Lucy Honesty

Lucy Honesty was enslaved in Alexandria County (now Arlington) before and during the Civil War. She was born in 1852 to an enslaved woman, Martha, and a free man, Henry Honesty. Martha was enslaved by William R. Birch, whose mother-in-law, Barbary Shreve, had inherited her from her sister in Fairfax County, Salome Swink. In the 1850s and early 1860s, Barbary lived with William and her daughter Julia and brought her enslaved people with her. Under the terms of Salome Swink’s 1837 will, Martha was due to be freed in 1855 at the age of 27, but she was still enslaved when Lucy was born, which meant that Lucy was as well.

William R. Birch owned a farm along the present-day Wilson Blvd., west of Glebe Road. Lucy’s mother, Martha, her sisters, Harriet and Laura, and her grandmother, Lucy, moved to the Birch’s land after the death of Salome Swink. What became of Lucy Senior is unknown. The 1850 census shows that Birch owned six enslaved people but no women old enough to be Lucy Senior. Lucy Junior was likely born there.

Lucy probably spent her early childhood with the Birch family, helping with household chores. According to the 1860 census, Lucy’s parents lived near Bazil Hall’s estate (today’s Virginia Hospital Center), near the Birch land. This was corroborated by an 1863 travel pass granted by the War Department that listed Martha’s residence as Hall’s Hill. The 1860 census lists Martha, age 35, Henry, age 38, and Sally, age 7. Sally was likely a sibling of Lucy, who was born free.

During the Civil War, William R. Birch moved to the District of Columbia to escape from the Union soldiers occupying Alexandria County. While living there, Birch was forced to emancipate Lucy after Congress passed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862. The Act stated that owners could receive up to $300 in compensation if they freed enslaved people. Commissioners approved 930 petitions, freeing 2,989 former enslaved people. (Source: U.S. Senate: Landmark Legislation: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act )

Birch’s petition requested $900 compensation for emancipating Lucy, who was ten years old. He claimed, “Lucy had just come of an age to be very serviceable either as a house servant or cook and had been well raised and trained to all the ordinary purposes of housekeeping.” Birch further stated that he could have received that sum if he had kept her until age 18. He also said, “I have no knowledge of any infirmity or defect in Lucy whatever but believe her to be perfectly healthy and sound in body and mind.”

After being freed, Lucy probably lived with her parents and sister in Alexandria County (although her family is not listed in the 1870 census). She later married Horace Lewis. On the 1880 census, Horace, age 29, was listed as a laborer, and Lucy, age 28, as “keeping house.” They had two children–John, age five, and Cornelia, age seven and lived near Hall’s Hill.

Lucy died in 1892 at age 40. She spent the last 30 years living as a free woman, first with her parents and later as a wife and mother.

–Ann Ulmschneider