George Kephart

George Kephart
Born	Frederick County, Maryland (now Carroll County), U.S.
Died	August 26, 1888(1888-08-26) (aged 77)
Occupation(s)	Slave trader, landowner, farmer, philanthropist
Years active	circa 1827–1852 (slave trading)

George Kephart (February 7, 1811 – August 26, 1888) was a prominent 19th-century American figure known for his roles as a slave trader, landowner, farmer, and philanthropist based in Maryland. Early in his professional life, he served as an agent for the interstate slave trading enterprise Franklin & Armfield, eventually acquiring and leasing their infamous slave detention facility located in Alexandria—which remained part of the District of Columbia until 1847. In 1862, Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson identified Kephart among those traders who had "defiled the nation’s capital with this brutal commerce."

Early life and family

Kephart was born in what was then Frederick County, Maryland (now part of Carroll County), most likely on his family’s farm known as Brick Mills, later renamed Trevanion. The name Brick Mills derived from a substantial brick gristmill powered by Big Pipe Creek. Among the outbuildings from Kephart’s time was a still house constructed by his father, David Kephart II. George had several siblings who survived into adulthood, including Philip Kephart, a physician practicing in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and Peter Kephart, an innovator in home refrigeration technology. On his mother’s side, he was related to the Reister family and spent much of his later years in Reisterstown, a town established by an ancestor. The family adhered to Lutheranism, with Kephart’s parents and grandfather interred in the local Lutheran cemetery. Upon his father’s death in 1836, George inherited Brick Mills.

Slave trading (circa 1827–1852)

Kephart probably commenced his involvement in slave trading around 1827 at the age of sixteen, purchasing enslaved individuals locally and selling them in markets such as New Orleans and Natchez. Historian Frederic Bancroft characterized him as a minor Maryland trader who maintained close connections with slaveholders and routinely examined enslaved people presented for sale. Positioned strategically in Alexandria—a key center for both coastal shipments and overland coffles—Kephart and his contemporaries facilitated extensive trafficking operations moving enslaved people from Maryland through Washington into Virginia.

Records imply that Kephart utilized slave holding facilities on his Maryland estate:

• In 1837, following his inheritance of Brick Mills, he advertised it for sale while accepting enslaved individuals as payment; the basement may have functioned as temporary confinement for enslaved persons awaiting sale.
• An 1886 newspaper article referenced a brick outbuilding on the Trevanion property that might have been used to house slaves, although agricultural use cannot be ruled out.
• A 1928 history of Carroll County described Kephart as possibly the largest local dealer with two subterranean jails plus an above-ground brick jail.

By approximately 1834, Kephart was among five agents responsible for gathering enslaved individuals throughout the Chesapeake region on behalf of Franklin & Armfield for shipment to southern markets. After Franklin & Armfield ceased their trading operations in the mid-1830s, Kephart expanded their established network through partnerships with traders such as the Purvis brothers and Hope Hull Slatter.

From 1837 to 1846 he leased—and subsequently owned from 1846 to 1859—the Alexandria slave pen located at 1315 Duke Street (presently the site of the Freedom House Museum). During the early 1840s he formed legal partnerships with Richmond’s Tait and New Orleans’ Boudar. The facility typically held around fifty enslaved people but had capacity for up to three hundred. A visitor in 1841 reported being told that Kephart shipped between 1,500 and 2,000 enslaved individuals annually to southern markets; however, some accounts question the accuracy of these numbers. His jail was connected to notable incidents such as Dorcas Allen’s case in 1837 and served as a transfer point during the infamous Jesuit slave sale of 1838.

In 1846, Kephart and fellow Virginia trader Joseph Bruin became involved in chancery court disputes concerning more than one hundred enslaved persons. The retrocession of D.C.’s southern portion back to Virginia in 1847 and the Compromise of 1850—which outlawed slave trading within D.C.—had minimal effect on his business due to its location just across the river. Advertisements placed by Kephart seeking "likely Negroes" appeared in reputable newspapers as late as 1851.

Although Kephart professed to have ceased slave trading activities by June 1852, he maintained ownership of the Alexandria slave pen thereafter, leasing it out while quietly investing in Price, Birch & Co., which operated there around 1858–59. He sold the property in 1859; it continued functioning as a slave jail until its liberation by U.S. Army forces circa May 1861.

In the 1920s, historian William Jarboe Grove depicted Kephart as a "kind-hearted" trader who treated enslaved people humanely for business reasons. In stark contrast, Fred Fowler—a former slave born in Frederick County who escaped via the Underground Railroad—recalled widespread local fear of Kephart and noted that relatives sold by him were never heard from again.

American Civil War and Subsequent Years

In 1860, a man named George Kephart, or possibly another individual sharing his name in Baltimore, was detained following an incident involving an assault on a Black man related to a wagon dispute.

By 1862, U.S. Senator Henry Wilson publicly identified Kephart as a leading slave trader within the District of Columbia. Wilson emphasized that Kephart, along with associates such as Neal, Richards, Franklin, and Armfield, conducted this harsh trade under legal protection until the Compromise of 1850 prohibited it.

Moncure D. Conway devoted a chapter in his work Testimonies Concerning Slavery to Kephart’s slave prison, illustrating his prominent involvement in Virginia’s slave trade and the trafficking of fugitive slaves. This section includes letters captured by Union forces during the Civil War, exposing communications with partners like Brashear from Natchez and potentially Thomas Sinn, who was engaged in selling enslaved individuals throughout the southern states.

In 1867, Kephart contributed half an acre of land to the Methodist Episcopal Church of Baltimore County for establishing a schoolhouse and cemetery intended for Black children. This institution eventually became integrated into Baltimore County’s system of Black public schools.

Census records from 1870 and 1880 indicate that Kephart lived in Baltimore alongside his widowed sisters and nieces. After suffering several strokes, he passed away in 1888. His obituary described him as a "bachelor of sociable tastes" and a successful farmer, omitting any reference to his prior involvement in slave trading.

Legacy

The American poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier visited three slave jails in Washington, D.C., in 1841, including the facility located at 1315 Duke Street. His experience at the slave jail owned by Kephart inspired him to compose the poem "At Washington."

The New Jersey Historical Society preserves four documents linked to Kephart’s slave-trading operations, including a bill of sale for an enslaved woman. In 2021, Loudoun County, Virginia’s Kephart Bridge Landing—named after him—was proposed for renaming due to his significant role as a slave trader. Kephart possessed crucial property along Goose Creek, which was instrumental for moving enslaved people between ports. The site was officially renamed Riverpoint Drive Trailhead in 2022.

See also

• List of American slave traders
• Slave markets and slave jails in the United States
• History of slavery in the District of Columbia
• History of slavery in Virginia
• History of slavery in Maryland