Villanova University partially owes its existence to an indentured servant who kept the school going after willing his $10,000 farm in 1886 to the school’s Augustinian friars, writes Valerie Russ for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
William Moulden, born to enslaved parents, was the subject of a master’s degree research project by Villanova junior Angelina Lincoln.
“At a time when black men were losing ground, when their rights were slipping away and white men turned their backs on them, Moulden found some who did not,” Lincoln said.
Moulden worked on the Main Line’s Belle-Air estate, owned by John Rudolph, the same man who owned the Maryland plantation where Moulden’s parents were slaves.
Belle-Air was sold in 1842 by Rudolph’s wife to Augustinian priests, who founded the university.
Moulden and his wife were freed from servitude and allowed to farm the property.
He saved enough money to buy a farm down the road.
Moulden left his farm to the Augustinians with the stipulation the friars would protect his family and allow them to stay at the property.
Moulden died in 1893. Daughter Mary followed in 1898. The Augustinians sold the property and put the money toward the financially struggling 19th-century university.
Read more about William Mouden here.
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