History Lesson: Stagecoach Mary Mary Fields began her life as a
slave in Tennessee in 1832, the exact date unknown. Mary’s
mother Susanna was the personal servant to the plantation
owner’s wife, Mrs. Dunnes. The plantation wife also had a
daughter who was born within two weeks of Mary, and named Dolly.
Mrs. Dunne allowed the children to play together. Over the years
Mary was taught to read and write and the two girls became best
friends. At sixteen, Dolly was sent to boarding school in Ohio
and Mary was left all alone. Mary’s father worked in the fields
on the Dunnes’ farm. He was sold after Mary was born. Mary’s
mother wanted her daughter to have a last name, so since her
father Buck worked in the fields, her mother decided her last
name should be Fields. So thus Mary Fields came to be. After
Mary’s mother passed away, Mary became the head of the household
at the young age of fourteen. After Dolly went away to boarding
school, The Civil War began. The slaves were left to fend for
themselves. It was during th