Charity Folks

Charity Folks (also called Fowkes after 1791)

Slavery Charity was born into slavery and held by Maryland Governor Samuel Ogle. Until the age of 10 or 12, Charity lived at Belair Plantation with her mother, Rachel Burke, and brother James; her father is believed to have been plantation manager Colonel Benjamin Tasker, Jr. Historian Jessica Millward places the transfer sometime between 1765 and 1767, saying that 'It is equally possible that Charity became the property of John Ridout when he served as executor of the estates of Benjamin Tasker, Sr. and Benjamin Tasker, Jr.'

She and her husband had several children including Harriet Calder (1789-??),

Freedom She was freed in 1797 As a freed woman, she continued working for the same family, and was named in Mary's will. and in 1811 Charity was issued a certificate of freedom from the same court.

In 1832 she purchased property on Franklin Street in Annapolis, Maryland. She had a stroke in 1834 and died later the same year. The lot at 84 Franklin Street became the Mt. Moriah A.M.E. Church in 1875 , and later the Banneker-Douglass Museum (now known as the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum) in 1984.