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Enslavement in Pennsylvania
Bradford County, Pennsylvania
Enslaved Persons of the Azylum Settlement, 1793-1807
The settlement of Azylum or Azilum was laid out in 1793 on 1600 acres carved out of the northern Pennsylvania wilderness. The land was purchased by a group of Philadelphia investors as a home for some of the hundreds of immigrant French nobles who flocked to Philadelphia, fleeing revolution in France and rebellion on the sugar plantations of Saint Domingue. About thirty cabins were built in the settlement and occupied by the refugees, many of whom brought their enslaved Black house servants and workers. The French settlers were ill equipped to survive in the remote Pennsylvania wilderness and maintained a tenuous relationship with the regional farmers and tradesmen in the surrounding area. Many returned to Philadelphia or moved to other east coast cities after a few years, and by 1803 Azylum was mostly deserted. A few years later it was an uninhabited ghost town.
Records of the persons enslaved here are sparse and mostly exist as anecdotes or as scraps of information. The only person enslaved at Azylum for which details exist is the man known as Asylum Peters, profiled below, who was born in the settlement to enslaved parents during the first year of its existence. Others enslaved in the settlement soon learned that their enslavement was illegal under Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act of 1780, which granted freedom to any enslaved persons brought into the state for more than six months. The French settlers were soon frustrated to discover that their enslaved workers were escaping in large numbers.
Enslavement Anecdotes
Excerpt from A Short History of Asylum, Pennsylvania, by J. W. Ingham:
"Some houses were built on the bank of the river for slaves. A few of the exiles had been residents of San Domingo at the breaking out of the slave insurrection and had fled from the 'Horrors of San Domingo' to the United States, and joined the colony of Asylum. They soon learned that they could not hold their slaves in Pennsylvania, and the slaves were not long in finding out that here they were free, and took 'French leave' by leaving their masters."
Notes: For examples of enslaved persons escaping from Azylum, see Buzard, M and Laroue, M, below.
Source: Joseph Washington Ingham, A Short History of Asylum, Pennsylvania, 1916, Towanda, PA.
Excerpt from The Story of Some French Refugees and Their "Azilum" 1793 — 1800, by Louise Welles Murray:
"Though the winters were long and dreary the summer heat was far more fierce than ever known in 'Belle Paris.' The first time the writer ever heard of Asylum, when a little child she was riding by with Chas. F. Welles of Wyalusing. After pointing out the location and the picnic rock, he added this anecdote told to him by one of the old pioneers. Entering the drawing room (evidently unannounced) he found the great dames seated around the apartment, all complaining bitterly of the intense heat. Skirts were daintily lifted, while slave girls, seated on the floor, industriously plied fans to cool their mistresses' ankles!
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Azylum Slaveholders
- Brevost, John (Enslaved persons: Asylum Peters)
- Buzard, M (Enslaved persons: Paul, Point Dujour)
- Laroue, M (Enslaved persons: Un-named man)
Enslavement Data
- Slaveholder Name: Brevost, John
City or Township: Azylum
County: Bradford County
Occupation: Surveyor
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Azilum or Asylum Peters
Sex: Male
Age:
Date of Birth: 1793
Status: Slave to age 21--self emancipated (see notes)
Description: "slave"
Notes: Born in the French settlement of Azylum, in Wyalusing Township, Bradford County to parents enslaved by the French immigrant setters. His parents were probably enslaved by Brevost.
Historian W. W. Thompson writes that Azilum was "Born a slave in Azilum, Bradford County, Pa., in 1793, died a freeman on Ayers Hill, Potter County, Pa., November 24, 1880." He traces the ownership of Azilum from John Brovost, who brought Azilum to Ceres, McKean County, in 1806, and two years later sold him to William Ayers for $100 "with the further agreement that he be given a reasonable amount of education and his freedom when he reached the age of twenty-one years." Ayers then brought his newly purchased slave, along with his family, to a farm near Coudersport, Potter County.
Azilum's full name, according to Thompson, was Azilum Peters. He does not name the parents, but states that they came from San Domingo. The article further explains that Azilum did not stay to his full term with William Ayers, but ran away and lived with Major Lyman for about a year and then went to live with Jonathan Edgcomb. He is described as being illiterate, but speaking both English and French, and a "rather short stocky built very black man [who] often visited Coudersport and always attracted attention of men and children."
Azilum Peters was buried in an unmarked grave in the Ayers Hill Cemetery.
Notes: The information above seems to have been taken mostly from a Coudersport newspaper article announcing the death of Peters and outlining his life. His parents may have been slaves of John Brevost, one of the first Azilum settlers. It should be noted that Peters was born free under Pennsylvania law because his mother would have been a free woman as noted above by reason of her having spent six months or more in Pennsylvania. When the Azylum settlement began to experience legal and sustainability problems, Brevost is one of the persons who turned his eyes toward the developing Ceres Settlement in what would be McKean County, which would be the reason that Brevost took Peters there. It is possible that Peters was made aware of his free status as a teenager, as that is about the time that he left the service of William Ayers and went off to live with and work for Major Isaac Lyman, a Revolutionary War officer and early settler and land agent of Potter County, well before reaching age 21. There is no evidence that Ayers provided for Peters' education during his time with him.
Peters is indeed buried in the Ayers Hill Cemetery in Potter County, but his grave is no longer unmarked. A large granite headstone with the following inscription now bears the following inscription: "Peter Asylum, 1793-1880, Colored Slave Brought by Wm. Ayers, 1808." It is on the website Find-A-Grave here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27158777/peter-asylum.
The Coudersport Potter Enterprise newspaper death announcement and short biography of Peters' life is here.
