Ona Maria Judge, sometimes referred to by the diminutive 'Oney' by her owners, was one of Martha Washington's slaves and chambermaids. She served the Washingtons in Virginia and at the President's House in Philadelphia when Washington was President (the city was the temporary capital from 1790 to 1800). She escaped on May 21, 1796. Washington made two attempts to seize her shortly afterwards, even enlisting the help of the Secretary of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott Jr. in a letter written on September 1, 1796. Later, his nephew visited her and asked for her to return. Neither attempt was successful. Washington acted discreetly to avoid controversy in Philadelphia, which had a strong Quaker abolitionist community.