Vital Statistics:

Mary "Polly" Brent was born around 1769, the daughter of William Brent of Virginia. She was married on 16 February, 1789 to Dr. Robert Darnall Sewell, the son of Nicholas Lewis Sewell and Mary Darnall. In 1803 Dr. Sewell inherited the family home at Poplar Hill in Prince George's County.

Polly bore Robert four children:
Robert Darnall Sewell, born 20 August, 1792.
Catherine Digges Sewell, born 1801.
Susan L. B. Sewell, born 1803.

Polly was widowed on 16 December, 1820, and died in July 1822.

When the British invaded the Chesapeake in the summer of 1814, the family was living at Poplar Hill. Dr. Sewell also had a home in Washington City. During the British occupation in late August 1814 (after the "Bladensburg Races") Irish sailors took shelter in the Sewell house and from there fired a shot at General Ross, killing his horse. This overt violation of the truce caused the slaughter of all those found in the Sewell house and setting it alight. It was the only civilian home deliberately set ablaze in D.C.

In talking to Polly Sewell, she has opinions about the origins of the war and her opposition to the politics involved. Depending on the venue and the timing, she covers the events up to that point. If the presentation is done in a school setting, she speaks from the vantage of the war being over.

Polly also talks about her life at Poplar Hill, managing a household of children and slaves. In 1814 the importation of Africans has ended only 6 years earlier, therefore it is possible that some of the slaves held at Poplar Hill are imports, with their tribal ways, faiths and language.

Polly considers herself a benevolent slave-owner, but does not believe that manumission is necessary nor desirable. She has a Quaker governess who is teaching several of the house slaves to read along with the Sewell children. Polly insists that her slaves read the Bible and attend church. She sees that they are well-dressed, housed and fed. If the discussion is abolition vs slavery, Polly represents the slave-owner who is convinced of the rightness of the peculiar institution.

Polly writes of her adventures in letters to her friend Elizabeth.