Introduction

In his Last Will and Testament, Johns Hopkins recognized three servants with cash gifts - James, Charles, and Chloe. This essay is about Chloe, Johns Hopkins' maid and cook during the last decades of his life. A free Black woman living in a slave state, Chloe was a valued employee to whom Johns Hopkins bequeathed $1,000 upon his death. But who was Chloe? And what can we learn about her life and her family?

Chloe may have been listed only by her first name in Johns Hopkins' will, but in the official documents that record the payment of the gift in 1874, which were written by Hopkins' executors and lawyers, her surname is given as Dodson (see image below). The same name - Chloe Dodson - also appears in a Baltimore city directory from 1881. Chloe's full name was therefore almost certainly Chloe Dodson.

There are two Chloes enumerated in the census alongside Johns Hopkins - "Chloe Dotsy" in 1850 and "Cloe Johnson" in 1870. Given the like-sounding names - Dotsy, Johnson, Dodson - and other shared details, we can infer that these Chloes are one and the same.

Similarly, there are two Dodsons enumerated in the 1860 and 1880 censuses, both years in which Chloe does not appear in Johns Hopkins' household. They are "Clara Dodson" in 1860 and "Clora Dodson" in 1880, in both instances living with the free Black family of Henry and Harriet Johns at 233 Henrietta Street. This is the same street that is listed as the residence of Chloe Dodson in a city directory from 1881. Therefore, we can conclude that these Dodsons are the same Chloe who was employed by Johns Hopkins, recognized in his will, and enumerated with him in the censuses of 1850 and 1870.

Other facts about Chloe Dodson are consistent across the four census records, such as similar birthdates and the same birthplace (Maryland). And in all cases Chloe is described as unable to read or write, an all too common characteristic of free Blacks in antebellum Baltimore. It is possible that Chloe had been enslaved during her early life or that she descended from slaves freed by Quakers during the late 18th century in Maryland.

Now, let's take a closer look at the census records and other documents in which Chloe Dodson is recorded.

1850 Census

In 1850 (image below), Chloe was enumerated at Clifton, Johns Hopkins' Baltimore County summer home, located just beyond the city's northeast boundary. However, according to the census, she was not living in the mansion house but rather in the home of Hopkins' estate manager and head gardener, William Waddel. She was described as a 30-year-old Black female who was born in Maryland. She could not read or write.

1860 Census

In 1860 (image below), Chloe, who is called Clara Dodson in this record, was enumerated in the free Black home of Henry Johns and his wife Harriet. Henry and Harriet have four children - Frank, Elizabeth, Joseph, and John. Chloe was described as a 37-year-old Black female and a servant, who was born in Maryland and illiterate. From this record we can infer that Chloe was born later than 1820. How does Chloe know Henry Johns, and was she working as a servant in his household or for someone else?

1870 Census

In 1870 (image below), Chloe was back at Clifton, but this time living in the mansion house with Johns Hopkins and his sister Eliza Hopkins Crenshaw. In this record, Chloe's name was written as Cloe Johnson, and she was described as a 45-year-old Black "domestic." Again, she was born in Maryland and illiterate. Residing in the same household with Chloe were James Jones and Charles Tolbert (probably Talbot), the other servants recognized in Hopkins' will.

1880 Census

In 1880 (image below), Chloe was once again living with Henry Johns, and now we see why. She was described in the 1880 census as Henry's sister-in-law, from which we can infer that she was his wife Harriet's sister. Henry and Harriet have also had two more children - William (waiter) and Lidonton (works with an undertaker, spelled "Littleton" in city directories).

The Johns family lived at 233 Henrietta Street* in the 1st precinct of the 16th ward of Baltimore. Woods's Baltimore City Directory (1880) listed Henry L. Johns' occupation as "lumberpiler" and Harriet's as "laundress." Woods's Directory listed Chloe Dodson as a resident of 233 Henrietta Street in 1881. The 1880 census described Chloe as a "cook" but Woods's Directory recorded no occupation.

This is the last census in which I can locate Chloe Dodson. It appears that she never learned to read or write.

*Johns Hopkins owned many dwellings near Henrietta Street and the surrounding neighborhood, as detailed in his last will and testament. 

Other Evidence

As I stated in the introduction, Chloe's last name was most likely Dodson. The final and most important piece of evidence cements this conclusion. In this record of the payment received from Johns Hopkins' estate, her full name was recorded as Chloe Dodson. The record, shown below, indicates that in 1874 Chloe was paid the $1,000 that Johns Hopkins' bequeathed her, less $15 in tax. $985 in 1874 would be worth about $24,000 today. (Note also that Charles' surname was Talbott and not Tolbert as recorded on the 1870 census form for Clifton.)

