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  A young enslaved Black woman working on a colonial Pennsylvania farm. Image created with the assistance of AI.
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A series of pages exploring
various aspects of enslavement in Pennsylvania

Cumberland County, PA Slaveholders S - Y

Slaveholders Listed on this Page

  1. Sample, John (Enslaved persons listed: Two young adults and a woman, all un-named)
  2. Sanderson, George (Enslaved persons listed: James and an un-named young man)
  3. Sanderson, John (Enslaved persons listed: Silvey, Hett, Doll)
  4. Sanderson, Robert (Enslaved persons listed: Rachel, Mint, Abram, James, Peter, Catharine Jane, Sara)
  5. Scott, Thomas (Enslaved persons listed: Jeremiah, Edinborough, Judge)
  6. Semple, Robert (Enslaved persons listed: Alex, Pamp, Phillis, Solomon, George, Bill, Tom)
  7. Shannon, Robert, Esquire (Enslaved persons listed: Bett, Kesiah)
  8. Sharp, James (Enslaved persons listed: Lucy, Hendricks, Rachel)
  9. Sharp, Robert (Enslaved persons listed: Hall)
  10. Showalter, John (Enslaved persons listed: Moriah)
  11. Shuman, John (Enslaved persons listed: Sam)
  12. Smith, Hugh (Enslaved persons listed: Grace)
  13. Smith, James (Enslaved persons listed: Charlotte, Lydia, Belinda)
  14. Smith, John (Enslaved persons listed: James, Humphrey)
  15. Smith, Margaret (Enslaved persons listed: Jane, Lucinda)
  16. Smith, Robert (Enslaved persons listed: Jo)
  17. Smith, _______ (Enslaved persons listed: Juliana)
  18. Smith, Mr. (Enslaved persons listed: Jonathan Tim)
  19. Sommerkamp, Frederika (Enslaved persons listed: Betty)
  20. Spansler, George (Enslaved persons listed: Sharlot)
  21. Spear, Joseph (Enslaved persons listed: Two unnamed slaves)
  22. Starret, Ralph (Enslaved persons listed: Solomon, Doll, Kitty, Jacob, Grace)
  23. Starrett, David (Enslaved persons listed: Nead, London, Sall)
  24. Steel, John (Enslaved persons listed: Cain, Phill)
  25. Sterret, Cairns (Enslaved persons listed: Will, Candis)
  26. Stevenson, George (Enslaved persons listed: Finch, Mills, un-named female mulatto, Phil, Dick)
  27. Steward, James (Enslaved persons listed: Libby, Frank)
  28. Stewart, Dr. Alexander (Enslaved persons listed: Nance, Charles, Lisa Ann, Tom)
  29. Stiles, Edward (Enslaved persons listed: Nelly)
  30. Taylor, William (Enslaved persons listed: Leonard)
  31. Tea, Richard (Enslaved persons listed: two unnamed slaves)
  32. Temple, Joseph (Enslaved persons listed: Doll)
  33. Thompson, Catharine Ross (Enslaved persons listed: Betty, Nell)
  34. Thompson, Gen. William (Enslaved persons listed: Venus, Sam, Perus, Jacob, Betty, Nell, James)
  35. Thompson, William --Hamilton Twp. (Enslaved persons listed: Sall, Patt)
  36. Thompson, William --Newton Twp. (Enslaved persons listed: Sam, Tom Hall, Hannah Hall)
  37. Thomson, Matthew (Enslaved persons listed: George)
  38. Thornburgh, Joseph (Enslaved persons listed: Ben)
  39. Urie, Thomas (Enslaved persons listed: Abe, Dan)
  40. Vance, John (Enslaved persons listed: Lidi, Jo)
  41. Walker, John (Enslaved persons listed: Adam, un-named adult female)
  42. Wallace, Patrick (Enslaved persons listed: Cato)
  43. Watts, David, Esquire (Enslaved persons listed: Emily)
  44. Watts, Frederick (Enslaved persons listed: Jemima, Dick, Barney, James)
  45. Waugh, Samuel, Rev. (Enslaved persons listed: Un-named female)
  46. West, Edward (Enslaved persons listed: Romeo, un-named child, Rogetta, Carlos)
  47. West, Francis (Enslaved persons listed: Poll, Jacob, Lewis, Chamont, Mila, Sligoe, Debby, John)
  48. White, David (Enslaved persons listed: John)
  49. White, Robert (Enslaved persons listed: Un-named female Mulatto)
  50. Whitehill, Robert (Enslaved persons listed: Paio)
  51. Williams, John (Enslaved persons listed: Sarah, Nance, Alek)
  52. Williamson, David (Enslaved persons listed: Doll, Tom, Kett, Dick)
  53. Williamson, John (Enslaved persons listed: Cesar, unnamed Negro maid)
  54. Wills, Alexander, Esquire (Enslaved persons listed: Charles)
  55. Wilson, Rev. Samuel (Enslaved persons listed: Lydia, Un-named female)
  56. Wilson, Thomas Thomas (Enslaved persons listed: Rose)
  57. Wilt, John (Enslaved persons listed: Becky, Hannah, Jack, Bill)
  58. Woods, Jane (Enslaved persons listed: John Green, Phebe Green)
  59. Work, Henry (Enslaved persons listed: Lucy, Sall)
  60. Young, Eleoner (Enslaved persons listed: Allish)
  61. Young, James (Enslaved persons listed: Daniel Anderson a.k.a. "London")
  62. Young, John --Lurgan Twp. (Enslaved persons listed: Pegg, Bill, Saul)
  63. Young, John --West Pennsboro Twp. (Enslaved persons listed: Sam, Priss)

The Enslavement Data

  • Slaveholder Name Sample, John
    City or Township East Pennsboro Township
    Occupation Farmer
    Notes Public auction to sell the estate of John Sample, deceased.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Name not given in document
      Age: Age not given in ad, but desribed as a "woman"
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: Probably before 1780
      Description: "Negro woman"
      Status: Most likely a slave for life if an adult and born before 1780
      Notes: To be sold at public auction along with two young persons on November 12, 1794 to settle the estate of John Sample:
      Public Vendue.
      On Wednesday the 12th of November next, will be sold at public vendue, agreeable to the last Will and Testament of John Sample, deceased.
      Horses, Cows, Sheep and Hogs; one waggon, and geers, &c. plows, harrows, and a variety of farming utensils. Two Stills, vessels, &c. Wheat, Rye, Indian-Corn, Buck-Wheat, and Oats by the bushel, and Hay by the Ton.
      Also a variety of household and kitchen furniture. The vendue to be held at the late dwelling house of the said deceased, and to begin at ten o'clock of the day, and continue from day to day till ended.
      Also two Mulattoes, a boy and a girl, not above twenty, and a Negro woman; all duly registered. The terms of Sale will be made known at the vendue. WILLIAM CHAMBERS, ROBERT SAMPLE. Executors.
      East Pennsbro' township, Cumberland county, October 22d 1794.
      Date of Record 22 October 1794
      Source: Kline's Carlisle Weekly Gazette, 29 October 1794.

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Name not given in document
      Age: Age given as "not above twenty," and desribed as a "boy"
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: Sometime after 1774.
      Description: "Mulatto boy"
      Status: Year of birth not known, therefore status is not known.
      Notes: To be sold at public auction along with one other young person and a woman on November 12, 1794 to settle the estate of John Sample. See above for the text of the public vendue (auction) advertiement.
      Date of Record 22 October 1794
      Source: Kline's Carlisle Weekly Gazette, 29 October 1794.

