Former Site Of Mary Ellen Pleasant Mansion San Francisco 2 Stock Image

Being born a slave, it is difficult to know exactly where or when Mary Ellen was born, but one part of her legend, her mother gave her the name of her white plantation owning father, when she was ten.She was married to an abolitionist plantation owner, James Smith, and when he died, she continued fighting for escaped slaves. Although both James and Mary each had built a fortune of tens of millions of dollars, by the time she dies, in 1904, she was penniless.Due to a fire in the house in 1925 that caused servere damage, the whole house was torn down three years later. All that remains are the six Eucalyptus trees along the Octavia Street side, now the cities smallest official park.As seen 14 December 2022.