Franklin County, Pennsylvania Slaveholders J-M

Enslaved Person's Name: Mins
Age: 27
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1753 (calculated)
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 24 October 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 31 July 2024; 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 31 July 2024.
Enslaved Person's Name: Tom
Age: 3
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1777 (calculated)
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 24 October 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 31 July 2024; 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 31 July 2024.

Slaveholder Name: Jamison, William
City or Township: Chambersburg
County: Franklin
Occupation:
Notes:

Enslaved Person Names: Name not given in ad
Sex: Female
Age: "22 years of age"
Date of Birth: circa 1795
Status: Slave to age 28
Description: "Mulatto Woman"
Notes: Advertised for sale in November 1817 with or without her two-year-old son:
For Sale,
The time of a Mulatto Woman,
WHO is 22 years of age and has SIX YEARS to serve. She has a male child 2 years old, bound to serve until 21, who may go with her if desired. Enquire of the subscriber.
WM. JAMISON.
Chambersburg, Nov. 25, 1817.
Date of Record: 25 November 1817
Source: The Franklin Repository Weekly (Chambersburg, PA), 02 December 1817.
Enslaved Person Names: Name not given in ad
Sex: Male
Age: "2 years old"
Date of Birth: circa 1815
Status: Slave to age 21
Description: "Male child"
Notes: Advertised for sale in November 1817 with or without his enslaved mother. See above for text of sale ad. This advertisement clearly illustrates one of the many abuses of the 1780 Gradual Abolition law. The mother, born after 1780, was to be enslaved to age 28 instead of for life. But the law did not intend for children of such term slaves to be in turn enslaved, as this ad states. The enslaver, William Jamison, probably obtained a court order to allow 21 years of enslavement for this child as a way to compensate him for the expense of having a child to care for.
Date of Record: 25 November 1817
Source: The Franklin Repository Weekly (Chambersburg, PA), 02 December 1817.

Slaveholder Name: Johnston, David
City or Township: Strasburg
County: Franklin
Occupation:
Notes:

Enslaved Person Names: Pomp Right
Sex: Male
Age: "about 35 years of age"
Date of Birth: Circa 1771
Status: Slave for life; runaway attempting to raise money to purchase his freedom
Description: "Negro Man"
Notes: Ranaway in March 1806. Married. Text of runaway ad placed by Johnston:
10 Dollars Reward.
RAN away from the subscriber, living in Strasburg, sometime in March last, a Negro Man named POMP RIGHT, about 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high, about 35 years of age, stout and well made, and has a scar over one of his eyes -- He has in his possession, an instrument of writing, which was given to his Wife by her own desire, addressed to the humane for the purpose of raising money to purchase his freedom, which I understand he has been exhibiting in several parts of this county. Whoever takes up said slave, and secures him in any jail so that I get him again, shall receive the above reward and all reasonable charges.
DAVID JOHNSTON.
June 9, 1806.
Date of Record: 09 June 1806
Source: Franklin Repository (Chambersburg, PA), 29 July 1806.

Slaveholder Name: Johnston, Robert
City or Township: Antrim
County: Franklin
Occupation: Tanner, Major General
Notes: Born 1750, died 1808. Married to Eleanor Pawling.

Enslaved Person Names: not stated
Sex:
Age:
Date of Birth:
Status:
Description: "negroes"
Notes: In his will, dated November 12, 1808, Johnston leaves "all my negroes" to his wife Eleanor.
Date of Record: Will dated 12 November 1808, proved 29 November 1808
Source: "Abstracts and Letters of Administration: Franklin Co, PA," Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Carolyn K. Shearer. http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/franklin/wills/willabst01.txt, accessed February 24, 2005

Slaveholder Name Johnston, Thomas
City or Township Antrim
Occupation
Notes Listed as Thomas Johnson in JATR database (see enslaved person's notes)

Enslaved Person's Name: Dick
Age: 18a (see notes)
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 1762 (calculated)
Slave Description
Status: Slave for life
Notes: The JATR database lists Dick's age as 28.
Date of Record 25 August 1780
Source: Slave Returns Listings; 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 31 July 2024.
Enslaved Person's Name: Will
Age: 11a
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 1769 (calculated)
Slave Description
Status: Slave for life
Notes: The JATR database lists Will's age as 19.
Date of Record 25 August 1780
Source: Slave Returns Listings; 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 31 July 2024.
Enslaved Person's Name: Charles
Age: 02a
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 1778 (calculated)
Slave Description
Status: Slave for life
Notes: The JATR database lists Charle's date of birth as February 1779 (18 months old at Registration)
Date of Record 25 August 1780
Source: Slave Returns Listings; 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 31 July 2024.

