Peter Farley Fossett

Peter Farley Fosset (1815-1901) was the son of Joseph Fossett and Edith (Edy) Hern. Joseph Fossett (1780-1858) was a member of the Hemings family that came to Monticello through Thomas Jefferson's marriage to Martha Wayles Skelton. His mother was Mary Hemings, the eldest daughter of Elizabeth "Betty" Hemings.

Joseph Fossett was foreman of the Monticello blacksmith shop and one of only five enslaved men freed by Jefferson in his will. Edith Fossett (1787-1854) trained in Washington, D.C., under a French chef and served as chief cook at Monticello during the period of Jefferson's retirement. It was of her cooking that Daniel Webster spoke when he described the meals at Monticello as "in half Virginian, half French style, in good taste and abundance."

Along with his mother and seven siblings, Peter Fossett was sold in the January 1827 auction following Jefferson's death. Joseph Fossett was later able to purchase the freedom of his wife and some of his eight children and move with them to Ohio in about 1840. But Peter Fossett's new owner refused to sell him to his father.

In his reminiscences, published in 1898, Peter Fossett recalled the contrast between Monticello and the plantation of his new master, Col. John Jones, where he was threatened with a whipping if ever found with a book in his hand. Fossett nevertheless continued to learn to read and write and passed his knowledge on to his fellow slaves by stealth.

In 1850, after two attempts to run away, Fossett was placed again on the auction block. Through the combined efforts of his father, family members, and friends of Jefferson, his freedom was purchased and he joined his family in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became one of the city's most prominent caterers, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and pastor of First Baptist Church, Cumminsville, where he served for 32 years. For more on Peter Fossett, see "The Ties That Bind."

Sarah Mayrant Walker Fossett (1826-1906), wife of Peter Fossett, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to Rufus and Judith Mayrant. As a child she was sent to New Orleans, Louisiana, to study hair care, hair styling, and the manufacture of hair care products under a French specialist. She moved to Cincinnati with the family of a Captain Gwynne, and became a successful hairdresser.

Like her husband, Mrs. Fossett was active in the Underground Railroad and was well known for her philanthropic and charitable activities. Public outrage after she was dragged by a streetcar, when the conductor attempted to bar her entry, brought about the integration of Cincinnati's streetcars.

Bessie Kelley Curtis was the daughter of John and Martha Fossett Kelley, the only daughter of Peter and Sarah Fossett.

  

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