slavery in pennsylvania

Greene County tnt (this and that)

enslavement data

Cook, Slave of William Crawford, 1770

"from a Greene County, PA history:
In 1770 William Crawford, Cook his negro, John Crawford, William Shepherd and wife Rebecca, made improvements in the wilderness near Carmichaels, Greene County, PA."
Source: "The Stories," http://www.rootsweb.com/~indian/settlers/Thestories2.htm, accessed November 13, 2005. (link no longer active)

George Ratliff, Slave, Inherits Land, 1831

An act relative to the probate of a certain will
Whereas, it is represented that Richard Sterling, Jr. died sized of about 60 acres of land, situate in the county of Greene, and on his deathbed in the form of a nuncupative will, devised the said land to his father, during his natural life, and after his death, to his half brother, George Ratliff, a black man. It is further represented that the said George was a slave, at the date of the said devise, by reason of which the estate could not vest.

It is hereby enacted that the register of wills in the county of Greene, is herby authorized to receive proof of the nuncupative will of the said Richard Sterling, junior, in the same manner and with like effect, as if the said George Ratliff had been a freeman at the time of the making of said will, as if the same had been done within the time prescribed by law.  The disability of George Ratliff to inherit as next of kin to Richard Sterling Jr., deceased, be removed and George Ratliff is hereby invested with the same rights and privileges, in relation to said estate, as if he had been free at the death of Richard Sterling Jr. providing nothing shall interfere with the rights of the master to the service of the said George, and that the aforesaid estate may be sold, or disposed of by the said George, or pass to his heirs, under the intestate laws of this commonwealth. 1 Apr 1831.

Source
"Laws of Pennsylvania Genealogical Data," Vi P. Limric, 1998, transcriptions from "The Statues at Large of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg PA, 1911, Laws Passed Session 1831."  Posted to RootsWeb at http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/1pa/xmisc/1831laws.txt. Accessed August 26, 2006.

Notes
Richard Starling is enumerated in Greene Township, Green County, in 1800.  He is the only member of his household, being enumerated as one "other free person."  Starling also appears in the 1820 census enumerated as one male age 45 or more.  His household also includes one male, aged between 26 and 45.  This may be the senior and junior Richard Starlings. 

Notes Sources
Fourth Census of the U.S., 1820, Green County, Pennsylvania, posted online by Mississippi State University at http://www.msstate.edu/listarchives/afrigeneas/199709/msg00176.html, accessed August 26, 2006.  
Second Census of the U.S., 1800, Greene County, Pennsylvania, page 85.  Page transcribed by Donna Clark in 2000 and posted to RootsWeb at http://www.rootsweb.com/~cenfiles/pa/greene/1800/pg0034.txt.  Page accessed August 26, 2006.)

greene county main page | slavery main page | afrolumens project home

Original material on these pages copyright 2005-2006 Afrolumens Project.
Contact:
The URL of this page is: http://www.afrolumens.com/slavery/grntnt.html
This page was updated on August 26, 2006