Harriet Summers

Biography:

Mrs. Harriet Summers is buried in Ellsworth Cemetery near Westminster, Maryland.

Mrs. Summers was born in 1823 in Maryland. She was likely enslaved as a child and young woman. She was possibly enslaved by Mr. George Patterson, as he claimed a woman named “Harriet” about her age in the 1864 Slave Schedules.

In 1870, she is living in Westminster, with her husband James. Mrs. Summers was working as a washerwoman. By 1880, they have three younger people in their household. These girls might be their daughters or a single daughter and grand-daughters.  No records have been found for them after the 1880 Census.

Mrs. Summers died on August 17, 1892. The Democratic Advocate did not carry an obituary for her, and copies of the American Sentinel are not available for that time frame.

Her headstone has recently been cleaned as part of the restoration of Ellsworth Cemetery.