Conclusion

Chloe Dodson lived in Baltimore as a free Black woman and laborer since at least 1850, the first time she appeared in the United States census. She had a daughter named R. Elizabeth, born around 1855, but whether Chloe ever married is unknown. She probably died before 1900 and possibly during the 1880s.

Chloe worked for Johns Hopkins for more than twenty years, and by all accounts she was a highly valued employee. She must have been a fine chef as well because she would have been called on to cook for some of the most important dignitaries and businessmen of the day who dined at Clifton, such as the Prince of Wales (later King Edward the VII), Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, and George Peabody.

She is also mentioned in Helen Hopkins Thom's biography of Johns Hopkins: "Mr. Hopkins did not often express appreciation, but somehow a word now and then made all those who worked for him his willing servants. Up at the big house Aunt Chloe well knew the trouble she took in preparing some unusually tasty meal was never overlooked or wasted."

Chloe's relationship with the family of Henry L. Johns provides a possible clue to her origins. Johns is the maiden name of Johns Hopkins' grandmother, Margaret Johns (the part-eponym of Johns Hopkins). Could Henry be a descendent of a Black family formerly enslaved by Johns Hopkins' Quaker ancestors, the Johns family? It's possible. Johns Hopkins' great grandfather Richard Johns even owned a tract of land in Calvert County called "Dodson's Desire."* Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe not. 

The Johns household in which Chloe Dodson resided appears to have been a pretty typical working class free Black single-family home for the era. Henry, Harriet, and their children performed low-skill labor - stacking lumber, washing clothes, waiting tables. The oldest son Frank Johns worked in one of the most iconic African American occupations of 19th century Baltimore - he was a barber. Various entries for the Johns family members in city directories suggest their occupations were fairly stable over many years. The same was true for Chloe. 

The rowhouse at 233 Henrietta Street where Chloe Dodson lived was located under what is now the parking lots and walkways of M&T Bank Stadium (see image below). South of Camden Yards and west of Federal Hill, during the second half of the 19th century this was a mixed-race neighborhood comprised mainly of working class Black and immigrant German families.  

The Johns family managed to accumulate some wealth as indicated by the census, and there are records of several deposits having been made by members of the family in the Freedman's Bank of Baltimore, part of the suite of services offered by the Freedman’s Bureau between 1865 and 1874. From an 1888 article in the Baltimore Sun, we learn that Henry L. Johns was given title to his home on Henrietta Street from the "National Relief Association, No. 1" of Baltimore city in 1875 but lost the property in 1888 (see article image below).

The confusion over the spelling of Chloe's name is a good example of how frequent spelling errors were on the federal census, especially before the Civil War and particularly when free African Americans were enumerated (enslaved Blacks were almost never listed by name on the census). Orthographical mistakes are just one kind of measurement error that plagued the antebellum federal censuses, and they can make tracing an individual like Chloe Dodson quite challenging. Such mistakes had many causes - carelessness, lack of education, and racism. Just like today, many common names of the period had multiple diminutive and alternative spellings - e.g., Chloe vs Cloe - while other names didn't have fixed spellings at all. In this case, it's only by interpolating between multiple archival sources that we can conclude that the "servant woman Chloe" recognized in Johns Hopkins' will was Chloe Dodson. 

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*See White, Miles, Jr., "Some Colonial Ancestors of Johns Hopkins," Southern History Association, vol. IV, no. 6, (1900).

Epilogue

Chloe Dodson has been honored in the name of the new Chloe Center for the Critical Study of Racism, Immigration, and Colonialism at Johns Hopkins University. For more information, see https://hub.jhu.edu/2024/02/08/chloe-center-critical-study-racism-immigration-colonialism/. 

Update Log:

January 9, 2022: Added quotation from Johns Hopkins: A Silhouette that references Chloe Dodson and details of dignitaries who visited Clifton. Made other minor edits.

January 17, 2022: Made minor edits.

March 22, 2023: Added note regarding Johns Hopkins' ownership of properties near Henrietta Street.

February 1, 2024: Added images of Woods's 1881 Baltimore City Directory, made other minor edits and stylistic improvements.

February 2, 2024: Swapped image of 1870 census for one that highlights Chloe Dodson/Cloe Johnson instead of Johns Hopkins.

February 12, 2024: Added maps and text.

February 22, 2024: Added detail about Chloe's daughter as recorded in the 1880 census.