Ironing and cooking were two of the more dangerous as well as skilled positions for urban enslaved people working in homes. Both required significant knowledge and working with fire. Mary was an enslaved ironer and laundress for the Hermanns beginning sometime before 1838. It is likely she was with the family for a considerable amount of time, as after Mrs. Hermann’s death, her son Louis Florian purchased Mary from his mother’s estate with the intention of emancipating her – and did so several months later.