Slaveholder Name: Johnston, Thomas
City or Township: Peters Township
County: Franklin
Occupation:
Notes:

Enslaved Person Names: Hannah Wilson
Sex: Female
Age: "about 17 years of age"
Date of Birth: Circa 1803
Status: Slave for a term of years; Runaway
Description: "Negro servant Girl"
Notes: Ranaway in March 1822. Text of runaway ad placed by Johnston:
6 1/4 Cents Reward.
Ran away from the subscriber, on the 3d inst. a Negro servant Girl named HANNAH WILSON. She had on & took with her, a white straw bonnet, a yellow flannel frock, muslin shift and coarse leather shoes. She is about 17 years of age. Whoever secures said runaway in any jail, so that I may get her again, shall have the above reward but no charges.
THOMAS JOHNSTON.
Peters township, March 8, 1822.
Date of Record: 08 March 1822
Source: Franklin Repository (Chambersburg, PA), 19 March 1822.

Slaveholder Name: Kennedy, David
City or Township: Peters Township / Montgomery Township
County: Franklin
Occupation: Farmer
Notes:

Enslaved Person Names: Nase
Sex: Male
Age: 24
Date of Birth: circa 1756
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Mulatto"
Notes:
Date of Record: 27 October 1780
Source: 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 01 August 2024.
Enslaved Person Names: No names given
Sex: Not mentioned in ad
Age: Ages not given in ad
Date of Birth: Not determined
Status: Slaves for a term of years
Description: "Negro servants"
Notes: Advertised for public auction on August 18, 1814, along with other farm property. Text of auction announcement:
Public Sale.
WILL be sold at public sale, on Thursday the 18th day of August next at the dwelling house of the subscriber, in Montgomery township, the following property, viz:
HORSES, Cows, Sheep and Hogs, Waggons, one Cart, Ploughs & Harrows; Wheat, Rye, Corn and Oats; Hay by the Ton; Grass on the ground, Wool and Feathers by the pound; Negro Servants. [additional sale details follow]
DAVID KENNEDY.
July 29, 1814.
Date of Record: 29 July 1814
Source: The Franklin Repository Weekly (Chambersburg), 03 August 1814.
Enslaved Person Names: Betsy
Sex: Female
Age: Ages not given in document, but described as a "girl"
Date of Birth: Not determined
Status: Slaves for a term of years
Description: "Negro girl"
Notes: Bequeathed by David Kennedy to his wife, "the time of A Negro girl, for ever named Betsy." David Kennedy's estate inventory, taken January 1819, listed on page 2 "Black Girl, $130." This was most likely Betsy.
Date of Record: 11 January 1818; 12 January 1819
Source: "Last Will and Testament of David Kennedy," 11 January 1818; "An Inventory of the Goods and Chattels of the Estate of David Kennedy, decd, Late of Montgomery Township, Franklin County, Appraised the 12th day of January 1819," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 26 July 2024.

Slaveholder Name: Kennedy, John
City or Township: Peters Township
County: Franklin
Occupation: Farmer
Notes:

Enslaved Person Names: Nan
Sex: Female
Age: 4
Date of Birth: circa 1776
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro"
Notes:
Date of Record: 28 October 1780
Source: 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 01 August 2024.
Enslaved Person Names: Bett
Sex: Female
Age: 2
Date of Birth: circa 1778
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro"
Notes:
Date of Record: 28 October 1780
Source: 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 01 August 2024.

Slaveholder Name: Kennedy, Mary
City or Township: Montgomery Township
County: Franklin
Occupation:
Notes: Widow of David Kennedy (see above)

Enslaved Person Names: Betsy
Sex: Female
Age: Ages not given in document, but described as a "girl"
Date of Birth: Not determined
Status: Slaves for a term of years
Description: "Negro girl"
Notes: Bequeathed by David Kennedy to his wife Mary, "the time of A Negro girl, for ever named Betsy." David Kennedy's estate inventory, taken January 1819, listed on page 2 "Black Girl, $130." This was most likely Betsy.
Date of Record: 11 January 1818; 12 January 1819
Source: "Last Will and Testament of David Kennedy," 11 January 1818; "An Inventory of the Goods and Chattels of the Estate of David Kennedy, decd, Late of Montgomery Township, Franklin County, Appraised the 12th day of January 1819," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 26 July 2024.

