Lethe Tanner Was Here

Lethe Tanner, or Alethia Tanner as we call her today, was born enslaved in 1781 just outside of Washington DC.

She died eighty-three years later in 1864, during our Civil War. But she lived long enough to see and experience the abolishment of slavery in Washington DC which happened in 1862 and then the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 with the hope of resetting the north star of this enlightened country.

In 1810, Lethe provided funds to Joseph Dougherty, so that he could purchase her from her owner, Rachel Pratt. Then over the course of her life, she purchased and freed more than eighteen family and friends from slavery. 

And despite being unable to read or write, she used her natural business acumen to provide financial and moral support to schools, and churches to help uplift the free and enslaved black community in Washington.

Well you might hear a perspective of early American life that you hadn’t heard before. The perspective from a woman of color in the heart of the new capital city.

Many people, myself included, don’t really realize that Washington did not exist as a city until 1790. I mean, there were farms and the port towns of Georgetown and Alexandria. But no town called Washington District of Columbia existed. So a city needed to be built, and that brought in a whole mixture people: wealthy white real estate speculators, the privileged white society, new senators and congressmen and various government officials, foreign diplomats with their families, European immigrants seeking work, and then enslaved and the formerly enslaved people who came together to build this new city. 

Hopefully you’ll see, as I have, that many of those issues that Lethe faced, they’re sadly still with us – racial grievances, global pandemics, scapegoating of immigrants, wars, and increasingly restrictive laws.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any indication about who Alethia's parents were. She is later described as a "yellow woman" which was a common term for someone who was a mulatto, or of mixed heritage (usually Black and White). It would be assumed that their mother was one of the enslaved people on the Belt plantation and the father could have been one of the white people who either owned the plantation or worked there.

In the early 1700s when indentured servants and enslaved people worked side-by-side, it also was not unheard of for their to be off-spring that were from those unions. Eventually laws were passed to make it illegal and many white women were arrested and sentenced to serve more time for having children with a black man.

As far as we know had two sisters — Sophia and Laurana. And she had been married to a man named Jeremiah Tanner.

Sophia (Bell), was the oldest. She was born in 1770. She was eleven years older than Alethia. At some point, she married a man named George Bell, most likely before 1795. George had been enslaved by John Addison. The story is that Sophia sold vegetables in the Alexandria market. Buying the freedom of women was the usual priority of enslaved families, since children born to a free woman would then also be free. But apparently, the woman who inherited Sophia refused to allow her to purchase her freedom. Instead, they used their extra earnings to buy George Bell's freedom. (You will learn more about this amazing couple and what happens to their children in later episodes). Also according to stories (I haven't been able to verify), Sophia became deathly ill. Her owner, Rachel Belt Pratt finally relented as it seemed that Sophia was not long for the world and sold Sophia to her husband for a very small amount. Fortunately, Sophia rebounded and lived to a long life. Both George and Sophia each left a "  Last will and testament  " at the end of their lives.

Laurana (Cook), was three years older than Alethia. She was born in 1778. At some point, she married a man named Thomas Cook. She and Thomas had ten children, the youngest was John Francis Cook (who is my third great grandfather). There isn't much known about Laurana. Alethia purchased her, along with six of her children from a John Davidson, who had been a real estate speculator, along with his brother Samuel Davidson. They both owned large parcels of land in the area that is now around the White House. Laurana apparently continued working for John Davidson as his maid. But I am speculating that she died much earlier than her sisters as there is no record or documentation around her death.

There isn't much documentation about Jeremiah Tanner. The closest that I have been able to find, is a man who had been enslaved by a Dr. Upton Scott in Annapolis, MD. This could very possibly be Alethia's husband. He was also a mulatto, about the same age (born in 1775), and had been enslaved by a British immigrant who did travel around the area a bit. But I haven't been able to find any other information about him.

We have no documentation that Alethia had any children. However, she appeared to be very close with her sister Laurana's children as they were the first set of people whom she purchased in 1826. She and her youngest nephew, John F. Cook seemed to have a particularly close relationship as he often referred to having dinner with "Mrs. Tanner". She also let him use her property for his schoolhouse as well as later on in the initial days of forming his church.