Guide
10 sites in Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield associated with Mum Bet’s life and quest for freedom.
Mum Bet (c. 1744 – 1829) was enslaved in the Sheffield home of Col. John Ashley. In 1781 she successfully sued Col. Ashley for her freedom, whereupon she took the name of Elizabeth Freeman and when with her daughter to work for the Sedgwick family in Stockbridge. She was respected as a skilled and caring nurse and midwife and lived the last twenty-one years of her life in her own home with her family. She is buried in their family plot in Stockbridge Cemetery.
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Produced by The Trustees of Reservations in 2008. Revised 2020.