boottry.pages.dev

Anna murray douglass children

    •
Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Anna Murray Douglass (b. circa 1813 - d. 1882)
MSA SC 5496-051245
Accomplice to Slave Flight, Caroline County, Maryland

Biography:

    Anna Murray was born around 1813 in Denton, Caroline County, Maryland to two former slaves, Bambarra and Mary Murray.1 According to her daughter, Anna Murray's parents were previously owned by Governor Spriggs.2 Anna was the seventh child of twelve children born of this union, seven were born enslaved and four were born free. Anna was the first of Bambarra and Mary Murray's children that was freeborn.3 When Anna was seventeen years of age, she and three of her siblings, Elizabeth, Philip, and Charlotte, left their parents home in Caroline County and moved to Baltimore, Maryland. The four Murray siblings applied for certificates of freedom in 1832 which granted them the opportunity to leave the county and state for work.4

    When Murray arrived in Baltimore, she found employment at the home of a French family called Montell.5 While in Baltimore, she

    •

Anna Murray Douglass

American abolitionist (1813–1882)

"Anna Murray" redirects here. For American lawyer and priest, see Pauli Murray.

Anna Murray Douglass (1813 – August 4, 1882) was an American abolitionist, member of the Underground Railroad, and the first wife of American social reformer and statesman Frederick Douglass, from 1838 to her death.

Early life

Anna Murray was born in Denton, Maryland, to Bambar(r)aa and Mary Murray.[1][2] Unlike her seven older brothers and sisters, who were born in slavery, Anna Murray and her younger four siblings were born free,[2] her parents having been manumitted just a month before her birth.[3] A resourceful young woman, by the age of 17 she had established herself as a laundress and housekeeper.[2] Her laundry work took her to the docks, where she met Frederick Douglass,b who was then working as a caulker.[2]

Marriage

Further information: Douglass family

Murray's freedom made Douglass believe in the possibility of his own.[2] When he deci

    •
Anna Murray Douglass was the first wife of Frederick Douglass and the mother of all five of their children. Not much research beyond a surface level is available on Anna and how she played a critical role in Frederick’s success. Anna was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, one of 12 children of two parents who were enslaved. Anna left home at 17 and found work as a domestic helper. Frederick and Anna met around 1838 while he was still enslaved and she a free woman. Anna sewed a sailor’s uniform for Frederick and borrowed a freedman’s protection certificate to help him escape to New York. Anna soon followed, and they got married and began their family. While Douglass was away giving speeches and doing other work in the abolitionist movement, Anna kept the home together. Douglass would send money home, and she would pay the bills; she also took up work binding shoes and doing laundry to ensure the family would have no debt. Douglass’s colleagues judged Anna as being “too stupid” and not on Douglass’s “level.” Her being a darker-skinned Black woman also played a significant role in

Copyright ©boottry.pages.dev 2025