Documents: The 1850 census of Homer Township, Potter County, shows Asylum Peters, a 54 year-old farmer, living with the Jonathan Edgcomb family. According to census records, he was born in Pennsylvania and could not read or write. (census page 86)
Source: W. W. Thompson, "Slave Once Owned in Potter County," in Historical Sketches of Potter County, Pennsylvania, (1925 Coudersport, PA).
- Slaveholder Name: Buzard, M
City or Township: Azylum
County: Bradford County
Occupation: Physician
Notes: Historian Louise Welles Murray notes the following person in her listing of some of the French refugees who settled in Azilum: "M. Buzard, a planter of St. Domingo and physician in that colony, who has settled in Asylum with his wife, daughter and son, and some negroes, the remains of his fortune."
Source: Louise Welles Murray, The Story of Some French Refugees and Their "Azilum" 1793 — 1800,, 1903, Athens, PA.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Paul
Sex: Male
Age: Age not reported in escape ad, but described as a "man."
Date of Birth: Not determined
Status: Slave for life, self-emancipated 1799
Description: "Negro man"
Notes: Brought by Buzard from San Domingue to Azylum. Paul would have been legally free after six months living with Buzard in Pennsylvania. He escaped along with an enslaved woman, Point Dujour, on November 5, 1799. The following advertisement was placed by Buzard in a Wilkes-Barre newspaper:
Two Dollars Reward.
RAN away from the subscriber on the 5th inst. a negro man named Paul, and a negro wench named Point Dujour -- any person who will take up said Paul, and deliver him to Bartholomew Laport of Asylum -- and said Point Dujour unto James Wheeler of Blackwalnutbottom, will be entitled to two dollars reward, and all reasonable charges paid. And any person who shall be found guilty of having assisted the above negroes in making their escape from his family, or harbouring them in their houses, may depend upon being prosecuted as the law directs.
November 15. BUZARD.
Although Paul and Point Dujour were enslaved by and escaped from M. Buzard, his ad directs anyone who captures either to return them to other persons, specifically returning Paul to Bartholomew LaPorte at Asylum and Point Dujour to James Wheeler at Black Walnut Bottom. By the year 1799, Asylum was failing as a town and its French immigrants were relocating elsewhere in the Americas. Bartholomew LaPorte, one of the original French immigrants, was one of the few who remained in the settlement where he eagerly purchased the lots and land of those leaving and thereby built a very large estate. It is probable that M. Buzard agreed to sell Paul to LaPorte. James Wheeler was a prominent citizen in Wilkes-Barre in the early 1800s, serving as high sheriff of Luzerne County from 1804-1807, and then as county commissioner from 1808-1809. Black Walnut Bottom is located near the town of Cammal in Lycoming County, some 80 miles from Asylum. It is not clear if the James Wheeler of Wilkes-Barre is the same person as the James Wheeler referred to by M. Buzard at Black Walnut Bottom, but since it was a Wilkes-Barre newspaper, it likely was the same person.
Date of Record: 15 November 1799
Source: The Gleaner (Wilkes Barre, PA), 10 December 1799.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Point Dujour ("Dawn," or "Daybreak")
Sex: Female
Age: Age not reported in escape ad, but described as a "wench." The term "wench" is a broad term and could represent a female aged anywhere from pre-teen to middle-age.
Date of Birth: Not determined
Status: Slave for life, self-emancipated 1799
Description: "Negro wench"
Notes: Brought by Buzard from San Domingue to Azylum. Point Dujour would have been legally free after six months living with Buzard in Pennsylvania. She escaped along with an enslaved man, Paul, in 1799. See the advertisement placed by Buzard above, with the listing for Paul. The name Point Dujour is unusual as a given name. The phrase point du jour is a French phrase for dawn or daybreak. As a surname, it is found concentrated in modern day Haiti.
Date of Record: 15 November 1799
Source: The Gleaner (Wilkes Barre, PA), 10 December 1799.
- Slaveholder Name: Laroue, M
City or Township: Azylum
County: Bradford County
Occupation:
Notes: The list of taxables of Wyalusing Township in 1796 shows two possible persons for this escape notice: LaRoue, Casinere, and LaRoue, Francis.
Source: Joseph Washington Ingham, A Short History of Asylum, Pennsylvania, 1916, Towanda, PA.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Name not given in ad
Sex: Male
Age: "about 20 years of age"
Date of Birth: circa 1776
Status: Slave for life, self-emancipated 1796
Description: "Negro man"
Notes: Brought by Laroue from San Domingue to Azylum. This man, whose name is not given in the ad, would have been legally free after six months living with Laroue in Pennsylvania. He escaped in late May 1796. The following letter was sent by Laroue to Matthias Hollenback, a judge and trading post operator from Wilkes-Barre:
Asylum, April 1st, 1796.
Sir: I hope you will not take it ill if I address myself to you, and claim your assistance. A negro [sic] man about 20 years of age, stoutly built ran away from my house night before last. He can hardly speak a word of English. He took away a new axe, a couple of new shirts, several pairs of linen, and cloth trousers, two blankets, and a hat with a blue ribbon. He says he is free, though he is bound for no less than fourteen years. I would take it as a great favor if you would be so kind as to have him advertised. I will give five dollars reward, and pay all reasonable charges. If in return I could be of any service to you, please to dispose of your
Very obedient, humble servant,
LAROUE.
If Hollenback placed an ad on Laroue's behalf, it has not yet been located.
Date of Record: 01 April 1796
Source: Joseph Washington Ingham, A Short History of Asylum, Pennsylvania, 1916, Towanda, PA.
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