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slavery in pennsylvania

Centre County septennial census of 1800

listing of slaves

The State of Pennsylvania took an enumeration of taxable inhabitants every seven years. Known as the Septennial Census, this enumeration also listed slaves in each county, by township, for some of the years. The amount of information on the slaves varies greatly by county and township. Centre County returned only two slaves in the enumeration, in the townships of Bald Eagle and Centre. From the wording in the original census document, it is not clear in which of the two townships the slaves were living.

enslavement data

Bald Eagle and Centre Townships

"Bald Eagle and Centre Townships--formerly Mifflin County."
"Duplicate of the return of the Taxable Inhabitants & Slaves of Bald Eagle & Centre Townships Centre County Pennsylvania"
20 November, 1800
  • "2 male slaves, ages twenty five years, the property of Isaac Connelly Esquire & Malone Richard."

Patton Township

  • No slaves listed
  • One Black freeman is listed: Abraham Thomas
I have included the listing for the free Black, Abraham Thomas, because of the relative rarity of data on free Blacks in this area during this time period.

Source

Enumeration dated November 20, 1800.
Source: Septennial Census Returns, 1779-1863; Roll No. 1, Adams County, 1800-Cumberland County, 1800. Reel No. 0242. Microfilm in the Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg Pennsylvania.

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This page was updated on December 24, 2004