Loading

Maria Carter Syphax Maria Carter Syphax

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
Fort Myer, VA, United States

Maria Carter was reputed to be the daughter of Airy Carter, a slave maid thought to be from Mount Vernon. It is also widely believed that she was fathered by George Washington Parke Custis. Maria Carter lived and worked at Arlington as a slave until 1826 when she married Charles Syphax. He was a slave who oversaw the dining room in the house. Soon after their wedding, Custis granted Maria her freedom. He gave her a seventeen-acre plot in the southwest corner of the Arlington estate. In 1864 when the government seized Arlington, the Syphax ownership of the land was thrown into doubt. William Syphax petitioned the government on behalf of his mother’s estate stating that “we have a claim to this estate.” Although the family had no official documentation to support their claim, Maria Syphax’s thirty year occupancy of her land was accepted by Congress as grounds for a legal title to their estate. She and her husband lived on their land at Arlington for the rest of their lives.

Show lessRead more
  • Title: Maria Carter Syphax Maria Carter Syphax
  • Type: Daguerreotype
  • Contributor: Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, National Park Service, Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, National Park Service
  • Original Source: http://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/arho/exb/Slavery/medium/ARHO-6408-Image-of-Maria-Sy.html
  • Source: Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
  • National Park Service Catalog Number: ARHO 6408
  • Measurements: L 8.4, W 7 cm (including frame)
  • Materials: Silver-coated copper plate
  • Date: c 1870
Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial

Additional Items

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Interested in Natural history?

Get updates with your personalized Culture Weekly

You are all set!

Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.

Home
Discover
Play
Nearby
Favorites