Early Life
Ellen Craft was born in 1826 in Clinton, Georgia to Maria, a mixed-race slave, and her wealthy planter master, Major James Smith. At least three-quarters European by ancestry, Ellen was very fair and resembled other children in her master's family, to whom she was a half-sister. Smith's wife gave the 11-year old slave Ellen as a wedding gift to her daughter Eliza Cromwell Smith to get the girl out of the household and remove the evidence of her husband's infidelity. Ellen was taken to the city of Macon after Eliza Smith married Dr. Robert Collins. Ellen grew up as a house servant to Eliza, which gave her privileged access to information about the area.
Read more about this topic: Ellen And William Craft
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