05/21/2026
Did you know that Ona Judge has a connection to the Warner House? Ona (Oney) Marie Judge was enslaved by George and Martha Washington from birth. She grew up on their Virginia plantation and from a young age, she was forced to serve as Martha Washington’s personal servant. This position meant she traveled with the family when they went to New York and Philadelphia. Pennsylvania had a law that automatically emancipated any enslaved person who stayed in the state longer than 6 months. The Washingtons carefully controlled the amount of time Ona and their other enslaved servants spent in Pennsylvania to avoid activating that law.
At the age of 22 on May 21, 1796, Ona took control of her life and slipped out of the family’s Philadelphia home. She made her way to the docks and hid on a boat headed to Portsmouth with the help of members of Philadelphia’s free Black community. She made it safely to Portsmouth and was sheltered by both the Black community and some members of the white community – including John Langdon and Joseph Whipple, two powerful men in Portsmouth.
Washington was enraged by Ona’s escape and spared no expense or effort to get her back. He was unsuccessful.
Ona eventually went to live with Phillis, a free woman who, on an unknown date, married John Jack, a man previously enslaved by Jonathan Warner and who had worked and lived at the Warner House. Phillis bought land in Greenland in 1792 and gave Ona safety. She introduced Ona to Jack Staines and they later married. The four lived together in Greenland where Ona and Jack had three children together. All remained free for the rest of their lives.