Slaveholder Name: Kerr, John
City or Township: Guilford Township
County: Franklin
Occupation: Farmer
Notes: JATR database lists this enslaver's surname as Karr.

Enslaved Person Names: Mass / Mess / Muss
Sex: Male
Age: 25 (reported at time of Registration; see notes)
Date of Birth: 1755 (see notes)
Status: Slave for life; self-emancipated in July 1795.
Description: "Negro"
Notes: Captured and jailed in York in September 1789 as a suspected escaped slave. Jailer Michael Graybell advertised him as follows:
Negro MASS.
WAS committed to my custody, on teh 21st day of September last, a Negro man, named MASS: He is about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches high, stout and well made, and had on when committed a tow shirt and trowsers, a brown cloth jacket, a grey cloth coat, and a pair of good new shoes, with copper buckles. He says he belongs to John Karr of Franklin county. The owner is desired to come within four weeks from the date, otherwise he will be sold for his fees, by
MICHAEL GRAYBILL, Gaoler.
York borough, Oct. 14, 1789.
Kerr regained control of this man, whom he identified as "Mess," but he escaped again from Kerr six years later, in July 1795. Kerr placed an escape notice in the Harrisburg newspapers. If the age of 25 reported by Kerr in his 1780 registration of Mess was accurate, the man would have been forty years old at the time of his escape, and not thirty, as in the escape notice below. However, as Kerr notes he obtained Mess from "Mr. Richard Rialy" (Riley?) of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, he may not have been aware of Mess's true age at the time he registered him.
Another possibility is that Mess and Muss were two different people, Mess being the man registered in 1780 and Muss being a different man obtained after the 1780 Registrations, but this is not likely due to the legal prohibition of importing enslaved people into the state after 1780.
Four Dollars Reward.
RAN away from the subscriber, living in Chambersburgh, Franklin county, on the 26th of July last, a negro man, named Muss, about 30 years old, middle size, and a little yellow; had on a blue broad cloth coat, brown silk jacket, striped nankeen overalls, a fine shirt, ruffled, and a good hat; has a large scar on his head; he wants the second toe on one of his feet. He was bred with Mr. Richard Rialy, eastern shore, Maryland. Whoever secures said negro, so that his master may have him, shall have the above reward, and all reasonable charges paid by me, if brought home.
JOHN KERR.
Chambersburgh, August 20th, 1795.
Date of Record: 26 October 1780 (Registration); 20 August 1795 (published escape notice)
Sources: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024; The Pennsylvania Herald and York General Advertiser, 21 October 1789; Oracle of Dauphin and Harrisburgh Advertiser (Harrisburg, PA), 21 September 1795.
Enslaved Person Names: Mary
Sex: Female
Age: 40
Date of Birth: 1740
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro"
Notes:
Date of Record: 26 October 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.
Enslaved Person Names: Ruth
Sex: Female
Age: 6
Date of Birth: 1774
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro"
Notes:
Date of Record: 26 October 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.
Enslaved Person Names: Isaac
Sex: Male
Age: 4
Date of Birth: 1776
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro"
Notes:
Date of Record: 26 October 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.
Enslaved Person Names: Andrew
Sex: Male
Age: 4
Date of Birth: 1776
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro"
Notes:
Date of Record: 26 October 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.

Slaveholder Name: King, John, Rev.
City or Township: Peters Township
County: Franklin
Occupation: Pastor
Notes:

Enslaved Person Names: Sue
Sex: Female
Age: 25
Date of Birth: 1755
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro"
Notes:
Date of Record: 10 October 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.
Enslaved Person Names: Luce
Sex: Female
Age: 2
Date of Birth: 1778
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro"
Notes:
Date of Record: 10 October 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.

Slaveholder Name: Kirby, William
City or Township: Guilford Township
County: Franklin
Occupation: Farmer
Notes: JATR lists this enslaver's surname as "Kerby."

Enslaved Person Names: Prina, or Parris (see notes on differing transcriptions)
Sex: Female
Age: 25
Date of Birth: 1755
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro"
Notes: Franklin County's Walk Unabowed Project transcribes this person's name as "Prina." JATR transcribes this person's name as "Parris." both agree on the sex as female.
Date of Record: 26 October 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.

Slaveholder Name: Linn, William
City or Township: Lurgan Township
County: Franklin
Occupation: Farmer
Notes:

Enslaved Person Names: Temperance
Sex: Female
Age: 30
Date of Birth: 1750
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Mulatto"
Notes:
Date of Record: 03 November 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.

