Fourth Generation Inclusive

Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Tag: runaway

July 1, 2013

He has fine white teeth; I have his indentures.

$25 Reward.

WILL be given for the delivery to me, or for the confinement in the Jail of Cumberland county, of DAVID BOOKER, who ranaway from me about the middle of last June.

DESCRIPTION. – Booker is about 5 feet 10 inches high, very black, has fine white teeth, speaks pleasingly when in conversation, is about forty years old, and in walking bends forward considerably. He is a Blacksmith by trade.

I have his indentures for two years from 1st of May 1854, for costs and charges in State case vs. him, in the Superior Court of Cumberland county; and all persons are cautioned not to employ him without my consent.  T.R. UNDERWOOD.  Dec. 19, 1854.

Semi-Weekly Fayetteville Observer, 22 February 1855.

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June 11, 2013

Runaway bound girl may try to pass.

NOTICE.

ALL persons are forbid harboring my bound girl SUSAN, as the law will be enforced against all such. Susan ran away on Saturday evening last, the 10th inst; she is a bright mulatto, about 13 years old, and may try to pass for white. I expect she is making towards Raleigh.  WM. McLEOD.

Goldsboro’, Sept. 14, 1853.

New Era, Goldsboro, 27 October 1853.

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June 3, 2013

Charles was born free, but is now confined in jail as a runaway slave.

United States of America

State of Maryland, to wit:

I, Samuel Farnandis, Notary Public, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the State of Maryland, Commissioned and duly Qualified, residing in the City of Baltimore, in the State aforesaid, do hereby CERTIFY, ATTEST, and MAKE KNOWN, that on the day of the date hereof, personally appeared Thomas Wilson and made oath on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God that he knew and was personally acquainted with a Negor Boy named Charles Rigby, now aged twenty two to twenty four years old black complexion, five feet two to five feet four Inches high, has one tooth broke in front, has a long face and large Head; that he knows the said Boy Charles to be free, and that he was born free, that he lived in his Family from the time he was about one year old until about four years since; said Wilson further saith he was understood and verily believes that the said Charles is now confined in Jail in the State of North Carolina as a Runaway Slave.    /s/ Thomas Wilson

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, the said deponent hath hereunto subscribed his name, and I the said Notary have hereunto set my hand, and affixed my Notarial Seal, the Eighteenth day of August in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty Six   /s/ Saml. Farnandis, Not’y Pub.

———-

Charles Rigby Was born in Harford County and lived with Thomas Jenney until he was about 8 or 9 years old the most of the balance with me or under my controle he sail’d with Captain Bernard Johnson in the Schooner Christopher Hughes ran away & was taken and put in Fredericksburg jail I think he is hardly to tall as is mentioned in Mr. Farnandes instrument

Balt August 18th 1836                     Respectfully Yours, &&c, Thos. Wilson

Chowan County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

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May 15, 2013

He has probably gone to his parents; his father is a free man.

$50 Reward.

RAN AWAY from my residence about 14 miles from Newbern on the 1st of July last, a negro boy named POLLOCK. His complexion is jet black – about 19 years old, and 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high. On first looking at any person, he looks straight, but if he continues to look any length of time he squints with one eye. He is probably lurking about J.C. Stanly’s plantation on the Washington road, where his parents reside. I will give the above reward to any person who will deliver him to me, or lodge him in any Jail in this State so that I can get him.  Masters of vessels are hereby fowarned against carrying him away, as it is probable he will attempt to get to a free country. It is possible that he may have a forged free pass, as his father is a free man.   MARY PALMER.  October 5th, 1836.

North Carolina Sentinel, New Bern, 14 December 1836.

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April 22, 2013

He is making for the Western Country.

One Hundred Dollars Reward.

RANAWAY from the subscriber on the 6th day of March last, a mulatto man by the name of JACK, well built, about five feet five or six inches high, 28 years of age, a tolerable shoe maker, and has been much in the habit of driving a wagon – He has a scar on his forehead, and a part of one of his upper foreteeth is broken off, one of his wrists broke and crooked, and his right leg pretty much shot with small shot which will shew very plainly. He has been seen on his way making for the Western Country, and passes as a free man but the name of John Revill, having obtained a pass from a black free man of that name which was written and signed by John Taylor Clerk of the County Court of Orange, (State of North-Carolina) – Any person who will deliver the aforesaid mulatto man to the Subscriber at Hillsborough in the state aforesaid, shall receive the above reward, and all reasonable charges paid from time of his being taken until delivered.  LEVI WHITTED.

Hillsborough Record, April 8, 1812.

P.S. The Subscriber was somewhat mistaken before in a part of the description given of this fellow, that is with respect to his height.

The Editor of the paper at Knoxville, is hereby requested to give this advertisement an insertion in his paper and continue the same about 6 weeks, for which he will be good enough to forward his account to the subscriber living at Hillsborough, and the money shall be duly forwarded.   L. WHITTED.

