Year: 1907
Polly Steptoe was born circa 1836 in Bedford County, Virginia. Given the time and place of her birth, she was likely born into slavery, though early records of her life remain limited. By 1870, she appears in the federal census in Bedford County within the Steptoe household. The precise nature of that relationship is unclear, a common challenge when tracing African American families in the years immediately following emancipation. By 1880, Polly was listed as widowed and the mother of two children, Sarah and John. At some point thereafter, she relocated to Roanoke, Virginia, where she worked as a laundress. She lived at 626 Walker Avenue NE, supporting herself and her family through skilled domestic labor during a period when opportunities for Black women were often limited to physically demanding work. Polly Steptoe died on April 16, 1907, at the age of seventy. She is buried at Old Lick Cemetery in Roanoke, Virginia. Her life reflects the experience of many African American women born before the Civil War—women whose early years were shaped by enslavement, whose middle years were defined by labor and resilience, and whose stories survive today through scattered records and quiet perseverance.
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