Catherine ("Miss Kitty") Andrew Boyd
1822 - 1851
One of more than a dozen slaves held by Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop James Osgood Andrew, Boyd became a symbol of the national divisions over slavery within the Methodist Church. The issue of slave ownership by Methodist bishops became a point of contention at the national Methodist Conference of 1844 and led to the division of the church into northern and southern branches. Still a subject of controversy, some see Miss Kitty as an innocent pawn in a broad political struggle; others see the history surrounding her in a more malevolent light, claiming that the story surrounding Miss Kitty has been distorted in order to portray her as a loyal and complicit servant to a morally blameless Southern gentleman, a relationship that reflected a “mutual understanding” between the races that exemplified all the gentility and grace of the Old South.
According to primary source documents, Bishop Andrew claimed that he had offered Miss Kitty her freedom, but that she “chose” to remain enslaved. However, as Georgia law at the time would have required Kitty to be sent away to live the rest of her life in Liberia if she was freed, thereby permanently separating her from her friends and family, some have since argued that it was hardly a choice at all. Bishop Andrew then built Kitty her own cabin behind his house where she could live “as free.” It has been suggested by some historians that Miss Kitty could have been Bishop Andrew’s daughter by another slave; others claim that she was his coerced mistress and that he likely fathered at least one of her three children.
Extant documents show that Kitty married a free black man named Nathan Boyd and that they had three children: Alfred (b. 1844), Russell Nathan (b. 1846), and Emma L. (b. 1848). Kitty Boyd died at the age of 29.
It is interesting to note that at the time of her death in 1851 -- prior to emancipation -- Miss Kitty was buried in the all-white section of the Oxford Cemetery.
According to primary source documents, Bishop Andrew claimed that he had offered Miss Kitty her freedom, but that she “chose” to remain enslaved. However, as Georgia law at the time would have required Kitty to be sent away to live the rest of her life in Liberia if she was freed, thereby permanently separating her from her friends and family, some have since argued that it was hardly a choice at all. Bishop Andrew then built Kitty her own cabin behind his house where she could live “as free.” It has been suggested by some historians that Miss Kitty could have been Bishop Andrew’s daughter by another slave; others claim that she was his coerced mistress and that he likely fathered at least one of her three children.
Extant documents show that Kitty married a free black man named Nathan Boyd and that they had three children: Alfred (b. 1844), Russell Nathan (b. 1846), and Emma L. (b. 1848). Kitty Boyd died at the age of 29.
It is interesting to note that at the time of her death in 1851 -- prior to emancipation -- Miss Kitty was buried in the all-white section of the Oxford Cemetery.
Kitty's house as it was.
"Kitty's Cottage" as it is today.