Sophia Gough Ridgely Howard

Sophia Gough Ridgely; oil on marble (NPS)

(Mrs. James Howard, 1800-1828) artist unknown, c.1816 (NPS)

Quick Facts

Significance:

Sophia Gough Ridgely Howard went against the norms of her time and took a silent stand against the institution of slavery the best way she knew how. According to several historical accounts, she helped influence her father, Charles Carnan Ridgely, to manumit (free) many of those he enslaved.

Date of Birth:

1800

Date of Death:

1828

Sophia Gough Ridgely Howard went against the norms of her time and took a silent stand against the institution of slavery the best way she knew how. According to several historical accounts, she helped influence her father, Charles Carnan Ridgely, to manumit (free) many of those he enslaved. She championed what she thought was right, a stand that led to a rift in the family, though she never lived to see the impact of her actions. Pushing for social change against the status quo has always been controversial when defying societal norms. Often the big parts of history have small beginnings. 

Sophia Gough Ridgely was born in 1800, the daughter of Priscilla Dorsey and Charles Carnan Ridgely. She had thirteen siblings, ten of whom survived to adulthood. Sophia, following her mother's example, became a devout Methodist, which would influence her views regarding slavery. In 1824 she married James Howard and they had four children together. Unfortunately, Sophia died in 1828, a year before her father, Charles Carnan Ridgely. Her father's codicil (added clause) to his will was written on April 28, 1828, just 10 days after Sophia’s untimely death. In this addition to his will, he freed the enslaved people of certain ages immediately, women ages 25-45 with their children two and under and men 28-45. Those children older than two years of age and younger than 25 or 28 could not leave with their parents, tragically splitting up families. 

When Sophia died, James Howard, Sr., her surviving husband, recorded,

“On Friday evening April 18th 1828 my inestimable wife Sophia G. Howard left this for another and a better world. Unaffected piety had led her in early life to build upon that sure foundation which neither the storms of life nor the agonies of Death could shake.”

This note was left in a family Bible and discovered by his son from a second marriage, James McHenry Howard. In his, Memoirs of the Ridgely Family of Hampton (1894), Howard says much of Charles Carnan Ridgely’s decision to free his enslaved people was influenced by Sophia. Writing about her and his grandfather, Howard concluded,

“She was the favorite child of Genl Ridgely and had more influence over him than any of the rest of them & it was owing to her intercession that he left his [enslaved people] subject to servitude only until they reached a certain age – after which they were to be freed.” 

There is other documentation from the 19th century corroborating James McHenry Howard’s account about Sophia’s influence, one recorded only a handful of years after her death. Another Ridgely the daughter, Harriet (Mrs. Henry Banning Chew), may have joined her sister Sophia in urging manumission. Her husband wrote a memorial (now in the Chew Family Papers at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania) to her soon after her death in 1835. He stated,

“She [Harriet] and her sister Sophia had influenced their father to emancipate all his [enslaved people] of certain ages, and my wife was desirous that I also should hold none in a state of bondage, even in service during terms of years.”

There also the account of William Henson, enslaved in Prince George’s County, Maryland by Nicholas Orrick Ridgely (who was no relation the Hampton Ridgelys) and later freed by him, who knew a similar story. As published in Broken Shackles by “Glenelg” (J. W. Frost) in 1889, Henson recalled to “Glenelg” the deathbed manumission, though he ascribed the influence to a third daughter of Charles Carnan Ridgely. It is notable that the story was so well known that an enslaved individual living two counties west of Hampton had heard it. 

James McHenry Howard, “Memoirs of the Ridgelys of Hampton,” annotated typescript copy by Helen West Stewart Ridgely.

Historic Resource Study by Hampton NHS, NPS. 

Historical records show that the family heirs were unhappy with the codicil to the will. For many years, they presented legal challenges in the courts. For the first three years after Charles Carnan Ridgely’s death, many family members petitioned the Orphan’s Court concerning the division of property, pleas for more immediate estate sales, and claims of ownership concerning the enslaved, the land, and the valuable ironworks. 

Sophia Gough Ridgely Howard's descendants can be tracked as still going to churches in the area. Specifically, where it so happens some of the descendants of the enslaved attend. 

Even seemingly small decisions we make can have a ripple effect for generations. The small decisions of Sophia led to her dad being influenced to make a huge decision in his will, impacting so many lives for generations.  

Historic Research Study by Hampton NHS, 2014, NPS. 
 

The codicil to the will of Charles Carnan Ridgely (1760-1829)