Toogood Family

Image of Orchard Street Church (Methodist Episcopal)

NPS

The Toogood family left a lasting impression on the Ridgely family from what it seems in documentation. Multiple accounts speak about how good Dinah Toogood's food was good. Nick Toogood played a pivotal role as a spiritual leader among the enslaved people at Hampton.

The kitchen was a center for activity in the house. Dinah Toogood (c. 1795-c. 1882), was the head cook in the 1840s-1860s. She oversaw the kitchen, and Eliza Ridgely III noted in the 1890s that she was a good "fine cook." Eliza Ridgely’s records show Dinah receiving several coarse aprons a year, indicating the possibly messy nature of her work. Dinah was purchased in 1830 by John Ridgely from Hugh Birckhead for $250. Her husband Nicholas (Nick) Toogood (1786-1879) did not come to Hampton until several years later in the late 1830s.

The Toogoods had four children, two of them (James and Marie) died as babies. A third child, Agnes, was born in 1845, died in 1847. Daniel (b. 1843) the fourth child, may well have died before 1850. After the death of Sam Brown around 1861, Nick was probably the oldest enslaved worker on the estate.

Nick worked as a handyman and was very charismatic. In leading mourners of the burial of another enslaved person, Bill Davis, Nick struck a favorite hymn—one that he normally sang as he called hogs to feed at the troughs. Unfortunately, for the procession, when the pigs heard and recognized his voice, they came running scattering the mourners. James McHenry Howard commented in 1894 that Nick "was a sort of spiritual leader among the [enslaved at Hampton] & if anything in the way of religious ceremonial or worship was going on, Nick was sure to have a prominent place." Howard also recounted an episode showing an example of resistance to enslavement:

"One of the well-known characters among the slaves was an old man by the name of Nick Toogood – he used to work around the grounds about the house as a general utility man and was usually complaining of Rheumatism and misery in the back – but this was thought to be a plea on his part for relaxation of work.

However, he put the plea in, one Sunday morning when he was told to do something or other and was excused as an invalid. Apparently when the family saw him in the morning, he seemed all bent together and could hardly drag one foot after the other – but as the ladies were seated in Epsom Chapel, an hour or so afterwards – Miss Henrietta happening to look out of the window her attention was attracted by seeing an old negro man climbing lightly over an adjacent fence and walking with long strides towards the village of Towsontown – It was old Nick."

This could have been Nick's way of showing some sort of form of resistance. Despite the dehumanization of chattel slavery, this was a small way of showing his humanity.

Both Dinah and Nick continued to be held in chattel slavery until the 1864 Maryland Emancipation. Seventy-year-old Nicholas and sixty-year-old Dinah moved 13 miles away from Hampton to Baltimore City around 1865. They moved into a community that was one of the most active in the struggle for civil rights where they lived until their passing over ten years later. They worked as laborer and laundress while attending the Orchard Street Church (Methodist Episcopal). While at church they would witness speeches, conferences, educational achievements and other gatherings by the nation’s most ardent seekers of full rights for African Americans. By 1867 they were listed in the Baltimore City Directories living at 108 Orchard Street in what is now the Seton Hill neighborhood. This area was an important one in the community of freed Africans Americans living in the city. Orchard Street was a center of Baltimore’s free Black community. The Orchard Street ME Church figured heavily in Baltimore’s African American history. It was said to have been a heavily used station on the Underground Railroad. It also housed an early school for African Americans and served as a lyceum hosting local and regional organizational rallies and fundraisers. One of the church’s well-known parishioners and neighbor of the Toogoods was Rev. Samuel Green of the Eastern Shore who gained some stature for having been imprisoned for five years for possessing a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

 

Woods’ Baltimore City Directory

NPS

There were several other Toogoods who may or may not have been related to Nicholas or Dinah or to other formerly enslaved at Hampton. However, there are as yet few connections identified or from which to make reasonable conclusions. Names such as John, Thomas, Austin, Henrietta, Mary, Annie, and Caleb Toogood appeared in the city directory and the Afro-American newspaper over the next decades. Most lived at the same addresses for several years. Some became active in the church and their communities. One was an officer in the Colored Independent Order of Odd-Fellows. One married the daughter of a supervisor at the Afro-American newspaper. Another trained as a Tuskegee Airman. Yet another became a magician of some note based mainly in Atlantic City. As of yet, it is unrecorded of those related to Nicholas or Dinah.

The elderly Toogoods survived chattel slavery to spend their last years as freed people in a vibrant community engaged in self-help and attainment of the rights of its once enslaved residents. As members of the church, they would have been involved in some activities. The January 1879 obituary for Nicholas stated that his funeral services were held at Orchard Street Church where he had been a member. Dinah continued to reside on Orchard Street at least through 1885, when she passed away.

 

Learn More

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  Revealing the Lives of the Enslaved

  A recent Ethnographic Study uncovered major information on the lives of those enslaved at Hampton and their descendants. Read about it here.

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  Chattel Slavery at Hampton

  From the colonial period through 1864, the Ridgelys enslaved over 500 people. Enslaved people, from young children to the elderly

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  Enslaved People

  Hampton was the second largest plantation in Maryland. Learn about the struggle, hardships, and lives of the enslaved.

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  Eliza Ridgely III

  An intelligent and determined woman with strong religious and reforming impulses.

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  Eliza Eichelberger Ridgely

  Eliza Eichelberger Ridgely was one of the most influential women to come through Hampton.

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  Learn about more

  People of Hampton

  Hundreds of people lived, worked, and were enslaved at Hampton coinciding America's development as a nation. Explore more of their stories.