Lucy Bell

Lucy Bell. . , For close to 100 years, Lucy Bell struggled to keep her family safe, free, and united. Born a slave on a Prince George's County plantation before the Revolutionary War, Bell learned at a young age the stark reality of being someone else's property. In 1797, her master died, leaving her to his wife but her two-year-old daughter Ann , who is buried here with her mother , to his son. Lucy then gave birth to three more children. In 1810, the master's wife died and left Lucy to another son. Two of her younger children were bequeathed to the first son. A younger daughter, however, ended up being bequeathed to a daughter who died and left her to her daughter and son-in-law. Eventually, many of Lucy's children ended up the property of one nephew with a stipulation in the will that they could not be taken from the state or sold., By the time of the 1820 Census, Lucy Bell was living in Washington as head of the household and free. Some of her children living with her are shown as free, while others are enslaved. Over the next 50 years, Lucy and her family used every means necessary to keep them together and free: lawsuits, self-purchase, the goodwill of owners, raising money from abolitionists and finally when all else failed, escape using the underground railroad., Upon Lucy's death in 1862, her family recognized her leadership and sacrifice by laying her to rest here in the preeminent burial ground of the Capital city and providing her with this elegant, and expensive, headstone., Born: Circa 1763 Died: June 8, 1862.