Julius B. - Helped raise John Parke Custis (written by Scarlett Bunting)

Julius was born in 1749 and was enslaved by Daniel Parke Custis and his wife, Martha, in southern Virginia. Martha was widowed in 1757 and remarried George Washington two years later. Julius was one of three enslaved people who came to Mount Vernon when Martha and her young children moved there after her marriage to Colonel Washington.

Julius was recorded in Washington’s 1759 list as a 10-year-old who “Waits on Jacky Custis,” Martha’s son. According to the Mount Vernon database of enslaved people, Julius continued in this role through the 1760s, wearing a distinctive blue livery. In 1768 letters Washington described Julius, who was then about 19 years old, as “abt five feet 8 Inches high & Slender” and “well acquainted with House business.”

In 1769 Washington decided that Julius’ would no longer be Jack’s servant. He indentured Julius to Peter Gollatt for a term of six years to learn “the Art and Trade of blacksmiths.” Julius continued to work as a blacksmith at Abingdon Plantation (located in present-day Reagan National Airport), where Jack and his wife, Eleanor, moved soon after their marriage in 1774.

When Jack Custis died in 1781, Julius was listed in the 1782 Abingdon inventory as a 32-year-old man and a blacksmith. His valuation at £100, a very high amount, can be attributed to his skill as a blacksmith.  Julius also appears on an 1802 list of enslaved people held by Eleanor, compiled as she transferred control of these people to her son, George W. P. Custis.

We do not have records that show any personal information about Julius, such as whether he had a family and children. Nothing is known about the housing for the enslaved population at Abingdon nor any burial information of these enslaved persons.