June 2 1806 - philadelphia
American History 101 - People are tired of slave stories BUT let's talk about the ones that ESCAPED!
- Thread starter geechiedan
- Start date
June 2 1806 - philadelphia
The Fayetteville Observer
the CAC wants to lock up anyone helping the dude and will pay more for that. Willing to spend 475 dollars to get someone supposedly worth 25
I agree all day with this^^^^
Looking at these articles just makes me wonder of they stayed free or got caught. How did theyre lives end up..
props for the thread i missed it the first time around. will read all of these.
Hester Wright was caught..
John Cornish broke out of jail
And I've noticed that the closer we get to the Civil War the higher the rewards are. 800 is the highest so far.
two brothers escaped
THE ADS ARE IN OLD ENGLISH AND FOR WHATEVER REASON THEY USE AN "F" LOOKING SYMBOL for "S"... SO IF YOU ENCOUNTER A WORD THAT MAKES NO SENSE JUST REPLACE THE F WITH S..EXAMPLE: FUBFCRIBER = SUBSCRIBER
I know..don't ask
a 30 year old irish indentured servant who is exceedingly talkative especially when in liquor:lo:
I know..don't ask
a 30 year old irish indentured servant who is exceedingly talkative especially when in liquor:lo:
THE ADS ARE IN OLD ENGLISH AND FOR WHATEVER REASON THEY USE AN "F" LOOKING SYMBOL for "S"... SO IF YOU ENCOUNTER A WORD THAT MAKES NO SENSE JUST REPLACE THE F WITH S..EXAMPLE: FUBFCRIBER = SUBSCRIBER
I know..don't ask
two escape and two get caught...
I know..don't ask
two escape and two get caught...
kinda quiet in here..800 views but no opinions or statements?
1776
Runaway on Thursday the 19th four Virginia born Nergo men slaves belonging to colonel john fry's estate. HARRY about 5 feet 8 inches high, well made, yellow complexion, has a scar on his face and a sensible artful fellow, and about 30 years old. YORK, about 5 feet 10 inches high, a stout likely well made fellow, black complexion, one of his legs is smaller than the other, has a sear on one of his arms by being burned when about 26 years old. ADAM about 5 feet 7 inches high, yellow complexion, thin visage, bushy hair about 40 years old. Impossible to describe the clothes they carried with them having different kinds.
Archaic word definition:
artful
adjective
1. cunning, designing, scheming, sharp, smart, clever, subtle, intriguing, tricky, shrewd, sly, wily, politic, crafty, foxy, deceitful the smiles and artifices of a subtly artful woman
cunning open, simple, frank, straightforward, artless, ingenuous
2. skillful, masterly, smart, clever, subtle, ingenious, adept, resourceful, proficient, adroit, dexterous There is also an artful contrast of shapes.
likely
c.1300, perhaps from O.N. likligr "likely," from likr "like" (adj.). O.E. had cognate geliclic. Meaning "having the appearance of being strong and capable" is from mid-15c., though now mostly confined to Amer.Eng. Sense of "good-looking" is from 1470. Meaning "probably" is attested from late 14c., now
principally in Amer.Eng.
they say 4 but describe only 3..either the ad is wrong someone slipped under the radar..
Three dollars reward over and above what the law allows for securing ISAAC a run away negroe of mine, and delivering him to me on my plantation at the Falls, he is small pale coloured fellow, hook nose, and has lost the toes off one of his feet, very artfull insinuating and impudent, if he is taken out of this County I will give an allowance for the distance, he has been gone since the 24th of January. All persons are forbidden to harbor him. JOHN CAMPBELL.
Source: The Kentucke Gazette, 15 March 1788 See also 02 August 1788
Five pounds reward. Ran away from the subscriber at Lexington on the 15th of June, JIM and LEWIS, they are nearly of one size, about five feet six or eight inches high, stout, well made healthy looking fellows, and very black complexions: they were bred to the carpenters business, at which one is a very good and handy fellow; the other a good sawyer, and aukward at any other part of the business, they have their last winters suit of cloaths that are much worn, and some old cloth that have been worn by myself of a brown and black colour: As they were lately moved from Cumberland county in Virginia, they may endeavour to pass through the wilderness to the place of their nativity. I will give the above reward for both, or a pronortion for either. B. WILSON.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 05 July, 1788 (also 12 and 19 July)
Four dollars reward. Broke out of Bairdstown jail the 7th Inst., a negroe fellow named ISAAC, he is small and pale coloured, hook nosed, has lost the toes off one of his feet, is very talkative plausible and insinuating, he was lately the property of Col. John Campbell of Jefferson county, and formerly belonged to capt. H. Pawling of Lincoln, who sold him to lawyer Brown of this place, he is well acquainted in the neighborhood. Whoever apprehends and secures him so that the subscriber gets him, shall receive the above reward. THO. BARBEE
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 02 August 1788 (also 9, 16, and 23 August) See also 15 March 1788
Ten dollars reward. Ran away from Henry Heth, living in Washington county, on the Monongahela, about the latter end of June last, a large, ugly negroe fellow, named SAM, supposed to be between 36 and 40 years of age, and has a remarkable wide mouth. He had on and took with him a hat, a light colored sagathy coat, a country made shirt, two pair of breeches made of wool and tow, and dyed purple, a pair of black yarn stockings, and leather for shoe-packs, but as he is a notorious thief, it is highly probable that he may have got other clothes: He is of such a cowardly disposition, that notwithstanding his size, and blustering manner, a boy of firmness may take him. Having lately purchased said negroe as he runs, I do promise that the above reward and reasonable charges, shall be paid to any person delivering him well secured to col. A. Tannehill, in Pittsburgh, capt. Andrew Heth Clarksville, or maj. Croghan in Louisville at the falls of Ohio. WILLIAM HETH
Source: The Kentucke Gazette, 13 September 1788 (also 27 September, 11 October)
Eight dollars reward will be paid to any person, who will apprehend and deliver Negroe BEN to the subscriber. He eloped the beginning of this month. Has a wife at Capt. Fowlers, and probably lurks about that neighborhood, or in the Vicinity of this Town. JAMES WILKINSON
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 25 October 1788 (also 07 November)
A mulatto lad named SAM JACKSON, has for several days absented himself from my service under the false pretense of being free, and I am informed is lurking about Lexington. He is under middle size and may be certainly known from having lost all the toes off of one of his feet by a burn. I will give two dollars reward for bringing him home. CALEB WALLACE..
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 24 January 1789
Run away from the subscriber, living in Woodford county, a negro man named BILLY, about 15 years old, a yellow complexion, thick lips, a large flat foot, 5 feet 8 inches high, well proportioned, very artful, sensible and insinuating; has a small lump on his stomach about the size of a common rifle ball, had on when he went away, a blue coarse cloth coat bound with yellow, leather breeches, and took with him a Country made mixed cloth coat, also a rifle gun, He understands milling masoning and the whipsaw very well, supposed to be gone to the Indians; if the above Negro is taken on this side of the Ohio river, I will give five pounds, and if on the other side from the Indians 20 pounds or 100 gallons of whisky and all reasonable charges if delivered to Col. Patterson in Lexington, or to the subscriber on Cane run, about 8 miles from Lexington. RUBERT SANDERS.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 23 June 1789
Came to my plantation, on South Elk-Horn, about 6 miles from Lexington on Friday the 17th instant, a very large yellowish complexioned negro man who said he was a freeman, and called himself DANIEL ROSS: He is about 32 years of ago, had on coarse country made linen short and trousers, a coat of mixed cloth of cotton and wool; he rode a bay horse about 14 hands high, 9 years old branded on the near shoulder and buttocks JP, some white hairs in his mane and some white spots immediately below them, trots naturally -- an old saddle and blanket; and as I have every reason to suppose the said negro be a slave, and to have stolen the said horse, &c. I hereby request the owner to come prove his property, and take them away. WILLIAM STONE.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 01 August 1789
Run away from the subscriber, living near Johnson's mill, the 29th of July, a negro man named PETER, 22 years old, about 5 feet 9 inches high, one foot burnt when young, so that the small toes does not touch the ground, he had on a felt hat, laced with lined, old hunting short, old shirt and trousers, old blue cloth leggins over the trousers; Whoever delivers the said negro to me shall receive four dollars. THO. FICKLIN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 August 1789
Runaway from the subscriber, living near this place, on Sunday night the 6th Instant, a likely Negro fellow, about 23 years old, of a yellowish complexion, about 5 foot 7 or 8 inches high, a remarkable flat nose, and when standing very bow legged. Had on an oznaburge shirt and short breeches of the same, leggins mixed with black yarn, a snuff coloured cloth coat and a black wool hat knit half worn: it is imagined he took a horse from this place, which was found next morning near the blue licks. It is probable he may be making for Virginia. Whoever secures the said negro and either sends me word so that I get him again, or delivers him to me, shall receive a reward of ten dollars paid by me. JOHN WHALEY.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 12 September 1789
Runaway from the subscriber, a negro man named TOM spare built, about 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, of a yellow complexion, a scar on one of his cheeks, had on a short blue coat, old linen breeches and wrappers, very sensible, and it is suspected he will attempt to pass for a free man; Whoever delivers the said negro to the subscriber shall have 5 dollars if taken within 25 miles, and is over 10 dollars. WM. PRICK.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 15 January 1791
Run away from the subscriber in Mercer county on Thursday 24th of November 1790, a negro man named PHIL, about twenty five years old, well set, and about five feet six or seven inches high, has a round face, flat nose, wide mouth, and thick lips when he laughs, he generally draws up his nose, and shews most of his teeth, which are very white, had on when he went off, an old hat, a linsey hunting shirt and coat of the same stuff, both dyed a sooty color, a jump jacket, an old shirt, leather breeches, blue and white yarn stockings, a pair of wrappers, a pair of old shoes, and a pair of brass buckles - it is expected he has taken other clothes with him and will change his dress. Five pounds reward will be given to any person that takes him alive and delivered safe to me, or ten pounds for his head sever’d from his body, to be paid in cattle at cash price. JOHN MEAUX.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 22 January 1791
30 Dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber living near Frankfort, on Kentucky, two Negro fellows, by name HARRY and BARTLETT - Harry is a short thick set, down looking black fellow, between 20 and 25 years of age, has been accustomed to the sea service - Bartlett is a slim, well made fellow, with a smooth tonge, about 20 years of age, has been accustomed to plantation work and to drive a team and is also black - it is probable they have made for the settlement by the Wilderness or by Limestone; Whoever delivers them to the subscriber near Frankfort shall receive fifteen dollars for each, or ten dollars for each if confined in any jail in the United States, so that they may be got again. NATH. RICHARDSON
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 25 June 1791
Four dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber living about two miles from Lexington, a Negroe man named PETER, about thirty years old, 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, lost his upper teeth before, speaks a little broken, had on when he went away an old white greatcoat cut short, the crown of an old white hat, old leather breeches, old blue stockings without shoes; whosoever will deliver said Negroe to the subscriber, shall have the above reward, with all reasonable charges. ALEXANDER MAHAN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 12 May 1792
Ten dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Mason County, a Negroe Lad about Seventeen years of age, five feet five or six inches high, well made, flat nose, broad mouth, his under lip is tolerable long, and pitted with the small pox. I cannot describe his dress, as he has stole a number of clothes since he ran away. Whoever takes up said lad and delivers him to me, or secures him in Washington jail, shall receive the above reward from me. THOMAS MARSHALL, jun.
N.B. He is supposed to be in Woodford County.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 14 July 1792.
Forty dollars reward. Ran away from the subscribers living in Fayette county, two likely Negroe fellows about twenty five years of age, both of a yellow complexion, the one named TOM BELL about 5 feet 10 inches high, has been branded on the near cheek this WP, but the letters not distinguishable but shews a plain scar, he is a spare built fellow: the other is a low, chunky well built fellow, about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches high; it is expected they will endeavour to leave the district and pass for free men, the above reward will be given if taken over the bounds of twenty miles and brought to the owners, if taken under twenty miles the one half of the above reward will be given or in proportion for either by WILLIAM PRICE. SAMUEL LAMME,
N.B. It is expected there will be others with them.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 01 September 1792.
Five pounds reward. Ran away from the subscriber living near Bryans Station on the tenth instant, JACK, a negroe man about twenty-four years old, five feet six or seven inches high, well made, a little bow leged, wide mouth and flat nose, has had one or both his ears cropt, had on when he went away a good shirt and old overalls much torn, with thread buttons, bare foot and bare headed, his hair not cut and grows low on the back of his neck and temples, goes generally with his collar open and his shirt out of his breeches, he is very artful and if not well secured will make his escape if taken, he has once been taken since he ran away and made his escape. I will give the above reward to any person who will deliver him to me. JOHN ROGERS.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 September 1792.
Four dollars reward. Ran away some time ago from the subscriber, living in Danville, a negro man, named FRANK, about five feet eight or ten inches high, twenty-five years old, had on when he went away a half worn hat, coarse hunting shirt, coarse pair of Tanner's trowsers, is supposed to have made to some part of Licking; whoever secures said negro, or delivers him to me or in any gaol as I can get him, shall have the above reward and reasonable charges, paid by me. BOB KERR.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 29 December 1792.
Ten dollars reward. For apprehending the following runaways to wit: WILL, a Mulatto, about 30 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, a look very much like an Indian, long straight hair tied behind, a scar over one of his eyes, will pass for a free man; had on leather leggins and spurrs, his other dress is such as is common for negroes. -- ABRAM, a black boy, about 16 years old, well grown. The above reward and all reasonable charges will be given to any person who will deliver them to the subscriber living on the waters of Hickman near Lexington. JAMES MARTIN.
N.B. It is expected they intend going to the Indians; they will likely steal horses.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 23 February 1793.
Ran away from the subscriber, a likely negro Blacksmith; he is nearly six feet high and not very black: he has a long flat nose, appears slim although he is broad shouldered, and stutters a little especially when questioned closely, a piece has been cut off the top of his right ear, but he conceals it with his hair; one toe on each of his feet is almost covered by the rest; he had on a white twill'd sailor's jacket, a brown cotton waistcoat and leather breeches: he took with him a brown coat with short ___ts, a drab great coat and a horseman's leather cap. He is extremely artful, and may have found means to change his cloaths, he may perhaps procure a forged pass or attempt to pass for a free man. I will give ten dollars to anyone who will secure him so that I get him again, and pay besides, all reasonable expences, if brought to me. ROBT. ALEXANDER. Kentucky, Woodford County.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 23 February 1793.
FOUR DOLLAR REWARD. Runaway from this place, the 4th inst. a bright Mulatto Man who calls himself JOHN GRAY: he is about Eighteen years old, four feet eight or nine inches high, pretty well made, rather handsome than otherwise, a down look, it is probable he will try to pass for a freeman, and will either make for the mouth of Licking or the Eastern settlements; he was raised in Caroline County, Virginia. Any person apprehending him and delivering him at this place, shall receive the above reward. THOMAS CARNEAL.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 May 1793
Run away from the subscriber in the year 1791, a dark mulatto lad 17 years old, a square and very well proportioned fellow, has a long scar on the back of his left hand from the cut of an axe, and another over one of his eyes, but do not recollect which, his clothing was of the common kind. - Whoever will apprehend the said lad, and deliver him to Gen. Nathaniel Gist of the State of Kentucky, where I do suppose the fellow may now be, will be generously rewarded by that gentleman. DAVID COUPLAND.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 May, 1793
TEN DOLLARS REWARD. Run away from the subscriber on Tuesday the twenty first of this inst. a black Negro man the name of JACK, about twenty-seven years old, about five feet seven inches high, he has a small squint with his eyes, he has a pert lively look, speaks freely, he is a lively active fellow, walks brisk, and is pretty impudent, had on when he went away an old tow linen shirt and trowses, and yellow coloured linsey hunting shirt, a wool hat about half worn - whosoever will apprehend the said negro, and bring him to me, shall receive the above reward and all reasonable charges paid by me. CHARLES WICKLIFF
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 04 June 1793
FIVE Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber on the nineteenth of this inst. a mulatto woman, by name ROSE, of rather a small size, about thirty years of age, a good countenance; her shoulders show evident marks of a whipping. She will no doubt try to pass for a free woman and get off to for the distant places. Any person securing her in any jail or bringing her to me, on South Elkhorn, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable charges, paid by ROBERT PARKER.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 27 July 1793
Five Dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber on the 22nd inst. a low thick well set negro man, named SAUL; about 20 years of age; 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high, round faced; the clothes he took with him was a dark blue coat neatly made, striped jacket, an old pair of cassimer breeches, tow trowses and shirts. Shoes with buckles. Whoever takes up said negro, and brings him to the subscriber living on South Elkhorn at the mouth of the Town fork, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable charges, paid by me. JOHN CALHOON.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 27 July 1793
Five Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber, living near Lexington, about the fifth of July last. GEORGE, a dark mulatto man about 23 years old, about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches high, brisk and active, large full eyes, had on tow linen shirt and trowsers, it is likely he will pass for a free man, and has attempted to preach; it is probable he is either lurking in the country of Logan or Green, or gone to Cumberland; any person delivering him to the subscriber shall have the above reward and all reasonable charges. WILL FARROW.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 10 August 1793
TEN PONDS REWARD. Ran away from the subscriber in Green County on Green river a negro fellow by the name of JACK (but commonly calls himself JOHNY BATTEE) about 5 feet 8 inches high, about 24 or 25 years old, had on when he went away, a pair of coarse linen trowsers and white linsey hunting shirt, and white wool hat, has one of his foreteeth broke off; whoever takes up the said negro and delivers him to the subscriber, shall receive the above reward in good property. JOHN THURMA*N. N.B. He formerly belonged to Mr. FULKERSON at the mouth of Shawnee run.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 05 October 1793
TEN POUNDS REWARD. Run away from the subscriber living within 2 miles of Danville, about the 20th of September last PETER, a yellow negro, about 5 feet 10 inches high, well made, about 30 years of age, thick lips and has lost some of his fore teeth, whoever apprehends said slave and delivers him to me shall have the above reward. JOHN DOUGHERTY.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 19 October 1793
Run away from the subscriber living in Scott county, near Johnson’s mill, a Negro fellow named JEFFERY, about twenty one years of age, about 5 feet 8 inches high of a yellow complexion, wants some teeth before, is extremely artful in telling a story or telling a lye, has a remarkable spot on the back of his shoulders much darker than the rest of his skin, has a scar on one of his hands occasioned by the cut of a sickle. had on when he went away, a high crowned hat broken about the upper edges of the crown, a black linsy under jacket, and upper jacket of coarse linnen, an old pair of leather breeches, a pair of yellow linsy leggings, it is supposed he will try to make for the settlement, through the wilderness. Any person taking up said fellow and securing him so that I may get him again shall receive Two Dollars reward and reasonable charges paid by THOMAS DINWIDDIE.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 21 December 1793
Fifty Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, on the fifth night of August, in the year 1792, a Negroe Man, named ANTHONY; about 25 years of age, about five feet one inch high, broad shouldered and well made to his height, is somewhat hollow backed, virginia born and very black, has had his middle finger on his right hand broke, above the knuckle joint, which disables him from shutting that finger close. The above reward and all reasonable charges will be given to any person who will deliver him to me. JAMES HANDLEY.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 21 December 1793
Twenty Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber living near Frankfort, about the 6th inst. GABRIEL, a remarkable large Negroe man, 6 feet 3 or 4 inches high, stutters when spoken to, a toe on one of his feet is off at the first joint. Whoever delivers said Negroe to me shall receive the above reward. WILLIAM SAMUEL. 26 February 1794.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 12 April 1794.