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Name not given in document
      Age: Age given as "not above twenty," and desribed as a "girl"
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: Sometime after 1774.
      Description: "Mulatto girl"
      Status: Year of birth not known, therefore status is not known.
      Notes: To be sold at public auction along with one other young person and a woman on November 12, 1794 to settle the estate of John Sample. See above for the text of the public vendue (auction) advertiement.
      Date of Record 22 October 1794
      Source: Kline's Carlisle Weekly Gazette, 29 October 1794.

  • Slaveholder Name Sanderson, George 1805 Carlisle advertisement to sell a young man.
    City or Township North Middleton Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name James
      Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1814-September 06
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes:
      Date of Record 1815
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name No name in source
      Age: Possibly 19 years old, if total term of enslavement was the typical 28 years required of children born to enslaved mothers after 1780.
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: circa 1786, if total term of enslavement was the typical 28 years required of children born to enslaved mothers after 1780.
      Description: "Young Negro Man"
      Status: Sold for term of Nine Years
      Notes: Offered for sale in 1805 along with a notice of rental of his farm. Text of advertisement:
      To be Rented,
      OR LET ON THE SHARES,
      And possession had the 1st of April,
      A Farm within 4 miles of Carlisle, adjoining James Giffin, on the Conodoguinet creek --
      There are about 150 Acres clear, and under a good fence, with sufficient meadow, a good House and Barn, and an excellent Orchard. Also, a young Negro Man, to be sold for the term of Nine Years, who is well acquainted with Farming. For terms apply to
      GEORGE SANDERSON.
      Date of Record: 14 February 1805
      Source: Carlisle Weekly Herald, 15 February 1805

  • Slaveholder Name Sanderson, John
    City or Township Middleton Township
    Occupation Farmer
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Silvey
      Age 20a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1760 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record October 10, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Hett
      Age 06
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: 1783-August
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Doll
      Age 01
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: 1788-October
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Sanderson, Robert
    City or Township Middleton Township
    Occupation
    Notes The 1798 Tax Assessment for Middleton Township lists Robert Sanderson as having three slaves under the age of 45. (Source John R. Miller Collection, 1750-1914)

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Rachel
      Age 01
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1794-August 31/September 01
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1795 Registration lists Rachel's mother as "Grace."
      Date of Record 1795
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Mint
      Age .5
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: 1789-March 26
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Abram
      Age 01
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1791-August 29
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1792 Registration lists Abram's mother as "Grace."
      Date of Record 1792
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    4. Enslaved Person's Name James
      Age 02
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1787-March
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    5. Enslaved Person's Name Peter
      Age 04
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1785-January
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    6. Enslaved Person's Name Catharine Jane
      Age -
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1798-December 18
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1798
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    7. Enslaved Person's Name Sara
      Age 06
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1783-November
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Scott, Thomas
    City or Township Rye Township (1791); Juniata Township (1794) (modern day Perry County)
    Occupation Esquire, Farmer
    Notes Cross-posted on the Perry County pages.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Jeremiah
      Age One year old at Registration
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: September or October 1791
      Description Negro
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1792 Registration lists Jeremiah's mother as "Nancy."
      Date of Record 31 October 1792
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; 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 06 February 2025.

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Edinborough
      Age Five months old at Registration
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 10 May 1792
      Description Negro
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1792 Registration lists Edinborough's mother as "Dinah."
      Date of Record 31 October 1792
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; 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 06 February 2025.

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Judge
      Age Two weeks old at Registration
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 08 May 1794
      Description Negro
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 20 May1794
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; 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 06 February 2025.

  • Slaveholder Name Semple, Robert
    City or Township West Pennsboro Township
    Occupation  Tavern keeper, Semple's Tavern, Hanover Street, Carlisle, and the Tavern at Mount Rock.
    Notes Son-in-law of the Rev. John Steel, of Carlisle (Schaumann, Taverns of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, 1750-1840, pp. 38, 186.)

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Alex
      Age 04
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1785-December
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: "Born in Carlisle."
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Pamp
      Age 04a
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: 1776 (calculated)
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Phillis
      Age 19a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1761 (calculated)
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    4. Enslaved Person's Name Solomon
      Age 24a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1756 (calculated)
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    5. Enslaved Person's Name George
      Age 01
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1788-December
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: "Born in Carlisle."
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    6. Enslaved Person's Name Bill
      Age 03
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1786-November
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: "Born in Mt. Rock."
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    7. Enslaved Person's Name Tom
      Age 07
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1782-November
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: "Born in Mt. Rock."
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Shannon, Robert, Esquire
    City or Township
    Occupation
    Notes 1802 Registration of Bett and Kesiah notes: "sold to James Hammill, Shippensburgh."

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Bett
      Slave Age
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: 1801-November 25
      Description: "Mustee"
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1802 Registration notes: Sold to James Hammill, Shippensburgh.
      Date of Record 1802
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Kesiah
      Slave Age
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1801-November 25
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1802 Registration notes: Sold to James Hammill, Shippensburgh.
      Date of Record 1802
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Sharp, James
    City or Township Hopewell Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Lucy
      Age -
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1795-September 14
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1796
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Hendricks
      Slave Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1804-May 08
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1804
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Rachel
      Age 01
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1788-September
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Sharp, Robert
    City or Township Newton Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Hall
      Slave Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1808-March 10
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1808
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Showalter, John
    City or Township Newton Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Moriah
      Slave Age
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1809-April 19
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1809
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Shuman, John
    City or Township Millerstown
    Occupation
    Notes Residence was in an area which became Perry County after 1820. Died at Millerstown on March 07, 1807.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Sam
      Age ? (adult in 1807)
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: ?
      Description: Negro
      Status: Manumitted after 1807, according to family lore.
      Notes: According to the source, the existance of Sam was recorded by the granddaughter of John Shuman, Caroline, in 1913 for the Genealogy of the George Shuman Family, page 112. It reads as follows: "My grandparents had a slave named Sam. My grandmother gave him his freedom and he went West. At the burial of my grandfather (prior to his emancipation), Sam carried my father to the grave; and while standing at the grave, one of my father's shoes fell off his foot, down into the grave and was covered up." The source notes that her father was Michael Shuman, and his age at the time of his father's funeral was four years.
      Date of Record 1913
      Source: Hain, History of Perry County, Pennsylvania

  • Slaveholder Name Smith, Hugh
    City or Township Hopewell Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Grace
      Age "about 30 years of age"
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: circa 1767
      Description: "Negro Woman"
      Status: Self-emancipated in January 1797
      Notes: Grace escaped from Smith probably in late 1796. He placed the following ad seeking her capture in January 1797:
      20 Dollars Reward.
      RAN AWAY from the Subscriber, living in Hopewell township, Cumberland county, A NEGRO WOMAN, named GRACE, about 30 years of age, short and chunky; had on and took with her a new rorum Hat tied down with a black Ribbon, a light Calico short and long Gown, and a red Petticoat.
      Whoever apprehends the said Wench, and secures her in any Jail, so that the Owner may get her again, shall have the above Reward and reasonale Charges paid by me
      HIGH SMITH.
      January 6, 1797
      Date of Record 6 January 1797
      Source: Lancaster Intelligencer and Journal, 6 January 1797

