Mary Barnes Cabell (1815–1900) was an American

freedwoman A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

who enabled the foundation of

Institute, West Virginia Institute is an unincorporated community on the Kanawha River in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States. Interstate 64 and West Virginia Route 25 pass by the community, which has grown to intermingle with nearby Dunbar. As of 2018, the commu ...

. Her story was dramatized in a movie in 2020 called ''River of Hope''. Cabell, born Mary Barnes, was born enslaved in 1815 and was purchased by bachelor farmer

Samuel I. Cabell Samuel I. Cabell (1802 - July 18, 1865) was a wealthy Virginia plantation owner in the Kanawha River valley who may have been murdered for marrying one of his former slaves and providing for their descendants. Although seven white men were acquit ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. They lived on land that later became

Kanawha County, West Virginia Kanawha County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 180,745, making it West Virginia's most populous county. The county seat is Charleston, which is also the state capital. Kanawha Coun ...

that Cabell had purchased from the heirs of

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

in 1853. She had thirteen children fathered by Cabell. Cabell wrote several wills specifically freeing Mary Barnes, and stating that her children "always have been free." In 1858, Cabell officially freed Mary and all their children. Cabell's minor children were privately educated in Ohio since there were no educational opportunities for them in Virginia due to racist policies, but some returned to the state. One of Cabell's wills also decreed that all his personal wealth divided between Mary Barnes and her children. He was murdered on July 18, 1865. While the rumors of the time said that his murder was because of "white resentment toward his integrated family life," that has never been substantiated and no one was convicted of the crime. Mary Barnes petitioned the county commissioners in 1869 to change her and her children's last name to Cabell. In 1870, the Cabell land was divided among Mary Barnes Cabell and her children. In 1871, the Cabell estate was reported to be worth $42,128, . In 1891, because of the

Morrill Land-Grant Acts The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or se ...

saying certain benefits would be denied to states that didn't educate Black people, the

West Virginia Legislature The West Virginia Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of West Virginia. A bicameral legislative body, the legislature is split between the upper Senate and the lower House of Delegates. It was established under Article VI o ...

passed an act creating the "West Virginia Colored Institute," a high school for educating Black students. The Cabell lands, first known as Cabell Farm and later Pinety Grove, were deemed attractive by Governor

Aretas B. Fleming Aretas Brooks Fleming (October 15, 1839October 13, 1923) was the List of governors of West Virginia, 8th governor of West Virginia. In 1865, he married Carrie Watson Fleming, Carrie Watson."West Virginia's First Ladies," West Virginia Division of ...

. Mary Cabell's daughter Marina sold the state a 30-acre tract for $2,250. This, along with other lots, gradually became the 80-acre campus. The town the land was on was named Institute. The school became

West Virginia State University West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, it is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges and universities ...

and as of the late 1990s many Cabell descendants serve there as faculty and staff. Mary Barnes Cabell died in 1900 and is buried in the Cabell family cemetery alongside Samuel I. Cabell.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabell, Mary Barnes 1815 births 1900 deaths People from Institute, West Virginia Cabell family 19th-century American slaves 19th-century African-American women