Slaveholder Name: Long, Andrew
City or Township:
County: Franklin
Occupation:
Notes:

Enslaved Person Names: Jack Durham
Sex: Male
Age:
Date of Birth:
Status: Slave for life; executed
Description: "Negro slave"
Notes: Executed on July 8, 1788, per an 1878 county history:
A negro slave, named Jack Durham, the property of Andrew Long, of this county, was convicted of the crime of rape, at a court of Oyer and Terminer, held on the 3d day of June, 1788, before Hon. Thomas M'Kean, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Wm. Augustus Atlee and George Bryan, his Associates, and on the 21st of June of that year the Supreme Executive Council ordered that his execution be "made and done" on Tuesday, the 8th day of July following. John Johnston, the second Sheriff of our county executed Durham, and was paid by the county a fee of £7, 10 shillings therefor.
The jury valued Durham at thirty pounds, Pennsylvania currency, or $80.00, which was paid his owner by the Commonwealth.
Date of Record: 1788 (reported execution)
Source: I. H. McCauley, Historical Sketch of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, 1878, Chambersburg, PA, p. 59.

Slaveholder Name: Long, James, Rev.
City or Township: Antrim Township
County: Franklin
Occupation: Pastor
Notes:

Enslaved Person Names: Nell
Sex: Female
Age: 12
Date of Birth: 1768
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro"
Notes:
Date of Record: 30 October 1780
Source: "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.

Slaveholder Name Long, William
City or Township Guilford Township
Occupation: Farmer
Notes Registered in 1780 with John Vance.

Enslaved Person's Name: Sib
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 1743 (calculated)
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Sources: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves; "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.
Enslaved Person's Name: Jin
Age: 35
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: 1745 (calculated)
Description: "Negro Woman"
Status: Slave for life
Notes: JATR transcribes this person's name as "Lin"
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Sources: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves; "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.
Enslaved Person's Name: Lid
Age: 6
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: 1774
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Sources: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves; "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.
Enslaved Person's Name: Vilot (Violet)
Age: 4
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: 1776
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Sources: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves; "1780 Slaves and Slave Owners Register," Franklin County Archives, Walk Unabowed Project, https://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_WU, accessed 01 August 2024; 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 01 August 2024.

Slaveholder Name: Magaw, William, Dr.
City or Township: Mercersburg
County: Franklin
Occupation: Physician
Notes: Served in the Revolutionary War as a regimental surgeon on the Pennsylvania Line. After the war he settled in Mercersburg where he practiced medicine for several decades.
Source: Old Mercersburg, The Woman's Club of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, The Journal of American History, New York, 1912, p. 66.

Enslaved Person's Name: Name not given in ad
Sex: Male
Age: 23, if term of enslavement is the standard 28 years
Date of Birth: circa 1782
Status: Slave for a term of years, five years remaining to serve
Description: "Negro Man"
Notes: Advertised for sale in December 1805
For Sale,
AN excellent seat for a TANYARD, in the Town of Mercersburg, with five or six acres of Land adjoining it, if the purchaser chuses. Also, a NEGRO MAN, who has about five years to serve, he understands farming and cut work.
WILLIAM MAGAW.
Mercersburg, Dec. 16, 1805.
Date of Record: December 16, 1805.
Source: The Franklin Repository Weekly (Chambersburg, PA), 17 December 1805.

Slaveholder Name: McClanahan, John
City or Township: Greencastle
County: Franklin
Occupation:
Notes:

Enslaved Person's Name: Sam
Sex: Male
Age: 20
Date of Birth: 1799 (calculated)
Status: Runaway
Description: "Black man"
Notes: Sam ran away late in 1819 with his wife and her young son. The text of the runaway advertisement is below:
Fifteen Dollars Reward.
I will give fifteen dollars for apprehending and putting to jail a black man named SAM, twenty years old, remarkably thick upper lip, rather a down look, 5 feet 10 inches high; is well dressed: blue super broad cloth coat, fur hat. His shoes have small straps and buckles. Also a variety of clothes to work in; is a good and harmless servant but decoyed by a mulatto woman, to whom he is lately married. She has stolen sundry articles of value, say two pieces linen cambric, a yellow damask shawl half worn, handkerchief, &c and absconded for fear of punishment; has a male child two or three years old.
John M'Lanahan, of James
Greencastle, Franklin co.
December 17, 1819
Date of Record: December 17, 1819. This ad ran through January 1820.
Source: Harrisburg Republican, December 17, 1819

