Washington DC - Genealogy Trails - Lindsay Muse, Biography

Washington District of Columbia
Biographies

Lindsay Muse
1802 / 1805 - June 14, 1888
Furnished by : John G. Sharp

Lindsay Muse
Messenger to the Secretary of the Navy
(Born circa 1802 - Died 14 June 1888)

Lindsay Muse was born in Virginia, his birth years are variously recorded as circa 1802 on the United States Census for 1850, while the 1870 census records circa 1805 and the 1880 census provides circa 1805. Like his birth date, much of Lindsay Muse's early life is unclear, he was probably born enslaved yet the exact date of his manumission is unknown. That he cared deeply for his family is apparent in the manumission of his half sister Charlotte in the document above in keeping with the legal requirements of the District of Columbia Slave Code Lindsay Muse had to first buy Charlotte from the Pickett family and then to legally manumit her had to have her pay him a nominal sum ( consideration) for her manumission to be legally valid.¹ From early two histories written during Muse's lifetime, we find that he learned to read and write at a church Sunday school in the District Columbia, possibly at the 15^th Street Presbyterian Church.
(Source, A History of the Negro Race by George Washington Williams 1883). ²
See: Charlotte Muse - Bill of Sale & Manumission
The 1827, Washington Directory, lists Muse Lindsay, as : "waiter" and notes that he resided at, 26 west between I and Kansas. Charlotte Muse is listed in the same Directory as a (col) washerwomen residing at Pennsylvania avenue between 19 & 20 west. Curiously Lindsay Muse's race is not listed. Muse became assistant messenger to the Secretary of the Navy in January of 1829. Exactly how he was appointed and by whom is not ocumented, perhaps he met Samuel Southard, Secretary of the Navy, 1823 to March 1829, while he was waiting at tables. Washington DC at that time, was a small city and a literate black man would have had enjoyed some notoriety, in any, the Secretary would have had to approve the appointment of Lindsay Muse as messenger. In his new job working for the Secretary of the Navy Muse would have had an opportunity to journey to the White House, to take messages to the various cabinet secretaries and to deliver official massages to the Washington Navy Yard Commandant's office. In the early 19^th century before the creation of the US mail delivery service, messengers were essential to insure the prompt delivery and security of communications between departments of government. Lindsay Muse's position meant that he was perceived as a person of integrity. His job as messenger gave him access to places and persons few of his fellow citizens white or black ever had a chance to see and consequently voices were occasionally raised as to why a black man enjoyed such a position. One such example is the anonymous letter (transcribed below) received by Secretary of the Navy, Levi Woodbury (1831-1834).
Hon. Levi Woodbury 27 Aug 1831
Secretary of the Navy
Sir
It is reported in this City, that the principal messenger of your office who is a colored man, is the receiver and one of the agents for paper in Boston, called "The Liberator" is considered of such dangerous from populations of which the late affair in Virginia is sufficiently in evidence, that people of colors in any of the Departments particularly when very good others may be well qualified. You are referred to Doctor Jones for a list of names of such received for the above purpose.
A. Citizen³

