Isaac Hawkins
Georgetown University – GU 272 Enslaved
(1756 – 1842)
Isaac Hawkins is the first name listed on the 1838 Georgetown University bill of sale. Isaac Hawkins is often the most recognizable enslaved of the GU272. Born in 1765, Isaac was enslaved on the Jesuit owned White Marsh Manor plantation in Prince Georges County, Maryland with his family. Isaac had five children: Charles (b.1798), Nelly (b.1800), Patrick (b.1803), James (b.1810), and Isaac (b. 1812).
In 1838, the leaders of the Jesuit Society that ran Georgetown University decided to sell some of their enslaved south to Louisianna to pay the university’ rising debts. In doing so they separated families, children from their parents and broke long time promises not to ever sell some families. Overtime, they sold over 272 enslaved to finance Georgetown and start other Jesuit universities and schools in the United States.
Although sold along with his father to Louisianna planter Henry Johnson in 1838, Charles Hawkins is listed as a runaway in the bill of sale and possibly died at age 40 in 1842. Nelly and her daughters were also sold to Henry Johnson, but it appears that they remained in Maryland with Isaac.
As for Isaac’s other children, Patrick, his wife Letty Blacklock, and their seven children at the time were sold to Jesse Batey and transported to Louisiana on the slave ship the Katharine Jackson. James, his wife Della, and three of their children were sold to Jesse Batey, but were passengers on the slave ship Uncas. Isaac Jr. is listed as a runaway in the bill of sale and is not recorded on either the Uncas or the Katharine Jackson. However, his wife Kitty and their three sons were all passengers on the Katharine Jackson and are listed as sold to Henry Johnson in 1838.
Isaac had fifteen grandchildren, all born before he passed away after 1842 at the age of least 77.
Author Rachel L. Swarns wrote in the June 15, 2023 Washington Post article, “The families enslaved by the Jesuits, then sold to save Georgetown”, “Father Thomas Lilly wrote in a letter to Rome describing the sale of these slaves, ‘Without any notice or preparation the slaves were seized violently and by heathen hands. They were treated as animals in every respect.’”
Additional Resources
https://gu272.americanancestors.org/family/hawkins1
The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church, by Rachel L. Swarns, Random House, June 13, 2023. book.