  • Slaveholder Name Smith, James
    City or Township West Pennsboro Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Charlotte
      Age 07
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1782-February 20
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Lydia
      Age 02
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1787-May 05
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Belinda
      Age 05
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1784-August 08
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Smith, John
    City or Township Carlisle
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name James
      Age 01
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1788-January
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Humphrey
      Age 02
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1787-October
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Smith, Margaret
    City or Township Dickinson Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Jane
      Age -
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1793-September 03
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1793
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Lucinda
      Age -
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1795-August 17
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1795 Registration lists Lucinda's mother as "Jean."
      Date of Record 1795
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Smith, Robert
    City or Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Jo
      Age 05
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: 1784-April 01
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Smith, Mr.
    City or Township Carlisle
    Occupation
    Notes Mentioned in a runaway ad placed by William A. Todd of Chester County, as the previous owner of slave Jonathan Tim.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Jonathan Tim
      Age 28a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1778 (Calculated)
      Description: "negro man"
      Status: Slave for life; Runaway
      Notes: Ran away from his enslaver William A. Todd, of Downingtown, Chester County, in July, 1806. Text of runaway ad:
      "Twenty Dollars Reward. RAN-AWAY from the subscriber, on Sunday the 20th ult. a negro man who passes by the name of Jonathan Tim, about 6 feet high, walks erect, with his hat inclined to one side of his head, handsomely made for a negro, is about 28 years of age; he is fond of driving a team, a great talker and liar, as well as a great braggadochio; his clothes were a swansdown jacket, striped home-spun trowsers, and home-spun linen shirt. He was bred by Mr. Smith of Carlisle, (Penn.) and has been owned by many persons in Cumberland county.
      Whoever takes up and secures said servant, so that I get him again, shall have the above reward and reasonable charges. WILLIAM A. TODD.
      Downingstown, Chester county, August 6, 1806."
      Date of Record August 08, 1806
      Source: Lancaster Journal

  • Slaveholder Name Smith,______
    City or Township
    Occupation
    Notes Transcript leaves some information out as unreadable.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Juliana
      Age 01
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1792-August 08
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: Mother is listed in 1793 Registration, but handwriting is illegible.
      Date of Record 1793
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Sommerkamp, Frederika
    City or Township Carlisle
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Betty
      Age
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1812-November 16
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1813
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Spansler, George
    City or Township East Pennsboro Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Sharlot
      Age
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1817-January 16
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes:
      Date of Record 1817
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Spear, Joseph
    City or Township Carlisle Borough
    Occupation
    Notes Brother of Robert Spear of Hempfield Township, Lancaster County. Also had a brother, William, in Baltimore. Brother-in-law of John Boyd, of Carlisle.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Name not reported
      Age
      Sex:
      Date of Birth: Prior to 1768
      Description: "Negro"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: In 1768 Spear was assessed for two Negroes in Carlisle.
      Date of Record 1768
      Source History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Chicago: Warner & Beers & Co. 1886, p. 221.

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Name not reported
      Age
      Sex:
      Date of Birth: Prior to 1768
      Description: "Negro"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: In 1768 Spear was assessed for two Negroes in Carlisle.
      Date of Record 1768
      Source History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Chicago: Warner & Beers & Co. 1886, p. 221.

  • Slaveholder Name Starret, Ralph (Sterret)
    City or Township Rye Township (modern day Perry County)
    Occupation Farmer
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Solomon
      Age 05
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1784-September
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Doll
      Age 07
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1782-February
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Kitty
      Age 02
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1787-March
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    4. Enslaved Person's Name Jacob
      Age 21
      Sex: M
      Date of Birth: circa 1759
      Description
      Status: Slave for life.
      Notes
      Date of Record August 22, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

    5. Enslaved Person's Name Grace
      Age 15
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: circa 1765
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record August 22, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Starrett, David
    City or Township Newton Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Nead
      Age 06
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1783 (calculated)
      Description: Negro Boy
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name London
      Age 15a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1774 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Late registration
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Sall
      Age 45
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1744 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Late registration.
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Steel, John, Rev.
    City or Township Carlisle Borough
    Occupation Minister of the First Presbyterian Church from 1779 until he died in August 1779 at age 64 (Tombstone inscription of Rev. John Steel, Old Carlisle Graveyard, Carlisle, PA).
    Notes Runaway ad placed with Robert Gibson. Steel includes the initials "V.D.M." after his name. In 1768, the Rev. John Steel was assessed for two "Negroes" in Carlisle Borough. (History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Chicago: Warner & Beers & Co. 1886, p. 221.) Rev. Steel was the father-in-law of tavern keeper Robert Semple.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Cain
      Age 30a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1735 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Runaway. Ran away July 10, 1765.
      Notes: Cain is described in the runaway ad as follows: "about 5 Feet 6 Inches high,...plays on the Fiddle, and it is thought has one with him, as it is missing, a mannerly Fellow, speaks good English, but stammers a little, and may pass himself for a Gentleman waiting Man."
      Date of Record July 11, 1765
      Source: The Pennsylvania Gazette

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Phill
      Age 24a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1741 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Runaway. Ran away July 10, 1765.
      Notes: Phill is described in the runaway ad as follows: "his Hands and Fingers have a natural Cast outwards, very remarkable." He may be the slave of Robert Gibson, as Gibson is the owner listed second in the ad, and Phill is the second escapee listed.
      Date of Record July 11, 1765
      Source: The Pennsylvania Gazette

  • Slaveholder Name Sterret, Cairns
    City or Township Peter's Township (Became part of Franklin County in 1784)
    Occupation
    Notes See also the listing for Cairns Sterret in Franklin County.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Will
      Age 21
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1759 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record October 12, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Candis
      Age 18
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1762 (calculated)
      Description: Negro Wench
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record October 12, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Stevenson, George
    City or Township Carlisle
    Occupation Attorney at Law
    Notes "At Carlisle Town on publick service." Stevenson then adds the following opinion: "Above are the Names, Sex and Ages of my Slaves, to be entered in Books to be provided for that Purpose by said Clerk in Obedience to an useless Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania entitled 'An Act for the gradual Abolition of Slavery' for registering the above, I hope he will be paid Six Dollars, which is the only good thing in the Act, for it will help to pay his Tax."

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Finch
      Age 07a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1782 (calculated)
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: Gender is specified in registration.
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Mills
      Age 40
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1740 (calculated)
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: In a 1772 Cumberland County court case, testimony was given that Mills and one or more of Stevenson's male slaves, and Stevenson's female Mulatto slave, delivered stolen goods to James and Margaret Eckels, husband and wife, of Carlisle. Margaret Thompson testified "that she saw two of Mr. George Stevenson's negro men leave some hay at Eckles' house. She also saw Stevenson's mullato woman often at Eckles. Martha Lindsay said that sometime in the spring she saw Mills, a mulatto slave, carry something in a bag and leave it at James Eckles. When she asked him what it was he told her it was heads of wheat. Sarah Connelly: George Stevenson, Esq. said that Margaret Eckles confessed to him that she had received from his mulatto man Mills, a quantity of wood which she said was sent by his son George. Tinah Dykes said that she gave Margaret 30-35 shillings, and something about quarts of rum." (Schaumann, Indictments, items number 437 and 517)
      Date of Record October 7, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Not named in record
      Age ? ("Mullato woman")
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: ?
      Description: "Mullato woman"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Reference is made to this person in the Cumberland County court case noted above in the notes for slave "Mills."
      Date of Record 1772
      Source:Schaumann, Indictments--1750-1800, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

    4. Enslaved Person's Name Phil
      Age 28
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1752 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record October 7, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

    5. Enslaved Person's Name Dick
      Age 27a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1753 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record October 7, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Steward, James
    City or Township
    Occupation
    Notes Registrant is of the State of Georgia. Researcher John Alosi notes that Steward's two slaves were registered under the September 1781 amendment to the Gradual Abolition Act which gave relief to southern slaveholders seeking to shelter their slaves from the war. While in Pennsylvania, the slaves Libby and Frank were in the service of Reverend James Lang of Cumberland County. (Alosi, "Slavery in Post Revolutionary Cumberland County, 1780-1810," page 56)