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April 15, 2013

He went off as a free man.

$300 REWARD. – Escaped from the fortifications in Wilmington, North Carolina, in May or June last, my man GEORGE WASHINGTON. Yellow complexion; he has a small scar on his left cheek, kinky head of hair, twenty-two or three years old, about five feet six inches high, pleasing appearance and speech.

George Washington was raised in Franklin county, North Carolina, by David Ingram, near Laurel post office. I understand that he went off from Wilmington with some Southern soldiers to Richmond as a free man. I will pay the above reward of three hundred dollars for his apprehension, and delivered to Lieutenant Colonel John L. Harris, Twenty-fourth regiment North Carolina Troops, Petersburg, or to Robert Lumpkin, Richmond, or to me at Roxboro, Person county, North Carolina.  JAMES HOLLOWAY.

Richmond Examiner, Richmond VA, 3 December 1864.

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April 5, 2013

He passes for a free man.

TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS REWARD.  Absconded from New-Bern about twelve months past, a mulatto man slave named JOHN, who passes for a free man and calls himself JOHN McCLISH. He is a taylor by trade, well made, of a middle stature and wears his hair in a queue; he has been seen at the plantation of the late George Lovick, nine miles below New-Bern, on Neuse river, about three months past. Any person who will bring the said fellow to me in New-Bern shall receive the above reward [illegible] reward and all reasonable charges paid. THO. WILLIAMS, New-Bern, Nov. 2, 1785.

North Carolina Gazette, or Impartial Intelligencer and Weekly Advertiser, 3 November 1785.

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March 5, 2013

He has a badly executed free pass.

$25 Dollars Reward. Ran Away from the subscriber, living in Wayne county, 12 miles north of Waynesborough, on the 8th of January last, a mulatto man by the name of EPHRAIM, who has since altered it to JOHN ARTIS. He is between 25 and 30 years of age, nearly 6 feet high, and his foreteeth are somewhat defective. He has a free pass, badly executed, and it is suspected that he will endeavor to go to Indiana with some negroes in Guilford county, who are about starting for that State. The above reward will be given for the apprehension and delivery of said fellow to me, or securing him in any jail in that State, so that I get him again.  PETER L. PEACOCK. July 27, 1827.

The State and North Carolina State Gazette, 16 August 1827.

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February 26, 2013

Sold for taxes, redux.

No. 471. An Act for the relief of John Montgomery and William A. Lewis, of Forsyth County; Nancy Going, Adaline Page, Thursday, Isabella, De la Fayette, and Elmira, free persons of color, of the County of Columbia, and for other purposes therein specified.

WHEREAS, Bryant Oxendine, a free person of color, was taken up for failing to comply with the Registration Laws of this State, in the year 1850, and was found guilty and fined by the Inferior Court of Forsyth County one hundred dollars, and being unable to pay the fine was hired out, under the Laws of this State, for a term of eighteen months, for the price of one hundred dollars, to John Montgomery, on the 5th day of December, 1850, and the said John Montgomery gave his note due eighteen months after date, to the Justices of the Inferior Court of Forsyth County, for the sum of one hundred dollars, with William A. Lewis as security for the same. And,

WHEREAS, The said Bryant Oxendine ran away on the 28th day of August, 1851, and therefore failed to perform the service for the time for which he was hired.

…

SECTION I. Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in the General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the said John Montgomery and WIlliam A. Lewis be relieved, discharged and acquitted from the payment of so much of the said note, in proportion, as the service aforesaid was not performed, to wit: the sum of fifty-five dollars.

…

Acts of the General Assembly of Georgia, 1853-4 (1854).

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February 22, 2013

I am informed he went off with a free man of color.

Twenty-five Dollars Reward. I will give the above reward of twenty-five dollars, for apprehending and securing in jail, or otherwise, negro Isaac, so that I get him again, and will pay all necessary expences if delivered to me at my place of residence, in the county of Edgecombe, about two miles east of the stage road leading from Tarborough to Enfield, and about eight miles from the latter. Isaac is a bright mulatto; sprightly, possessing much impudence, has a bushy head, and well proportioned in his form; his size I am not prepared to say, not having seen him for near twelve months – his age I imagine about twenty. This negro, I understand, absconded from Dr. Landon Clanton, of the town of Halifax, to whom he was hired for the present year. It is highly probably, that this boy has obtained a fraudulent pass, and will endeavour to pass for a freeman; a circumstance which goes to support such a conclusion is, I am informed he went off with a free man of color, named Napoleon Cabarrus, who resides in or about Edenton, N.C. and that they have been seen together beyond Pollock’s ferry, on Roanoke. Masters of vessels and all others are hereby cautioned against harboring or carrying off said negro Isaac at their peril.  ELI B. WHITAKER, Trustee, &c. Edgecombe Co. N.C., Aug., 28, 1826.

Free Press, Halifax and Tarboro, 29 August 1826.

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