L E A R    G R E E N

Lear Green was born in 1837 in Somerset County, located along Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where Lear’s parents, Eliza and John Green, were enslaved by one of Maryland’s most prominent white families, the Howards. At the time of their daughter’s arrival, Eliza and John already had one child, a son, James, who was born about 1833. Two more sons followed Lear’s arrival: Solomon, born about 1840, and Alexander, born in 1841.

In 1843, Lear’s “young mistress” (the daughter of her enslavers), Mary Howard, married a man named James Noble. As a result, Eliza and John Green, as well as their four children, were forced to move with Mary Howard (now Mary Noble) to Noble’s land in Caroline County, MD.