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Libby
      Age 16a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1765 (calculated)
      Description: Wench
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1781
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Frank
      Age 21a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1760 (calculated)
      Description: Man
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1781
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

  • Slaveholder Name Stewart, Dr. Alexander
    City or Township Shippensburg Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Nance
      Age
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1807-August 15
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1808
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Charles
      Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1811-March 05
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1811
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Lisa Ann
      Age
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1816-March 18
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1816
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    4. Enslaved Person's Name Tom
      Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1813-September 01
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1813
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Stiles, Edward
    City or Township Carlisle
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Nell, Nelly
      Age: One year old at Registration
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 19 March 1795
      Description: "Mulatto"
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1796 Registration by Sarah E. Duncan lists Nell's mother as "Rachel." This is the same woman "Rachel" registered as a term slave by John Duncan in 1789. Ownership of Nell was subsequently transferred to Edward Stiles. Nelly sued for her freedom in the Court of Common Pleas, claiming that the initial registration of her mother, Rachel, was faulty because Duncan's original written letter of registration omitted an exact date of birth for Rachel, her sex, and Duncan's occupation, all as stipulated by law. In recording Duncan's registration of Rachel, Cumberland County clerk John Agnew added the missing information to the registry upon having Duncan swear to the validity of Rachel's registration. The judge found in favor of Nelly.

      Edward Stiles appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and in in 1823, Judge William Tilghman overturned the lower court ruling, stating that when the clerk inserted the information missing from Duncan's original return -- exact date of birth of Rachel, her sex, and Duncan's occupation -- into the official registry, he had cured the defects, and he ruled for the plaintiff, Edward Stiles.
      Note that, per Pennsylvania law, holding the child of a term slave to a period of term enslavement was in itself contrary to the intent of the 1788 Act, and illegal.
      Dates of Records 1796 (Registration); 1823 (PA Supreme Court ruling affirming her servitude to Stiles)
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; Stiles v. Nelly (1823), in Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, ed. Thomas Sergeant and William Rawle Jr., 17 vols. (Philadelphia, 1818–1829), 10:366–72.

  • Slaveholder Name Taylor, William
    City or Township Fannet Township
    Occupation
    Notes Two 1780 registrations exist for Negro slave Leonard, aged 27. Only the date differs, one being October 4, and the other October 5, 1780.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Leonard
      Age 27
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1753 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Two registration entries exist for this person, seemingly identical except that one is registered one day later than the other.
      Date of Record October 4, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Taylor, William
    City or Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Leonard
      Age 27
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1753 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Two registration entries exist for this person, seemingly identical except that one is registered one day later than the other.
      Date of Record October 4, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name  Tea, Richard
    City or Township Carlisle Borough
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Name not reported
      Age
      Sex:
      Date of Birth: Prior to 1768
      Description: "Negro"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: In 1768 Tea was assessed for two Negroes in Carlisle.
      Date of Record 1768
      Source History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Chicago: Warner & Beers & Co. 1886, p. 221.

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Name not reported
      Age
      Sex:
      Date of Birth: Prior to 1768
      Description: "Negro"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: In 1768 Tea was assessed for two Negroes in Carlisle.
      Date of Record 1768
      Source History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Chicago: Warner & Beers & Co. 1886, p. 221.

  • Slaveholder Name Temple, Joseph
    City or Township Middleton Township
    Occupation Farmer
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Doll
      Age 16
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1764 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes:
      Date of Record October 7, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Thompson, Catharine Ross
    City or Township Middleton Township
    Occupation Widow
    Notes Widow of Brig. Gen. William Thompson. Sister of George Ross, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Betty
      Age 23a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1757 (calculated)
      Description:
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: This is the same person listed as a slave to Gen. William Thompson. Upon his death in 1781, William Thompson willed to his wife Catharine Ross: "his household furniture, his phaeton and carriage horses and two slaves named Betty and Nell."
      Date of Record September, 1781
      Source: Van Doren, Cumberland County: An Architectural Survey

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Nell
      Age 36a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1744 (calculated)
      Description:
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: This is the same person listed as a slave to Gen. William Thompson. Upon his death in 1781, William Thompson willed to his wife Catharine Ross: "his household furniture, his phaeton and carriage horses and two slaves named Betty and Nell."
      Date of Record September, 1781
      Source: Van Doren, Cumberland County: An Architectural Survey

  • Slaveholder Name Thompson, Gen. William
    City or Township Middleton Township
    Occupation
    Notes Born 1736. Died in 1781. His will divided his slaves among his wife (Catharine Ross, who was to receive female slaves Betty and Nell) and sons George, Robert and William, who were to each receive a male slave. (Van Doren)

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Venus
      Age 20a
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: 1760 (calculated)
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Sam
      Age 01a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1779 (calculated)
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Perus
      Age 06a
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: 1776 (calculated)
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    4. Enslaved Person's Name Jacob
      Age 06a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1774 (calculated)
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    5. Enslaved Person's Name Betty
      Age 23a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1757 (calculated)
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: This is the same person listed as a slave to Catharine Ross Thompson. Upon his death in 1781, William Thompson willed to his wife Catharine Ross: "his household furniture, his phaeton and carriage horses and two slaves named Betty and Nell." (Van Doren)
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    6. Enslaved Person's Name Nell
      Age 36a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1744 (calculated)
      Description:
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: This is the same Nell listed as a slave to Catharine Ross Thompson. Upon his death in 1781, William Thompson willed to his wife Catharine Ross: "his household furniture, his phaeton and carriage horses and two slaves named Betty and Nell." (Van Doren)
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    7. Enslaved Person's Name James
      Age 37a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1743 (calculated)
      Description:
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

  • Slaveholder Name Thompson, William
    City or Township Hamilton Township
    Occupation Miller and Farmer
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Sall
      Age 22a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1758 (calculated)
      Description: "Negro"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes:
      Date of Record October 13, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Patt
      Age 05
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: 1775 (calculated)
      Description: "Mulatto"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes:
      Date of Record October 13, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name: Thompson, William (2)
    City or Township: Newton Township, "on Conodogwinet creek, four miles from Newville"
    Occupation:
    Notes: Tax Records: 1789-- Thompson was taxed for 2 slaves. 1790-- Federal census shows 3 Blacks in household. (Alosi, p.55)

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Sam
      Age 07
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1782-January
      Description: "Mulatto"
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes:
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name: Tom Hall
      Age: "36 years of age" at time of 1797 escape
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: circa 1761
      Description: "Negro"
      Status: Slave for life; self-emancipated in June 1797;
      Notes: Researcher Alosi notes "Tom and Hannah accompanied [William Thompson] to church on Sundays." In 1789 Thompson was taxed on two slaves. In 1790, the Federal Census listed three Blacks in Thompson's household, two of them slaves. Two of those Blacks would have been Tom and Hannah Hall, and the third was probably Sam, born the year before. Sam would not have been shown on tax records because slaves under 12 years of age were not taxed as property, and he would not have been officially considered a slave for census purposes, because term slaves were listed as "servants."
      Tom and Hannah escaped from Thompson on June 18, 1797. Thompson placed the following escape notice in a York County German language newspaper, Die Unpartheyische York Gazette (The Non-Partisan York Gazette):
      Twenty Dollars Reward.
      RAN AWAY on the 18th instant, from the subscriber, living on Conodogwinet creek, four miles from Newville, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, two slaves, named TOM and HANNAH HALL. TOM is a strong, well-made Negro, 5 feet 9 inches high, 36 years of age, has remarkable large lips, and two lumps resembling blisters on his breast. -- Took with him a furr hat, an ash colored homemade new coat, a half worn ditto, with jacket of the same, striped nankeen trowsers, two fine shirts, a pair white cotton stockings, and a pair half worn shoes. He took with him a fiddle whereon he plays indifferently.
      HANNAH is a Mulatto, strong and handsome, about 35 years old, 5 feet 8 inches high, and expert house wench, much addicted to spirituous liquors, which causes her to be impudent and abusive. Took with her a furr hat, a bonnet lined with red silk, a white gown, two calico ditto, 3 calico and 3 linsey petticoats, three calico and two other short gowns, and a pair white stockings. She wears large silver earrings.
      The above reward and reasonable charges will be paid for confining the above-mentioned slaves, so that I get them again.
      WILLIAM THOMSON. June 27.
      Date of Record 27 June 1797
      Source: Alosi, "Slavery in Post Revolutionary Cumberland County, 1780-1810," page 55; Die Unpartheyische York Gazette, 27 June 1797.

