Mary Barnes Cabell

Mary Barnes Cabell (February 1815 – June 11, 1900) was an American freedwoman who enabled the foundation of Institute, West Virginia. Her story was dramatized in a movie in 2020 called River of Hope.

Cabell, born Mary Barnes, was born enslaved in 1815 and was purchased by bachelor farmer Samuel I. Cabell in Virginia. They lived on land that later became Kanawha County, West Virginia that Cabell had purchased from the heirs of Martha Washington in 1853. She had thirteen children fathered by Cabell. In 1858, Cabell officially freed Mary and all their children. Cabell's minor children were privately educated in Ohio since there were no educational opportunities for them in Virginia due to racist policies, but some returned to the state.

Mary Barnes Cabell died in 1900 and is buried in the Cabell family cemetery alongside Samuel I. Cabell.