Jane Webb (Northampton, Virginia)
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Jane Webb, also known as Jane Williams was an indentured servant in Northampton County of the Colony of Virginia. She entered a seven-year contract with Thomas Savage so that she could marry an enslaved man named Left. It allowed for children born during those seven years to be bound over to Savage, but after she was free, Webb expected her children to be free. Savage used the courts to his advantage and also used stall tactics to prevent the case from being settled. In the end, Left and their children were enslaved to Savage and his heirs.
Jane Webb, born free, was a mixed-race daughter of a white woman. She worked as an indentured servant.[1]
Marriage and children
Webb wanted to marry a black enslaved man named Left in 1703[2] or 1704.[1] To do so, she entered into a signed contract with Left's enslaver, Thomas Savage,[1] who was a slaveholder and planter.[2] In order to marry Left, she agreed to work for Savage for seven years. During that time, if she had any children, they would serve Savage. The period of the children's servitude was not clear. At the end of the seven years, her contract would be complete, Left would be freed, and Savage would not have a claim to children born after the seven year period. While indentured to Savage, she and Left had three children, Diana or Dinah, Daniel, and Francis Webb.[1] Under Partus sequitur ventrem, the children took their status from their mother, so they should be free.[2] Although it was quite unusual for an enslaved person to marry, their marriage was legally valid.[2]