    3. Enslaved Person's Name: Hannah Hall
      Age: "about 35 years old" at time of 1797 escape
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: circa 1762
      Description: "Mulatto"
      Status: Slave for life; self-emancipated in June 1797
      Notes: Read the notes for Tom, above. Hannah is possibly the mother of Sam. Tom and Hannah escaped from Thompson on June 18, 1797. The full text of Thompson's escape notice is above.
      Date of Record 17 June 1797
      Source: Alosi, "Slavery in Post Revolutionary Cumberland County, 1780-1810," page 55; Die Unpartheyische York Gazette, 27 June 1797.

  • Slaveholder Name Thomson, Matthew
    City or Township Mifflin Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name George
      Age "about 16 years of age"
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: Circa 1806
      Description: "Bright Mulatto Boy"
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: George escaped from Thomson on May 1, 1822. Text of the advertisement placed by Thomson to recover him:
      $20 REWARD.
      RAN away from the subscriber, living in Mifflin township, Cumberland county, Pa. on the 1st inst. a BRIGHT MULATTO BOY, named George, about 16 years of age, 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high, has large blue eyes, straight hair of the mustee kind, and a down look when spoken to -- he had on & took with him, a linin shirt, two pair of cloth pantaloons, half worn shoes, a drab roundabout & a brown jacket with striped back. Whoever takes up said runaway & lodges him in jail, & gives me information of the same, shall receive, if he is taken within 50 or 60 miles, ten dollars, and if upwards the above reward.
      MATTHEW THOMSON.
      May 7, 1822.
      Date of Record 07 May 1822
      Source: Franklin Repository (Chambersburg, PA), 14 May 1822.

  • Slaveholder Name Thornburgh, Joseph
    City or Township Carlisle
    Occupation Iron Master, Pine Grove Furnace
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Ben
      Age 25a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1755 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Partial text of 1780 Registration: "(Thornburgh is) possessed of a Negro Slave called Ben about twenty five Years of age, he being now at Pine Grove Furnace in West Pennsborough Township Cumberland County."
      Date of Record October 28, 1780
      Source: John R. Miller Collection, 1750-1914

  • Slaveholder Name Urie, Thomas
    City or Township Middleton Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Abe
      Slave Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1811-June 27
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1811
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Dan
      Slave Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1805-April 20
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1805
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Vance, John
    City or Township
    Occupation
    Notes Registered in 1780 with William Long, of Gilford Township.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Lidi
      Age 31
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1749 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record October 12, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Jo
      Age 21
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1759 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record October 12, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Walker, John
    City or Township East Pennsboro Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Adam
      Age -
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1790--October 26
      Description: Negro Child
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: Text of 1791 Registration reads: "I John Walker of East pennsbrough Township in the County of Cumberland Do Swear by the Almighty god the Searcher of harts that a certain Male Negro Child was born of my negro Wench on or about the 26 of October Last, and which Child is named Adam. And that as I am to Answer to god at the great Day."
      Date of Record February 09, 1791
      Source: John R. Miller Collection, 1750-1914

    2. Enslaved Person's Name ?
      Age ? (adult)
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: ?
      Description: Negro Wench
      Status: Not determined
      Notes: See the listing for Adam, above.
      Date of Record February 09, 1791
      Source: John R. Miller Collection, 1750-1914

  • Slaveholder Name Wallace, Patrick
    City or Township West Pennsboro Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Cato
      Age 09
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1780-July 30
      Description: Negro Boy
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Watts, David, Esquire
    City or Township Carlisle
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Emily
      Slave Age
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1806-June 05
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1806
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Watts, Frederick
    City or Township Rye Township
    Occupation Lawyer, politician, soldier
    Notes 1789 Registrations include note: "Member of the Supreme Executive Council."
    Watts was a member of the 1779 Pennsylvania Assembly, and voted in favor of the Gradual Emancipation Act, despite being a slaveholder.
    He and his wife, Jane Murray Watts, emigrated from Wales to Chester County in 1760, and soon thereafter moved to Rye Township (modern Perry County). Father of David Watts.
    Regimental commander in the Continental Army's "Flying Camp."
    Watts was also a vestryman in the Episcopalian Church.
    Tax Records-- 1780 assessment: 250 acres; 1 still; 3 horses; 5 cows; 1 18 year-old "mulatto wench" named Jemima. (Alosi, page 17)

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Jemima
      Age 18
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1762-February 16
      Description: "A Mulatto Servant Wench"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Date of birth is recorded in registration.
      Date of Record October 4, 1780
      Sources: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves | Alosi, "Slavery in Post Revolutionary Cumberland County, 1780-1810," page 17

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Dick
      Age 02
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1787-April
      Description: Mulatto Boy
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Barney
      Age 04
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1785-July
      Description: Mulatto Boy
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    4. Enslaved Person's Name James
      Age 01
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1793-March 18
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1794
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Waugh, Samuel, Rev.
    City or Township
    Occupation: Minister at Silver Springs
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Name not given in ad
      Age "About 30 years of age"
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: circa 1777
      Description: "Negro Wench"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Advertised for sale by the administrators of the estate of Rev. Waugh. Text of sale ad:
      TO BE SOLD, BY PRIVATE SALE,
      A Handsome Stout, Negro WENCH,
      About 30 years of age, a slave for life. Enquire of
      JOHN CAROTHERS, OR THOMAS FISHER. Administrators of the Estate of Rev. Samuel Waugh.
      25th February.
      Date of Record 25 February 1807
      Source: Carlisle Weekly Herald, 06 March 1807.

  • Slaveholder Name West, Edward
    City or Township Tyrone Township (modern day Perry County)
    Occupation Farmer
    Notes Edward inherited several slaves from his father, Francis West, according to his father's will, dated September 06, 1781. Those slaves were a Mulatto man named Sligo(e), a Mulatto man named Jacob, and a Mulatto child named Lewis. In a 1782 codicil to the will, West also received the "negro wench Poll." (Source: Hain, History of Perry County, Pennsylvania)

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Romeo
      Age -
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1793-April 30
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1793 Registration lists Romeo's mother as "negro Poll."
      Date of Record 1793
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Undetermined
      Age Infant at time of Registration
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: 1789-November 29
      Description: Negro child
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: Original copy of registration form in shreds. Partial information indicates one Negro child belonging to Edward West, possible date of birth is 29 November, 1789.
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Rogetta
      Age 02
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1787-June
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    4. Enslaved Person's Name Carlos
      Age 05
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1784-July
      Description: Negro Boy
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name West, Francis
    City or Township Tyrone Township
    Occupation Esquire; Judge
    Notes Emigrated from Westover, England in 1754. Settled in Carlisle and became a Justice of the Peace. His will was dated September 06, 1781 and probated December 31, 1783 (Book "D" Page 193, Register of Wills, Carlisle).

