Abigail

Abigail (died December 1783), called Abby, was an African American woman owned as a slave by the American statesman John Jay. She died after attempting to escape in 1783 in Paris, where Jay helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris to secure America's independence. Abigail belonged to the Jay household since at least 1776; she was one of at least 17 slaves owned by Jay. In 1779, she was the only slave to accompany Jay and his family on their trip to Paris. When he left Paris for London in 1783, his family and Abigail remained in Paris. His wife Sarah regularly wrote to him about the household's affairs, and it is from this correspondence that almost all that is known about Abigail is drawn. While Sarah's letters initially praised "Abbe"'s "attention & proofs of fidelity" and her "usefulness", she was isolated in Paris, with few friends or opportunity to make any, and separated from her loved ones in America. In summer of 1783, she suffered from toothache and rheumatism. By then, it appears that she felt unsettled; Sarah suggested that an "English washerwoman" might have enticed Abigail with the promise of wages in exchange for her work. In October 1783, Abigail left the Jay home, intending not to return. At Sarah Jay's request, the Paris police searched for Abigail, and found her in the English washerwoman's company. By lettre de cachet, she was detained in La Petite Force, the women's wing of the city jail, the Hôtel de la Force. But she refused to return to the Jays unless she was promised passage back to America.