Run away from the subscribers living on Silver Creek, Madison county, about the 12th inst. Two likely young Negroe fellows, one about 5 feet 3 or 4 inches high and well made; the other about five feet 7 or 8 inches high; both of a yellow complexion but the latter most so: They are both armed with smooth bored guns, and it is expected they are aiming for the north west side of the Ohio, and in all probability will endeavor to pass for free men: whoever will secure said negroes so that we can get them, shall receive Ten Dollars and five Dollars for either. WILLIAM ROBINSON. NICHOLAS HAWKINS. 21 March.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 12 April 1794.
Five Dollars Reward. Run away, on the 27th of December last, a negro fellow, name LEVI, about five feet six inches high, well set, very black, full eyed; had on when he went away, a half worn sky blue broad cloath coat, tow trowsers; he is a very active fellow, has a mark on his little finger occasioned by a cut, the flesh appears to have grown over the nail; he is about nineteen years of age. The above reward will be given with reasonable charges, if delivered to me in Lincoln county on the head waters of Boon's Mill creek.
There was another went off with him, about the same size and description, belonging to Mr. Wethers, in the same county. If both brought home the same reward will be given. WM. PAWLING.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 19 April 1794.
Run away from the subscriber, the third of January, FRANK, about forty-seven years old, five feet one inch high; had on a jacket the foreparts of cordory, leather breeches, shoes and stockings; whoever apprehends said negroe and secures him so that I get him shall have ten Dollars, and if bro't home, reasonable charges, paid. MOSES CHERRY, Scott County, North Elkhorn, April 18, 1784.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 April, 1794.
Source: The Kentucke Gazette, 15 March 1788 See also 02 August 1788
Five pounds reward. Ran away from the subscriber at Lexington on the 15th of June, JIM and LEWIS, they are nearly of one size, about five feet six or eight inches high, stout, well made healthy looking fellows, and very black complexions: they were bred to the carpenters business, at which one is a very good and handy fellow; the other a good sawyer, and aukward at any other part of the business, they have their last winters suit of cloaths that are much worn, and some old cloth that have been worn by myself of a brown and black colour: As they were lately moved from Cumberland county in Virginia, they may endeavour to pass through the wilderness to the place of their nativity. I will give the above reward for both, or a pronortion for either. B. WILSON.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 05 July, 1788 (also 12 and 19 July)
Four dollars reward. Broke out of Bairdstown jail the 7th Inst., a negroe fellow named ISAAC, he is small and pale coloured, hook nosed, has lost the toes off one of his feet, is very talkative plausible and insinuating, he was lately the property of Col. John Campbell of Jefferson county, and formerly belonged to capt. H. Pawling of Lincoln, who sold him to lawyer Brown of this place, he is well acquainted in the neighborhood. Whoever apprehends and secures him so that the subscriber gets him, shall receive the above reward. THO. BARBEE
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 02 August 1788 (also 9, 16, and 23 August) See also 15 March 1788
Ten dollars reward. Ran away from Henry Heth, living in Washington county, on the Monongahela, about the latter end of June last, a large, ugly negroe fellow, named SAM, supposed to be between 36 and 40 years of age, and has a remarkable wide mouth. He had on and took with him a hat, a light colored sagathy coat, a country made shirt, two pair of breeches made of wool and tow, and dyed purple, a pair of black yarn stockings, and leather for shoe-packs, but as he is a notorious thief, it is highly probable that he may have got other clothes: He is of such a cowardly disposition, that notwithstanding his size, and blustering manner, a boy of firmness may take him. Having lately purchased said negroe as he runs, I do promise that the above reward and reasonable charges, shall be paid to any person delivering him well secured to col. A. Tannehill, in Pittsburgh, capt. Andrew Heth Clarksville, or maj. Croghan in Louisville at the falls of Ohio. WILLIAM HETH
Source: The Kentucke Gazette, 13 September 1788 (also 27 September, 11 October)
Eight dollars reward will be paid to any person, who will apprehend and deliver Negroe BEN to the subscriber. He eloped the beginning of this month. Has a wife at Capt. Fowlers, and probably lurks about that neighborhood, or in the Vicinity of this Town. JAMES WILKINSON
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 25 October 1788 (also 07 November)
A mulatto lad named SAM JACKSON, has for several days absented himself from my service under the false pretense of being free, and I am informed is lurking about Lexington. He is under middle size and may be certainly known from having lost all the toes off of one of his feet by a burn. I will give two dollars reward for bringing him home. CALEB WALLACE..
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 24 January 1789
Run away from the subscriber, living in Woodford county, a negro man named BILLY, about 15 years old, a yellow complexion, thick lips, a large flat foot, 5 feet 8 inches high, well proportioned, very artful, sensible and insinuating; has a small lump on his stomach about the size of a common rifle ball, had on when he went away, a blue coarse cloth coat bound with yellow, leather breeches, and took with him a Country made mixed cloth coat, also a rifle gun, He understands milling masoning and the whipsaw very well, supposed to be gone to the Indians; if the above Negro is taken on this side of the Ohio river, I will give five pounds, and if on the other side from the Indians 20 pounds or 100 gallons of whisky and all reasonable charges if delivered to Col. Patterson in Lexington, or to the subscriber on Cane run, about 8 miles from Lexington. RUBERT SANDERS.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 23 June 1789
Came to my plantation, on South Elk-Horn, about 6 miles from Lexington on Friday the 17th instant, a very large yellowish complexioned negro man who said he was a freeman, and called himself DANIEL ROSS: He is about 32 years of ago, had on coarse country made linen short and trousers, a coat of mixed cloth of cotton and wool; he rode a bay horse about 14 hands high, 9 years old branded on the near shoulder and buttocks JP, some white hairs in his mane and some white spots immediately below them, trots naturally -- an old saddle and blanket; and as I have every reason to suppose the said negro be a slave, and to have stolen the said horse, &c. I hereby request the owner to come prove his property, and take them away. WILLIAM STONE.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 01 August 1789
Run away from the subscriber, living near Johnson's mill, the 29th of July, a negro man named PETER, 22 years old, about 5 feet 9 inches high, one foot burnt when young, so that the small toes does not touch the ground, he had on a felt hat, laced with lined, old hunting short, old shirt and trousers, old blue cloth leggins over the trousers; Whoever delivers the said negro to me shall receive four dollars. THO. FICKLIN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 August 1789
Runaway from the subscriber, living near this place, on Sunday night the 6th Instant, a likely Negro fellow, about 23 years old, of a yellowish complexion, about 5 foot 7 or 8 inches high, a remarkable flat nose, and when standing very bow legged. Had on an oznaburge shirt and short breeches of the same, leggins mixed with black yarn, a snuff coloured cloth coat and a black wool hat knit half worn: it is imagined he took a horse from this place, which was found next morning near the blue licks. It is probable he may be making for Virginia. Whoever secures the said negro and either sends me word so that I get him again, or delivers him to me, shall receive a reward of ten dollars paid by me. JOHN WHALEY.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 12 September 1789
Runaway from the subscriber, a negro man named TOM spare built, about 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, of a yellow complexion, a scar on one of his cheeks, had on a short blue coat, old linen breeches and wrappers, very sensible, and it is suspected he will attempt to pass for a free man; Whoever delivers the said negro to the subscriber shall have 5 dollars if taken within 25 miles, and is over 10 dollars. WM. PRICK.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 15 January 1791
Run away from the subscriber in Mercer county on Thursday 24th of November 1790, a negro man named PHIL, about twenty five years old, well set, and about five feet six or seven inches high, has a round face, flat nose, wide mouth, and thick lips when he laughs, he generally draws up his nose, and shews most of his teeth, which are very white, had on when he went off, an old hat, a linsey hunting shirt and coat of the same stuff, both dyed a sooty color, a jump jacket, an old shirt, leather breeches, blue and white yarn stockings, a pair of wrappers, a pair of old shoes, and a pair of brass buckles - it is expected he has taken other clothes with him and will change his dress. Five pounds reward will be given to any person that takes him alive and delivered safe to me, or ten pounds for his head sever’d from his body, to be paid in cattle at cash price. JOHN MEAUX.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 22 January 1791
30 Dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber living near Frankfort, on Kentucky, two Negro fellows, by name HARRY and BARTLETT - Harry is a short thick set, down looking black fellow, between 20 and 25 years of age, has been accustomed to the sea service - Bartlett is a slim, well made fellow, with a smooth tonge, about 20 years of age, has been accustomed to plantation work and to drive a team and is also black - it is probable they have made for the settlement by the Wilderness or by Limestone; Whoever delivers them to the subscriber near Frankfort shall receive fifteen dollars for each, or ten dollars for each if confined in any jail in the United States, so that they may be got again. NATH. RICHARDSON
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 25 June 1791
Four dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber living about two miles from Lexington, a Negroe man named PETER, about thirty years old, 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, lost his upper teeth before, speaks a little broken, had on when he went away an old white greatcoat cut short, the crown of an old white hat, old leather breeches, old blue stockings without shoes; whosoever will deliver said Negroe to the subscriber, shall have the above reward, with all reasonable charges. ALEXANDER MAHAN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 12 May 1792
Ten dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Mason County, a Negroe Lad about Seventeen years of age, five feet five or six inches high, well made, flat nose, broad mouth, his under lip is tolerable long, and pitted with the small pox. I cannot describe his dress, as he has stole a number of clothes since he ran away. Whoever takes up said lad and delivers him to me, or secures him in Washington jail, shall receive the above reward from me. THOMAS MARSHALL, jun.
N.B. He is supposed to be in Woodford County.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 14 July 1792.
Forty dollars reward. Ran away from the subscribers living in Fayette county, two likely Negroe fellows about twenty five years of age, both of a yellow complexion, the one named TOM BELL about 5 feet 10 inches high, has been branded on the near cheek this WP, but the letters not distinguishable but shews a plain scar, he is a spare built fellow: the other is a low, chunky well built fellow, about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches high; it is expected they will endeavour to leave the district and pass for free men, the above reward will be given if taken over the bounds of twenty miles and brought to the owners, if taken under twenty miles the one half of the above reward will be given or in proportion for either by WILLIAM PRICE. SAMUEL LAMME,
N.B. It is expected there will be others with them.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 01 September 1792.
Five pounds reward. Ran away from the subscriber living near Bryans Station on the tenth instant, JACK, a negroe man about twenty-four years old, five feet six or seven inches high, well made, a little bow leged, wide mouth and flat nose, has had one or both his ears cropt, had on when he went away a good shirt and old overalls much torn, with thread buttons, bare foot and bare headed, his hair not cut and grows low on the back of his neck and temples, goes generally with his collar open and his shirt out of his breeches, he is very artful and if not well secured will make his escape if taken, he has once been taken since he ran away and made his escape. I will give the above reward to any person who will deliver him to me. JOHN ROGERS.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 September 1792.
Four dollars reward. Ran away some time ago from the subscriber, living in Danville, a negro man, named FRANK, about five feet eight or ten inches high, twenty-five years old, had on when he went away a half worn hat, coarse hunting shirt, coarse pair of Tanner's trowsers, is supposed to have made to some part of Licking; whoever secures said negro, or delivers him to me or in any gaol as I can get him, shall have the above reward and reasonable charges, paid by me. BOB KERR.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 29 December 1792.
Ten dollars reward. For apprehending the following runaways to wit: WILL, a Mulatto, about 30 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, a look very much like an Indian, long straight hair tied behind, a scar over one of his eyes, will pass for a free man; had on leather leggins and spurrs, his other dress is such as is common for negroes. -- ABRAM, a black boy, about 16 years old, well grown. The above reward and all reasonable charges will be given to any person who will deliver them to the subscriber living on the waters of Hickman near Lexington. JAMES MARTIN.
N.B. It is expected they intend going to the Indians; they will likely steal horses.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 23 February 1793.
Ran away from the subscriber, a likely negro Blacksmith; he is nearly six feet high and not very black: he has a long flat nose, appears slim although he is broad shouldered, and stutters a little especially when questioned closely, a piece has been cut off the top of his right ear, but he conceals it with his hair; one toe on each of his feet is almost covered by the rest; he had on a white twill'd sailor's jacket, a brown cotton waistcoat and leather breeches: he took with him a brown coat with short ___ts, a drab great coat and a horseman's leather cap. He is extremely artful, and may have found means to change his cloaths, he may perhaps procure a forged pass or attempt to pass for a free man. I will give ten dollars to anyone who will secure him so that I get him again, and pay besides, all reasonable expences, if brought to me. ROBT. ALEXANDER. Kentucky, Woodford County.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 23 February 1793.