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Poll
      Age 17a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: circa 1763
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: According to his will, dated 1781, West left the "negro wench called Poll" to his sons William and Edward, and his brother-in-law Alexander Lowry (the estate executors) who were to sell the slave (as well as some land bequeathed) and use the proceeds to support his daughter Ann, wife of George Gibson.
      A codicil to the will, dated April 24, 1782, instead gave Poll to Edward West.
      Date of Record 1780 (Registration); 31 December 1783 (will probated)
      Sources: Slave Returns Listings | Hain, History of Perry County, Pennsylvania

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Jacob
      Age 34a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: circa 1746
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: According to the will of Francis West, dated 1781, West left "Sligo," Jacob and Lewis to his son Edward West, as well as 250 acres of land in Fermanagh Township.
      Date of Record 1780
      Sources: Slave Returns Listings| Hain, History of Perry County, Pennsylvania

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Lewis
      Age 06
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1774-November 10
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: According to the will of Francis West, dated 1781, West left "Sligo," Jacob and Lewis to his son Edward West, as well as 250 acres of land in Fermanagh Township.
      Date of Record 1780
      Sources: Slave Returns Listings| Hain, History of Perry County, Pennsylvania

    4. Enslaved Person's Name Chamont
      Age 09a
      Sex: Undetermined
      Date of Birth: circa 1771
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: According to his will, dated 1781, West left his "mulatto boy, Chamont," and some Northumberland County land to his son William.
      A codicil to the will, dated July 12, 1783, instead gave the land and slave to John Donnelson, a Philadelphia merchant "in trust for sole use and benefit of said son William West. . .at the request of said William West they be sold to said William West, or any other person, and the benefits accrue to William West."
      Date of Record 1780
      Sources: Slave Returns Listings| Hain, History of Perry County, Pennsylvania

    5. Enslaved Person's Name Mila or Nila
      Age 03a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: circa 1777
      Description: Mulatto Girl
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: According to the will of Francis West, dated 1781, the child "Nila" was left to West's granddaughter Mary Mitchell, unless she would die without heirs, in which case Nila would go to the estate's executors for the use of Ann West Gibson.
      Date of Record 1780
      Sources: Slave Returns Listings| Hain, History of Perry County, Pennsylvania

    6. Enslaved Person's Name Sligoe
      Age 50a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: circa 1730
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: According to the will of Francis West, dated 1781, West left "Sligo," Jacob and Lewis to his son Edward West, as well as 250 acres of land in Fermanagh Township.
      Date of Record 1780
      Sources: 44 | Hain, History of Perry County, Pennsylvania

    7. Enslaved Person's Name Debby
      Age 50a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: circa 1730
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Debby was not included in the will of Francis West, dated September 06, 1781, indicating that she was not with the family at that time.
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    8. Enslaved Person's Name John
      Age 29a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: circa 1751
      Description
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: John was not included in the will of Francis West, dated September 06, 1781, indicating that he was not with the family at that time.
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

  • Slaveholder Name White, David
    City or Township Middleton Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name John
      Slave Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1800-November 20
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1801
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name White, Robert
    City or Township Carlisle
    Occupation Innkeeper
    Notes Ran the Sign of the Turk Tavern on the Main Street (still standing at the modern address: 137 E. High Street) in Carlisle, 1774-1779. The tavern was owned by John Pollock. (Schaumann, Taverns of Cumberland County, page 60)

    1. Enslaved Person's Name ?
      Age 16
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1762 (calculated)
      Description: "Mulatto Wench"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Possibly sold because her owner, Robert White, was nearing the end of his five-year lease of the Sign of the Turk Tavern from John Pollock. Text of ad: "TO BE SOLD, A HEALTHY stout Mulatto WENCH, 16 years old; she has had the small-pox and measles, can cook, wash, and do most sorts of house-work. Inquire of Mr. ROBERT WHITE, Tavern-keeper, in Carlisle." This ad was reproduced in Merri Lou Schaumann, "Taverns of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, 1750-1840," on page 13. See reference number 98.
      Date of Record February 14, 1778
      Source: The Pennsylvania Gazette

  • Slaveholder Name Whitehill, Robert
    City or Township East Pennsboro Township
    Occupation Farmer, politician, U.S. Congressman
    Notes Robert Whitehill moved from Salisbury Township, Lancaster County to what is now Camp Hill, where he settled in 1773. (Source: Steinmetz, Heritage of the West Shore page 58) Brother of John Whitehill of Salisbury Township, Lancaster County. Lived 1735-1813.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Paco
      Age 30a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1750 (calculated)
      Description: Man
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Paio, or Paco, was bought from Jacob Gilleylen, of Salisbury Township, Lancaster County, on November 05, 1770. The receipt, which still exists, reads:
      Saulsbury November 5 1770[,] Received of Robert Whitehill the Sum of Seventy pounds in full for one Negro Boy Named Pacoh[.] I say recd. by me on my fathers acct. Jacob Gilleylen." (Receipt for the slave Paco).
      Date of Record Registration: 1780; Sales receipt: November 05, 1770.
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

  • Slaveholder Name Williams, John
    City or Township Allen Township
    Occupation Farmer
    Notes Died 1802. The John Williams House near Williams Grove is on the National Register of Historic Places.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Sarah
      Age 30a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1750 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Nance
      Age 11a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: circa 1769 (Registration at age 11), or 1772 (escape ad, age 20)
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes Nance escaped from Williams on February 6, 1792. He placed an escape ad for her a few days later:
      Four Dollars Reward.
      RAN away from the Subscriber, on Monday night last, a Mulatto woman, a slave, named NANCE, about 20 years of age, a very likely smart girl, has long black hair and remarkable hollow feet: She had on when she went away, a pair of high heeled shoes, a new short gown and petticoat of linsey wolsey, striped black and yellow, a red stuff petticoat, a high crowned chip and a wool hat, with other clothes of different kinds: As she has relations, slaves, to the family of the Barber's near Wright's Ferry on Susquehanna, it is thought she will make for that place. Whoever secures the said slave in York Gaol, shall have the above reward.
      JOHN WILLIAMS.
      Cumberland County, Allen Township, Feb. 9.
      Nance is described as having "remarkable hollow feet," indicating a physical deformity of the feet in which her arches are unusually high. The condition possibly affected her manner of walking, which would be why Williams included the mention in this ad. If her age at Registration was reported correctly, Nance would have been 22 or 23 years old when she escaped. Note that she is reported to have family members enslaved by the Barber family "near Wright's Ferry."
      Dates of Records 1780 (Registration); 09 February 1792 (escape ad)
      Sources: Slave Returns Listings; The Pennsylvania Herald and York General Advertiser, 15 February 1792.

