Oscar Warfield

Mr. Warfield was born in the 1820s in Maryland. He was likely born enslaved, possibly by the Warfield family, and therefore took that name. He was manumitted sometime in the 1840s, and married Ms. Catherine Johnson in 1849. They lived near Frederick, in a small community of other free Black families. Mr. Warfield worked as a laborer.

By 1860, the family had grown and their six children were all living with them in an area called Franklin (near what is now Franklinville Road and Sams Creek. Throughout the 1860s, the young Warfield children would be bound out to nearby families and the money earned would be returned to Mr. Warfield. As schools were yet to be established for African American children, they would be working as young as 9 or 10 years old. Following the war, the family moved to the city of Westminster. In 1870, he is working as a day laborer while his wife was taking care of their children. The couple had at least 10 children, including Private Daniel Warfield who served in the US Army during the Civil War.

Mr. Oscar Warfield died on the 1st of April in 1888. His wife, Catherine, likely predeceased him, as she is not mentioned in his will. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery.