Mary Hemings
Encyclopedia
Mary Hemings, also known as Mary Hemings Bell (1753-after 1834), was born into slavery
, most likely in Charles City County, Virginia
, as the oldest child of Elizabeth Hemings, a mixed-race slave held by John Wayles
. After the death of Wayles in 1773, Elizabeth, Mary and her family were inherited by Thomas Jefferson
, the husband of Martha Wayles Skelton, a daughter of Wayles, and all moved to Monticello
.
While Jefferson was in France, Hemings was hired out to Thomas Bell, a wealthy white merchant in Charlottesville, Virginia
. She became his common-law wife and they had two children together. Bell purchased her and the children from Jefferson in 1792 and informally freed them. Mary Hemings Bell was the first Hemings to gain freedom. The couple lived together all their lives. (They were prohibited from marriage by Virginia law at the time.)
In 2007 Mary Hemings Bell was recognized as a Patriot
of the Daughters of the American Revolution
, because she had been taken as a prisoner of war during the American Revolution
. By this honor, all her female descendants are eligible to join the DAR.
slave who was the daughter of Susannah, an enslaved African, and John Hemings, an English sea captain.
During Jefferson's stay in Paris as US minister to France, his overseer hired out Mary Hemings (with her two younger children) to Thomas Bell in Charlottesville. The two became common-law partners and had two children together:
At Mary's request, after his return Jefferson sold Mary and her two younger children to Bell in 1792. Bell informally freed the three of them that year, acknowledging the children as his. (Jefferson told his superintendent to "dispose of Mary according to her desire, with such of her younger children as she chose." He kept Mary's slightly older children, Joseph Fossett, only 12, and Betsy, then age nine. They were likely cared for by aunts and grandmother..)
Thomas and Mary Bell lived the remainder of their lives together, and Thomas Bell became a good friend of Jefferson. Mary Hemings Bell was the first of Betty's children to gain freedom. When Thomas Bell died in 1800, he left Mary and their Bell children a sizable estate, treating them as free in his will. The property included lots on Charlottesville’s Main Street. He depended on his neighbors and friends to carry out his wishes, which they did.
Mary Hemings finished her days in Charlottesville. Her grave site remains unknown.
in 1797, Jefferson gave Betsy Hemmings at age 14 to them as a wedding gift. She had to leave her family, and lived with the Eppes family for the rest of her life.
The Hemmings descendants' oral tradition is that after Mary Jefferson Eppes died, the then-21-year-old Betsy became the concubine of the young widower John Eppes. They had a daughter Frances together and other children. Their relationship continued after he married a second time five years later, although it was not openly acknowledged. Betsy Hemmings was buried next to Eppes in his family cemetery at the plantation. His second wife was buried at her daughter's plantation.
Decades later, in 1826 Jefferson freed Joseph Fossett by his will, in recognition of his valuable service as an ironworker
. To settle debts of the estate, 130 Monticello slaves were sold, including Fossett's wife Edy and children. With the help of his mother Mary Bell and other free family members, Fossett over several years purchased the freedom of his wife and most of his children. The family moved from Virginia to the free state of Ohio about 1840.
In 1833 his son Peter Fossett's master, John Jones, reneged on his previous agreement to sell the boy back to Fossett. According to Peter Fossett's memoir, published in The New York World, 30 January 1898, he had learned to read and write. Peter Fossett gave his sister Isabel, also still enslaved, a "free pass" enabling her to travel; she escaped to Boston and freedom. Peter escaped twice but was captured, and in 1850 was sold. Friends of his father's bought him and freed him; he then joined his father and the rest of the family in Cincinnati.
, he moved his family and a number of his slaves, including Mary Hemings and Betty Brown, to Williamsburg
, then the capital of Virginia. The following year he relocated his household to the new capital of Richmond
. With the American Revolutionary War
underway, when Benedict Arnold’s
forces raided Richmond searching (unsuccessfully) for Jefferson, they took Mary Hemings and other Jefferson slaves as prisoners of war. They were freed from the British later that year by General Washington's
forces during the siege of Yorktown
.
cloth and a red leather hat and shoes, grand compared to the attire of children of field slaves.
One of Mary's most notable descendants was William Monroe Trotter
, who became a prominent Boston
newspaper publisher, human rights activist, and a founder of the Niagara Movement
, precursor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP). Trotter graduated magna cum laude
from Harvard University
in 1895; in his junior year he became the first man of color to earn a Phi Beta Kappa key there. Trotter was a contemporary of fellow Harvard alumnus W. E. B. Du Bois. In 1896, Trotter earned a master's degree
from Harvard, planning a career in international banking. But despite his outstanding credentials, racism
thwarted his efforts to find work in that field.
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, most likely in Charles City County, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, as the oldest child of Elizabeth Hemings, a mixed-race slave held by John Wayles
John Wayles
John Wayles was a planter, slave trader and lawyer in the Virginia Colony. He is historically best known as the father-in-law of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States....
. After the death of Wayles in 1773, Elizabeth, Mary and her family were inherited by Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, the husband of Martha Wayles Skelton, a daughter of Wayles, and all moved to Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
.
While Jefferson was in France, Hemings was hired out to Thomas Bell, a wealthy white merchant in Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
. She became his common-law wife and they had two children together. Bell purchased her and the children from Jefferson in 1792 and informally freed them. Mary Hemings Bell was the first Hemings to gain freedom. The couple lived together all their lives. (They were prohibited from marriage by Virginia law at the time.)
In 2007 Mary Hemings Bell was recognized as a Patriot
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
, because she had been taken as a prisoner of war during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. By this honor, all her female descendants are eligible to join the DAR.
Early life and education
Mary was born to Elizabeth Hemings, also called Betty, a mulattoMulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
slave who was the daughter of Susannah, an enslaved African, and John Hemings, an English sea captain.
Marriage and family
Mary Hemings had six children:- Daniel Farley (1772-after 1827), Jefferson gave him to his sister),
- Molly Hemings (1777-after 1790), Jefferson gave her to his daughter Martha as a wedding gift), together with seven other slaves;
- Joseph Fossett (1780-1858), his father was William Fossett, a white workman at MonticelloMonticelloMonticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
. He was freed by Jefferson in his 1826 will after decades of service; and - Betsy HemmingsJohn Wayles EppesJohn Wayles Eppes was an attorney, a United States Representative and a Senator from Virginia. One of the planter class, he married his first cousin Maria Jefferson, the youngest surviving daughter of Martha Wayles Skelton and Thomas Jefferson...
, b. 1783. Her descendants say their family oral tradition is that Betsy was fathered by the recently widowed Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, whose wife died in 1782. The historian Lucia Stanton found documentation that Mary Hemings was one of the household slaves whom Jefferson took to Williamsburg and Richmond to care for the family when he was governor, from 1779-1781. Jefferson gave Betsy Hemmings at the age of 14, and 29 other slaves, to his daughter Mary Jefferson Eppes and her new husband John Wayles EppesJohn Wayles EppesJohn Wayles Eppes was an attorney, a United States Representative and a Senator from Virginia. One of the planter class, he married his first cousin Maria Jefferson, the youngest surviving daughter of Martha Wayles Skelton and Thomas Jefferson...
as a wedding gift. Betsy lived with the Eppes family for the rest of her life. Her descendants say she was his concubine from about age 21, when he was widowed, and through his second marriage.
During Jefferson's stay in Paris as US minister to France, his overseer hired out Mary Hemings (with her two younger children) to Thomas Bell in Charlottesville. The two became common-law partners and had two children together:
- Robert Washington Bell and
- Sally Jefferson Bell.
At Mary's request, after his return Jefferson sold Mary and her two younger children to Bell in 1792. Bell informally freed the three of them that year, acknowledging the children as his. (Jefferson told his superintendent to "dispose of Mary according to her desire, with such of her younger children as she chose." He kept Mary's slightly older children, Joseph Fossett, only 12, and Betsy, then age nine. They were likely cared for by aunts and grandmother..)
Thomas and Mary Bell lived the remainder of their lives together, and Thomas Bell became a good friend of Jefferson. Mary Hemings Bell was the first of Betty's children to gain freedom. When Thomas Bell died in 1800, he left Mary and their Bell children a sizable estate, treating them as free in his will. The property included lots on Charlottesville’s Main Street. He depended on his neighbors and friends to carry out his wishes, which they did.
Mary Hemings finished her days in Charlottesville. Her grave site remains unknown.