FOUR DOLLAR REWARD. Runaway from this place, the 4th inst. a bright Mulatto Man who calls himself JOHN GRAY: he is about Eighteen years old, four feet eight or nine inches high, pretty well made, rather handsome than otherwise, a down look, it is probable he will try to pass for a freeman, and will either make for the mouth of Licking or the Eastern settlements; he was raised in Caroline County, Virginia. Any person apprehending him and delivering him at this place, shall receive the above reward. THOMAS CARNEAL.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 May 1793
Run away from the subscriber in the year 1791, a dark mulatto lad 17 years old, a square and very well proportioned fellow, has a long scar on the back of his left hand from the cut of an axe, and another over one of his eyes, but do not recollect which, his clothing was of the common kind. - Whoever will apprehend the said lad, and deliver him to Gen. Nathaniel Gist of the State of Kentucky, where I do suppose the fellow may now be, will be generously rewarded by that gentleman. DAVID COUPLAND.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 May, 1793
TEN DOLLARS REWARD. Run away from the subscriber on Tuesday the twenty first of this inst. a black Negro man the name of JACK, about twenty-seven years old, about five feet seven inches high, he has a small squint with his eyes, he has a pert lively look, speaks freely, he is a lively active fellow, walks brisk, and is pretty impudent, had on when he went away an old tow linen shirt and trowses, and yellow coloured linsey hunting shirt, a wool hat about half worn - whosoever will apprehend the said negro, and bring him to me, shall receive the above reward and all reasonable charges paid by me. CHARLES WICKLIFF
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 04 June 1793
FIVE Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber on the nineteenth of this inst. a mulatto woman, by name ROSE, of rather a small size, about thirty years of age, a good countenance; her shoulders show evident marks of a whipping. She will no doubt try to pass for a free woman and get off to for the distant places. Any person securing her in any jail or bringing her to me, on South Elkhorn, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable charges, paid by ROBERT PARKER.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 27 July 1793
Five Dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber on the 22nd inst. a low thick well set negro man, named SAUL; about 20 years of age; 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high, round faced; the clothes he took with him was a dark blue coat neatly made, striped jacket, an old pair of cassimer breeches, tow trowses and shirts. Shoes with buckles. Whoever takes up said negro, and brings him to the subscriber living on South Elkhorn at the mouth of the Town fork, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable charges, paid by me. JOHN CALHOON.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 27 July 1793
Five Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber, living near Lexington, about the fifth of July last. GEORGE, a dark mulatto man about 23 years old, about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches high, brisk and active, large full eyes, had on tow linen shirt and trowsers, it is likely he will pass for a free man, and has attempted to preach; it is probable he is either lurking in the country of Logan or Green, or gone to Cumberland; any person delivering him to the subscriber shall have the above reward and all reasonable charges. WILL FARROW.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 10 August 1793
TEN PONDS REWARD. Ran away from the subscriber in Green County on Green river a negro fellow by the name of JACK (but commonly calls himself JOHNY BATTEE) about 5 feet 8 inches high, about 24 or 25 years old, had on when he went away, a pair of coarse linen trowsers and white linsey hunting shirt, and white wool hat, has one of his foreteeth broke off; whoever takes up the said negro and delivers him to the subscriber, shall receive the above reward in good property. JOHN THURMA*N. N.B. He formerly belonged to Mr. FULKERSON at the mouth of Shawnee run.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 05 October 1793
TEN POUNDS REWARD. Run away from the subscriber living within 2 miles of Danville, about the 20th of September last PETER, a yellow negro, about 5 feet 10 inches high, well made, about 30 years of age, thick lips and has lost some of his fore teeth, whoever apprehends said slave and delivers him to me shall have the above reward. JOHN DOUGHERTY.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 19 October 1793
Run away from the subscriber living in Scott county, near Johnson’s mill, a Negro fellow named JEFFERY, about twenty one years of age, about 5 feet 8 inches high of a yellow complexion, wants some teeth before, is extremely artful in telling a story or telling a lye, has a remarkable spot on the back of his shoulders much darker than the rest of his skin, has a scar on one of his hands occasioned by the cut of a sickle. had on when he went away, a high crowned hat broken about the upper edges of the crown, a black linsy under jacket, and upper jacket of coarse linnen, an old pair of leather breeches, a pair of yellow linsy leggings, it is supposed he will try to make for the settlement, through the wilderness. Any person taking up said fellow and securing him so that I may get him again shall receive Two Dollars reward and reasonable charges paid by THOMAS DINWIDDIE.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 21 December 1793
Fifty Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, on the fifth night of August, in the year 1792, a Negroe Man, named ANTHONY; about 25 years of age, about five feet one inch high, broad shouldered and well made to his height, is somewhat hollow backed, virginia born and very black, has had his middle finger on his right hand broke, above the knuckle joint, which disables him from shutting that finger close. The above reward and all reasonable charges will be given to any person who will deliver him to me. JAMES HANDLEY.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 21 December 1793
Twenty Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber living near Frankfort, about the 6th inst. GABRIEL, a remarkable large Negroe man, 6 feet 3 or 4 inches high, stutters when spoken to, a toe on one of his feet is off at the first joint. Whoever delivers said Negroe to me shall receive the above reward. WILLIAM SAMUEL. 26 February 1794.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 12 April 1794.
Run away from the subscribers living on Silver Creek, Madison county, about the 12th inst. Two likely young Negroe fellows, one about 5 feet 3 or 4 inches high and well made; the other about five feet 7 or 8 inches high; both of a yellow complexion but the latter most so: They are both armed with smooth bored guns, and it is expected they are aiming for the north west side of the Ohio, and in all probability will endeavor to pass for free men: whoever will secure said negroes so that we can get them, shall receive Ten Dollars and five Dollars for either. WILLIAM ROBINSON. NICHOLAS HAWKINS. 21 March.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 12 April 1794.
Five Dollars Reward. Run away, on the 27th of December last, a negro fellow, name LEVI, about five feet six inches high, well set, very black, full eyed; had on when he went away, a half worn sky blue broad cloath coat, tow trowsers; he is a very active fellow, has a mark on his little finger occasioned by a cut, the flesh appears to have grown over the nail; he is about nineteen years of age. The above reward will be given with reasonable charges, if delivered to me in Lincoln county on the head waters of Boon's Mill creek.
There was another went off with him, about the same size and description, belonging to Mr. Wethers, in the same county. If both brought home the same reward will be given. WM. PAWLING.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 19 April 1794.
Run away from the subscriber, the third of January, FRANK, about forty-seven years old, five feet one inch high; had on a jacket the foreparts of cordory, leather breeches, shoes and stockings; whoever apprehends said negroe and secures him so that I get him shall have ten Dollars, and if bro't home, reasonable charges, paid. MOSES CHERRY, Scott County, North Elkhorn, April 18, 1784.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 April, 1794.
Ten Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber the 16th inst. a negro man named AARON, twenty years of age, about five feet eight inches high and very well made, of a yellow complexion, has a scar over one of his eyes occasioned by a burn; had on when he went away some old Linsey cloths, two days after was taken and put into Lexington jail and that night, assisted by a certain M'Gowan, a criminal, broke jail. It is expected that he will attempt to make for the north west side of Ohio; any person taking up said negro and securing him in any jail, so that I get him again, shall receive the above reward, or if delivered to the subscriber living in Clarke county on Boons creek, all other reasonable charges. GEO. G. TAYLOR, April 30, 1794.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 17 May 1794.
Ten Dollars Reward. Run away from me where I now live in Bourbon County, head of Huston waters, near Thomas’s station, GEORGE, a negro man about five feet seven or eight inches high, he is not right black, but rather yellow complected, a well made likely fellow, about 21 years old, very long hair for a negro when grown but now it is only about half grown since been cut off, had but little cloathing when he left home, I believe only two shirts and one pair of trowsers; he was raised in Amelia county, Virginia. I will give the above reward for him if taken out of the county and delivered to me where I now live, or five dollars if taken up in the county: the above fellow has behaved in a very audacious impudent manner when he left home. ARCHIBALD MARSHALL
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 October 1794
Run away the 20th inst. from Mr. Robert Marshall, living in Scott county, a yellow negro fellow about five feet eight inches high, about twenty years of age, had on a short nankeen coat, a striped cotton waist coat, an old wool hat, took with him a long blue linen coat, a blanket and an old pair of saddle bags, likely will pass for a free mulatto: whoever secures said negro so that his master may get him again, shall have three dollars as a reward for so doing and reasonable charges paid by ROBT. PATTERSON for ROBT. MARSHALL
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 07 November 1794
Ten dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber living in Clarke county, at the Bourbon Furnace, a Negro Man named SAM about twenty-six years of age, about five feet eight inches, round full visage of a yellowish complexion, bow-legged, is apt to smile when spoken to, his hair (or wool) is near four inches long, commonly turned up before. The above negro went off about the 10th inst. He was formerly the property of Mr. John Rogers, on David’s fork of Elkhorn. His cloathing is a little uncertain, as he has a number of clothes: He had on and took with him when he went away, two country linen shirts, two fine white ditto, one pair Russia sheeting trowfers, one pair soldier’s woolen ditto one cassimer vest, one velvet ditto, a wool hat partly new, a pair of new shoes of black leather with buckles in them. Whoever takes up and secures the above Negro in any gaol so that I get him again shall receive the above reward, and reasonable charges if brought home, paid by JOHN MOCKBEE.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 November 1794
Twenty dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber, on the 16th ult. A negro man and woman named PLATO and EASTER; the fellow about five feet 8 inches high, 30 years of age, thick set and well made, much pitted with the small-pox, a forward talkative fellow, and professes to be a kind of Baptist teacher. The girl about seventeen years old, pretty, lusty, and appears to be pregnant, a scar upon her left wrist, pretty high up, occasioned by a burn. Both negroes are of a yellowish complexion. They had on and took with them a variety of clothing, and will probably change then, and very likely have a pass. Whoever takes up and secures them, so that I can have them again, shall be entitled to the above reward, and all reasonable charges. JAMES M’DONALD, Frederick County, Virginia
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 November 1794.
Run away from the subscriber about the 15th of October, a negro man named GEORGE, about twenty-eight years of age, five feet eight or nine inches high, of a yellowish complexion, pert and lively in his disposition, and much inclined to mischief and wickedness; had on and took with him when he went away, a tow linen shirt, two pair ditto trowsers, two pair of black breeches, a striped blue and white waistcoat, an old mixed coat and white hat. Whoever secures said negro so that I get him again shall receive Four Dollars reward and all reasonable charges, by the subscriber living near Lexington. RICHARD MASTERSON
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 15 November 1794
Ran away from the subscriber living in Scott county, a Negro man named JES, about twenty two years old, about five feet five inches high, round full visage, of a black complexion; had on when he went away wooling overalls and a coat which was died a lead color but has worn white, the sleeves was pieced from the elbow down to the wrist, and a striped jacket, the stripes goes round the body. He is very broad across the shoulders and thick made. THOMAS DULEY
Source: The Kentucky Gazette 20 December 1794
Six dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living at the Buckeye cabbin about four miles from Lexington, about the twenty seventh of December, A likely negro man, about twenty five years old, about five feet eight inches high, well made, had on striped linsey overalls, with linsey coat, took with him a blue coat bound with red, he is an artful fellow, and if taken will escape if not well secured; whoever delivers said fellow to me shall receive the above reward. PUGH PRICE
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 31 December 1794
Ten pounds reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Harrison county, on Townsend, about two years ago, FANNY, a likely negroe woman, between twenty and thirty years of age, has a lump on her left arm between her elbow and wrist, she has kept a considerable time in Woodford county near Crittenden’s camp, her toes on each of her feet are cramped. Whoever will deliver said wench to me shall receive the above reward. JOHN KINKADE
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 14 February 1795
Run away from the subscriber living in Mason county, near the south end of Washington, a negroe fellow named HUMPHREY, aged twenty five years, five feet nine inches high, tolerable well made, and stands well and wide on his legs, subject to laugh when he speaks, something out mouth’d, with remarkable large white teeth and black skin, had on when he went away, a wool hat, with high crown and siapt brim, a brown linen hunting shirt, a gray linsey waistcoat, a pair of leather overalls, and a pair of linen ones he wore over them, Whoever brings him to me, shall have the above reward, if taken out of the county he ran from, and reasonable charges; and half that sum if taken in the county, paid by me. ELIJAH RICHARDS.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 14 February 1795
Ran away from the subscriber in Mason county about the first of December last, a negro fellow about twenty one years of age, about five feet five or six inches high, stout well set, nearly black; is marked about the nose with the small pox, has a very low forehead and flat face; had on a white linsey hunting shirt and breeches &c. but as he is very capable of pilfering he has probably changed his dress before this. Whoever takes up said negro and secures him so that I can get him again, shall receive eight dollars reward, or twelve dollars if delivered to me in Mason, but the taker up must take notice he is a sly cunning fellow and will get away if possible, as he has already broke from several. T. MARSHALL jun.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 07 March 1795
Run away from the subscriber, living near Lexington, on Easter Monday, April 6, a likely young Negro Man, about 23 years of age, about five feet 7 or 8 inches big, very sensible and artful; had on when he went away, a green cloth coat, striped waist coat, fine shirt, corduroy breeches, a pair of mixed worsted stockings and shoes. I have understood he has stolen an oil cloth cover and put it on his hat since he left me. He is of a pleasing countenance. Any person delivering said negro to me, or securing him so that I can get him, shall have Two Dollars Reward, if taken in the neighborhood, and if out of the neighborhood, full compensation shall be made by RAWLEIGH CHINN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 April 1795
Two dollars reward for Black WILL. Ran away from the subscriber on the 11th of April 1795, Will is twenty years of age, five feet six inches high, heavy make. Any person taking up the above fellow and securing him so that the owner can get him again shall be entitled to the above reward and all reasonable charges paid by ROBERT BENHAM.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 02 May 1795
Twenty dollars reward. Run away from Capt. SAMUEL CAMPBELL, in Madison county, on Silver Creek, about the 7th of April. A brisk, likely, sensible Negro Fellow, A Slave, named BEN BERRY, about thirty years of age, about five feet 6 or 7 inches high, his scheme is to pass as a free man; he took with him an old pair of saddle-bags, with part of a set of shoe-makers tools, and will try to go under the name of a shoe-maker, as he knows something of that business; he also took with him a gun and shot-pouch and likely will endeavor to go to the Miami settlement, where he has been told he will be free. He was [entire line illegible] state of Virginia and raised by the above Mr. Campbell, and brought by him to Kentucky a few years past—and since he run away, said Campbell hath sold him (the said slave) to the subscriber who is his proper owner, and who will pay the above reward and all reasonable charges to the person or persons who will deliver said Mulatto slave to him in Lincoln on Dick’s river. HENRY PAWLING.
N.B. The above slave can read in the Bible and Testament, and likely has a new Bible with him—he will probably change his name and perhaps some evil disposed person has given him a pass. H.P.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 16 May 1795
Run away from the subscriber, on Wednesday night, the sixth inst. A Mulatto Man Slave, About eighteen years old, named JAMES, and sometimes calls himself JAMES MEALS, has a comely countenance, a soft voice and speaks fluently, a very sensible fellow and can read and write; he is about five feet eight or nine inches high, well proportioned & when he walks or stands his toes turn out. He carried with him as well as I can ascertain, the following clothes: one short jacket, and breeches of fulled linsey, died brown, pretty much worn, two coarse shirts, two or three white shirts, two of which are ruffled at the bosom, one blue cloth coat, one pair jeans breeches of an olive colour, one pair of white yarn stockings, one pair of old buckskin overalls, one pair of shoes, and one pair of new deer-skin mocasons, he has taken other clothes that I cannot describe. James is fond of playing on the fiddle, and generally when playing inclines his head to one side. His transgressions had caused him a severe whipping ten days preceding his elopement, the scars of which will be evident upon examination, it is probably a small sore or scar may be discovered on the point of his left elbow, as he not long since received a stroke thereon in an affray. A reward of Ten Dollars will be given for the above described slave, if secured in any jail so that I can get him; Twenty five if taken within [entire line illegible] on North Elkhorn, in Woodford county, about four miles from Frankfort, or Fifty Dollars if taken out of the state and delivered to HARRY INNES.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 16 May 1795
Two likely Negro Men run away from the subscriber, Living in Mecklenberg county, Virginia: -- One of then named PETER, went off about five years ago; he is very black, tall and slim, and has many scars on his back, occasioned by whipping for running away before I had him—he could work a little at the shoe, basket, and collar-making business; has very crooked shins and if alive is now about 35 years old. The other went off the 14th of December last, and took with him my _______ and great coat—he is of a yellow complexion, middle sized, has a limp in his gait and walks with his toes turned inward—he has been my miller for several years, is very sensible and pollavering, and can read tolerably well—he was born near Williamsburg, and it is expected, he will make his way thither, or further to the northward, or, probably, over the mountains to the westward—his name is DAVY but it is expected he will change it to BOB or MICAJAH FENDLY, having as some suppose, stolen said Fendly’s freedom pass, which is recorded in Mecklenberg county court.
The horse he took is a likely bay, about four feet eleven inches high, about nine years old, has the mark of some galls on his shoulders, steps very stately, holds his head high, especially when out of the bridle, his mane hangs on the wrong side. The saddle is country made and much worn. An old half-curb bridle. The great coat of drab colour, good cloth, with an old fashioned cape and a rent on the right side. He had on a good black velvet waistcoat and breeches, and other clothes of good Virginia cloth.
Whoever secures the above described men or goods of either of them, so that I can get them again, shall receive a liberal reward, HENRY SPEED. Mecklenberg county, Virginia, 15th January 1795
P.S. If either of the above Negroes should be taken up and delivered to me near Danville, I will pay the reward, JAMES SPEED, Mercer, Kentucky
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 30 May 1795
Three Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber, living in Lexington, a Negro Man named ANDREW, about 5 feet 8 inches high. He was seen about Mrs. Todd’s plantation, in Scott county a few days ago.—All persons are forbidden to harbour him at their peril. The above reward will be given, and reasonable charges paid on the delivery of said Slave to ROBERT MEGOWAN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 30 May 1795
Run away from the subscriber in Shelby county, on the head of Clear creek, on the 30th of March last, a Negro Woman named CATE; she is about eighteen years of age, a strong healthy looking woman, very black, her right ear hangs down, which is very remarkable; she had on when she went away, a black and white striped petticoat, and a new raw linen shift—it is supposed that she pushed for Frankfort, where it is thought she has been concealed by a certain Mrs. Welsh (now Mrs. Holmes) and as Mrs. Holmes has moved to Lexington it is supposed she has enticed the negro along with her. And person taking up said negro and securing her in jail shall have Five Dollars reward and all reasonable charges paid, or if brought home to the subscriber shall have Ten Dollars reward and all reasonable charges paid by WILLIAM MORROW.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 13 June 1795
Three Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber, living near Lexington, on the 25th of June, a likely mulatto wench named NAN, very sensible and artful, about 28 years of age; had on when she went away a linen jacket and petticoat; she may have changed her cloathing before this time. She is a middling lusty wench, and will tell many fine tales and make fair promises to any person that takes her; but I wish any person that takes her to secure her fast and not trust her out of sight.—I do suppose she is in Lexington, or in the neighborhood, if she is not I expect she will try to pass for a free woman. If she should leave these parts and any person delivering her to me, or securing her so that I get her, shall receive a generous compensation, besides the above reward. RAWLEIGH CHINN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 04 July 1795
Five dollars reward. Run away from me near Georgetown on the 2nt inst. ESAU, a negro man, about five feet five or six inches high, about twenty-five years of age, heavy made and quick spoken, had on and took with him sundry old clothes; he also took a small bay mare, about ten years old, the near eye out, branded on the near jaw S and on the near shoulder K, and a bag marked DT, the D is blue and the T red. Whoever secures said negro and mare, so that I can get them, shall receive the above reward. DAVID TELFORD
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 27 July 1795
Fifty Dollars Reward, Will be paid by the subscriber to any person who will deliver to him, ABRAHAM alias CAMLEY, a negro man, who run away the 28th of this instant, and carried off with him a fiddle and large bundle of clothes, two shirts and overalls were of coarse country linen. He is a fiddler, a bold insolent fellow and fond of drink, about 24 years old, large & strong made, has a fresh scar on his left foot occasioned by the cut of an axe, the wound was not cured when he left home. It is likely he will be lurking around Lexington, as he has a brother in the possession of Col. Hart of that place, he also has acquaintances at and near Madison and Shelby court houses. He is armed and will probably resist if an attempt should be made to apprehend him. I will give the above reward to any person who will deliver him to me either dead or alive, or produce a well authenticated certificate to me of their having killed him. THOS. T. DAVIS, Mercer
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 August 1795
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 17 May 1794.
