Mary Hemings

Mary Hemings
Born	1753 Charles City County, Virginia
Died	after 1834 Charlottesville, Virginia
Nationality	American
Occupation	Domestic servant; free homemaker
Parent(s)	Elizabeth Hemings
Relatives	Sally Hemings, John Hemings, James Hemings, Madison Hemings, Eston Hemings, John Wayles Jefferson

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.

Mary was born into slavery to Elizabeth Hemings, a mulatto slave also called Betty. Elizabeth was the daughter of an enslaved African woman and John Hemings, an English sea captain. Mary's father was probably a slave.

Mary Hemings had six children:

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:

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