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Alek
      Age 11a
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1769 (calculated) (Registration, age 11)
      Description: "Negro"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Aleck escaped from Williams on August 24, 1793, about 18 months after Nance escaped (see above). Williams placed the following ad in the local Carlisle newspaper seeking his reovery:
      Stop the Villain!
      SIX POUNDS REWARD.
      RANAWAY on the 24th inst. August, from the subscriber, living in Allen township, Cumberland county, a Negro fellow named ELLEK, about 20 years of age, about five feet ten or eleven inches high; had on and took with him a blue cotton coat, fustian overalls and jacket of a drab colour, fine and course shirts, and course trousers, a wool hat, one shoe and one pump, a small pocket pistol, and a red silk handkerchief.
      He can read and write, plays on the fiddle, and understands distilling. Whoever apprehends the above Negro, and secures him in any jail, so that the owner can get him again, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable charges if brought home, paid by
      JOHN WILLIAMS.
      August 27th, 1793.
      Aleck was eventually recoverd by Williams. He escaped again, eight years later, on June 14, 1801. Text of runaway advertisement:
      "TEN DOLLARS REWARD. STOP THE RUN AWAY.
      RAN away from the Subscriber, living on Yellow Breeches Creek, Cumberland county, Allen township, on Sunday the 14th of this instant, a Negro Man named Aleck--but no doubt will change his name. Had on when he went away, a clouded jane coat, a spotted vest, cordaroy over alls, new shoes, a wool hat almost new--can talk English and German, but the English best--he is very fond of criticising in figures, or shewing his exploits in arithmetic--reads and writes English tolerably well, and can read German--about 28 or 29 years old, 5 feet 11 inches or 6 foot high, slim built, is very good at any farming business, and endeavours to excel in whatsoever he undertakes--has followed stilling. Whoever secures said Negro in any Jail, so that the owner gets him again, shall have the above reward, and all reasonable charges paid if brought home, by
      JOHN WILLIAMS. June 23d, 1801."
      This second escape ad ran through August. Williams died a few months later and there is no documentation that he ever re-captured Aleck. (Kline's, June 24, 1801)
      Date of Record Registration: 1780; Date of first runaway ad: August 23, 1793; Date of second runaway ad: June 23, 1801.
      Sources: Slave Returns Listings | Kline's Carlisle Weekly Gazette, June 24, 1801 | The Carlisle Gazette and Western Repository of Knowledge, 28 August 1793.

  • Slaveholder Name Williamson, David
    City or Township Newton Township
    Occupation
    Notes By the time of the 1809 Registrations, David Williamson was listed in Mifflin Township.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Doll
      Age: 04
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1785-January
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Tom
      Age:
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1808-December 06
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes:
      Date of Record 1809
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Kett
      Age: 03
      Sex: Undetermined, probably female
      Date of Birth: 1786-May
      Description:
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes:
      Date of Record: 1789
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    4. Enslaved Person's Name Dick or Richard
      Age: "about 19 or 20 years of age;" Also listed as "man" in one account, and "boy" in the following account (see notes below).
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: circa 1776 or 1777
      Description: "Negro Man"
      Status: Undetermined; died while in the possession of Andrew Lee (see notes)
      Notes: Dick escaped or was taken from Williamson in the spring of 1786. Williamson published the following ad to recover him:
      Carlisle, May 3.
      RAN-away from the subscriber living in Newtown township, Cumberland county, a Negro Man named Dick, he is thin built, about 5 feet 10 inches high, has a little stoop in his walk, had on when he went away a short coatee of a light colour, a twilled blanket jacket a pair of buckskin breeches, a pair of linen overalls, a new wool hat, a pair of new shoes, he is about 19 or 20 years of age, has a cut in his forehead, cannot open the fingers of his right hand, owing to its being put out of joint. --
      Whoever takes and secures or brings said negro man to his master, shall receive Four Dollars and reasonable charges, paid by DAVID WILLIAMSON, near Laughlind's mill.
      From the following court documents, it appears that other persons were involved in Dick's escape, and whether he left Williamson voluntarily or not is indetermined:
      Cumberland County court Indictments: "Alexander Wear to testify about what he knows of John Falkner assisting David Welsh to make his escape when he was in the custody of John McCown, and also what he knows of James Atson aiding and assisting David Welsh to steal a negro man named Dick, the property of David Williamson."
      "Deposition of Thomas Vicker of Bristol Twp., Bucks Co., Pa.: That he bought a negro boy in the city of Philadelphia on April 3 last, named Richard, from a man called David Campble, who said he lived in Newton Twp., Cumberland Co., Pa., but meeting with the identical man, it appears that his right name is David Welsh. Tent: David Williamson (Oct. 13)"
      See also this published notice, below:
      Notice to the Public,
      WHEREAS on the 13th day of November last, the subscriber bought from a certain David Williamson, of Newtown township, Cumberland county, a Negroe boy named Dick, which I was to have upon trial, until the court following, the said Negroe Boy was sick when I bought him, and after the Boy came to me, I gave said Williamson notice according to contract, and since the Boy died.
      And whereas said Williamson received two bonds from me the subscriber, the one payable the first of May, and the other the first of November. Now this is to forwarn any person or persons, not to purchase any of said bonds, as the contract between me and Mr. Williamson is void, and I am determined not to pay the said bonds or any part thereof, unless compelled by law. Given under my hand this 21st. day of February, 1787.
      ANDREW LEE.
      Date of Record 1786 (Indictment summary); 21 February 1787 (legal notice)
      Source: Schaumann, Indictments--1750-1800, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Item #1257; The Carlisle Gazette and Western Repository of Knowledge, 03 May 1786, 07 March 1787.

  • Slaveholder Name Williamson, John
    City or Township Shippensburg area
    Occupation Clothier
    Notes Died circa 1757. Will mentions wife Mary, sons Hugh, John, David and Samuel, daughters Rachel, Margaret and Mary.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Cesar
      Age not known
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: not known, but apparently a young man or adult in 1757
      Description: "Negro Slave"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Bequeathed by John Williamson to his wife Mary in his will, dated May 21, 1757: "I will and bequeath to Mary my well beloved Wife One Hundred Pounds lawfull monie out of my personal estate and the use and benefit of my Negro Slave Cesar during her widowhood and no longer..."
      "...if my slave Cesar survive's my said wife's widowhood then to return in equal proportion to my three sons David and Samuel and John, the right of purchase after value to be in John."
      Date of Record May 21, 1757
      Source: Will of John Williamson, Cumberland County, May 21, 1757. Will is reproduced on the page "First Generation" by Rick Petersen, at http://www.geocities.com/rickpetersen/nevingen/nevgenealogica/nevgenii_1_2.html. Accessed January 22, 2005.

    2. Slave Name Unnamed female maid
      Age not known
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: not known, but apparently a young woman or adult in 1757
      Description: "Negro maid Slave"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Bequeathed by John Williamson to his daughter Rachel in his will, dated May 21, 1757: "I will and bequeath to my Daughter Rachel the use and benefit of my Negro maid Slave during her natural life and no longer and then said Slave to return to my other daughter hereinafter mentioned in equal proportions." The other daughter mentioned is Mary.
      Date of Record May 21, 1757
      Source: Will of John Williamson, Cumberland County, May 21, 1757.

  • Slaveholder Name Wills, Alexander, Esquire
    City or Township Allen Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Charles
      Slave Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1819-March 17
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1819 Registration lists Charles' mother as "negro wench Esther Smith."
      Date of Record
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Wilson, Rev. Samuel
    City or Township Newton Township
    Occupation Pastor of Big Spring Presbyterian Church
    Notes Researcher John Alosi notes that Rev. Wilson was taxed for one slave girl in 1789, and that the 1790 Federal census shows one slave in his household. In 1794 he registered Lydia, who may be the child of this other unidentified female slave. (Alosi, page 56)

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Lydia
      Age Infant at time of registration
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1794-October 08
      Description:
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes:
      Date of Record 1794
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name ?
      Age ? (adult)
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: ?
      Description:
      Status: Undetermined
      Notes: Unidentified female slave who appears in the 1789 tax lists and the 1790 Federal Census. Possibly also the mother of the child Lydia registered in 1794.
      Date of Record 1789, 1790
      Source:Alosi, "Slavery in Post Revolutionary Cumberland County, 1780-1810," page 55.

