Hensey (b. ? - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-8903
Fled from slavery, Prince George's County, Maryland, 1811
Biography:
The Grand Inquest of the State of Maryland for the body of Prince George's County presented John Davies for illegally giving a pass to a slave, Hensey, in Prince George's County Court. A true bill of indictment was brought against Davies on September 3, 1811, based upon the account of one Basil Hatton, the large slaveholder under whose management Hensey was at the time of this suspected act. Hensey was actually owned by Hatton's sister, Mary Green Hardy, who lived in close proximity to her brother, but he resided at the residence of Hatton. The jurors presented that Davies, also of Prince George's County, gave the pass to Hensey on August 10, 1811 "to the great damage of the said Mary and Basil, contrary to the acts of assembly."1
Hensey, Mary Hardy's slave who allegedly received the pass, was likely one of many slaves owned by Hardy, but raised in the family of her brother Basil Hatton, who was born in 1760. Both Hardy and Hatton have records of sizable slaveholdings, but Mary's slaves never lived on her land. In the 1810 Census, when Mary most likely owned Hensey, no slaves were enumerated at her residence, but Basil was listed as having forty-five slaves. John Davies faced trial on November 27, 1811 in the Prince George's County Court, the witness being Basil Hatton, himself. The case was renewed to the September Term, 1812 of the County Court session, and the case was brought on May 6, 1812, this time the witnesses were Basil Hatton and Henry Hardy. The verdict, handed down on the same day, was not guilty, and Davies was discharged without being convicted of helping the Prince George's County slave, Hensey.
In 1820, Mary and Basil were enumerated one right after the other. Mary was alone in her home, but had seven people "engaged" or working in agriculture, with no slaves enumerated under her name, while Basil had sixty-two total slaves. Mary undoubtedly owned many slaves, however, as she manumitted at least forty slaves over a period of about thirty years by various means, such as wills and certificates of freedom. It is mentioned in these freedom records that a number of Mary's slaves were raised in the family of Basil Hatton. Hatton, who was a pensioner for revolutionary war or military services, is recorded manumitting only two slaves. In her will, dated July 8, 1829, Mary left her slaves to her Basil. In 1840, Basil had fifty-nine slaves & sixty-one people total enumerated in his name: twenty-four working in agriculture and three working in manufactuering & trading. Hatton died in late 1840, over ten years after his sister died.
1. PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY COURT (Court Papers, Blacks) MSA C1187, Negro Hensey, Doc #50199-15, Sept 3, 1811, MSA C 1187-1, MdHR 50,199-1/63.
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