Lydia Broadnax was born into slavery around 1742. She was enslaved by
George Wythe in Williamsburg, forced to work as a housemaid and cook for his household. She may have first been referenced in 1778 when Martha Jefferson noted that she "gave Mrs. Wythe's cook" eighteen shillings. Wythe filed
manumission papers for Broadnax on August 20, 1787, two days after his wife Elizabeth's death. She likely adopted her surname after gaining her freedom. Four years later, Broadnax accompanied Wythe as he moved to Richmond, where he had previously commuted four times yearly to handle the Chancery Court business. By 1797, Broadnax owned her own home, where she and Brown lived, and operated a boarding house. Wythe took an interest in Brown, taught him
Greek, and shared his personal library with him. On May 25, 1806, Broadnax was likely poisoned by George Wythe Sweeney, who had poisoned the Wythe's household coffee with arsenic, intending to murder his great-uncle George Wythe to obtain his inheritance. Broadnax survived the poisoning but was left almost completely blinded and in poor health. Because African American witnesses were not permitted to testify against white defendants in Virginia at that time, Broadnax was barred from presenting her evidence to the court during the George Sweeney Trial, where he was found not guilty and acquitted of all charges. After George Wythe died in 1806, Broadnax contacted Thomas Jefferson for financial assistance. Jefferson sent Broadnax $50. Jefferson also borrowed a portrait of Wythe owned by Broadnax to have a copy made for his
Monticello estate. In 1819, Broadnax again sought Jefferson's assistance when
William DuVal (Wythe's executor) sold her house in Richmond despite provisions in Wythe's will to provide for her after his death.
Relationship with Wythe Some historians have regarded Broadnax as the possible
concubine of Wythe and mother of Michael Brown. Historian
Fawn M. Brodie, who linked Thomas Jefferson and
Sally Hemings, has suggested that Broadnax was Wythe's lover and that Michael Brown was their son. Historian
Bruce Chadwick also included this claim in his 2009 book regarding Wythe. This assertion was also recorded in the 1856 "
Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe," also known as the "Dove Memo," which was a statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, Virginia, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Historian
Philip D. Morgan has noted that there is no documented gossip about Wythe and Broadnax when they were alive, unlike the case of Jefferson and Hemings, which was covered by newspapers and in individuals' letters and diaries. == Death and legacy ==