The anonymous author of this screed tried to depict Lindsay Muse as dangerous agitator in league with Nat Turner whose slave rebellion had begun on 21 August 1831; Levi Woodbury simply filed this letter and continued to employ Muse, who remained a popular employee and somehow managed to negotiate his way through the tangle of racism and hysteria that so surrounded the City of Washington and much of the nation during the Nat Turner rebellion. Later in the ensuing years he and other members of the family survived the various race riots and violence directed periodically at free blacks such as "Snow "riot of August 1835.
The 1850 United States Census for the District of Columbia enumerates Lindsay Muse, as a free black man, living in the 1^st Ward. His age is given as 48; his children are Sarah 22, William 21, Elizabeth A., Jason 15, Daniel 12, Florida 11, Washington 9, Louisa 7, and Fanny 5. Muse's real estate is valued at $ 1,000.00. As a messenger for the Secretary of the Navy, Muse was a salaried employee receiving $ 400.00 per annum
(Source, The Life and Character of John Paul Jones a Captain in the US Navy during the Revolutionary War by John H. Sherbourne, Adrian Sherman & Co, New York, 1851 p.185.
This popular history of the Revolutionary War hero, John Paul Jones, surprisingly, lists the civilian employees of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1851, and their salaries. Lindsay Muse passed on his love of learning and his deep religious convictions to his children. His son James Muse graduated from Oberlin College and later became a Congregational Minister in New Haven Connecticut. Muse's daughter Elizabeth Ann married the Reverend Albert Boulden a founder of the first Baptist Church in South West Washington and later the Third Baptist Church as well.
During the Civil War the nations needed to raise sufficient capital to pay for the war and the Congress imposed the first income tax. In 1865, Lindsay Muse, was enumerated as living at 338 8^th Street and subject to taxation based on his income.
Source, Records of the Internal Revenue Service District of Columbia, page 16 for the year 1865.
The US Census for the District of Columbia enumerates Lindsay Muse as "age 65, Messenger Navy Department" value of his real estate $ 9,000.00 and $ 2,000.00 in personal property. Living with him are three of his daughters Elizabeth age 38, Louisa age 28 and Fannie age 24 each is enumerated as dress makers
Muse was leader in the black community and helped form the Colored United Benevolent Association which bought land for a cemetery near today's Adams Morgan District. The land was bought from Charles Francis Adams for $ 2, 500. The Association allowed its members for a nominal to have a dignified burial at a time when all burial grounds in the District of Columbia, were strictly segregated -- Washington Post July 3, 2006
Lindsay Muse died on June 14^th 1888. By the time of his death, he had continually served as Messenger for the Secretary of the Navy, since 1 January 1829. Muse's long service was often noted in the press and he was believed to be the longest serving government employees, in total Muse had served a period of nearly sixty years. The New York Times, noted that Lindsay Muse, claimed to have met and shaken hand with everyone of the President's of the United States from Andrew Jackson to Grover Cleveland. According to the NYT, Muse was still working the day of his death.
Source: Register of Commissioned & Warrant Officers of the United States Navy to January 1, 1879 Government Printing Office Washington DC & The New York Times June 15, 1888.
Lindsay Muse's will (Lindsay Muse, 1888, Box 109) was probated in 1888, leaving his considerable property to his sons and daughters. ⁴

