Aaron and Charlotte Dupuy were enslaved to Henry and Lucretia Hart Clay. Their story has been pieced together through reading legal documents, written history of the Clay family, census records, newspaper articles and Lexington city directories.
Aaron served as a personal servant for Henry Clay and traveled with him. He was also reported that Aaron drove the funeral carriage transporting Henry Clay's body to the Lexington Cemetery in 1852. Aaron's obituary stated that he had been born in Hanover County, Virginia and had been a servant in the family of Henry Clay's mother, Elizabeth Hudson Clay. He reportedly died at Ashland, the residence of John M. Clay, son of Henry and Lucretia. Aaron was seventy-eight years of age at his death on February 6, 1866. He left a widow, daughter and grandchildren.
Charlotte had been brought to Kentucky by James Condon, a tailor, in 1805. He had purchased her as a child from Daniel Parker of Cambridge, Maryland. In 1806, Aaron and Charlotte approached Henry Clay stating that they had married and asked him to purchase Charlotte to prevent her and Aaron from possibly being separated if Mr. Condon left Kentucky. James Condon did leave in 1809 to settle in Tennessee. By the time Charlotte came to live with the Clay family, Lucretia had given birth to Henrietta, Theodore, Thomas Hart and Susan. Charlotte was assigned to the household to provide for the family as cook and nursemaid for the children and eventually the grandchildren. She was still with the family during the births of the remaining seven children and the deaths of eight of the eleven children born to the Clays.
Charlotte, Aaron and their two children, Mary and Charles, traveled with the Clay family to Washington, D.C. when Clay became Secretary of the United States in 1825. They lived in the servant's quarters of the Decatur House, just across the street from the nation's White House. When Henry Clay lost the position in 1829 to Martin Van Buren, the Clays and the Dupuys returned to Kentucky. However, Charlotte filed a suit in the United States Circuit Court to gain her freedom. Her previous owner had promised freedom after "long and faithful service"; she had been an enslaved servant since birth. For a year she remained in Washington working at the Decatur House while the suit was investigated. The court concluded that the promise made by Condon had no binding effect on Henry Clay, therefore her request was denied. She was escorted back to Kentucky when the final ruling was made in 1830. Clay sent her to New Orleans to become nursemaid for his daughter's children.
Clay did finally emancipate Charlotte and Mary Anne, her daughter in 1840. Charles, the son, was not emancipated until 1844. There has been no deed of emancipation found, as yet, for Aaron in Kentucky. However, in the 1860 census for Fayette County, Aaron and Charlotte Dupuy are found living in Ward #2 in Lexington in the household of Joseph Coleman. All are listed as free African-Americans. Aaron's age was seventy-seven years and Charlotte's was seventy years. Aaron's occupation was carriage driver.
The Dupuy family was living and working in the Clay household when Abraham Lincoln visited Lexington. Aaron may have driven Clay to the Market House to make his speech and been among the spectators. Lincoln may have known of and encountered these free blacks as well as some of those still enslaved by Henry Clay.
