The Woodart Collection
(11 manuscript documents on vellum and paper, dated 1756 – 1769.)

The life of Anna Petronella Woodart, a woman born into slavery in eighteenth-century Jamaica, was an extraordinary one. The only natural child of William Foster, a wealthy plantation owner in Jamaica, Anna was manumitted from slavery and naturalized by her father as a British citizen. She moved to London and married an Englishman, after which she inherited, with her husband as executor, her father’s large estate. Much of Anna’s life prior to marriage may have been guided by guardians appointed by her father, and her free choices are difficult to discern from legal documents. However, she was married to James Williams in 1762, and moved with him to Bedford Square, London, near which two of her children were baptized and where the family lived in comfort. William Foster’s brother, Robert, did not have children, and also willed to Anna and James his estate in Jamaica, leaving the couple with multiple large properties and as the owners of slaves.

The legal documents in this collection shed important light on Anna’s extraordinary life, and include her father’s will, naturalization documents, articles of marriage, and other documents related to the estates. Legal documents like these often allow us to discover new worlds and uncover remarkable narratives that otherwise would have been lost.