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Annie Lydia (Bostick) Roberts

Biography:

Ms. Annie Lydia (Bostick) Roberts is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery near Westminster, Maryland.

Ms. Bostick was born enslaved, as her mother (profiled last week) was enslaved by Colonel Thomas Hook, a Veteran of the War of 1812. She was born about 1845 and sold away from her mother and sister when she was about 11 years old. Mr. Jacob Reese paid Col. Hook $350 to enslave her. In May of the following year (1857), Mr. Reese sold her for $360 to Mr. Alfred Zollickoffer.

Ms. Bostick was finally manumitted when the Maryland legislature amended the State Constitution in November of 1864, when she was about 19 years old.

In 1872, she married Mr. Summerfield Roberts, a Veteran of the Civil War. They had twin daughters. In 1880, they were living in Union Bridge, Maryland, with his mother, Mrs. Salena Roberts, and sister. Mr. Roberts died in early 1890. Mrs. Roberts then received his Army pension.

She continued to work as a domestic. By 1900, she was working for and living with Mrs. Emily Rippard in Westminster, Maryland. Mrs. Roberts had amassed enough wealth to loan her employer $1165, which was secured with a mortgage on the house in which they both lived.

Ms. Roberts apparently had the skin condition, vitiligo, in which the melanin-producing cells stop doing so. The condition affects people of all skin types, although most noticeable in Black people. The condition was remarkable enough to be noted in her obituaries.

Mrs. Annie Lydia (Bostick) Roberts died in 1904, and her estate was divided between her two daughters.

Democratic Advocate, 26 Nov 1904

American Sentinel, Nov 25, 1904

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