  • Slaveholder Name Wilson, Thomas Thomas
    City or Township Millford Township
    Occupation Farmer
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Rose
      Age 19
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1761 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record October 13, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Wilt, John
    City or Township West Pennsboro Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Becky
      Slave Age
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1803-October 24
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1803
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Hannah
      Slave Age
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1805-October 06
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1805
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Jack
      Slave Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1802-April 11
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1802
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    4. Enslaved Person's Name Bill
      Slave Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1807-December 03
      Description: Mulatto
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1808
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Woods, Jane
    City or Township Middleton Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Green, John
      Slave Age
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1804-March 17
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1804
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Green, Phebe
      Slave Age
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1801-July 11
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes
      Date of Record 1801
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Work, Henry
    City or Township Peter's Township
    Occupation
    Notes Registered in 1780 with David and William Huston.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Lucy
      Age 21-23
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1757-1759 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Age is not completely readable in registration; she is twenty-something. Her age is either 21, or 22 or 23. Because she is listed below another girl aged 23, her age should be equal or lesser than that age, since slaves were generally listed first by sex (males first), then by age.
      Date of Record September 11, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Sall
      Age 23
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: 1757 (calculated)
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes
      Date of Record September 11, 1780
      Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Young, Eleoner
    City or Township West Pennsboro Township
    Occupation
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Allish
      Age 01
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: 1793-December 17
      Description
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: 1794 Registration lists Allish's mother as "Prisilla."
      Date of Record 1794
      Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves

  • Slaveholder Name Young, James
    City or Township Chambersburg
    Occupation "Captain"
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Anderson, Daniel a.k.a. London
      Age Adult
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth:
      Description: Negro Man
      Status: Runaway
      Notes: Runaway ad notes that his previous owner was James Black, and that he broke away from a Mr. Buchannan who had taken him out of Dover prison where he had been held as a runaway. He is described as "a cunning artful fellow, passes for a freeman; he is about five feet five or six inches high, has some old scars occasioned by cuts on his head." He was aided in his escape through the help of a Black Methodist Preacher named John Hill.
      Text of Advertisements:
      Dover, Kent County, Delaware State, April 14. YESTERDAY was committed to the gaol of this County, a Negro man named LONDON, about five feet five inches high, who says he belongs to Capt. James Young, near Chambersburgh, in Cumberland county, State of Pennsylvania. His said master is desired to send for him, pay charges and take him away. THOMAS WILD, Gaoler." (May 06, 1778)

      One Hundred and Thirty Dollars Reward.
      BROKE loose and ran away from the subscriber, from the house of Mr. Buchannan, at the sign of the spotted Leopard, in Newcastle County, a Negro man named LONDON, but changed his name to Daniel Anderson; a cunning artful fellow, passes for a freeman; he is about five feet five or six inches high, has some old scars occasioned by cuts on his head; he was once the property of Capt. James Black, was taken out of Dover prison lately, and broke away from the above mentioned Buchannan. Whoever takes up said Negro man and secures him in any gaol, so that his master may get him again, shall have Thirty Dollars, and reasonable charges, or if brought home to the subscriber, living near Chambersburgh, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, shall have One Hundred Dollars.

      Likewise a Mulatto fellow named JOHN HILL, a Methodist preacher, formerly lived in Charlestown, Maryland; he passed the above Negro for a freeman at Capt. Ellis, at the Head of the Bohemia, and it is thought he harbours in Hartford County. Whoever secures said Mulatto in any gaol, so that he may be brought to justice, and gives the subscriber notice shall have Thirty Dollars reward and reasonable charges, paid by JAMES YOUNG" (June 06, 1778)
      Dates of Records May 06, 1778; June 06, 1778
      Source: The Pennsylvania Packet

  • Slaveholder Name Young, John, Sr.
    City or Township Lurgan Township
    Occupation
    Notes: Revolutionary War soldier, his family later moved to Mercer County. John Young Sr. died in 1826. His will, probated in 1826, lists and provides for the slave Peg.

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Pegg
      Age 17a
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: circa 1763
      Description: "Wench"
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: The will of John Young, Sr., provides for Peg: "In the last sentence of John Sr.'s will, he said 'I do will that Peg the old wench is to be supported out of my farm left to John and David.' " Peg apparently stayed with John Jr. in Mercer County, as she is listed with his family in the 1850 census. According to descendants, she is buried with the family in Mercer County.

      In addition, the household of John Young, Jr. may have been used as a station on the Underground Railroad: "John Young Jr. (who had Margaret at his house in the census) and James Kilgore (who's wife was Elizabeth Stewart, the sister of my 4x great grandfather, John Young Stewart) both had an Underground Railroad station in their cellars, 6 miles apart! There is a written account by the daughter of Elizabeth Stewart and James Kilgore. She remembers seeing the slaves come in the middle of the night, her mother cooking for them and dressing their wounds. They would sleep on the floor in straw to rest and then be sent on their way. One night she remembers 13 of them coming at once! I wonder what part Peg played in this!" (Correspondence, Laurel Anderson to George Nagle and Afrolumens Project, 15 March, 2003)

      Evidence of Underground Railroad activity in the John Young, Jr. household is supported by his chairing of a committee to draft an anti-slavery resolution following an anti-slavery lecture by the Rev. Nathaniel West in 1835. This resulted in the formation in 1835 of the Mercer County chapter of the Anti-Slavery Society. A decade later, Young, along with James Kilgore and Robert Stewart, was active in the anti-slavery Liberty party. (Correspondence, Laurel Anderson to George Nagle and Afrolumens Project, 15 August, 2003; History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, Brown, Runk & Co., Chicago, 1888. Pages 290-292.)
      Date of Record 1780
      Source: Slave Returns Listings

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Bill (also called Bob)
      Age ? (adult)
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: ?
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes Cumberland County court Indictments: "Examination of Jared Graham. On Nov. 15, 1787 Richard Wood came to Graham's house and asked him to go to his house to see him hauling some rails from a field. He went along and Wood and several others with him, loaded 4 or 5 wagons, and just as they were starting with the wagons, he saw John Davison and a number with him, coming into the field. They all went along and unloaded their wagons and returned to the field. There he saw John Davison, Sr., John Davison, Jr., Samuel Davison, William Devinport, Philip Murphy, William Carrothers, Sally Lowry, Nancy Henery, George Smith, Negro Bill & Negro Saul, slaves of John Young, and several others with sticks & bludgeons, sleds & wagons, and they were hauling rails from the same field. They asked Davison where Adam Hauk was. They said if he came they would break his head.. . . .Also examined were Richard Wood & Samuel Wood and they included the following names in Davison's group: Margaret Devinport, Matthew Thompson, James Maughen, Hugh Kirkpatrick, Nicholas James Carothers servant man, and his black man Negro Tom."

      According to Young family descendants, Bill is buried with the family in Mercer County.
      Date of Record 1788
      Source: Schaumann, Indictments--1750-1800, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Item #1322.

    3. Enslaved Person's Name Saul
      Age ? (adult)
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: ?
      Description: Negro
      Status: Slave for life
      Notes: Named in Cumberland County court Indictment. See notes for slave "Bill," directly above.
      Date of Record 1788
      Source: Schaumann, Indictments--1750-1800, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Item #1322.

  • Slaveholder Name Young, John
    City or Township West Pennsboro Township
    Occupation Farmer
    Notes

    1. Enslaved Person's Name Priss
      Age ?
      Sex: Female
      Date of Birth: ?
      Description: "Negro Wench"
      Status: Not determined
      Notes: Mother of Sam, a male Negro child, born January 20, 1791 (see below).
      Date of Record May 02, 1791
      Source: John R. Miller Collection, 1750-1914

    2. Enslaved Person's Name Sam
      Age -
      Sex: Male
      Date of Birth: January 20, 1791
      Description: "Negro"
      Status: Slave to age 28
      Notes: Son of Priss, a Negro slave of John Young.
      Date of Record May 02, 1791
      Source: John R. Miller Collection, 1750-1914

 

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