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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Court Documents for the Recovery of Escaped Man Isaac, 1804
In early 1804, twenty-one year old Isaac escaped from his enslaver, W. James Brown of Newton Township, Cumberland County. Brown was at least the third person to enslave Isaac in the course of the young man's life. He was born in January 1803 on the homestead of West Pennsboro farmer George Espey. On the 28th of March, 1789, Espey dutifully traveled to Carlisle to register six-year-old Isaac with the county clerk, in compliance with Pennsylvania's amendment to the 1780 Gradual Abolition Act.
In late 1794 or early 1795, George Espey died and his property, including Isaac, was sold at public auction to settle his estate. Isaac was purchased by Revolutionary War veteran Thomas Kennedy, who held him for several years until selling him about the year 1800 to W. James Brown in Newton Township. Per Pennsylvania law, as the child of an enslaved mother, Isaac was enslaved to the age of 28, which meant another eleven years with Brown, his third enslaver.
In early 1804, in his twenty-first year, Isaac decided he no longer wanted to live in enslavement and made his escape from Brown. In late April Brown published an escape notice in local newspapers with a physical description of the man. Somehow Brown learned that Isaac was in Philadelphia, a frequent destination for freedom seekers in the post-Revolutionary years. The city had a large and growing free African American population and plentiful opportunities for employment, making it an ideal location to hide out from Brown and attempt to live as a free man.
Knowing that Isaac would not willingly return and that he would have to prove his claim of ownership to Isaac if he was to legally recapture him, possibly requiring force, Brown obtained a legal copy of the 1789 Registration for Isaac entered fifteen years prior in Carlisle by George Espey. The clerk in Carlisle, Frederick Haller, located the original entry and made a legal copy, which is the first item in the document below. Brown next enlisted his neighbor, Jeremiah McKibben, to accompany him to the office of Judge Samuel Laird, where both men gave a statement. Brown provided a copy of his original escape notice for Isaac, and McKibben swore before the court that he was familiar with Isaac and knew the sales history of the young man up to and including Brown's purchase of him four years prior.
Brown's final task in the recovery of Isaac from Philadelphia was to swear out a Letter of Attorney, also known as a Power of Attorney, authorizing Cumberland County Sheriff Robert Grayson to act on his behalf using "every thing that is proper & Necessary to bring said Servt. home." For some reason, Grayson could not or did not want to travel to Philadelphia, so Brown searched for someone else, finally finding Chambersburg "student-at-law" James Riddle. In addition, Brown was depending upon the help of Philadelphia cabinetmaker John Connelly to assist his representative.
All of this legal legwork took nearly three full months, from April 8th when the county clerk copied the old registration, to June 28th, when Brown swore out the authorization for James Riddle to travel to Philadelphia to capture Isaac. These steps illustrate a legally intricate process that sought to safeguard the rights of Pennsylvania Blacks accused of being fugitive slaves while still authorizing enslavers to cross county and even state borders in pursuit of them. These steps were later strengthened by Pennsylvania's Personal Liberty Laws that were passed to combat the rise of kidnappings by southern slave catchers, and they were ultimately severely weakened by passage of the Federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
Images and Transcription
Document images are from the Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Archives, Public Records and Documents, Historical Records (link below in Sources).
Owners: George Espie; Townships: Westpennsboro; Occupation: Farmer; Male: Isaac; When born: 1 Jany 1783; Time entered: 28th March 1789
Cumberland County ss
I Frederick J Haller Clerk of the peace in and of Cumberland County afrd do certify that the above writing contains a true Copy taken from the Register of Negro Slaves and Servants remaining in my Office.
In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my Hand this twenty eight day of April Anno Domini 1804.
F. J. Haller
Before me the Subscriber one of the aforesaid Judges of the Court of Common pleas &c for said County came James Brown a very respectiable inhabitant of Newton Township in said County who being duly sworn according to Law deposeth and saith that the Mulatto Servant who is described by an Advertisement Dated the 25th April last, accompanying this is the property of this Deponent and is the Identical person mentioned in the above copy of the record and has been in his possession about four years past.
Sworn and Subscribed June 20th A.D. 1804 before Saml Laird.
James Brown
Cumberld. County ss
Before me the Subscriber one of the Judges &c for said County came Jeremiah McKibben a respectable inhabitant of Newton Township and Neighbour to James Brown who on his Oath saith that he is well acquainted with the Servt. of W. Brown Named Isaac and knows that sd. Brown purchased him of Thos. Kennedy Esqr. who bought him at the Vendue of the property of George Espy Decd. and says he has been in the Possession of W. James Brown about four Years.
Sworn and Subscribed June 20th, 1804 before Saml. Laird
Jeremiah McKibbin
I do hereby empower Robert Grayson Esqr. of Cumberl. County to do and perform in my Name and for my use every thing that is proper & Necessary to bring said Servt. home. Also I empower Henry Connely Cabinet Maker to Assist the Sheriff [in] that business. Witness my Hand and Seal the 20th June A.D. 1804.
Witness present Saml Laird}
James Brown (seal)
I do hereby revoke the above Letter of Attorney the above named Roberty Grayson Esqr. having declined going to Philadelphia. And in his room and stead empower appoint and authorize James Riddle of Chambersburgh Franklin County student at Law My lawful attorney for me and in my name to do and perform whatsoever shall be necessary to bring the within named Servant home. I also impower Henry Connelly of the city of Philadelphia Cabinetmaker to give assistance (if necessary) to the said James Riddle in doing the above business. Witness my Hand and Seal the 28th day of June A.D. MDCCCIV.
Additional Notes
Document images are from the Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Archives, Public Records and Documents, Historical Records.
George Espey was a slaveholder from West Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County.
Judge Samuel Laird was an Associate Judge in Cumberland County, and also a slaveholder.
James Riddle was a lawyer and the President Judge of the 4th Judicial District including Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Huntingdon and Mifflin counties. He was also a slaveholder in Chambersburg. It seems unlikely that Brown would employ such an accomplished jurist as a slave catcher, so the reference to "James Riddle of Chambersburgh Franklin County student at Law," more likely refers to a younger man of the same name in the large Riddle family who was reading law at that time in preparation for admittance to the bar.
James Brown's contact in Philadelphia, Henry Connelly, was a 35-year-old highly accomplished chair and cabinetmaker originally from Newville in Newton Township, which is likely how Brown knew him. Connelly's work is considered some of the best to come out of the city in that time period and has been compared by some experts in the decorative arts to that of New York's Duncan Phyfe. Examples of his work are currently in the Philadelphia and Metropolitan Museums of Art and in the collection of the White House Historical Association. Four years after James Brown included Connelly in his Letter of Attorney, Connelly sat for a portrait by Thomas Sully.
Sources
James Brown of Newton Township court documents to recover runaway slave Isaac, ID 1804.001, Slave Matters Miscellaneous, Clerk of Courts, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Archives, online at https://ccweb.ccpa.net/archives/Inventory?PSID=1165.
Merri Lou Schaumann, "Henry Connelly, Cabinet and Chairmaker of Newville, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia," Cumberland County History, 1996 Winter, Volume 13, Issue 2, pp. 91-98.
"Slave Returns Listings" in "Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Board of County Commissioners--Returns for Negro and Mulatto Slaves, 1780-81, 1788-1811, 1813-21, 1824-26, 1833." Typewritten copy of original records. Microfilm at Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, PA.
- Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 18 September 2025;
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