Mary Gridley Bell

Oil painting on canvas: portrait of a woman, believed to be Mary Gridley Bell, seated on red chair wearing a green hat and blue dress with shawl wrapped around and holding an umbrella.

Mary Gridley was only eighteen years old when she married General Asahel Gridley, who would later become known as the richest man in Central Illinois. They were good friends of Abraham Lincoln and enjoyed the comforts of their wealth and Bloomington’s elite society.