January 25, 1857: "Nothing but her desire to be free, to live with you, would induce me to part with her"

By this point Mary was back in the service of the Thruston family. 

• “About thirteen months ago your Mother, whose master intended to move to New York, was offered for sale. She came to us repeating her desire to live with us, and requested us to buy her. She has always regretted leaving us; and we were willing to receive her again into our family."

Yet this change in Mary's circumstances hardly made Cecelia securing her freedom any easier. Fanny's husband, Andrew Ballard, promised Mary her freedom at the end of six years, or immediately if Cecelia could scrounge up the money to recoup his investment. 

• "Mr. Ballard became her purchaser for the sum of six hundred ($600) dollars, telling her at the same time, that he would bestow upon her, her freedom, at the end of six years. One of the six years has now expired, and she is very anxious, very impatient to see you, whom she expected to visit at the expiration of her service and requested me to make the following proposition to you – which is that you will assist her in raising the sum of $500 necessary in securing her immediate freedom.”  

It's not clear how much power Fanny had to lessen this price or improve Cecelia's chances of freeing her mother. But regardless, despite her affection for Mary and Cecelia, Fanny still presents Mary as an investment, still considering the lives of mother and daughter in terms of sums and losses. 

• "She is a superior cook and laundress and would soon be able to earn that sum at a hotel, or boarding house when, she says she would repay you. She enjoys good health and is a fine servant, and nothing but her desire to be free, to live with you, would induce me to part with her.” 

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Letter from Fanny Thruston Ballard to Cecelia Larrison (née Holmes), 25 January 1857

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