Dr. Mudd's slave who cooked breakfast for JWB and David Herold

[Steve]

(03-02-2018 06:15 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I found it interesting that Lettie declared that Dr. and Mrs. Mudd were against slavery! Obviously, she did not know the good doctor's reputation. When I first read this article, I immediately thought that Lettie and Louisa were not necessarily orphans, but the products of a slave auction where a family was split apart and Dr. Mudd, or his father, one of his brothers, or in-laws, bought the two young girls because they would soon be of breeding age.

Lettie also mentioned living in Chester County, not Charles County. Maryland does not have a Chester County, but it does have a town by that name on our Eastern Shore. Maybe that's where she came from originally via the auction block? Pennsylvania, where she lived at the time of the interview, does have a Chester County. Perhaps she just was confused.

Chester County is in southern Pennsylvania on the Maryland border while Bradford County is on the northern Pennsylvania border with New York. I don't know anything about Lettie's life after 1870 and prior to 1929, if she lived in the area of Chester County or not. If she didn't, I'm not sure she would be aware of Chester County, PA. Maybe the man interviewing her misunderstood her when writing down what she said. The both begin with a "ch" sound.