Who worked at Graeme Park?

In the early years of the site, then known as "Fountain Low" under the ownership of Governor Keith, we find that Keith owned at least 2 slaves - William and Jane. Their names appear in the Christ Church, baptismal records for that year, William listed as "negroe slave of the Governor's…he formerly called Cudgio,: and Jane listed as an "Indian girl", aged 21 and 12 respectively. In 1723 Keith ran an ad in the Weekly Mercury describing two runaways slaves who served as livery men, one a "squat fellow with bullet scar and pock marks," the other "of middle stature, shins with bumps on them." A further description in this ad gives a glimpse of the governor's lavish lifestyle: "both clothed in new double Breasted Jackets, white stockings, new shoes and a new hat. They took with them two white Horses with Saddles [sic].." A 1731 ad in the Pennsylvania Gazette describes a runaway named Jack, "…formerly belonging to Sir William Keith at his Works in New Castle County. He is an elderly man, speaks thick and generally pretty Sawey, m is a Carpenter by Trade, and has a Wife in New Castle County."

An inventory dated 1726 provides more information on Keith workforce. Here we find evidence of three slave families held by Keith:

1. "one Negroe man named William , and an Indian Woman his Wife named Jane," and their son, William.

2. "A Negroe man Mercury", a "Negroe Woman his wife Diana, and their son, Andrew"

3. "A Negroe Man Ceasar, Mary his wife, and Ann, their daughter"

Dr. Thomas Graeme owned Will, the son of William and Jane mentioned above. He also owned other slaves including Brutus. Alex and Mars. A 1745 manifest, reprinted in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , lists the following information on one of the indentured servants of Dr. Thomas Graeme: "James McAlice assigns John Roe to Dr.Thomas Graeme for the remainder of this time four years from last April 28th, ….". A Henry Slauten and Michael Gross were indentured to Dr. Graeme in the 1750s. Both of these men came from Germany, Palatine immigrants to the colonies.

In 1773, after Dr. Graeme's death, Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson lists a workforce of six:

• Two housemaids
• Sam (a Negroe slave)
• "Old Joseph," a pensioner Dr. Graeme desired to be taken care of always
• John Jinny, formerly a coachman, before his drinking caused problems; he now assisted the gardener with fence mending
• Andrew Bodin, previously the full-time gardener now assisting with farm maintenance.

Information for this section was taken from a report generated for the "Raising Our Sites Project", supported by a generous grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. The report was authored by Anne L. B. Burnett, April 23, 2000.