Biography of Rina
Family Background
Rina was an enslaved woman whose surname, birthdate, and parentage were never recorded in surviving historical documents. She is identified in Pennsylvania slave records created after the gradual abolition of slavery as a mulatto woman, indicating mixed ancestry under the racial classifications of the period. These records list her as being enslaved to the heirs of Dr. Samuel Kennedy. Two enslaved girls, Lucia and Kitte, are recorded alongside her and are also designated as mulatto. Their ages are not recorded, but the fact that they were children or young girls suggests a possible familial relationship to Rina, potentially as her daughters. However, no surviving documentation confirms this relationship, and it must remain uncertain.
Rina was enslaved within the household of Dr. Samuel Kennedy and his wife, Sarah Kennedy. It is highly suspected, though not definitively documented, that Rina came into the Kennedy household through Sarah Kennedy’s family, as Sarah’s father, Job Ruston, owned over one hundred enslaved people during his lifetime. In contrast, no evidence has been found that the Kennedy family owned enslaved people prior to Samuel Kennedy’s marriage to Sarah. Regardless of origin, enslaved labor, alongside indentured servitude, was a standard feature of wealthy planter households in this region and period.
Within the Kennedy household, Rina likely served in a domestic role rather than agricultural labor. Her duties most likely included serving as a lady’s maid to Sarah Kennedy, tending to her daily needs, acting as a companion, assisting with household management, helping with hosting duties during the period when the hospital was in operation, and caring for Sarah and Samuel Kennedy’s younger children. Despite the comparatively domestic nature of this labor, Rina’s life remained legally constrained, coercive, and dehumanizing. Other than mentions in slave records and Dr. Kennedy’s will, no personal writings or direct testimony from Rina, Lucia, or Kitte survive.
Biographical Timeline
circa 1740s
- Rina was likely born around this period, based on later age estimates in legal and estate records, though no birth record, birthplace, or parentage survives to confirm this.
before Samuel Kennedy’s marriage to Sarah Kennedy
- Sometime before the marriage, Rina may have lived within the household of Job Ruston, Sarah Kennedy’s father, who owned a large number of enslaved people. This remains an inference based on circumstantial evidence and cannot be confirmed through surviving records.
after Samuel Kennedy’s marriage to Sarah Kennedy
- Rina became part of the Kennedy household, either through transfer at marriage or shortly thereafter. From this point forward, she lived and worked within the Kennedy home as an enslaved household servant.
during the years of the hospital’s operation
- During the period when the hospital was active, Rina likely served as Sarah Kennedy’s lady’s maid and assisted with hosting duties, while also helping to care for the Kennedy children. These responsibilities would have placed her at the center of domestic life while remaining enslaved.
1780
- Pennsylvania passed a gradual abolition law that allowed for the eventual freeing of enslaved people, typically by the age of thirty-one, depending on circumstances. Despite this legal pathway, Rina and the two girls enslaved alongside her were not designated for manumission.
at the time of Dr. Samuel Kennedy’s death
- In Dr. Kennedy’s will, Rina is listed as being forty years old at the time of his death, suggesting a birth period similar to that of Sarah Kennedy. Lucia and Kitte are also recorded as enslaved individuals within the household at this time.
post–Dr. Samuel Kennedy’s death
- Following Dr. Kennedy’s death, Rina, Lucia, and Kitte were formally recorded as “slaves for life” under the ownership of Dr. Kennedy’s heirs. Unlike some neighboring families with fewer enslaved people, the Kennedy heirs did not grant freedom to Rina or the two girls, despite the legal and social precedents that made manumission possible.
1790
- Pennsylvania slave records created after the state’s gradual banning of slavery list Rina as a mulatto woman approximately forty-five years old, enslaved to the heirs of Dr. Samuel Kennedy. Lucia and Kitte are recorded alongside her, also designated as mulatto.
March 16, 1792
- Funeral expense records related to the reburial of Dr. Samuel Kennedy include an entry noting the “loss of a negro dead.” The identity of this individual is not specified, and no cause of death is recorded. Because Rina, Lucia, and Kitte disappear from the documentary record after this point, this date stands as a possible, though unconfirmed, death date for Rina.
Further research ongoing!