent transactions involving Edwin W. Pratt, but Alexander Walkup probably became the other man's property through an informal arrangement, as was common between family members. The court proceedings did not address the legitimacy of the Walkups' lineage, only Violett's racial status.
Varying descriptions of the servant woman ranged from "a yellowish
woman with dark hair" to "as white as she or he was." Ultimately, the
jury had to decide whether she was truly a mulatto or Indian. According
the offical court record, they were directed "that if they beleive
Violett to have been a mulatto, the presumption growing out of the
circumstance of her being a woman of colour is that she was a slave."7
The twelve Queen Anne's County jurors apparently heard enough evidence
to determine that she was legally enslaved, as her descendants would
be. Both Alexander and Elizabeth Walkups' freedom petitions were
rejected, and there is little evidence of what happened to either
bondsman after the trial. Edwin Pratt does not appear in the
county within the 1830 Federal Census, nor do land records reveal
anything about his property. Therefore, Alexander Walkup's fate is
unknown.
Researched and Written by David Armenti, 2012.
Return to Alexander Walkup's Introductory Page
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