"Elleanor Eldridge" {March 26,1785-1865?)

Was the youngest of seven daughters and two sons born to Hannah and Robin

Eldridge Her daddy and two uncles, were Africans brought to Rhode Island on a slave ship,earned their freedom by fighting in the American Revolutionary War.They had been promised 200 acres of land in New York.Instead they were given a worthless sum;her daddy was eventually able to save for the purchase of a small parcel land build a home in Warwick.Her mama was part Native American,died when Elleanor was 10.Much to her daddy's disdain,Elleanor began washing clothes as a live-in servant for the Baker family,of Warwick,one of her mama's clients.Elleanor made 25 cents a week doing laundry for the family.She also became skilled at spinning,arithmetic and weaving and became an accomplished weaver at 14.Three years later,she began working as a dairy woman for the family of Capt.Benjamin Greene.Elleanor quickly became well-known for her premium quality cheeses.When she was 19,her father died and she put her skills and savvy to use settling his estate.Elleanor continued to work for Capt Greene for five more years until his death.She then to live with her sister in Adams,Massachusetts.While there she and her sisters and brothers started a a business of weaving,washing and soap boiling.Money from that venture enable her to buy land and build a house,which she rented for $ 40 per year.After three years,Elleanor returned to Providence,where she contracted herself out for whitewashing,wallpapering,and painting during warm months and laundering miscellaneous work for private families,hotels and boarding houses during the winter months.By 1822,she had saved enough to purchased another lot and built for $1,700,a house for herself and a renter.While Elleanor did not marry,she made her mark in the community as an entrepreneurial force;her work was highly praised and she was much respected.Within five years,she brought two more lots and a house in Warwick.At the age of 46 she suffered from her second bout with typhus fever.A rumor circulated that she had died.Upon her return several months later,Elleanor discovered that a deceitful opportunist to have a petition to have all her property sold,to pay off a $240 loan she acquired just before her illness.The sale never combined her properties which were valued at more $4,000 and were illegally auctioned off without family notification.She was able to claim rights to the property and Elleanor took her case to court to expose the law officials who lied about the process.Outraged friends charged that such theft would have never happened to a white man certainly not a white woman.During this time despite her own troubles.Elleanor abandon her desire for care giving.During a Providence cholera epidemic,in 1832,many families escaped to rural areas in seeking safety:She escorted a family to Pomfret Connecticut,where she cared for their child.In 1837,she represented herself in court and was able to regain her property for $ 2,700,in and out-of-court settlement.She wrote "Memoirs of Ellennor Eldridge" in 1838;the book is is one of few narratives of free African Americans in the 1800's.Is it believed that Elleanor died 1865 at the age of 80.