Esther, an African American woman residing in Chowan County, North Carolina, was enslaved by Anne and James Blount. She is likely the same individual who appeared on a 1759 estate inventory of Anne Blount's deceased father Clement Hall as "girl named Easther." Given this assumption is correct, Esther would have lived with the Hall family until Anne Hall's marriage to James Blount in about 1777. Then Esther likely would have resided at the Blount family plantation, called Mulberry Hill. In 1779 Esther stood trial when she was accused to attempting to poison Anne Blount. According to the charges filed against her, Esther had tried to poison Anne Blount's tea using verdigris, a blue-green compound used in paints and some medicines during the colonial era. The motive for such an act was not recorded. The court found Esther guilty and sentenced her to death by hanging on April 19, 1779.