Mary Mildred Botts (c. 1847-1921) was born enslaved in Virginia, one of three children of Seth Botts and his wife Elizabeth. Seth Botts escaped to Boston where he changed his name to Henry Williams. Three years later, he purchased the freedom of his wife and children, who also changed their last names.
His daughter Mary was very light skinned. Mary came to the attention of the abolitionist Charles Sumner who had seen a daguerreotype of her taken in Washington DC. Sumner brought her to many of his anti-slavery lectures to demonstrate that even a person appeared to be white could be enslaved. After the Civil War, Williams and her mother and sister moved to Hyde Park. Williams worked many years at the Registry of Deeds in Boston and lived a private life as a white woman. She is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.
