Born in West Africa in the mid-1700s, Lucy and her parents were stolen and brought to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where she and her father were sold to Robert Tritton, a ship captain from London. It is not clear what happened to her mother. Lucy and her father were taken to London and were eventually also separated, with Lucy remaining in the Tritton household. At some point the Trittons moved to Nova Scotia, taking Lucy with them. The family had a second home in New Haven, Connecticut, and would go back and forth between the two. In 1790, Robert  Tritton drowned at sea during a storm. Lucy was listed in his estate inventory as one of his most valuable assets. 

In 1799 Lucy gave birth to a daughter, Lois. Apparently experiencing financial challenges, Sara Tritton used Lucy and Lois as collateral for a loan. The initial purchaser of the loan sold it to a man named John Nicoll, and when Sara Tritton could not repay it, New Haven’s sheriff arranged an auction of mother and daughter. On March 8, 1825, perhaps the final sale of enslaved persons in Connecticut took place on the New Haven Green. Lucy and Lois Tritton were sold to Anthony P. Sanford for $10. Said to have been an abolitionist, Sanford set them free. 

Lucy and Lois worked as laundresses in New Haven, where Lucy died in her late 90s. Lois also lived into her 90s, with her obituary appearing in newspapers across the country. Mother and daughter are commemorated with Witness Stones markers at Trinity Church on the Green, which they both attended.