Ten Dollars Reward. Run away from me where I now live in Bourbon County, head of Huston waters, near Thomas’s station, GEORGE, a negro man about five feet seven or eight inches high, he is not right black, but rather yellow complected, a well made likely fellow, about 21 years old, very long hair for a negro when grown but now it is only about half grown since been cut off, had but little cloathing when he left home, I believe only two shirts and one pair of trowsers; he was raised in Amelia county, Virginia. I will give the above reward for him if taken out of the county and delivered to me where I now live, or five dollars if taken up in the county: the above fellow has behaved in a very audacious impudent manner when he left home. ARCHIBALD MARSHALL
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 October 1794
Run away the 20th inst. from Mr. Robert Marshall, living in Scott county, a yellow negro fellow about five feet eight inches high, about twenty years of age, had on a short nankeen coat, a striped cotton waist coat, an old wool hat, took with him a long blue linen coat, a blanket and an old pair of saddle bags, likely will pass for a free mulatto: whoever secures said negro so that his master may get him again, shall have three dollars as a reward for so doing and reasonable charges paid by ROBT. PATTERSON for ROBT. MARSHALL
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 07 November 1794
Ten dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber living in Clarke county, at the Bourbon Furnace, a Negro Man named SAM about twenty-six years of age, about five feet eight inches, round full visage of a yellowish complexion, bow-legged, is apt to smile when spoken to, his hair (or wool) is near four inches long, commonly turned up before. The above negro went off about the 10th inst. He was formerly the property of Mr. John Rogers, on David’s fork of Elkhorn. His cloathing is a little uncertain, as he has a number of clothes: He had on and took with him when he went away, two country linen shirts, two fine white ditto, one pair Russia sheeting trowfers, one pair soldier’s woolen ditto one cassimer vest, one velvet ditto, a wool hat partly new, a pair of new shoes of black leather with buckles in them. Whoever takes up and secures the above Negro in any gaol so that I get him again shall receive the above reward, and reasonable charges if brought home, paid by JOHN MOCKBEE.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 November 1794
Twenty dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber, on the 16th ult. A negro man and woman named PLATO and EASTER; the fellow about five feet 8 inches high, 30 years of age, thick set and well made, much pitted with the small-pox, a forward talkative fellow, and professes to be a kind of Baptist teacher. The girl about seventeen years old, pretty, lusty, and appears to be pregnant, a scar upon her left wrist, pretty high up, occasioned by a burn. Both negroes are of a yellowish complexion. They had on and took with them a variety of clothing, and will probably change then, and very likely have a pass. Whoever takes up and secures them, so that I can have them again, shall be entitled to the above reward, and all reasonable charges. JAMES M’DONALD, Frederick County, Virginia
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 November 1794.
Run away from the subscriber about the 15th of October, a negro man named GEORGE, about twenty-eight years of age, five feet eight or nine inches high, of a yellowish complexion, pert and lively in his disposition, and much inclined to mischief and wickedness; had on and took with him when he went away, a tow linen shirt, two pair ditto trowsers, two pair of black breeches, a striped blue and white waistcoat, an old mixed coat and white hat. Whoever secures said negro so that I get him again shall receive Four Dollars reward and all reasonable charges, by the subscriber living near Lexington. RICHARD MASTERSON
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 15 November 1794
Ran away from the subscriber living in Scott county, a Negro man named JES, about twenty two years old, about five feet five inches high, round full visage, of a black complexion; had on when he went away wooling overalls and a coat which was died a lead color but has worn white, the sleeves was pieced from the elbow down to the wrist, and a striped jacket, the stripes goes round the body. He is very broad across the shoulders and thick made. THOMAS DULEY
Source: The Kentucky Gazette 20 December 1794
Six dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living at the Buckeye cabbin about four miles from Lexington, about the twenty seventh of December, A likely negro man, about twenty five years old, about five feet eight inches high, well made, had on striped linsey overalls, with linsey coat, took with him a blue coat bound with red, he is an artful fellow, and if taken will escape if not well secured; whoever delivers said fellow to me shall receive the above reward. PUGH PRICE
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 31 December 1794
Ten pounds reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Harrison county, on Townsend, about two years ago, FANNY, a likely negroe woman, between twenty and thirty years of age, has a lump on her left arm between her elbow and wrist, she has kept a considerable time in Woodford county near Crittenden’s camp, her toes on each of her feet are cramped. Whoever will deliver said wench to me shall receive the above reward. JOHN KINKADE
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 14 February 1795
Run away from the subscriber living in Mason county, near the south end of Washington, a negroe fellow named HUMPHREY, aged twenty five years, five feet nine inches high, tolerable well made, and stands well and wide on his legs, subject to laugh when he speaks, something out mouth’d, with remarkable large white teeth and black skin, had on when he went away, a wool hat, with high crown and siapt brim, a brown linen hunting shirt, a gray linsey waistcoat, a pair of leather overalls, and a pair of linen ones he wore over them, Whoever brings him to me, shall have the above reward, if taken out of the county he ran from, and reasonable charges; and half that sum if taken in the county, paid by me. ELIJAH RICHARDS.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 14 February 1795
Ran away from the subscriber in Mason county about the first of December last, a negro fellow about twenty one years of age, about five feet five or six inches high, stout well set, nearly black; is marked about the nose with the small pox, has a very low forehead and flat face; had on a white linsey hunting shirt and breeches &c. but as he is very capable of pilfering he has probably changed his dress before this. Whoever takes up said negro and secures him so that I can get him again, shall receive eight dollars reward, or twelve dollars if delivered to me in Mason, but the taker up must take notice he is a sly cunning fellow and will get away if possible, as he has already broke from several. T. MARSHALL jun.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 07 March 1795
Run away from the subscriber, living near Lexington, on Easter Monday, April 6, a likely young Negro Man, about 23 years of age, about five feet 7 or 8 inches big, very sensible and artful; had on when he went away, a green cloth coat, striped waist coat, fine shirt, corduroy breeches, a pair of mixed worsted stockings and shoes. I have understood he has stolen an oil cloth cover and put it on his hat since he left me. He is of a pleasing countenance. Any person delivering said negro to me, or securing him so that I can get him, shall have Two Dollars Reward, if taken in the neighborhood, and if out of the neighborhood, full compensation shall be made by RAWLEIGH CHINN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 April 1795
Two dollars reward for Black WILL. Ran away from the subscriber on the 11th of April 1795, Will is twenty years of age, five feet six inches high, heavy make. Any person taking up the above fellow and securing him so that the owner can get him again shall be entitled to the above reward and all reasonable charges paid by ROBERT BENHAM.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 02 May 1795
Twenty dollars reward. Run away from Capt. SAMUEL CAMPBELL, in Madison county, on Silver Creek, about the 7th of April. A brisk, likely, sensible Negro Fellow, A Slave, named BEN BERRY, about thirty years of age, about five feet 6 or 7 inches high, his scheme is to pass as a free man; he took with him an old pair of saddle-bags, with part of a set of shoe-makers tools, and will try to go under the name of a shoe-maker, as he knows something of that business; he also took with him a gun and shot-pouch and likely will endeavor to go to the Miami settlement, where he has been told he will be free. He was [entire line illegible] state of Virginia and raised by the above Mr. Campbell, and brought by him to Kentucky a few years past—and since he run away, said Campbell hath sold him (the said slave) to the subscriber who is his proper owner, and who will pay the above reward and all reasonable charges to the person or persons who will deliver said Mulatto slave to him in Lincoln on Dick’s river. HENRY PAWLING.
N.B. The above slave can read in the Bible and Testament, and likely has a new Bible with him—he will probably change his name and perhaps some evil disposed person has given him a pass. H.P.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 16 May 1795
Run away from the subscriber, on Wednesday night, the sixth inst. A Mulatto Man Slave, About eighteen years old, named JAMES, and sometimes calls himself JAMES MEALS, has a comely countenance, a soft voice and speaks fluently, a very sensible fellow and can read and write; he is about five feet eight or nine inches high, well proportioned & when he walks or stands his toes turn out. He carried with him as well as I can ascertain, the following clothes: one short jacket, and breeches of fulled linsey, died brown, pretty much worn, two coarse shirts, two or three white shirts, two of which are ruffled at the bosom, one blue cloth coat, one pair jeans breeches of an olive colour, one pair of white yarn stockings, one pair of old buckskin overalls, one pair of shoes, and one pair of new deer-skin mocasons, he has taken other clothes that I cannot describe. James is fond of playing on the fiddle, and generally when playing inclines his head to one side. His transgressions had caused him a severe whipping ten days preceding his elopement, the scars of which will be evident upon examination, it is probably a small sore or scar may be discovered on the point of his left elbow, as he not long since received a stroke thereon in an affray. A reward of Ten Dollars will be given for the above described slave, if secured in any jail so that I can get him; Twenty five if taken within [entire line illegible] on North Elkhorn, in Woodford county, about four miles from Frankfort, or Fifty Dollars if taken out of the state and delivered to HARRY INNES.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 16 May 1795
Two likely Negro Men run away from the subscriber, Living in Mecklenberg county, Virginia: -- One of then named PETER, went off about five years ago; he is very black, tall and slim, and has many scars on his back, occasioned by whipping for running away before I had him—he could work a little at the shoe, basket, and collar-making business; has very crooked shins and if alive is now about 35 years old. The other went off the 14th of December last, and took with him my _______ and great coat—he is of a yellow complexion, middle sized, has a limp in his gait and walks with his toes turned inward—he has been my miller for several years, is very sensible and pollavering, and can read tolerably well—he was born near Williamsburg, and it is expected, he will make his way thither, or further to the northward, or, probably, over the mountains to the westward—his name is DAVY but it is expected he will change it to BOB or MICAJAH FENDLY, having as some suppose, stolen said Fendly’s freedom pass, which is recorded in Mecklenberg county court.
The horse he took is a likely bay, about four feet eleven inches high, about nine years old, has the mark of some galls on his shoulders, steps very stately, holds his head high, especially when out of the bridle, his mane hangs on the wrong side. The saddle is country made and much worn. An old half-curb bridle. The great coat of drab colour, good cloth, with an old fashioned cape and a rent on the right side. He had on a good black velvet waistcoat and breeches, and other clothes of good Virginia cloth.
Whoever secures the above described men or goods of either of them, so that I can get them again, shall receive a liberal reward, HENRY SPEED. Mecklenberg county, Virginia, 15th January 1795
P.S. If either of the above Negroes should be taken up and delivered to me near Danville, I will pay the reward, JAMES SPEED, Mercer, Kentucky
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 30 May 1795
Three Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber, living in Lexington, a Negro Man named ANDREW, about 5 feet 8 inches high. He was seen about Mrs. Todd’s plantation, in Scott county a few days ago.—All persons are forbidden to harbour him at their peril. The above reward will be given, and reasonable charges paid on the delivery of said Slave to ROBERT MEGOWAN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 30 May 1795
Run away from the subscriber in Shelby county, on the head of Clear creek, on the 30th of March last, a Negro Woman named CATE; she is about eighteen years of age, a strong healthy looking woman, very black, her right ear hangs down, which is very remarkable; she had on when she went away, a black and white striped petticoat, and a new raw linen shift—it is supposed that she pushed for Frankfort, where it is thought she has been concealed by a certain Mrs. Welsh (now Mrs. Holmes) and as Mrs. Holmes has moved to Lexington it is supposed she has enticed the negro along with her. And person taking up said negro and securing her in jail shall have Five Dollars reward and all reasonable charges paid, or if brought home to the subscriber shall have Ten Dollars reward and all reasonable charges paid by WILLIAM MORROW.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 13 June 1795
Three Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber, living near Lexington, on the 25th of June, a likely mulatto wench named NAN, very sensible and artful, about 28 years of age; had on when she went away a linen jacket and petticoat; she may have changed her cloathing before this time. She is a middling lusty wench, and will tell many fine tales and make fair promises to any person that takes her; but I wish any person that takes her to secure her fast and not trust her out of sight.—I do suppose she is in Lexington, or in the neighborhood, if she is not I expect she will try to pass for a free woman. If she should leave these parts and any person delivering her to me, or securing her so that I get her, shall receive a generous compensation, besides the above reward. RAWLEIGH CHINN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 04 July 1795
Five dollars reward. Run away from me near Georgetown on the 2nt inst. ESAU, a negro man, about five feet five or six inches high, about twenty-five years of age, heavy made and quick spoken, had on and took with him sundry old clothes; he also took a small bay mare, about ten years old, the near eye out, branded on the near jaw S and on the near shoulder K, and a bag marked DT, the D is blue and the T red. Whoever secures said negro and mare, so that I can get them, shall receive the above reward. DAVID TELFORD
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 27 July 1795
Fifty Dollars Reward, Will be paid by the subscriber to any person who will deliver to him, ABRAHAM alias CAMLEY, a negro man, who run away the 28th of this instant, and carried off with him a fiddle and large bundle of clothes, two shirts and overalls were of coarse country linen. He is a fiddler, a bold insolent fellow and fond of drink, about 24 years old, large & strong made, has a fresh scar on his left foot occasioned by the cut of an axe, the wound was not cured when he left home. It is likely he will be lurking around Lexington, as he has a brother in the possession of Col. Hart of that place, he also has acquaintances at and near Madison and Shelby court houses. He is armed and will probably resist if an attempt should be made to apprehend him. I will give the above reward to any person who will deliver him to me either dead or alive, or produce a well authenticated certificate to me of their having killed him. THOS. T. DAVIS, Mercer
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 August 1795
Eight Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber living about three miles and a half from Lexington, on the Tate’s creek road, SAM, a small slim Negro Man, about 25 years of age, very active, speaks the German as well as the English language, had on a tow linen shirt and trowsers. Whoever takes up said fellow and delivers him to me, if taken within ten miles of this place, shall receive four dollars, and if over that distance, the above reward. He will probably endeavor to pass for a free man. GEORGE ADAMS
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 August 1795
Ran away from the subscriber, on the 10th of August. Three Negroes, A man named HARRY, and a woman named ESTHER. The woman about thirty one years old, yellow complexion, middle sized, a scar on one of her cheeks, appears to walk something lame, occasioned by walking with her toes out. She had in her possession, when she left me, some Osnaburg cloathing, such as petticoats and shifts, besides some striped cotton petticoats and short gowns, a course blue wool hat. The fellow is about thirty years of age, low stature, darker complexion than the woman, a large beard, had on when he went away, a scarlet jacket and a white linen coat, osnaburg shirt and and trowsers, a fur hat about half worn; remarkable small feet for a negro. The other is a girl about eight or nine years old, about four feet high, well set, full eyed, a large navel. The fellow has a smooth bored gun. The wench had a blue yarn petticoat. Any person taking up said negroes and degroes and delivering them to me in Scott county near squire M’Hatton’s, six miles from Georgetown or securing them in any jail so that I get them, shall be handsomely rewarded. JEREMIAH WILLIAMS
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 August 1795
Twenty dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber on Dick’s river, Lincoln county, about the fifteenth of April last, HENRY, a yellow negro man twenty three years old, about five feet ten inches high, well made; he took with him a bay mare and colt; it would be unnecessary to describe his clothing, as he will likely change them; he formerly belonged to Alexander Carson of Lincoln county. Whoever takes up said negro, and secures him in any jail, so that I get him again, shall receive the above reward. JOHN HAMILTON.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 August 1795
Eight dollars reward, for apprehending and confining in any jail, PETER, a black negro man, Four feet ten inches high, slim made, had a brown coat, and a country linen waist coat and overalls. All reasonable charges will be paid in addition to the above, if brought home. JOHN HART
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 September 1795
Twenty dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber, living near Danville, Mercer county on Sunday the 4th instant, a mulatto fellow named TOBE, about six feet high, thick lips and a large mouth, rather knock-knee’d; had on an old pair of linen overalls and shirt, and a black linsey hunting shirt, and took with him a blanket; he will shew the marks of a severe whipping he got the day he went away. It is probably he will try to pass for a free man. He is about 22 years old. Whoever delivers the above fellow or secures him in any gaol, so that I can get him, shall receive the above reward. STEPHEN FISHER.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 10 October 1795
