Existing comment:
Elizabeth Keckley
b February 1818 / d May 1907
Born in Dinwiddie County to plantation owner Armistead Burwell and his slave Agnes, Keckley purchased her freedom in 1855 and supported herself as a seamstress. In Washington, Mary Todd Lincoln hired Keckley as her dressmaker, and she soon became Lincoln's personal companion. Their friendship ended with the publication in 1869 of Keckley's memoir, which Mrs. Lincoln felt betrayed her. |