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The Year of Jubilee (1863)

May 1828: Letty Brown escapes with her children from Prince George's County, Maryland

Forty Dollars Reward.
Ran away from the subscriber, living about three miles from Piscataway, Prince George's county, Maryland, my Negro Woman, Letty Brown, taking with her, her two children, Bob and Dave. The said Letty is tall and black, has long thick lips, and sullen when spoken to; has very large limbs; she has, also, a hollow tooth in front, in her upper jaw; she is about 35 or 40 years of age.

Bob is about 7 years of age, black, shows much of the whites of his eyes; has a heavy dull look out of the eyes, and carries his head on one side. Dave is about two years of age, of a yellow complexion, long thick lips, and frowns when spoken to; his hair on the back of his head is much shorter than on any other part of it; he has, also, a scar of the right or left arm, just above the elbow, occasioned by a burn which he received a few days before he was taken from my residence.

The said woman and her children were taken off on Sunday night, the 11th of May last, by a yellow man of George Calvert's, living near Bladensburgh, who calls himself Tarlton Brown, and who owns her as his wife. I have no doubt but she is now either in Washington (where she has a great number of negro acquaintances, both white and black) or lurking about some of Calvert's negro quarters, near Bladensburgh; or perhaps she will, or has, taken the road to Baltimore, (or some other road,) with the intention of going to some of the Eastern States.

I will give $20 of the above for Letty, if secured so that I get her again, and $10 for each of the children, if they are secured so that I get them again; or, I will give the above forty dollars for teh three if they are secured in jail so that I get them again. I do hearby forewarn all masters of vessels, and all stage proprietors, and every other person or persons, either from harboring, or in any way aiding the said negroes in making their escape, as I am determined to enforce the law against every person found so offending.

Lloyd McCubbin Lowe.
June 18.

Source: Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), Tuesday, 14 October 1828.

Covering the history of African Americans in central Pennsylvania from the colonial era through the Civil War.

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