Run away, on the 27th day of September, from the subscriber living in the forks of Dick’s river, Lincoln county, GULLY; A Negro Man nineteen or twenty years old, five feet five or six inches high, had on a blue country cloth coat, a clouded red and white waistcoat, linen overalls, high crowned hat; the top of which had been torn off and sown on again, barefoot, whoever apprehends said negro, and secures him in any jail or brings him home, shall be handsomely rewarded. FREDERICK BURDITT
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 17 October 1795
Four dollars reward for apprehending and delivering DAVID To me if taken within the state or Ten if without. He is a likely black fellow, near six feet high, remarkable large feet, his legs inclines forward, and stands near the middle of his feet, appears to hobble as he walks, about twenty-seven years of age. JOHN GIBSON, sen. North Elkhorn, Scott county
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 17 October 1795
Ten dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber, living at the forks of Licking, Campbell County, a negro wench named DINAH, about thirty years of age, low and thick. I expect she is somewhere about Lexington whoever delivers the said wench to the subscriber, or secures in the Lexington or Bourbon jail, so that I get her again shall have the above reward. ALVIN MOUNTJOY
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 31 October 1795
Two dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber on Thursday last, JOE, a brown, likely negro man, about five feet eight or ten inches high, about twenty eight years of age, has a scar across his nose and has lost all the toes off his right foot. Whoever apprehends said negro and delivers him to me, or secures him in jail, so that I get him, shall have the above reward. JOHN GRAVES
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 31 October 1795
Run away From the subscriber, living near Frankfort, on Saturday the seventeenth instant, a mulatto man named JACK, about five feet ten inches high, about twenty-two years of age, very straight made; had on when he went away a dark coloured surtout coat, lightish coloured close bodied coat of country made cloth, leather breeches, an old pair of cotton stockings and deer skin mockasons. As the above fellow was formerly the property of Col. John Campbell, it is likely he is somewhere in the neighbourhood of Lexington. I will give a reward of ten dollars to any person who will deliver the said Negro to me, or secure him in any jail, so that I get him again. ROBT. MONTGOMERY
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 31 October 1795
Two dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber on Thursday last, JOE, a brown, likely Negro man, about five feet eight or ten inches high, about twenty eight years of age, has a scar across his nose and has lost all the toes off his right foot. Whoever apprehends said Negro and delivers him to me, or secures him in jail, so that I get him, shall have the above reward. JOHN GRAVES
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 14 November 1795
Ran away From the subscriber on the night of the 9th of December last a mulatto man slave named TOM but calls himself WILSON. He is a stout made fellow about six feet one inch high 24 years of age; his cloathing is that of a brown cloth surtout coat with a button off the left hip, an old green jacket with sleeves, an old courderoy jacket, buckskin breeches, white yarn stockings and old shoes, one of them split in the vamp with the cut of an axe; he has a large bushy head. He was taken up by my overseer the 31st of last month between Frankfort and Woodford court-house, but made his escape from him the same night, without his hat. I will give six dollars to any person, who will lodge him in any gaol, so that I get him; or ten dollars for the delivery of him to me in Danville, with reasonable charges. DAVID GILLESPIE
N.B. Secure him well when taken as he is very artful.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 02 January 1796
One Hundred Dollars Reward, Will be given by the subscriber for apprehending and delivering two Negroes, that run away about ten years ago – one a yellow, neat, trim-made fellow, very active, named JAMES. The other a black fellow, with a small round head, high stomach, small legs and long heels. The same reward will be given for information, so that they can be got, or Fifty Dollars for either. Also Ten Dollars reward will be given for a black fellow, about seventeen years old, that ran away about six weeks ago, badly cloathed, had on when he went away a coarse pair of shoes, without any seem in the quarters. SAMUEL CLAY
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 09 January 1796
Ran away From the subscriber, living on the Kentucky river, near the mouth of Jessamine, a likely Negro fellow about five feet ten inches high, well made about twenty three years of age, called BURGES by name, reads and writes a tolerable good hand, and is expected to write himself a pass, has rather a down look when spoken to: took a small yellow bay mare, and new Dutch blanket with him, and perhaps will try to pass for a free man. Whosoever takes up said Negro and delivers him to me, or secures him to that I may get him, shall receive ten dollars reward. WILLIAM LEWIS
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 16 January 1796
Ran Away from the subscriber, Living in Bourbon county, on Cooper’s run, a Mulatto Man named HARRY, had on when he went away a gray great coat, a blue cotton waistcoat with some white, a black wool hat, a Pair of linen trowsers, a pair of odd buckles in his shoes, about six feet high. Who ever takes up the said Negro or secures him so that I get him again, shall receive a reward of six dollars paid by me. MARY MORIN
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 16 January 1796
Runaway from the subscriber, on the 17th instant, a Negro man named CUFFEY, about five feet eight inches high, well made, abut thirty years of age; had on when he went away, a striped cloth coat and overalls of the same kind; he also took with him a bag, blanket and sundry other cloaths amonst which was a blue Negro cotton hunting shirt; he is remarkably fond of playing the fiddle. Also a Negro woman named NANNY, had on when she went away a blue Negro cotton short gown, and blanket, about nineteen years of age. Whoever will take up the said Negroes and deliver them to me, or secure them in Lexington jail, shall receive Eight Dollars reward, by me living on Cane run. GEORGE BRYAN
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 23 January 1796
Seven Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber on the 31st January 1796, a Negro man, about 5 feet high, 20 years old, of a yellow complexion, names SCIPIO; he had on and took with him, a new wool hat of a dun color, one jean coat, one old cloth ditto, two shirts, three jackets, one pair black linsey trowsers and one pair fustian breeches; he has a small limp in his left leg occasioned by a cut on his heel. Whosoever takes up, or secures said Negro, so as his master may get him again, shall receive the above reward, besides what the law allows. ANDY M’CALLIE near Lexington
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 06 February 1796
Five Dollars Reward. Ran away on the ninth day of May 1796, a Negro Man named TOM, he had on when he went away a hemp shirt, a _____ coloured waistcoat, with the fore ______ patched with blue cloth, and an old cloth coat with black linsey sleeves, about _____ years of age, he limps some when he walks, two small spots on his breast like unto a wen, about five feet ten or eleven inches high. whoever will deliver said Negro to the subscriber, on Sugar creek, Madison county, shall have the above reward. WEEDON SMITH
Source: Kentucky Gazette: 21 May 1796
Ran away or stolen, a Negro Wench named ALICE, with her two children, a boy and girl; the girl named OLIVE, near five years old; the boy named TOM, near three years old. Alice is a likely wench about twenty two or three years old, near five feet six inches high, forward with child, has a scar on her right cheek and one near her breast; born in North Carolina - handy in the house or field. Supposed to be stolen by a Negro follow named SAM, who pretends to be free – he has purchased his time for four years, and has a pass for that time, two of which is past since January last. Sam is a likely fellow, six feet four inches high or more; very artful and active, has a hurt on his ankle occasioned by a sprain – a good fiddler and delights in company to play for money for dancers at schools; born in Virginia; the property of Elijah Tucker, who lives there at present. Whoever apprehends said negroes and secures them in any jail so that the owner may get them, or delivers them to him living in South Carolina, Pendleton county, shall receive a ____ful reward, and reasonable expenses paid. DANIEL STRINGE
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 21 May 1796
Twenty Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber’s plantation in Bush’s settlement, in March last, a Negro Boy, about seventeen or eighteen years old, of a slender make, but remarkable large feet, on one of his hands is a scar caused by a burn, he is of a yellow complexion, his name BRITAIN, but originally called NED, his dress I have reason to believe is changed. The said boy was some weeks back taken up by a gentleman on the north side of the Ohio river, and made his escape within five miles of my house. Any persons who will deliver said Negro to me shall receive the above reward, or have him apprehended so that I can get him again, shall receive ten dollars, and all reasonable charges. RO. CLARK, jun. Clarke County
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 28 May 1796
TEN DOLLARS REWARD
Run away from the subscriber living on the waters of M’Connell’s run, Scott county within four miles of Georgetown, a negro man, named MOSES, a middling low well set fellow, very black complexion, he walks with his toes turned a little more out than what is common, has a very close walk, a kind of rock in his carriage, thick speech similar to stuttering, about twenty years old—I expect he is pretty well dressed, but what kind of cloaths he has in particular, I cannot tell, as they are chiefly stolen—He is a fellow of a smiling countenance. Any person taking up the said fellow so that I get him, shall be paid TEN DOLLARS by the subscriber. JOHN RHODES
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 23 July 1796
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD
Run away from the subscriber’s plantation in Bush’s Settlement, in March last, a Negro Boy, about seventeen or eighteen years old; of a slender make, but remarkable large feet, on one of his hands is a scar caused by a burn, he is of a yellow complexion, his name BRITAIN, but originally called NED, his dress I have reason to believe is changed. The said boy was some weeks past taken up by a gentleman on the north side of the Ohio river, and made his escape within five miles of my house. Any person who will deliver said negro to me, shall receive the above reward, or have him apprehended so that I get him again, shall receive ten dollars, and all reasonable charges. RO. CLARK, jun. Clarke county, May 24, 1796
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 30 July 1796
20 DOLLARS REWARD
Ran away from the subscriber, on Wednesday the 13th instant, living in Bourbon county Handcock creek, near the mouth, a mulatto negro woman, aged about twenty five years, named SAL, has midling long hair, of a pleasant countenance, a common sized woman, has stones in her ears, of a blue white colour; her cloathing was either a calico habit, blue stuff petticoat, shawl handkershief, or a striped short cotton jacket, striped linsey petticoat, and a spotted silk handkerchief, a high crowned wool hat, bound round the rim with worsted ferreting, and had with her a pair of flat heeled leather shoes; I expect she has a small bundle carrying. Any person apprehending said negro & securing her, or bringing her home, shall be paid all reasonable charges by me. JOHN PEEBEL. July 15, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 30 July 1796.
TEN DOLLARS REWARD
Ran away from the subscriber’s plantation, about the last of February, one mile and a half from Georgetown, a NEGRO WOMAN, about 35 years of age, of a slender make, a yellow complexion; down look, stoops in her walk—her name is CREASA—has a coarse voice. Whoever takes up said negro, and secures her, so that I get her again, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable charges. THOMAS MOSBY, July 28, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette. 06 August 1796
TEN DOLLARS REWARD
Run away from the subscriber, living in Green county, on the _______ Pittman’s creek, the 25th of June last, a likely young Negro fellow, about eighteen years of age, rather tall, has a down look when spoken to, and a scar (on I believe) his right hand occasioned by a burn when he was young, his name is TOM, had on when he went away, a brown linen shirt and overalls and a felt hat. I have some reason to believe he will make towards Lexington or Bourbon town—Whoever will deliver me the said slave or give me such information that I get him again shall receive the above reward besides what the law allows. THOMAS RICHESON, August 3, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 06 August 1796
FIFTEEN DOLLARS REWARD
RAN AWAY From the subscriber, living about two miles from Lincoln court-house, a yellow negro man, names CHARLES, about 22 years of age, nearly six feet high. There went with him a brother of his, whose name is HENRY; but he calls himself HENRY BAKER a darker yellow and smaller man than Charles, abut twenty five years of age- they will probably change their names and try to pass for free men. Whoever delivers Charles to the subscriber, shall have the above reward; or if confined in Lexington or Georgetown jail, Four Dollars. WILLIAM GLOVER, August 23, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 27 August 1796
TEN DOLLARS REWARD
Ran away from the subscriber living in Maddison county, about four miles from the mouth of Tate’s creek, a yellowish negro man, named ADAM, about twenty four or twenty five years of age, about five feet seven or eight inches high, well set, has a scar in his forehead over one of his eyes—had on when he went away, a blue cloth sailor’s jacket, bound round with yellow ferreting, scarlet waistcoat, striped cloth overhalls, and high crowned hat—he was seen on the 23d ult. in Lexington. Whoever delivers said negro to the subscriber, shall have the above reward. DAVID WILLIAMS
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 01 October 1796
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD
Will be giving for taking up and delivering to the subscribers living in Lexington, two runaway Negro men, the one named BILLEY, a lusty well made fellow about 25 years of age, had on when he went away (which was in the time of the races last week) a new pair of leather overalls, a black coat and other common cloaths; the other a tall likely made fellow, named NED, and about the same age, lately the property of JOHN M’NAIR, and well known in this town for a great rascal, he had on when he went away, a new pair of leather breeches, but I do not recollect his other cloaths; they are supposed to be lurking about this town as one of them (say Ned), has a wife in it, the property of Mr. S. Downing the other a sister, the property of Mr. James Parker. The above reward will be paid for taking and delivering the two or ten dollars for either by THOMAS HARP
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 05 November 1796
Ten Dollars Reward
Run away from the subscriber last night, near Washington, in Mason county, Kentucky, a mulatto boy named URIAH, alias HUGH, near nineteen years old, about five feet nine or ten inches high, a likely straight limbed fellow, has long feet for his age, and has a bashful or down look when spoken to by his superiors. He had on and took with him, a light colored surtout with metal buttons, a fulled linsey straight bodied coat, and one short nankeen ditto, a red flannel jacket, one home made cotton ditto, and one striped nankeen ditto, brown linsey overalls, and one pair new nankeen ditto, a white linen shirt, and one tow ditto, a felt hat and good strong shoes. It is expected he will try to get to a paper mill in Carolina or Virginia, as he has worked at that business, and has been heard to say, he would try to get to a paper mill again. Whoever will apprehend and bring him to me, or give information so that I get him again, shall have the above reward. SAM CANBY.
N.B. All persons are forewarned harboring him or aiding him in getting away, at their peril. Mason county, Oct. 14, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 12 November 1796
RAN AWAY
From the subscriber, living in Woodford county, a young, dark mulatto woman, named BETTY, aged about twenty years, of a low stature, had with her, a green skirt, and a white Marsailles, spring heeled slippers, a hat and several handkerchief—she has large eye brows, a small scar in the edge of her hair, flat nose, and lips rather thick. She is probably about Lexington, Capt. John Holder’s, or Bourbon. Whoever will secure her in jail, shall have a reward of FIVE DOLLARS—if she is brought home a reward of TEN DOLLARS shall be give by H. MARSHALL, Nov. 9.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 November 1796
TEN DOLLARS REWARD
Run away on the 29th of Dec. from the subscriber, in Fayette county, near Lexington, state of Kentucky, a Negro Slave, named CHARLES, about eighteen years of age, about 5 feet high, well-made, has a very full face, flat nose and thick lips, yellow complexion, had on and took with him, an old green coarse cloth big coat, a long close bodied coat mixed with cotton, a pair of yellow nankeen breeches, a pair of striped do. country made resembling nankeen, a striped store waistcoat, a pair of blue yarn stockings, a pair of shoes with no seem in the quarters, a large old wool hat. He was seen a few days after leaving home, making towards Strode’s station. Whoever takes up said slave, and delivers him to me, shall receive the above reward. BIRD PRICE. January 23, 1797
N.B. I expect he will endeavour to pass for a free man.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 25 January 1797
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD
Run Away from the subscriber, living on Cooper’s run, Bourbon county, some time in October last, HARRY, a mulatto man, abut six feet high, about twenty-five years of age, whoever apprehends him, and secures him, so that I get him, shall have the above reward, and reasonable charges if brought home to MARY MOREN Feb. 4, 1797
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 February 1797
RAN AWAY
From the subscriber, (on the 8th instant) living about three miles from Shelbyville, CHARLES, a negro man, about 30 years of age, a slim spare fellow; had on when he went away, a green short coat, velvet waistcoat, and buck-skin breeches—he was seen on Sunday last, at the cross roads about 5 miles from Frankfort, where he passed by the name of GUY. Whoever takes up said negro, and secures him in any gaol so that the owner gets him, shall have Four Dollars, and if brought home all reasonable charges paid. ROBERT GLASS February 17.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 February 1797
Ran away from the subscriber, living in Bourbon county, about 5 miles from Paris, near Martin’s tavern, on the road leading to Limestone, a black negro woman named LETT, well made, a very artful sensible woman, has lost some of her toes, was with child when she went away, supposed to have it about Christmas. It is expected she has got a pass and will attempt to pass for a free woman, as it is supposed she was persuaded away by some of her acquaintances near Lexington. Whoever takes up said negro and secures her so that I get her, shall receive Twenty Dollars reward and all reasonable charges by me. QUINTIN MOORE.
