<P> Nancy Gardner Prince (1799 - c. 1856) was an African - American born free in Newburyport, Massachusetts, who wrote about her travels in Russia and Jamaica . The date of her death is uncertain . Her published autobiography includes an account of how her marriage led her to the Russian Courts of Alexander I and Nicholas I . "The author vivdly describes local Russian customs, as well as her experiences of the Saint Petersburg flood of 1824 and the Decembrist Revolt ." </P> <P> Little is known about Prince's family life . Her father, a seaman from Nantucket, died when she was an infant, leaving her in the care of her mother and six siblings . They sold berries to support the family and she eventually went on to work as a servant for white families . In 1824 she married Nero Prince, founder of the Prince Hall Freemasons in Boston . They traveled to Russia, where she opened a boarding home and made infant clothing while her husband was a footman to the czar in St. Petersburg . When they returned to Boston, she started her own seamstress business and gave lectures about her travels to Russia and Jamaica . </P>

A narrative of the life and travels of mrs. nancy prince