A series of pages exploring
various aspects of enslavement in Pennsylvania

Enslavement in Adams County, Pennsylvania

Adams County, Pennsylvania Miscellaneous Enslavement Data

The items and data on this page do not fit into the format of other pages on this site, which is a listing of enslaved persons according to slaveholder. These items do not list a specific slaveholder, yet contain valuable or fascinating data about individual enslaved persons, slave culture or life

Enslavement Data

• John Kellar
• N. G. O’Clare
  Buried in the church yard of Conowago Chapel  are two person noted as "N. G. O’Clare, old, half-breed slave,"  and "John Kellar, old half-breed slave."   Listed below John Kellar is a Catherine Keller, died 1782, but no notes as to a possible relationship.  The author's notes on the cemetery say that burials were made as early as 1752, but were only made regularly from 1771.  No burial or death date is included with the notations. (History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania, Part III, History of Adams County, Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886.)
   
• Patience Hack (Sibb), died 1858, one of last slaves in state
  The History of Cumberland and Adams Counties notes "The old slave, Patience Hack or 'old Tacey,' died at York Springs November 4, 1858, aged about one hundred years.  For years she was cared for by Thomas Stephens’ family."  The death was reported in The Gettysburg Compiler on  December 27, 1858.  The Compiler noted that "Old Tacey" had at one time been the property of the Hatton family, of Huntington Township. This is almost certainly Leonard Hatton, who was taxed for two slaves, the second being "Hack," her husband. (Adams County Historical Society, (2003) "The Slaves of Adams County," Adams County History: Vol. 9 , Article 7. Available at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/ach/vol9/iss1/7)

A check of the 1850 census shows no Patience Hack, but it does list Patience Sibb, age 85, living in Petersburg (the old name for York Springs) with Phebby Pearson.   The most interesting thing about this entry is the notation "slave" at the very end of the page, under the column normally reserved for indications that the person was either deaf, dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, a pauper or a convict (exact terms used on the 1850 census document); The census sheets used in Pennsylvania in 1850 had no space to record slaves, but this census taker, James Thompson, took it upon himself to record Patience's status as one of the last slaves in the state.

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