N.B. All persons are forewarned from harboring said negro, as they will be prosecuted with the utmost rigor of the law. October 15, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 March 1797
Run away from the subscriber the 13th instant, a likely young negro man, by the name of TOM, of a rather black complexion, about five feet ten inches high, a little knock-kneed, but thick and well made for strength. He was scalded when young and the scar very plain yet on his back and side; he has a down look when spoken to; he had on when he went away a white linsey short coat and leather breeches with old shoes; he took with him a rifle gun, double triggered that runs about 100 balls to the pound, well-finished, with R. Bohannon on the box; also an Otter skin shot pouch and powder horn, with a tin charger fastened to the strap; he is of a cowardly disposition and may be easily taken. I rather suppose he will make for the north west side of the Ohio, where he will endeavor to pass for a freeman; or perhaps he may attempt to go thro’ the wilderness to Virginia—any person taking up said negro and delivering him to me, or securing him in any public jail, so that he may be brought to justice, shall receive a generous reward and all reasonable charges. GEO. CALDWELL. Fayette, March 15, 1797
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 March 1797
Seventy-five Dollars Reward. Runaway from the subscriber, the tenth of December last, a likely Negro Fellow named ISHMAEL, about twenty six years of age, five feet nine or ten inches high, stout, well made, his upper fore teeth a little wide, it is supposed that he is detained by the instigators of a certain Mrs. Mary Netherland, or some of her associates—the said Mary Netherland was formerly the wife of John Netherland of Virginia. Also, a Negro fellow, named BOB (who was violently taken from me by a certain Martin Hawkins), about forty years of age, with a blemish in one of his eyes, about five feet eight or nine inches high, limps in his walking, occasioned by a hurt in his hips. Also, (runaway), the fourteenth inst. a Negro Fellow named PHILL, about forty years of age, five feet nine or ten inches high, well set, and has a large scar on one of his legs, occasioned by an old sore, which is not yet cured. The above said Negroes, I expect, will pass as the property of the said Mrs. Mary Netherland, and notwithstanding the many assertions against John Netherland, it is hoped, no persons of character, will be so uncharitable as to condemn him, until a full investgation of the circumstances between him and the said Mary can be heard; all persons will be particularly cautious from purchasing or hiring said Negroes from said Mary, or other Persons, and also, the said Mary is legally divested of all power of making use of any property belonging to the said John Netherland, and further, any property in my possession, belonging to the said John Netherland I am ready to deliver to said Mrs. Netherland, on her legal application, agreeable to their mutual separation. The above reward will be given, for the three Negroes, delivered to me in Hickman Creek, Fayette County, or lodged in any jail in the state, or twenty-five dollars each, and all reasonable charges paid by NETHERLAND Agents for JOHN NETHERLAND.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 April 1797
Thirty Dollars Reward Ran away from the subscriber, the night of the 2nd instant, a negro man named CHARLES, 25 or 26 years of age, 5 feet 9 or 10 inches high, a smart sensible fellow; took with him sundry cloathing, among which is a blue coat, a D. blue jacket bound with red, a red waistcoat, a surtout of a dark colour. Also a negro woman named MILLEY, about 27 years of age, a stout well made, sensible woman; she took with her sundry cloathing, linsey coats and jackets, a new habit of calico, one ditto of muslin, a new hat with a fine band; has also with her a female child, about six months old, and its cloathing. Whoever delivers the said negroes to me in Scott county, one mile and a half from Georgetown, or to Maj. James Lemon in Georgetown, shall receive the above reward, or Ten Dollars if committed to any jail in the state.—I do hereby forewarn all persons from harboring or entertaining said negroes—and all masters of boats or vessels are forewarned on their peril, from conveying them from this state. BENJAMIN JOHNSON
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, April 12, 1797
Ten Dollars Reward
Ran away from John Peebel’s, on the line between Bourbon and Clarke counties, Easter Sunday, the 16th instant, a likely negro man, named STEPHEN, about nineteen years of age, five feet nine inches high, very black and thick lips, straight and well made, slender body and thick limbs, had a small spot near his mouth that appears white; had on when he went away a white coat too large for him, small striped waistcoat, old thickset breeches, old shoes and coarse stocking legs, a wool hat that has been bound. Whoever takes up said negro and brings him home, or secures him in any jail, so the I get him, shall have the above reward, and reasonable charges paid by me. THOMAS PEEBELS.
N.B. It is expected that he will make for the old settlement, or over the Ohio. April 19, 1797
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 April 1797
Ten Dollars Reward
RUN away from the subscriber, in Lexington on Friday evening the 1st inst. a mulatto, named ISAAC, 21 or 22 years of age, five feet 6 or 8 inches high, he had on when he went away, a plain Nankeen sailor’s jacket, a pair of Thickset breeches, a striped Calico under jacket, a pair of cotton stockings and an old pair of shoes. It is supposed he carried off a light colored Lady’s hat, which he may try to dispose of. As he is an artful fellow, it is supposed he may change his name and clothes, and may try to pass out of this state for a free man. Any person who will deliver the said mulatto to the subscriber in Lexington, shall receive ten dollars, or will secure or have him safely lodged in any gaol where he can be got, shall receive five dollars. MONTGOMERY BELL.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 29 April 1797
STOP THEM. Ran away from Golston Stepp’s on the 27th of March, three Negroes, viz. A man named ISAAC, a black fellow about 25 years of age, about 5 feet 10 inches high; he formerly belonged to Richard Higgins, Golston Stepp and James Knight—LYDIA, a woman 18 years old, the common size; she has a female child named ANACA, about one year old. It is supposed they are in the neighborhood of Joseph Craig. Whoever will deliver the above Negroes to the subscriber living on Jessamine, shall be handsomely rewarded. MARSTIN CLAY.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 03 May 1797
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Fayette County, between Lexington and Frankfort, NAT, a likely Negro man, about 22 years old, of rather a black complexion, about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high, sour look, and short crusty speech, had on a long Negro cotton coat and overalls, coarse shoes with iron plates on the heels; he took with him sundry other cloathing. Also TOM, a likely Negro man, twenty years old, brother to Nat, and of the same complexion, about five feet ten inches high, a down look, but generally smiles when spoken to, he has with him a king of light infantry cap, and a black wool hat, a short gray linsey coat and one long blue broadcloth do. I expect he has overalls of home make. I will give the above reward for said negroes, or ten dollars for either, and if taken over fifty miles from home, or out of this state, all reasonable charges. GEORGE CALDWELL.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 April 1797
Ten dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Mason County, near Williamsburg, on the tenth of this instant, WILL, a likely Negro man, about twenty years of age, five feet seven or eight inches high, has some scars occasioned by the whip, one remarkable, under the right breast; had on when he went away, a blue sailor’s jacket, green cassimer waistcoat, and a high crowned wool hat, (all about half worn). Whoever takes up said Negro and secure him(so that I can get him again), either in Fayette, Bourbon or Mason gaol, or deliver him to the subscriber, shall receive the above reward. DEVALT COOPER.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 03 May 1797
Strayed away about the twenty second day of January last, a Negro man named CAESAR, about five feet eight inches high, his legs and thighs are small, he stoops when he walks, has a down look, he makes a shew at times to be a great christian of the Methodist profession, he is apt to get drunk when opportunity serves, he is about twenty-five years old; he formerly belonged to Nicholas Lewis when he kept public house in Lexington—he is very fond of dressing fine when his cloaths admit—I expect he will endeavor to pass for a free man. … Any person that will bring the aforementioned Negro to me in Lincoln County, near the court house, or secure him so that I get him, shall have Five Dollars Reward, and reasonable expenses. WM. PATTON.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 03 May 1797
Ten Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber on the night of the 20th of April last, a likely Negro man named NED, about twenty years of age, five feet seven or eight inches high, and of a yellow complexion. Had on when he went away a country linen shirt and overalls, a short striped linsey coat and an old wool hat—though he may have changed his dress, as he carried sundry other clothes away with him. Whoever apprehends said Negro, and delivers him to me, living on the East fork of Hickman, Fayette county, near Venable’s tavern, shall receive the above reward, & all reasonable charges paid by me. ABNER YOUNG.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 10 May 1797
Ten Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, on the 13th instant, SAM, a likely Negro man, five feet ten or eleven inches high, rather slim, but straight and well made, with long hollow feet, of a dark complexion, about twenty two years old, he took with him a blue cloth coat, a short country fulled lead coloured ditto, a thin home made ditto, a pair of black breeches, a black half worn wool hat, and a twilled Dutch blanket, with sundry other clothing. I will give the above reward for said Negro if delivered to me, in Fayette county, on Steele _____, or Five Dollars if secured in any jail so that I get him. MOSES HICKS.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 17 June 1797
Thirty Dollars Reward. Ran away from Washington (Mason county, Kentucky), some time in May last, a Negro Man named LOUIS (or LUE) about twenty four years of age, five feet six or eight inches high, has a halt in one of his legs. The above reward will be given if secured in any jail in this state. A. HOLMES.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 15 July 1797
Ran Away From the subscriber, near Lexington, about the 8th of July 1796, a Negro Man named DICK, forty years of age, four feet 7 or 8 inches high. Very black, is of a slow speech, had on when he went away, a wool hat bound with leather ferreting, a pair of leather breeches, short cloth brown coat with no skirts, a pair of linen overlls and other cloathing, has lost some of his fore teeth); I expect that he will go into Clarke County or thro’ the wilderness. He formerly belonged to George Pemberton of Clarke county. –Whoever takes up said Negro and delivers him to me, shall receive FIVE DOLLARS, or more if taken out of the state, and all reasonable charges paid. ROBERT PRICE.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 July 1797
Twenty Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber about the middle of March last, a black negro man named WAT, about twenty years of age, about five feet six or seven inches high, well set, smart and active, his right ankle appears much swelled, though it is no impediment to his walking, large full eyes, with a small scar over one of them, long nappy hair; dressed in course hemp linen, except a pair of buckskin breeches. Whoever will deliver said Negro to the subscriber, living on Muddy creek, Madison county, shall have the above reward, and all reasonable charges paid. SAMUEL GILBERT.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 05 August 1797
Ran away from the subscriber, in Fayette County, near Bryan’s station, a Negro man, by the name of JOHN, thirty years old, about five feet ten inches high, had on when he went away a pair of hemp linen overalls & hemp tow shirt, had two blue coats, one a short coat, coarse cloth, the other a long coat, fine cloth, some other clothing; a remarkable black Negro, with a bold look. Whoever takes up said Negro, and brings him to me, shall have FIFTEEN DOLLARS reward. LEONARD YOUNG.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 August 1797
There is at my house a remarkably small African Negro woman, about forty years old, speaks very broken, says her name is JENNY, and that she formerly belonged to James Rutter in Loudon county, Virginia, who gave her her freedom, and that she came to Kentucky to see her children, who, she says belonged to Nancy Stephens. She has been in Lexington about six weeks, and as it is possible she may be a runaway, I have thought proper to give this information in order that the owner may know where to get her. HIRAM MITCHEL.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 02 September 1797
Twenty Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Shelby county, about eight miles from the court-house, two Negro men, by the names of PARMER and DICK, Parmer is young and very well made for strength, and Dick is old, but well made also. Whoever will take up the said Negroes and confine them so that I get them, shall be entitled to the above reward, or ten dollars for either of them and reasonable charges paid. RICHARD M. BOOKER
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 06 September 1797
Ten Dollars Reward. Ran away on the 5th of this instant, a negro man, named CAESAR, about five feet eight or nine inches high, twenty-four years old, a yellow complexion, apt to get drunk, broad shoulders, his thighs and legs rather small; he was formerly the property of NICHOLAS LEWIS, when living in Lexington; I expect he will endeavor to pass for a free man; he sings and dances well; I expect he will endeavor to cross the Ohio. Any person who will bring said negro to me in Lincoln county, or secure him so that I get him, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable expences. WM. PATTON.
N.B. He had a horse lock around one of his legs when he went away.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 20 September 1797
Ran away from the subscriber, in Fayette county, near Bryan’s station, a negro man, by the name of JOHN, thirty years old, about five feet ten inches high, had on when he went away a pair of hemp linen overalls, & hemp tow shirt, had two blue coats, one a short coat, coarse cloth, the other a long coat, fine cloth, some other clothing; a remarkable black negro, with a bold look. Whoever takes up said negro, and brings him to me, shall have fifteen dollars reward. LEONARD YOUNG.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 20 September 1797
Ten dollars Reward. Runaway, on the 18th of September, from the three islands, a servant man, abut 22 years of age, of the name of JOHN CLEVELAND, he had on when he went away, a brown cape, a pair of linen trowsers, a handkerchief tied about his head, he is about five feet ten inches high. It is supposed he has gone to his brothers, within fourteen or fifteen miles of Lexington. Whoever takes up said John Cleveland, and secures him, shall have the above reward, and all reasonable charges, paid by me. ARMISTED ADAMS.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 11 October 1797
Ran away on Thursday the 9th instant, from Mr. SAMUEL SANDUSKY, a negro man named ELECK, about five feet 8 or 9 inches high, 23 years of age, of yellow colour, had on a short pea-green colored coat, he had two waistcoats, one royal rib, the other nankeen, both nearly one color, and two pair of overalls, one buckskin the other linen, also a bearskin cap, he rather limps when walking; the said negro I have contracted for since he ran away; Whoever takes up said negro and secures him in any jail so that I can have him, or brings him home to me about four miles from the mouth of Hickman near the road shall be handsomely rewarded by me. JOHN FREEMAN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 November 1797
Six Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, about the first of last September, a negro man, named BEN, he is a stout, able fellow, about fifty years of age; he formerly belonged to CAD SLAUGHTER, who lived near the falls of Ohio, who sold him to Col. JOHN CAMPBELL, near Lexington, of whom I purchased him; he has a wife at said Campbell’s and probably may be in the neighborhood; he has worked abut Lexington and Georgetown; the last account I had of him, he was below Frankfort, at work, he pretends to have a pass from me, but if he has, it must be forged. Whoever takes up said fellow, and secures him in any gaol, so that I may get him, shall receive the above reward, paid by JOHN METCALFE. January 8, 1798.
