Branham, Caroline, 1764?-1843

Caroline Branham was married to Peter Hardiman, an enslaved groom whom Washington rented for £12 per year from David Stuart, who had married the widow of Martha’s son, John (Jacky) Parke Custis.4 Though there was no guarantee they could stay together, Caroline and Peter benefited from Washington’s preference to keep enslaved families intact. In 1788 Washington wrote to Stuart that he was hiring Peter that year “as well on acc[oun]t of my Jacks, Stud Horses, Mares, etc., as because he seems unwilling to part with his wife and Children.”5 By that time the couple had two children, two-year-old Wilson and one-year-old Rachel. They later had at least six more: Jemima, Leanthe, Polly, Peter, Austin, and Daniel.

After Martha Washington’s death in 1802, Caroline Branham and her children were inherited by George Washington Parke Custis, Martha Washington's grandson. Peter Hardiman was also inherited by Custis, allowing the family to stay together.6 Caroline Branham died in 1843 and is buried in the graveyard of Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia.7

Around 1806, while enslaved at Arlington House, Caroline gave birth to another daughter, Lucy. One nineteenth-century author who knew Lucy noted that “it was generally believed that Lucy…was the daughter of George [Washington] Parke Custis and Caroline. She bore a very strong resemblance to his daughter, Mary Custis.”8 Custis sold Lucy—whose married surname was Harrison—and her children with the understanding that they be freed. Quaker merchant Robert H. Miller freed Lucy Harrison and her infant son in 1846.9

In 1799, Caroline Branham was about 35 years old.