Descendants
Jefferson kept Mary's older children Betsy Hemmings and Joseph Fossett enslaved at Monticello. He had already given away her children Daniel and Molly to his sister and daughter, respectively. When his daughter Mary Jefferson married John Wayles EppesJohn Wayles Eppes
John Wayles Eppes was an attorney, a United States Representative and a Senator from Virginia. One of the planter class, he married his first cousin Maria Jefferson, the youngest surviving daughter of Martha Wayles Skelton and Thomas Jefferson...
in 1797, Jefferson gave Betsy Hemmings at age 14 to them as a wedding gift. She had to leave her family, and lived with the Eppes family for the rest of her life.
The Hemmings descendants' oral tradition is that after Mary Jefferson Eppes died, the then-21-year-old Betsy became the concubine of the young widower John Eppes. They had a daughter Frances together and other children. Their relationship continued after he married a second time five years later, although it was not openly acknowledged. Betsy Hemmings was buried next to Eppes in his family cemetery at the plantation. His second wife was buried at her daughter's plantation.
Decades later, in 1826 Jefferson freed Joseph Fossett by his will, in recognition of his valuable service as an ironworker
Ironworker
Ironworker is a class of machines that can shear, notch, and punch holes in steel plate. Ironworkers generate force using mechanical advantage or hydraulic systems. Modern systems use hydraulic rams powered by a heavy alternating current electric motor. High strength carbon steel blades and dies...
. To settle debts of the estate, 130 Monticello slaves were sold, including Fossett's wife Edy and children. With the help of his mother Mary Bell and other free family members, Fossett over several years purchased the freedom of his wife and most of his children. The family moved from Virginia to the free state of Ohio about 1840.
In 1833 his son Peter Fossett's master, John Jones, reneged on his previous agreement to sell the boy back to Fossett. According to Peter Fossett's memoir, published in The New York World, 30 January 1898, he had learned to read and write. Peter Fossett gave his sister Isabel, also still enslaved, a "free pass" enabling her to travel; she escaped to Boston and freedom. Peter escaped twice but was captured, and in 1850 was sold. Friends of his father's bought him and freed him; he then joined his father and the rest of the family in Cincinnati.
Other events
In 1780, after Jefferson was elected governor of VirginiaGovernor of Virginia
The governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....
, he moved his family and a number of his slaves, including Mary Hemings and Betty Brown, to Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
, then the capital of Virginia. The following year he relocated his household to the new capital of Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. With the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
underway, when Benedict Arnold’s
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War. He began the war in the Continental Army but later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted to surrender it to the British forces...
forces raided Richmond searching (unsuccessfully) for Jefferson, they took Mary Hemings and other Jefferson slaves as prisoners of war. They were freed from the British later that year by General Washington's
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
forces during the siege of Yorktown
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...
.
Family
Though free, Mary Hemings remained in close communication with her enslaved family at Monticello and was remembered by them many years after her death. As an elderly man, her grandson Peter Fossett recalled how when he was a child, his free grandmother Mary gave him a suit of blue nankeenNankeen
Nankeen, also called Nankeen cloth, is a kind of pale yellowish cloth, originally made at Nanjing from a yellow variety of cotton, but subsequently manufactured from ordinary cotton which is then dyed...
cloth and a red leather hat and shoes, grand compared to the attire of children of field slaves.
One of Mary's most notable descendants was William Monroe Trotter
William Monroe Trotter
William Monroe Trotter was a newspaper editor and real estate business man, and an activist for African-American civil rights. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Harvard University, and was the first man of color to earn a Phi Beta Kappa key...
, who became a prominent Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
newspaper publisher, human rights activist, and a founder of the Niagara Movement
Niagara Movement
The Niagara Movement was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and Niagara Falls, the Canadian side of which was where the first meeting took...
, precursor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP). Trotter graduated magna cum laude
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1895; in his junior year he became the first man of color to earn a Phi Beta Kappa key there. Trotter was a contemporary of fellow Harvard alumnus W. E. B. Du Bois. In 1896, Trotter earned a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
from Harvard, planning a career in international banking. But despite his outstanding credentials, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
thwarted his efforts to find work in that field.
Legacy and honors
- In 2007, Mary Hemings was named a PatriotPatriot (American Revolution)Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
of the Daughters of the American RevolutionDaughters of the American RevolutionThe Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
by virtue of her prisoner of warPrisoner of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
status during the Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. This automatically qualifies her female descendants as eligible to join the DAR. Mary Hemings was the first Monticello slave to be honored by the DAR.