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Lucy Cottrell and Pavilion IV

Lucy Cottrell was born at Monticello in approximately 1823 to Dorothea Dolly Cottrell, an enslaved woman who worked as a domestic servant. In 1827 Professor G.W. Blaettermann bought Dolly and Lucy and brought them to UVA.

Lucy worked as a cook and did a variety of other domestic work in Pavilion IV while enslaved at UVA. Blaetterman separated from his wife Elizabeth and after his death in 1850 Elizabeth brought Dolly and Lucy with her to Maysville, Kentucky. Dolly and Lucy attained their freedom in 1855 but continued to work in Elizabeth’s household.

At some time after the move to Maysville, Lucy married Peter Morton. Their first son, John, was born in 1856. In 1862 or 1863 Lucy and Peter moved to Cincinnati where they had three daughters: Sarah, Mary, and Nettie. Lucy died of pneumonia in 1887 in what were likely her mid 60s. Peter died in 1909 of unknown causes. 

Lucy Cottrell