N.B. I forewarn all persons from harboring said fellow, or employing him after this date.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 17 January 1798
Ran away from the subscriber, on Saturday the 3rd inst. a mulatto fellow named HUMPHREY, about twenty years of age, five feet nine or 10 inches high, took away with him a set of brick-laying and plastering tools, it is supposed he will aim to pass as a free man, and brick-layer, as he knows something about the business: he has sundry suits of clothes with him likewise three blankets’ two Dutch and one country made. Any person delivering said Negro to me, living in Garrad county, near Lancaster, shall receive ten dollars reward, and all reasonable charges paid by me. PLEASANT SLEAKEY
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 28 February 1798
Run away from the subscriber on the 19th of January, a likely negro woman named MILLE, about 22 years of age, has a scar under one of her eyes, she commonly dressed well, and carried off with her a number of clothes suitable for that purpose, she generally wears a half worn man’s hat—I suspect a negro fellow named GLASCO or JONATHAN, who trades commonly to the licks to free himself and is the property of the widow Heron, near Frankfort, of conveying her away, together with some white people. I will give ten dollars for apprehending the said negroes, if bound together, or five dollars for the negro woman, and reasonable charges for bringing her home, or conveying her to the nearest gaol, so that I get her. WILLIAM SCOTT.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 27 March 1798
Six Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, about the first of last September, a negro man named BEN, he is a stout able fellow, about fifty years of age, he formerly belonged to CAD SLAUGHTER, who lived near the falls of Ohio, who sold him to Col. JOHN CAMPBELL, near Lexington, of whom I purchased him; he has a wife at said Campbell’s and probably may be in the neighborhood; he has worked about Lexington and Georgetown; he has lately been seen at Col. Campbells in the neighborhood of Lexington, he pretends to have a pass from me, but if he has, it must be forged. Whoever takes up said fellow, and secures him in any gaol, so that I may get him, shall receive the above reward, paid by JOHN METCALFE. January 8, 1798. N.B. I forewarn all persons from harboring said fellow, or employing him after this date.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 28 March 1798
STOP THE RUNAWAY. HARRY a squat made negro fellow, about five feet seven inches high, aged 26 or 27 years, speaks quick, his upper lip cocks up much at the sides, he is bow legged, he is quick and active in his motions, resolute and irritable in his temper, ran away from me in Jefferson county joining Lynn’s station, about the beginning of this month, passed to the neighborhood of Lexington as a slave belonging to Col. John Campbell of whom I had him, at whose house I found him after his first elopement, relying on his promises to return home to his wife & children I did not confine him, he has availed himself of the indulgence and stole away when I was ready to start. I supposed he would return to the neighborhood of Lexington or Hickman creek where his mother lives with Frederick Zimmerman, who sold him to Walter Carr Esq. who sold him to Col. John Campbell of whom I purchased him. I will give five dollars reward over and above what the law allows for apprehending and securing said negro in any jail in Kentucky, or double the sum if taken and secured in any other state, and if brought home reasonable charges. NICHOLAS BUCKNER.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 28 March 1798
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD. Run away from the subscriber on Friday night the 30th inst., ABRAHAM, a likely negro man, who sometimes calls himself ___ KERBY, he is about six feet high, of a yellow complexion, large frame and fleshy, speaks fast, and has an impediment in his speech, is an excellent fiddler, had on when he went away a blue, short coat, with a red cape and cuffs, a pair of thickset breeches, and leggins of a rust color, he is a sensible, arch, crafty fellow, with a bold look, and has passed for a free man for some time on the N.W. side of the Ohio; has been in the service of a Mr. Smith and Finley, of Cincinnati, was apprehended in Washington on his way to Philadelphia, waiting on Mr. Smith, and proved there to be the property of Col. Nicholas, of Lexington, from whom I purchased him. He has a white woman to wife near Cincinnati, and it is probable will make to that place, and from thence to Detroit, where he is well acquainted; whoever will apprehend said negro and secure him in any jail so that I may get him, or deliver him to me near Lexington, shall receive the above reward. PETER LE GRAND.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 1 April 1798
Run away from the town of Danville, on the first of March, a NEGRO MAN named JOHN DICK, stout and well made, five feet ten inches high, twenty six years old; he was raised by Hail Tolbert, of Madison County, he can read tolerable well, is fond of shewing it, is very forward and impudent when a little acquainted, attempts to speak words he does not understand. I will give FIVE DOLLARS to any person delivering said fellow to me in Danville. I expect he has crossed the Ohio. EDWARD HUGHES.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 16 May 1798
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD. Ran away from the subscriber, in March last, a negro boy named JACK, he is fourteen years old, and not darker than some mulattos, he is pretty well set, he is likely and sensible, and will likely pass for a free born; he rode away a likely bright sorrel mare, about fourteen hands high, four years old, no brand nor mark, but a small star, had a long tail, and trots natural; he had also a twenty Dollar saddle; part worn, and a plated bitt snaffle bridle; he has been seen in Woodford and Lexington since he went off, and if he is taken and not well lectured he will in all probability get away: the above reward will be paid or an equal proportion for the boy, or for the mare, if delivered to the subscriber. JAMES. A. STURGIS Jun. Man’s Lick.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 04 July 1798
EIGHT DOLLARS REWARD. Ran away from the subscribers, in Fayette county on Sunday the 15th inst., two negro men, named SCIPIO and JACOB. Scipio is about five feet five inches high, has a halt in his left leg which is the smallest occasioned by a cut, tow linen shirt and trowsers, and a dove colored wool hat. Jacob had on tow linen shirt and trowsers, nankin waistcoat, and an old hat, about five feet four inches high: Whoever takes up said negroes and secures them so that we get them again, shall receive the above reward and what is allowed by law. ANDREW M’CALLA, JOSHUA BROWN.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 18 July 1798
FIVE DOLLARS REWARD. Run away from the subscriber, living on the David’s fork of Elkhorn, last Sunday, a negro fellow, named MOSS, about five feet eight or nine inches high, twenty-two years of age, well made, a smart, likely fellow, has had a cut in one of his hands, not sure which, but I think it was the left, some of his fingers are stiff, had on when he went away, a wool hat, linsey short coat, a nankin waistcoat, with two rows of buttons on the breast, the buttons fixed on with rings of brass wire, linen overalls of about six hundred, blue yarn stockings, with a little white at the head, old shoes, with the toe of one capped. I have reason to believe he has by some means secured a pass. WILLIAM SCOTT.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 18 July 1798
Ran Away from the subscriber, on the night of the 29th instant, living in Lexington, a Negro man named GEORGE about 20 years of age; well made, 5 feet 6 or 8 inches high, can write his name pretty legibly, and signs himself GEORGE LINN: had on when he went away, a fustian jacket with sleeves half worn, gray cassimer breeches, white cotton stockings: he carried off one fine shirt ruffled at the bosom, one country linen ditto, and one pair of trowsers: he is a sensible fellow, and will no doubt attempt passing for a free man. Whoever delivers the said slave to me in Lexington, shall receive Eight Dollars and reasonable charges paid: or Five Dollars if lodged in any jail, on producing jailor’s receipt. JAMES MORRISON.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 01 August 1798
Ran Away from the subscriber on Tuesday the 14th of August last, a stout well made negro man, named HARRY, about twenty four years of age, at least six feet high, a remarkable black fellow, when spoken to he expresses himself badly, I expect he will endeavour to pass for a free man. I will give fifteen dollars to any person that may put him in jail, so that I get him again, or twenty dollars if delivered to me living in Jefferson, two miles from the Spring Station. EDWARD LIGHTFOOT.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 03 October 1798
Ten Dollars Reward. Ranaway from the subscriber, living two and a half miles from Lexington on Tates creek road, on the night of the 18th inst. a negro man, named DICK, about 30 years old, five feet 6 or 7 inches high, with an impediment in his speech, has a scar on his knee or thigh, caused by a burn or cut; took with him different kinds of cloathing; he possible has got a pass to carry him through the wilderness, he is very active and sensible; all persons are hereby forewarned from harbouring or protecting him, or any boat passing from this state from carrying him off. Any person taking up said negro and delivering him to the subscriber, or secure him in any jail, so that he may get him again shall receive the above reward and all reasonable charges. JOHN CLARK.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 03 October 1798
TEN DOLLARS REWARD. Ranaway from the subscriber, about the 12th of September, two negro men, one about twenty two years of age, named EPHRAIM, a yellow fellow about five feet eight or nine inches high, has loft about half of one of his feet, and the toes from the other, by being frostbitten. The other about nineteen years of age, named NAT, a very black fellow, something smaller than Ephraim, has remarkable thick lips; The above reward will be given to any person who will secure said slaves in any jail in this state, or deliver them to the subscriber on Silver Creek, Madison County. WILLIAM WALKER.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 10 October 1798
FIFTEEN DOLLARS REWARD, Ranaway from the subscriber, living near the mouth of Hickman, Garrard county, a likely young negro fellow about twenty one years of age, five feet eight or nine inches high, a well set fellow; had on when he went away, a hemp linen shirt and trowsers, a wool hat, red cloth jacket, and new shoes. And person taking up said negro, and delivering him to me, or secure him in any jail, so that I get him again, shall have the above reward, paid by me. SAMUEL RENSHAW
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 17 October 1798
Scott County, Near Georgetown. Runaway, about the middle of September last, two negroes, one man which is about thirty five years old, five feet six inches high, named HARRY, when he laughs he shews his teeth more than common, he talks slow, and with a down cast with his head when talked to, he doth not like to talk without he is talked to, he had on when he went away a Painter skin jacket, and other old clothes of country linen. The woman, she’s about thirty-five years old, she is a low woman of a yellow cast a little, when she walks she stoops forward, and when she walks her feet turn out more than common, she has large lumps in the middle of her feet, she has a scar on her upper lip, she has a long face, talks saucy when talked to, brasen look, she has a hat with a ribband around it, also a blue linsey coat, and a striped cotton one, she is named EASTER. They took with them a spotted dog, it is supposed that they will make for the settlement to Virginia, or over the river Ohio, I expect they have a forged pass with them. Any person or persons that will apprehend the same and secure them so that I get them again, or deliver them to Nathaniel Barker, living in Lexington Kentucky, shall receive a handsome reward, besides all reasonable charges paid by me, or Nathaniel Barker living in Lexington. JEREMIAH WILLIAMS.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 12 December 1798
Twenty-five Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living near Bullitt’s lick, Bullitt county, on Delany’s road, HARRY, a negro man slave, a trim made fellow, about five feet, eight or ten inches high, a little yellow cast in his complexion, about twenty two years of age, has a large scar in his forehead, nearer to one of his eyes than the other, and stands nearly up and down, he is a fiddler, he took with him two deep blue broad cloth coats, nankin overalls, and white shirt, with sundry other cloaths. I learn he has a forged pass, calls himself SAM BUTLER, and passes for a blacksmith, but does not understand the business that I know of. Whoever delivers said negro to the subscriber, shall have the above reward. JAMES YEWELL.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 19 December 1798
Ranaway from the Subscriber on the 8th day of this month, a Negro Man Slave named JOHN LEWIS. He is about 34 or 35 years old, stout made, near 5 feet 10 inches high, speaks English in a broken manner, and also speaks some French─had with him when he went away, a pair of check pantaloons, and an old fur hat, besides other cloathes. He will most probably pretend that he is a free man, or that he has hired his own time. CH. HUMPHREYS. Lexington, Ky. Oct. 17, 1811
Source: The Reporter, 02 January 1812
Ranaway from the subscriber, living in Lexington a Negro Man, named JACK; about five feet eight inches high, slender made, he has a scar on the forehead, from a burn, also on one hand, and a little nick in the end of one nostril, very plausible in conversation; he has a rupture in the right groin, for which he wears a truss. Any person taking up said boy and returning him to me in Lexington shall be rewarded for their trouble─he left me in August last, E. WARFIELD. Lex., Oct. 29th, 1811.
Source: The Reporter, 02 January 1812
Ten Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber living in Scott county, near Calhoon’s Mill, on Monday the fourth of November, a black Negro Man, by the name of GEORGE, supposed to be about twenty years of age, has a small scar on one of his cheeks, has a very bad countenance, and when he looks at you, shews the whites of his eyes very much. When he left me, took with him two three point blankets and clothes of other dimensions. It is supposed he will direct his course towards or to the state of Ohio.
I will give the above Reward to any person that will confine the said George in any hail within this state, and give proper information so that I get him; but if taken out of state and confined I will give TWENTY DOLLARS reward, so that I get information of him and get him, but if delivered I will pay all other necessary charges. JOHN HICKS.
Source: The Reporter, 07 January 1812
$100 reward. Ran away from the subscriber on Saturday morning, the 18th inst., a Negro man named NED, 33 years of age, about 5 feet 6 inches high, well set, has a scar on one side of his face, having the appearance of a burn, small eyes with a blemish in one of them, a slight impediment in his speech, only perceptible when he speaks fast, had on blue linsey pantaloons and coatee.
A woman, his wife, named SUKEY, with a Female Child, 6 months old. SUKEY is a very bright black woman, very large full eyes, her voice soft and fine. The above reward will be paid for the delivery of the said slaves to Mr. Nathaniel Prentiss in Lexington, or to the subscriber. M.A. GIRAUD.
Source: Lexington (KY) Public Advertiser, 22 March 1820.
Ran away from the subscriber, a Negro woman named BETTY, about 36 or 37 years of age, very black, has a very sharp nose; she took a trunk and bed with her, two linsey, and two or three check cotton dresses. It is supposed she is somewhere in the neighborhood of Lexington. She ran away on Saturday evening, the 8th inst. A liberal reward will be paid to anyone who will bring said Negro to the subscriber, living in Lexington; or to lodge her in a by jail in the state, so that I may get her again, and all reasonable expences paid. JEHU BAKER.
Source: Lexington (KY) Public Advertiser, 22 April 1820.
50 Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Bourbon County, Kentucky on Wednesday evening the 2d. inst. a Negro Man named DAVY, About 23 or 24 years of age. He is about five feet eight or ten inches high, of a dark complexion, full mouth, thick lips, and tolerable stout made, that is stout bone, but not very full of flesh and answers quick when spoken to, and is frustrated when close examined; had on when he left me a tow linen shirt and pantaloons and a grey jeans roundabout, and wool hat, with a tolerable large brim, about half worn, he has with him a fine linen or cotton shirt, and a grey jeans coat, an old brown cloth coat and pantaloons, and a pair of grey jeans pantaloons and dark linsey sertout coatee about half worn, and perhaps other clothing. I suppose he will make for the Ohio or Alabama. The above reward will be given for apprehending and securing him in any jail within the state, so that I may get him again, and if taken out of the state a reward of One Hundred Dollars will be given; the reward to be paid in Notes on the Bank of the Commonwealth, or an equivalent in gold and silver. JOHN HEDGES.
Source: Kentucky Reporter, 14 June 1824
$150 reward. This sum will be paid for securing the man known by the name of WILLIAM WHITING. A negro of light complexion about 37 years old 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high. Slender made with holes in his ears in which rings are generally worn—This fellow has no doubt made his way to Philadelphia or New York where he has been known as a servant to Major _____ctiss on his trip to New Jersey last Summer. the above reward will be given if taken out of the State or fifty dollars if taken in the State and returned to me in Jessamine County Ky. JOHN F. NELSON.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 06 January 1825
$100 Specie Reward. Ran away from the subscriber in Lexington, Ky. On the 3d of February, a NEGRO MAN named REUBEN, about 30 years of age, about six feet high, dark complexion, slim made, stutters much when spoken to, a small scar on the stomach; a shoe and boot maker by trade; pretty fond of gambling; had on when he went away blue pantaloons, grey surtout coat. He rode away a black nag. Any person delivering the said Negro Slave shall have the above reward and all reasonable charges paid - or 50 DOLLARS reward to secure him in any Jail in the U. States, and forward on information to John Gordon, of Lexington, or James R. Turnbull, of Winchester, Kentucky. JOHN GORDON, J.R. TURNBULL.
Source: Kentucky Reporter, 20 June 1825
300 Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber of the 5th of June last, a NEGRO MAN named BACCHUS, about 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, thin visage, stoops a little when walking, full mouth, broad upper fore teeth, say 25 years old. Said negro crossed the Ohio in the neighborhood of Maysville as supposed on his route to Canada; and it is believed from information that he crossed Lake Erie at the mouth of Sandusky Bay, and is now in the neighborhood of Turtle Creek in Canada, or on the Sister Island; this route he has taken, but his ultimate object is Philadelphia, Bacchus obtained the papers of a free negro by the name of Reuben, who is dead, and was a free man, and it is thought he has passed in the name of Reuben; this man Reuben obtained his free papers from the Fayette County Court. Bacchus is a first rate Blacksmith, and will probably seek employment at his trade. I will give the above reward if taken in Canada and secured in any Jail in the United States so that I can get him, or I will give the 300 DOLLARS and all reasonable charges if delivered to me in Woodford, Kentucky, or 250 DOLLARS if taken in the United States and secured so that I get him, and if brought home, all reasonable expenses paid. MARQUIS CALMES.
…Gen. Marquis Calmes is one of the surviving officers of the Revolution, and requests the aid of military gentlemen on the Lakes in the recovery of his servant. The reward offered will without doubt be paid, as he does not belong to the Relief party in this State.
Source: Kentucky Reporter, 20 June 1825
$10 Specie Reward. Ranaway from the subscriber on the 18th inst. a Negro man named NATHAN, about 21 years of age, tolerably black, of the middle size, has a large scar from the cut of a knife on the left cheek about one inch long. It is supposed he rode off on a blind horse, the property of Mr. Davis. I purchased said Slave about ten days ago from Mr. Lee Bird, near the Crossings of Elkhorn, Scott County. JOHN FOSTER.
Source: Kentucky Reporter, 20 June 1825
$50 reward. Ran away from the subscriber living in Jessamine county, Ky., 4 miles west of Nicholasville, about the 4th of November last, a negro girl named HEATHY; about 18 years old, round face and pop eyes; looks wild when spoken to by strangers; she is about the usual height of girls of that age; had on when she left home a red check plaid coat; and a calico sun bonnet. I will give twenty Dollars if taken in the State, of fifty Dollars out of the State. GEO. E. MONROE
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 February 1832
$20 reward. Ran away from the subscriber living on the Ohio river on Oldham county, two miles below Westport, on the 29th ult. two slaves, named JACK & BRISTOL; The former is a black man about 45 years of age and about 5 ½ feet high, and of common size. The latter is a mulatto about 36 years of age, about six feet high, has a round face and is stout built.—They were both raised in Jessamine county where they have wives and were seen going in that direction. The above reward will be given for said slaves or ten dollars for either of them, to any person who shall apprehend and lodge him or them (as the case may be) in some convenient jail and apprize me thereof. RICHARD E. MEADE. Westport, Ky.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 05 January 1833
$150 reward!!! For the delivery to the subscriber , in Warren County, Georgia, of a negro man named LEWIS, about twenty five or thirty years of age, about five feet six inches high, weighs about one hundred and sixty five pounds’ a little bald, rather yellow complected; and a yellow bay mare, about four years old, four feet seven or eight inches high, star in her face, right hind foot white, well made, works and rides well.
They left me the 6th of this month, at night.—At the same time, left the neighborhood, a white man, called and named RAWEL ADAMS, about twenty five or thirty years of age, about the same height of the negro.
It is believed they will make their way towards Tennessee or Kentucky.
BENJAMIN ADAMS, Sen. (his mark). Test, Henley Jones. The Republican, Nashville, Tennessee and the Gazette, Lexington, Kentucky will publish the above advertisement twice, weekly, and forward their accounts to Warrenton, Warren county, Georgia, for payment.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 February 1833
Fifty dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber on the 20th August last; a likely Negro man slave, named HENRY, some times called JAMES; about 28 years of age, about 5 feet 8 or 10inches high; slender made, of a yellowish complexion, with a small scar on high right cheek, two or three small black spots on his forehead, and a black streak across his left temple to a small lump under the outer corner of his left eye; tolerable high forehead, rather thin face and small eyes, with delicate hands and feet for a negro. He is a good house servant, ostler, carriage driver, wagoner and shoemaker.—was taken up at the Choctaw Agency, and escaped from there on the 7th October last, and is probably making his way towards Fredericksburg, Virginia, from whence he was brought to this State; was owned by Dr. Carmichael, in Virginia, and since then by Mr. Fisk in Natchez, Miss. If said slave is taken and secured in jail, or otherwise, so that I can get him in my possession again, I will pay the above reward of fifty dollars to the person who so secured him, and gives me notice of it. HENRY HUNT Liberty, Amite co., Miss.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 13 April 1833
Stop the runaway. Fifty dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber in May 1832, while mining on Broad River a yellow man named RALPH. Said negro has been twice since apprehended and made his escape. He was first lodged in Ashville hail Buncombe county N.C. from which he broke out in company with Metcalf a noted Horse thief, he was afterwards apprehended and lodged in the same Jail from whence I took him on the 8th July same year, and on my way home he broke from me and made his escape. The same Negro or someone answering a very accurate description at Marshall’s ferry Tennessee with Free papers in his possession signed by John Patterson, Hillsboro in this State, on a strict examination of the pass it was judged to be forged and he was started to jail with, but broke and made his escape again. Ralph is of low statu[r]e I suppose 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, of bright mulatto complexion, twenty-six or seven years of age he ahs, as well as recollected, a small scar above one of his eyebrows, his fore teeth open, speaks when spoken to in a low tone but with intelligence. He will no doubt try and procure another pass and make his way to Ohio which was his view when detected before. I will five to any person who will have the man confined in jail so I get him again, fifty dollars. Jailors will confer on me if any such man should be brought to their charge by dropping me a line at Bundleton, Burke county N.C. and have said man confined in the dungeon until they hear from me as he has made several escapes from jail. WM. F. COLLINS
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 03 August 1833
Fifty dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber living in Lincoln County, Ky., a bright yellow man named NED, about Thirty years old, Five feet ten or 11 inches high, a stout awkward, raw bones fellow, thick lips, high cheek bones, and has a sulky unpleasant countenance. Ned had on when he left me, a grey Janes Coat, two pair Janes pantaloons, and a fur Hat about half worn. From information, I have no doubt he has obtained a free pass, and will endeavour to make his escape to a free state, it is also probable that he is traveling in company with a White Woman. I will give Twenty Dollars reward if taken in the state and secured so that I can get him, or Fifty Dollars if apprehended out of the state and secured and notice given so that I can recover possession of him. JOEL EMBRY
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 February 1834
$20 reward. Run away from the subscriber living at Georgetown, Ky. A negro woman named ALOY; aged about 35 years, tolerably large and fleshy—some few gray hairs in her head—speaks a rather quick and short when spoken to; it is supposed she may have gone into Jessamine, as her mother belongs to a widow Prather, or Prater; who, I am informed lives somewhere in that county. The above reward will be given for the apprehension of said slave when she is delivered to me, or put in the jail at Lexington or Georgetown. She left my house three weeks since. JOHN C. MILLER
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 27 September 1834
$400 REWARD. Ran away from the undersigned, on the 2d of July, a negro man and wife, named THOMAS and RACHEL. Recently purchased of Messrs. Webb and Shell of Scott County. Thomas is about five feet 10 or 11 inches in height, between 25 and 30 years of age, of a very black complexion, has a down look, and stammers in his speech, especially when talking to a white man. He carried with him his best clothing and a violin, upon which he is very fond of playing. Rachel is about five feet 3 or 4 inches in height, perhaps 30 years old, of a very fat, heavy figure, and remarkably mild countenance; her whole appearance indicating fine health and good constitution; she likewise carried her best clothing with her.
