The Community of Seneca at Violette's Lock

One of the Historic Black communities of Montgomery, MD

Seneca Colored M.E Church Cemetery, Seneca, MD

The community’s first church, Potomac Grove Colored Church, was built on Violettes Lock Road in 1893 by a community formed by workers at the local stone quarry, near the C&O Canal. Although the church was eventually moved to Berryville Road, the cemetery is still beautifully maintained.

Early residents included Sandy R. Beckwith, Henrietta Jackson, Stella Thomas, and Ollie Alfonso Jackson.

We find a lot of interesting information about the families at Seneca in the U.S. census. (United States Census 1900, image 291) Seneca families in 1900, when the quarry was still operational, included:

• Charles (60) and Patience (40) Ward, a daughter and a granddaughter. He is a day laborer (in the 1880 census he had been listed as working in a farm), and was born in Virginia. The adults cannot read or write. (See footnote 1)

• Ruthy Lynch (60), a son, an uncle, and five nieces and nephews. The 12, 15 and 16-year old boys are day laborers (Ed: and so aren’t able to attend school) and two of them cannot read or write, and the uncle is listed as a white washer. Ruthy is listed as having “no” occupation. The 10 and 12-year old niece and nephew are listed as being in school.

• Peter Mitchell (66, with parents from Virginia), wife Emma (40, housekeeper), their four children.

• Basle Jackson (40), wife Stella (30), their four children, and a 15 year-old sister-in-law listed as working as a servant.

• Thomas Jenkins (69), wife Caroline (64), and two grandchildren.

• Golden Driver (57, day laborer) and Harriett (56) and their eight children.

• Richard Hebron (28), wife Susan (26) and their three children. They both had parents from Virginia, but had been born in Maryland.

• John Clipper (60) and Marthy (50) and their eight children. They had been married for 36 years, and had 15 children, with 10 surviving in 1900. The adult men were all day laborers, with John noted in his Findagrave information as being a freeman and stonecutter.

• George Clipper (33), wife Lucy (28) and their three children.

• Henry Jackson (32), wife Barbra (24) and their four children.

• Fenton Jackson (40) and a son.

Some of the women are listed as “occupation: servant.” Most of the men are listed as day laborers, so cannot rely on a steady income for their families – many probably worked at the Seneca Quarry, which supplied sandstone for Washington, D.C. buildings such as the Smithsonian. Teenagers as young as 14 often worked outside the home. All the families rent, but we don’t know from whom. (That information could be found in Maryland land records, which we have not yet investigated.)

After the line listing Jacksons there are a mix of white and Black families on the census. In this census, only the white families are listed as owning property. (United States Census 1900, p. 15)

Seneca Mill & Stone Quarry, Poolesville, MD

Seneca Quarry closed in 1901. Many of the adult men became day laborers on a nearby golf course, nursery, coal yard or farm, or were a mechanic at a garage, or a watchman at a club. They could all read and write. None of the men were listed as veterans of a war. Several of the adults either were originally from Virginia, or had parents who were from Virginia.

In earlier censuses women had been listed as having the occupation of housekeeper, which would've included the duties of handwashing the laundry for a large family, cleaning the house, taking care of the children, cooking for the family on the wood stove, planting and caring for a large backyard garden, etc. However, in the 1900 census if the women were housekeepers, they were not considered to have occupations. Some were listed as public school teachers.

It is interesting to note that a number of the nearby white families were listed as owning radios, but none of the Black families were, suggesting different access to information.

By the 1930s, the quarry had been closed for many years, but fortunes had improved for many of the local Black families. Whoever owned the land had sold the rental properties to several of the families living on them. (United States Census 1930, 13A)

(1) The 1870 US census indicated that 80% of Black adults (formerly free and formally enslaved, 14 years and older) were Illiterate, compared to 11.5% of whites, because of long-term social and legal pressures to not allow literacy education for enslaved Blacks. By 1900, 44.5% of Black adults were illiterate, so 55.5% of Black adults were able to read and write. Historic black communities in Montgomery County consistently put their children in school immediately after Emancipation because they felt literacy to be so important. By 1940 the census indicated that only 11.5% of Black adults were unable to read or write.

References

Buglass, Ralph D., and Sharon R. Duffin. 2023. “The Segregated Black Schools of Montgomery County, MD.” Montgomery History.

Seneca Community Church. 2020. “About Us.”

United States Census. 1900. Schedule No. 1: Inhabitants, Darnestown District, Entry for Golden and Harriett Driver's family & neighbors. Maryland: n.p.

United States Census. 1930. 1930 Population Schedule, Entry for Harry and Ruby Clipper family & neighbors. Maryland: n.p.