Charles was one of the sixteen known enslaved people held at the Bush-Holley House. Unlike most of those enslaved by the Bushes, Charles does not appear to be related by blood to the other enslaved individuals in the house. Our earliest known rerecord of Charles is in the first United States Census in 1790, in which he is listed among the enslaved. He was a young teenager.
Charles around 20 when David Bush died in 1797. He was named in the will’s inventory, but he was not willed to anyone in particular. Three years later, Charles is gone from the Bush household along with the only other two enslaved people named in the inventory but not willed to anyone in particular; Jupiter and Peggy. It is likely that they were sold or given away during this time.
We do not know what happened to Charles after he left the Bush household. As he was born before the passing of the Gradual Emancipation Acts, his freedom was not guaranteed by law. There was a free man named Charles Moore in Greenwich of the right age and time to be Charles, but we cannot know if that was him or another.
