As I work through the history of the Navy Yard neighborhood (or Navy Yard Hill, as we have learned to call it) a look into the area’s most infamous resident seemed in order, that of David Herold, Lincoln conspirator, and the man who was with John Wilkes Booth when the latter was killed. The question I had was about Herold’s youth on the Hill, and a little about his father.
Adam George Herold was born in 1803 in Maryland, but moved to D.C. as a young man. He married Mary Porter, who was from D.C., ca. 1835. They had at least 9 children together, with David being right in the middle of the pack.
Herold worked as a clerk at the Navy Yard, and worked his way up to the position of chief clerk in the quartermaster department. However, his real love seems to have been some of the many organizations that flourished in the 19th century. Most importantly, he was an officer of the Navy Yard Beneficial Society when it was reorganized in 1829.
Originally dating to 1804, the society offered the workers at the Navy Yard insurance. For relatively little money – .50 cents per pay period – they were assured that in the case of disability or death their families would be provided for, and, in the worst case, the member would receive a decent burial, including all the trappings that were to be expected in those days.
In 1829, when the society was reorganized, Herold was the Secretary, and in 1850, when the Baltimore Sun wrote a long article about it, he had worked his way up to Vice President. In the intervening years, they had taken in some $6,000, of which about 2/3 went to “relief of the sick and disabled members,” and about a quarter had gone to funeral expenses or to widows of the deceased. The real reason for the article, however, was to write of the upcoming 21st anniversary celebration of the society, which was to include an oration, a procession, and “religious and other interesting services.”
The other group that Herold was a member of was the International Organization of Odd Fellows. Here he was in the leadership as well, being Deputy Grand Master in 1843, and continuing on in similar roles for the rest of his life.
Given his general appearance of an upstanding citizen, it was thus rather jarring to realize that this man also owned slaves. One slave, to be more accurate, and really, it belonged to his daughter, who was all of ten years old when the D.C. Emancipation Act freed those 3,000 slaves living in the District of Columbia. Herold thus filed a claim under the act, requesting 450 dollars for Charlotte Cambell, who was nine when she had freed on April 16, 1862. He received about half of that value.
Detail of the petition as filed by Herold. His daughter had been given the slave by her godfather, Peter King (note also her middle name) (civilwardc.org)
Adam Herold died two years later, and was laid to rest in Congressional Cemetery on October 9, 1864, with all honors. After services at Christ Church, a procession led by the Navy Yard Beneficial Society and a band from Lincoln Hospital, but also including numerous other lodges. At the cemetery, “the impressive burial service of the Odd Fellows was conducted by Grand Chaplain Sweet,” as the Evening Star reported the following day.
While it was a tragedy to have him die at such a young age – he was only about 61 years old – it did mean that he did not have to watch as his son became, less than a year later, one of the most hated men in the United States for his role in the Lincoln assassination.