Lindsay Muse Messenger to the Secretary of the Navy (Born circa 1802 - Died 14 June 1888)
Lindsay Muse was born in Virginia, his birth years are variously recorded as circa 1802 on the United States Census for 1850, while the 1870 census records circa 1805 and the 1880 census provides circa 1805. Like his birth date, much of Lindsay Muse's early life is unclear, he was probably born enslaved yet the exact date of his manumission is unknown. That he cared deeply for his family is apparent in the manumission of his half sister Charlotte in the document above in keeping with the legal requirements of the District of Columbia Slave Code Lindsay Muse had to first buy Charlotte from the Pickett family and then to legally manumit her had to have her pay him a nominal sum ( consideration) for her manumission to be legally valid.¹ From early two histories written during Muse's lifetime, we find that he learned to read and write at a church Sunday school in the District Columbia, possibly at the 15^th Street Presbyterian Church. (Source, A History of the Negro Race by George Washington Williams 1883). ² See: Charlotte Muse - Bill of Sale & Manumission The 1827, Washington Directory, lists Muse Lindsay, as : "waiter" and notes that he resided at, 26 west between I and Kansas. Charlotte Muse is listed in the same Directory as a (col) washerwomen residing at Pennsylvania avenue between 19 & 20 west. Curiously Lindsay Muse's race is not listed. Muse became assistant messenger to the Secretary of the Navy in January of 1829. Exactly how he was appointed and by whom is not ocumented, perhaps he met Samuel Southard, Secretary of the Navy, 1823 to March 1829, while he was waiting at tables. Washington DC at that time, was a small city and a literate black man would have had enjoyed some notoriety, in any, the Secretary would have had to approve the appointment of Lindsay Muse as messenger. In his new job working for the Secretary of the Navy Muse would have had an opportunity to journey to the White House, to take messages to the various cabinet secretaries and to deliver official massages to the Washington Navy Yard Commandant's office. In the early 19^th century before the creation of the US mail delivery service, messengers were essential to insure the prompt delivery and security of communications between departments of government. Lindsay Muse's position meant that he was perceived as a person of integrity. His job as messenger gave him access to places and persons few of his fellow citizens white or black ever had a chance to see and consequently voices were occasionally raised as to why a black man enjoyed such a position. One such example is the anonymous letter (transcribed below) received by Secretary of the Navy, Levi Woodbury (1831-1834). Hon. Levi Woodbury 27 Aug 1831 Secretary of the Navy Sir It is reported in this City, that the principal messenger of your office who is a colored man, is the receiver and one of the agents for paper in Boston, called "The Liberator" is considered of such dangerous from populations of which the late affair in Virginia is sufficiently in evidence, that people of colors in any of the Departments particularly when very good others may be well qualified. You are referred to Doctor Jones for a list of names of such received for the above purpose. A. Citizen³ The anonymous author of this screed tried to depict Lindsay Muse as dangerous agitator in league with Nat Turner whose slave rebellion had begun on 21 August 1831; Levi Woodbury simply filed this letter and continued to employ Muse, who remained a popular employee and somehow managed to negotiate his way through the tangle of racism and hysteria that so surrounded the City of Washington and much of the nation during the Nat Turner rebellion. Later in the ensuing years he and other members of the family survived the various race riots and violence directed periodically at free blacks such as "Snow "riot of August 1835. The 1850 United States Census for the District of Columbia enumerates Lindsay Muse, as a free black man, living in the 1^st Ward. His age is given as 48; his children are Sarah 22, William 21, Elizabeth A., Jason 15, Daniel 12, Florida 11, Washington 9, Louisa 7, and Fanny 5. Muse's real estate is valued at $ 1,000.00. As a messenger for the Secretary of the Navy, Muse was a salaried employee receiving $ 400.00 per annum (Source, The Life and Character of John Paul Jones a Captain in the US Navy during the Revolutionary War by John H. Sherbourne, Adrian Sherman & Co, New York, 1851 p.185. This popular history of the Revolutionary War hero, John Paul Jones, surprisingly, lists the civilian employees of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1851, and their salaries. Lindsay Muse passed on his love of learning and his deep religious convictions to his children. His son James Muse graduated from Oberlin College and later became a Congregational Minister in New Haven Connecticut. Muse's daughter Elizabeth Ann married the Reverend Albert Boulden a founder of the first Baptist Church in South West Washington and later the Third Baptist Church as well. During the Civil War the nations needed to raise sufficient capital to pay for the war and the Congress imposed the first income tax. In 1865, Lindsay Muse, was enumerated as living at 338 8^th Street and subject to taxation based on his income. Source, Records of the Internal Revenue Service District of Columbia, page 16 for the year 1865. The US Census for the District of Columbia enumerates Lindsay Muse as "age 65, Messenger Navy Department" value of his real estate $ 9,000.00 and $ 2,000.00 in personal property. Living with him are three of his daughters Elizabeth age 38, Louisa age 28 and Fannie age 24 each is enumerated as dress makers Muse was leader in the black community and helped form the Colored United Benevolent Association which bought land for a cemetery near today's Adams Morgan District. The land was bought from Charles Francis Adams for $ 2, 500. The Association allowed its members for a nominal to have a dignified burial at a time when all burial grounds in the District of Columbia, were strictly segregated -- Washington Post July 3, 2006 Lindsay Muse died on June 14^th 1888. By the time of his death, he had continually served as Messenger for the Secretary of the Navy, since 1 January 1829. Muse's long service was often noted in the press and he was believed to be the longest serving government employees, in total Muse had served a period of nearly sixty years. The New York Times, noted that Lindsay Muse, claimed to have met and shaken hand with everyone of the President's of the United States from Andrew Jackson to Grover Cleveland. According to the NYT, Muse was still working the day of his death. Source: Register of Commissioned & Warrant Officers of the United States Navy to January 1, 1879 Government Printing Office Washington DC & The New York Times June 15, 1888. Lindsay Muse's will (Lindsay Muse, 1888, Box 109) was probated in 1888, leaving his considerable property to his sons and daughters. ⁴

Endnotes
¹ The District of Columbia Slave Code 1860 is now available online at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sthtml/stpres02.html
² Special Report of the Commissioner of Education on the Condition of Public Schools in the District of Columbia, submitted to the Senate, June 6, 1868, and to the House, with Additions June 13, 1870. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1870, page 200. The Special Report is also notable for it's reliance on information from members of the black community apparently individuals who provided testimony used in this report knew Lindsay Muse and of course in 1870 Muse may have provided some information regarding education in the District of Columbia and the struggle for to open schools for black children. Muse's half sister, Fanny Hampton, taught at one of these early schools in the 1830's schools, see page213.
³ Linda M. Maloney's The Captain from Connecticut The Life and Naval Times of Isaac Hull, Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1986, page 526 footnote 46 was the first to point out this anonymous letter. Although the anonymous author does not mention Lindsay Muse by name, the context makes this unnecessary.
⁴ The date of Lindsay Muse's death is sometimes given as 1882 but the actual date is June 14, 1888 as recorded in the New York Times and 1888 is also the year that Lindsay Muse's last will was probated.

Return to :
Genealogy Trails - Washington D. C.