slaveryto
freedom
Study Areas
September 1, 1789: Will Escapes and Takes his Family With Him.
Six Pounds Reward.
RAN-AWAY last night from the subscriber, living in Gun-powder Neck, near Joppa, in Harford county, Maryland, a Negro Man named WILL, a stout well made fellow, near six feet high, had sore shins, and there remains scales on one or both: He is about 25 years of age, and had on when he went away a white country fulled kersey jacket with sleeves, and a new felt hat, the other clothes unknown:
He also took with him two horses; one a roan, about 14 hands high, a natural pacer, and has some small sores on his back; the other a small bay, trots, paces, and gallops, but is dull;
He likewise took with him his wife and two children; she is about 18 or 20 years old, a sturdy well looking woman; the children are boys, one about five and the other two years old -- the woman and children are the property of Robert Dutton.
Said fellow ran-away sometime ago, and went by the name of Sam; he had then a forged pass, signed John Dutton, and made towards little York, in Pennsylvania, and it is thought has now got a pass. Whoever takes up said negroes, and secures them, so that the owners may get them again, shall receive the above reward if out of the state; if out of this county five pounds; if in the county ten shillings a piece over what the law allows, and all reasonable charges paid if brought home.
JACOB BOND.
ROBERT DUTTON.
Sept. 1st, 1789.
Notes
This is the second escape attempt by Will, the first "sometime ago," apparently ended unsuccessfully. This time, Will retrieved his wife and two young sons from a neighboring farmer to whom they were enslaved, took along two horses and made the escape on the night of August 31, 1789. Probably each adult rode a horse with a child on their lap.
While the horses allowed this familiy to get away quicker and cover more ground before being discovered in the morning, it also made them a more consipcuous sight along rural roads, and possibly more likely to be stopped and questioned. Will, according to enslaver Jacob Bond, probably again had a pass, which might have helped him talk his way out of dangerous confrontations.
The presence of a two-year-old child and a five-year-old child also presented considerable challenges not faced by escaping adult men or women. The children hindered rapid travel, could not be trusted to hide quietly for extended periods of time, and were less able to endure long periods of hunger, thirst or cold. It may be that Will and his young wife, who is not named, considered these limitations and for that reason decided to take the horses in order to ensure a quick getaway.
Sources
The Pennsylvania Herald and York General Advertiser, 23 September 1789.
Covering the history of African Americans in central Pennsylvania from the colonial era through the Civil War.
Support the Afrolumens Project. Read the books:
The Year of Jubilee, Volume One: Men of God, Volume Two: Men of Muscle