Emily Saunders Plummer

Adam then sought a buyer for his wife and children, and ultimately settled on Colonel Livingston Gilbert Thompson from Meridian Hill, Washington D.C.

The sale was completed on December 2, 1852, with Emily and three of her children being transferred to Colonel Thompson while two of them were forced to stay behind at the Three Sisters Plantation.

The move meant the distance between Adam and Emily grew from around eight miles to twenty-six, and he could only visit his wife and children twice a year, on Christmas and Easter.

Emily's problems grew further when her oldest daughter, Sarah Miranda Plummer, was caught attempting to escape from the Three Sisters plantation and was sold to an owner in New Orleans.

Because it was not a common practice to allow slaves to legally marry, the Northern United States and Canada generally recognized marriage licenses as proof of freedom.

The Plummers knew this, and in 1845 they planned to escape with their children to a free state but were foiled when Emily's aunt provided details of the plot and handed over the marriage license to Mrs. Hilleary.

On January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, legally rendering all slaves in the Confederate States of America as free.

Emily made the next step in October 1863, taking along the remaining five children under her care, and going to Baltimore, where they were caught and kept in jail for two months.

Emily was able to befriend the warden by working for him as a cook, and Colonel Thompson failed to pay the fees necessary to retake possession of her and the children.

[12][18][6] Sarah meanwhile started the First Baptist Church of Bladensburg where, on New Year's Eve of 1875, Emily watched her son Henry give his first sermon.