Slaveholder Name: McConkey, John
City or Township: Chambersburg
County: Franklin
Occupation:
Notes:

Enslaved Person's Name: Not named
Sex: Male
Age: Not stated; described as "man"
Date of Birth: Not known
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro Man"
Notes: Offered for sale along with a woman in March 1789. Text of sale ad: "For sale, a NEGRO Man & Woman, Any person wanting to purchase may apply to the printers in Carlisle, or to John M'Conkey in Chambersburgh. March 3, 1789."
Date of Record: 03 March 1789
Source: The Carlisle Gazette and Western Repository of Knowledge, 04 March 1789.
Enslaved Person's Name: Not named
Sex: Female
Age: Not stated; described as "woman"
Date of Birth: Not known
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro Woman"
Notes: Offered for sale along with a man in March 1789. Text of sale ad: "For sale, a NEGRO Man & Woman, Any person wanting to purchase may apply to the printers in Carlisle, or to John M'Conkey in Chambersburgh. March 3, 1789."
Date of Record: 03 March 1789
Source: The Carlisle Gazette and Western Repository of Knowledge, 04 March 1789.

Slaveholder Name: McCoy, Alexander
City or Township: Peters Township
County: Franklin
Occupation:
Notes:

Enslaved Person's Name: Not named
Sex: Male
Age: Not stated; described as "boy"
Date of Birth: Not known
Status: Slave for a term of years; more than four years remaining to serve
Description: "Negro Boy"
Notes: Offered for sale in January 1816.
A Negro Boy for Sale.
THE subscriber offers for Sale the time of a healthy, smart Negro Boy, who has better than four years to serve.
ALEXANDER M'COY.
Peters township,
January 8, 1816
Date of Record: 8 January 1816
Source: Franklin Repository (Chambersburg, PA), 16, 23 January 1816.

Slaveholder Name: McFarland, Stephen
City or Township: Mercersburg
County: Franklin
Occupation:
Notes:

Enslaved Person's Name: Not named
Sex: Female
Age: Not stated; described as a "woman." With 9 years remaining on a typical 28-year term of enslavement, she would be 19 years old.
Date of Birth: circa 1784
Status: Slave for a term of years, with "about 9 years to serve"
Description: "Negro Woman"
Notes: Offered for sale in February 1803. Text of sale ad below:
FOR SALE,
A healthy Negro Woman,
who has about 9 years to serve. Any person wishing to purchase may see the wench, and know the terms, by applying to the subscriber, living in Mercersburg.
STEPHEN M'FARLAND.
Feb. 15th, 1803.
The ad above was published in early March. Two weeks earlier, McFarland's ad noted that the woman was "now in the jail of Franklin county, where she may be seen." She was apparently jailed for an offense, possibly for running away, and initially jailed. By early March, McFarland had brought the woman back to his residence in Mercersburg.
Date of Record: 15 February 1803
Source: The Franklin Repository Weekly (Chambersburg, PA), 16 February, 02 March 1803.

Slaveholder Name: Mitchell, James
City or Township: Antrim
County: Cumberland (modern day Franklin County)
Occupation:
Notes:
1. Enslaved Person's Name: Bristo
  Sex: Male
  Age: Not stated; described as a "man."
  Date of Birth: Not known
  Status: Slave for life, to be manumitted at age 31, per will of James Mitchell, 1781.
  Description: "Negro Man"
  Notes: Per entry in USGenWeb file:
  The day before he died he said that his part of his father's estate should be devised betwixt his wife and 2 daus. House in Carlise to go to his 2 daus. together with house that belonged to his grandmother, now in dispute. Plantation he lived on to go to his son and eldest dau. Wife Mary. Son, Andrew and two daus. Clothes to be divided between his two bros. Bro. Ross to have care of the three children.
  To set Negro man Bristo free at age 31.
  He asked the witnesses to go for Elias Davison to draw his will but there was no paper in the house. Elias Davison and Henry Pauling were to return the next evening but James Mitchell died before they arrived.
  Date of Record: Will dated October 13, 1780, proved 7 February 1781.
  Source: Noncupative Will of James Mitchell, Antrim Township, Cumberland County, Will Book D. 31-3. "Wills: Abstracts 1777-1785: Will Books C - D : Cumberland Co, PA," Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Thera Schwenk-Hammond.

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Franklin County, Pennsylvania Slaveholders J - M

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