Samuel Cunningham, born in approximately 1816, was enslaved by Walter F. Jones, Norfolk, Virginia’s postmaster. Cunningham was one of four enslaved people in the Jones household in the 1830s. He lived with two adult women and one other teenager. The enslaved members of the Jones household had connections to a wide network of enslaved and free Black Virginians, including Cecily Page, a notorious fugitive from Richmond, who was known to have visited her sister, owned by Walter Jones in the 1830s. Cunningham and the other enslaved people in the household likely worked as domestic servants. By 1840, one of the older enslaved women in the household had died or been sold and two children had been born and one additional enslaved woman added to the household.
The Jones household was embroiled in a scandal in the 1830s, as Walter F. Jones used the post office funds for his personal use. In 1834, Congress passed a bill to reimburse the Jones’ guarantor for the money he had defrauded from the government, and Jones sold Cunningham that later that same year. Jones’s use of federal funds for personal debts was well-known and he likely sold Cunningham due to his financial difficulties. Jones was fired as postmaster in 1840 for not depositing the office’s surplus funds with the Postmaster General, and his estate appealed a lien for monies owed after his death in 1841. His representative was attorney, slave trader, and US Consul Duncan Robertson.
Samuel Cunningham was sold to Robert W. Simington, a Norfolk slave trader who brought him to New Orleans and sold him to another slave trader, Samuel Hermann, Jr. on November 13, 1834. In New Orleans, Cunningham joined the Hermann family household. He either worked and lived with enslaver Samuel Hermann, Jr. alongside 6 other enslaved men and women who were owned by Hermann’s wife, or remained in the Hermann patriarch’s home alongside fifteen other enslaved men, women and children.
By 1838, Cunningham was working in the home of Samuel Hermann Sr., possibly because he had repeatedly attempted to run away. A historian tracing the Hermann family recorded the following description from a runaway slave ad for Cunningham: “a mulatto, 5’4”, twenty-five years old with a fair complexion, freckles, prominent cheeks, decayed front teeth, easy gait, lively eyes, elegant dresser, gold rings on left hand, oblong brooch on chest, able to speak English and French.”
By 1842, the Hermann family was also deep in debt, and Cunningham was sold to Samuel Hermann Jr.’s father-in-law, Pierre Debuys along with three other enslaved people owned by Samuel Hermann, Jr. Debuys then donated the four enslaved people he had purchased from his son-in-law to his daughter. Five years later, Eugenie Hermann sold Samuel Cunningham to Marie Belzyre Syler, wife of the city surveyor. Cunningham was moved to their household at 290 Bayou Road in 1847.
Sources:
“Database of Enslaved Individuals,” Hermann-Grima House Website. https://hgghh.org/enslaved-database
“The Hermann-Grima House.” New Orleans Historical Society Website, https://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/1688
Jones v. United States, 1849. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/48/681
“Mary Bathness Jones” Virginia Pilot June 14, 1907 from findagrave.org
Report of the Senate of the United States, March 3, 1853. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/SERIALSET-00671_00_00-075-0431-0000/pdf/SERIALSET-00671_00_00-075-0431-0000.pdf
Sorensen, Leni Ashmore. “Absconded: Fugitive slaves in the “Daybook of the Richmond Police Guard, 1834–1844″” Dissertation 2005 https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3277&context=etd
“United States Census, 1830”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH5N-JJP : Thu May 09 01:25:23 UTC 2024), Entry for Walter F Jones, 1830.
“United States Census, 1840”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHTD-C8Q : Sat Mar 09 21:05:11 UTC 2024), Entry for Samuel Hermann, 1840.
“United States Census, 1840”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHTD-Z67 : Mon Apr 29 18:17:13 UTC 2024), Entry for Samuel Hermann, 1840.
“Virginia, Vital Records, 1715-1901”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6JL3-RPCS : Fri Mar 08 03:42:52 UTC 2024), Entry for Walter F Jones and Mary Eliza Taylor, 20 Jan 1824.