Said negroes are supposed to have made their way to Augusta, or Dover, Bracken County as they had been owned in the latter place, and their design is doubtless to pass the river into Ohio, and from there into Canada. $200 reward will be given to any person apprehending them in this State, or $100 if taken out of the State and lodged in any jail within this State, or half of the above rewards for either of them. LOUISA E. SANDERS. 7 miles North of Lexington, KY.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 20 July 1844
$100 Reward. Ranaway from the subscriber, in September 1844, a Negro Man named POPE about 30 years of age. He is remarkably black, and when addressed he has a downward look. I will give for his recovery $25 if caught in the county of Fayette, $50 if any other county in the State, and $100 if out of the State, and secured in any jail where I can get him. P.M. PARRISH
Source: Lexington Observer & Reporter, 16 April 1845
$300 Reward! Ranaway from the subscriber, living in Lexington, on Wednesday morning the 6th inst., a negro boy named GEORGE, about 18 years old, black, large mouth, thick lips, sullen looks.—His clothing was red jeans, black coat and pants. I purchased him of Wm. H. Richardson, at his sale in the fall of 1856. He was seen on Friday morning, the 8th inst., at Mr. Milton Gregg’s, in the Lemon Mill neighborhood, and pretended to be hired by one of the neighbors. He is a son of HARRY BRUEN, who was for several years Porter of Chiles’ Hotel. I will give the above reward if taken out of the State; $150 in any county bordering on the Ohio River; $20 in any adjoining county; and $10 in Fayette county and delivered to me. WM. W. BRUCE
Source: Lexington Observer & Reporter, 13 January 1858
$20 Reward! Ranaway from the subscriber, living in Boyle county, on the 22nd of December, a negro boy named PETER, about 28 years old, of yellow complexion, about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high, and weighs about 150 lbs., had on when he left a black jeans coat, with patched sleeves, a pair of new jeans pants, an old wool hat, and heavy shoes. No scars recollected except one across his left fore finger. I will pay the above reward for the apprehension of said boy if taken out of the county or $10 if taken in Boyle county and delivered to me or confined where I can get him. Information should be directed to the undersigned at Nevada Post office, Mercer county, Ky. LEONARD TAYLOR
Source: Lexington Observer & Reporter, 13 January 1858
RANAWAY From the subscriber, living on the Richmond Turnpike 5 miles from Lexington, on the 2d of January, 1858, a negro man named REUBEN, aged 21 years, about 5 feet 10 inches in height, and of a light brown complexion. The usual reward will be paid for the apprehension of said slave taken in or out of the county or State, and secured so that I get him. THOS. S. REDD
Source: Lexington Observer & Reporter, 16 January 1858
RANAWAY From the subscriber, living in Fayette county, 7 miles from Lexington near the Maysville turnpike, on the 8th of January, 1858, a negro man named EDMOND, about 21 or 22 years old, 5 feet 9 or 10 inches high, of a black complexion and a pleasant address when spoken to. He had on when he left a new brown suit of jeans, sack coat, black wool hat and white apron. He passes himself off as a free boy but will excuse himself by saying when he is overtaken that he is hired just below this.
I will give for the above the usual reward—$10 if taken in this county, and $100 in any county bordering on the Ohio river, and delivered to me or secured in jail so that I get him. MARY HUGHES.
Source: Lexington Observer & Reporter, 16 January 1858
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 August 1795
Ran away from the subscriber, on the 10th of August. Three Negroes, A man named HARRY, and a woman named ESTHER. The woman about thirty one years old, yellow complexion, middle sized, a scar on one of her cheeks, appears to walk something lame, occasioned by walking with her toes out. She had in her possession, when she left me, some Osnaburg cloathing, such as petticoats and shifts, besides some striped cotton petticoats and short gowns, a course blue wool hat. The fellow is about thirty years of age, low stature, darker complexion than the woman, a large beard, had on when he went away, a scarlet jacket and a white linen coat, osnaburg shirt and and trowsers, a fur hat about half worn; remarkable small feet for a negro. The other is a girl about eight or nine years old, about four feet high, well set, full eyed, a large navel. The fellow has a smooth bored gun. The wench had a blue yarn petticoat. Any person taking up said negroes and degroes and delivering them to me in Scott county near squire M’Hatton’s, six miles from Georgetown or securing them in any jail so that I get them, shall be handsomely rewarded. JEREMIAH WILLIAMS
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 August 1795
Twenty dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber on Dick’s river, Lincoln county, about the fifteenth of April last, HENRY, a yellow negro man twenty three years old, about five feet ten inches high, well made; he took with him a bay mare and colt; it would be unnecessary to describe his clothing, as he will likely change them; he formerly belonged to Alexander Carson of Lincoln county. Whoever takes up said negro, and secures him in any jail, so that I get him again, shall receive the above reward. JOHN HAMILTON.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 August 1795
Eight dollars reward, for apprehending and confining in any jail, PETER, a black negro man, Four feet ten inches high, slim made, had a brown coat, and a country linen waist coat and overalls. All reasonable charges will be paid in addition to the above, if brought home. JOHN HART
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 September 1795
Twenty dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber, living near Danville, Mercer county on Sunday the 4th instant, a mulatto fellow named TOBE, about six feet high, thick lips and a large mouth, rather knock-knee’d; had on an old pair of linen overalls and shirt, and a black linsey hunting shirt, and took with him a blanket; he will shew the marks of a severe whipping he got the day he went away. It is probably he will try to pass for a free man. He is about 22 years old. Whoever delivers the above fellow or secures him in any gaol, so that I can get him, shall receive the above reward. STEPHEN FISHER.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 10 October 1795
Run away, on the 27th day of September, from the subscriber living in the forks of Dick’s river, Lincoln county, GULLY; A Negro Man nineteen or twenty years old, five feet five or six inches high, had on a blue country cloth coat, a clouded red and white waistcoat, linen overalls, high crowned hat; the top of which had been torn off and sown on again, barefoot, whoever apprehends said negro, and secures him in any jail or brings him home, shall be handsomely rewarded. FREDERICK BURDITT
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 17 October 1795
Four dollars reward for apprehending and delivering DAVID To me if taken within the state or Ten if without. He is a likely black fellow, near six feet high, remarkable large feet, his legs inclines forward, and stands near the middle of his feet, appears to hobble as he walks, about twenty-seven years of age. JOHN GIBSON, sen. North Elkhorn, Scott county
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 17 October 1795
Ten dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber, living at the forks of Licking, Campbell County, a negro wench named DINAH, about thirty years of age, low and thick. I expect she is somewhere about Lexington whoever delivers the said wench to the subscriber, or secures in the Lexington or Bourbon jail, so that I get her again shall have the above reward. ALVIN MOUNTJOY
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 31 October 1795
Two dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber on Thursday last, JOE, a brown, likely negro man, about five feet eight or ten inches high, about twenty eight years of age, has a scar across his nose and has lost all the toes off his right foot. Whoever apprehends said negro and delivers him to me, or secures him in jail, so that I get him, shall have the above reward. JOHN GRAVES
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 31 October 1795
Run away From the subscriber, living near Frankfort, on Saturday the seventeenth instant, a mulatto man named JACK, about five feet ten inches high, about twenty-two years of age, very straight made; had on when he went away a dark coloured surtout coat, lightish coloured close bodied coat of country made cloth, leather breeches, an old pair of cotton stockings and deer skin mockasons. As the above fellow was formerly the property of Col. John Campbell, it is likely he is somewhere in the neighbourhood of Lexington. I will give a reward of ten dollars to any person who will deliver the said Negro to me, or secure him in any jail, so that I get him again. ROBT. MONTGOMERY
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 31 October 1795
Two dollars reward. Run away from the subscriber on Thursday last, JOE, a brown, likely Negro man, about five feet eight or ten inches high, about twenty eight years of age, has a scar across his nose and has lost all the toes off his right foot. Whoever apprehends said Negro and delivers him to me, or secures him in jail, so that I get him, shall have the above reward. JOHN GRAVES
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 14 November 1795
Ran away From the subscriber on the night of the 9th of December last a mulatto man slave named TOM but calls himself WILSON. He is a stout made fellow about six feet one inch high 24 years of age; his cloathing is that of a brown cloth surtout coat with a button off the left hip, an old green jacket with sleeves, an old courderoy jacket, buckskin breeches, white yarn stockings and old shoes, one of them split in the vamp with the cut of an axe; he has a large bushy head. He was taken up by my overseer the 31st of last month between Frankfort and Woodford court-house, but made his escape from him the same night, without his hat. I will give six dollars to any person, who will lodge him in any gaol, so that I get him; or ten dollars for the delivery of him to me in Danville, with reasonable charges. DAVID GILLESPIE
N.B. Secure him well when taken as he is very artful.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 02 January 1796
One Hundred Dollars Reward, Will be given by the subscriber for apprehending and delivering two Negroes, that run away about ten years ago – one a yellow, neat, trim-made fellow, very active, named JAMES. The other a black fellow, with a small round head, high stomach, small legs and long heels. The same reward will be given for information, so that they can be got, or Fifty Dollars for either. Also Ten Dollars reward will be given for a black fellow, about seventeen years old, that ran away about six weeks ago, badly cloathed, had on when he went away a coarse pair of shoes, without any seem in the quarters. SAMUEL CLAY
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 09 January 1796
Ran away From the subscriber, living on the Kentucky river, near the mouth of Jessamine, a likely Negro fellow about five feet ten inches high, well made about twenty three years of age, called BURGES by name, reads and writes a tolerable good hand, and is expected to write himself a pass, has rather a down look when spoken to: took a small yellow bay mare, and new Dutch blanket with him, and perhaps will try to pass for a free man. Whosoever takes up said Negro and delivers him to me, or secures him to that I may get him, shall receive ten dollars reward. WILLIAM LEWIS
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 16 January 1796
Ran Away from the subscriber, Living in Bourbon county, on Cooper’s run, a Mulatto Man named HARRY, had on when he went away a gray great coat, a blue cotton waistcoat with some white, a black wool hat, a Pair of linen trowsers, a pair of odd buckles in his shoes, about six feet high. Who ever takes up the said Negro or secures him so that I get him again, shall receive a reward of six dollars paid by me. MARY MORIN
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 16 January 1796
Runaway from the subscriber, on the 17th instant, a Negro man named CUFFEY, about five feet eight inches high, well made, abut thirty years of age; had on when he went away, a striped cloth coat and overalls of the same kind; he also took with him a bag, blanket and sundry other cloaths amonst which was a blue Negro cotton hunting shirt; he is remarkably fond of playing the fiddle. Also a Negro woman named NANNY, had on when she went away a blue Negro cotton short gown, and blanket, about nineteen years of age. Whoever will take up the said Negroes and deliver them to me, or secure them in Lexington jail, shall receive Eight Dollars reward, by me living on Cane run. GEORGE BRYAN
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 23 January 1796
Seven Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber on the 31st January 1796, a Negro man, about 5 feet high, 20 years old, of a yellow complexion, names SCIPIO; he had on and took with him, a new wool hat of a dun color, one jean coat, one old cloth ditto, two shirts, three jackets, one pair black linsey trowsers and one pair fustian breeches; he has a small limp in his left leg occasioned by a cut on his heel. Whosoever takes up, or secures said Negro, so as his master may get him again, shall receive the above reward, besides what the law allows. ANDY M’CALLIE near Lexington
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 06 February 1796
Five Dollars Reward. Ran away on the ninth day of May 1796, a Negro Man named TOM, he had on when he went away a hemp shirt, a _____ coloured waistcoat, with the fore ______ patched with blue cloth, and an old cloth coat with black linsey sleeves, about _____ years of age, he limps some when he walks, two small spots on his breast like unto a wen, about five feet ten or eleven inches high. whoever will deliver said Negro to the subscriber, on Sugar creek, Madison county, shall have the above reward. WEEDON SMITH
Source: Kentucky Gazette: 21 May 1796
Ran away or stolen, a Negro Wench named ALICE, with her two children, a boy and girl; the girl named OLIVE, near five years old; the boy named TOM, near three years old. Alice is a likely wench about twenty two or three years old, near five feet six inches high, forward with child, has a scar on her right cheek and one near her breast; born in North Carolina - handy in the house or field. Supposed to be stolen by a Negro follow named SAM, who pretends to be free – he has purchased his time for four years, and has a pass for that time, two of which is past since January last. Sam is a likely fellow, six feet four inches high or more; very artful and active, has a hurt on his ankle occasioned by a sprain – a good fiddler and delights in company to play for money for dancers at schools; born in Virginia; the property of Elijah Tucker, who lives there at present. Whoever apprehends said negroes and secures them in any jail so that the owner may get them, or delivers them to him living in South Carolina, Pendleton county, shall receive a ____ful reward, and reasonable expenses paid. DANIEL STRINGE
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 21 May 1796
Twenty Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber’s plantation in Bush’s settlement, in March last, a Negro Boy, about seventeen or eighteen years old, of a slender make, but remarkable large feet, on one of his hands is a scar caused by a burn, he is of a yellow complexion, his name BRITAIN, but originally called NED, his dress I have reason to believe is changed. The said boy was some weeks back taken up by a gentleman on the north side of the Ohio river, and made his escape within five miles of my house. Any persons who will deliver said Negro to me shall receive the above reward, or have him apprehended so that I can get him again, shall receive ten dollars, and all reasonable charges. RO. CLARK, jun. Clarke County
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 28 May 1796
TEN DOLLARS REWARD
Run away from the subscriber living on the waters of M’Connell’s run, Scott county within four miles of Georgetown, a negro man, named MOSES, a middling low well set fellow, very black complexion, he walks with his toes turned a little more out than what is common, has a very close walk, a kind of rock in his carriage, thick speech similar to stuttering, about twenty years old—I expect he is pretty well dressed, but what kind of cloaths he has in particular, I cannot tell, as they are chiefly stolen—He is a fellow of a smiling countenance. Any person taking up the said fellow so that I get him, shall be paid TEN DOLLARS by the subscriber. JOHN RHODES
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 23 July 1796
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD
Run away from the subscriber’s plantation in Bush’s Settlement, in March last, a Negro Boy, about seventeen or eighteen years old; of a slender make, but remarkable large feet, on one of his hands is a scar caused by a burn, he is of a yellow complexion, his name BRITAIN, but originally called NED, his dress I have reason to believe is changed. The said boy was some weeks past taken up by a gentleman on the north side of the Ohio river, and made his escape within five miles of my house. Any person who will deliver said negro to me, shall receive the above reward, or have him apprehended so that I get him again, shall receive ten dollars, and all reasonable charges. RO. CLARK, jun. Clarke county, May 24, 1796
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 30 July 1796
20 DOLLARS REWARD
Ran away from the subscriber, on Wednesday the 13th instant, living in Bourbon county Handcock creek, near the mouth, a mulatto negro woman, aged about twenty five years, named SAL, has midling long hair, of a pleasant countenance, a common sized woman, has stones in her ears, of a blue white colour; her cloathing was either a calico habit, blue stuff petticoat, shawl handkershief, or a striped short cotton jacket, striped linsey petticoat, and a spotted silk handkerchief, a high crowned wool hat, bound round the rim with worsted ferreting, and had with her a pair of flat heeled leather shoes; I expect she has a small bundle carrying. Any person apprehending said negro & securing her, or bringing her home, shall be paid all reasonable charges by me. JOHN PEEBEL. July 15, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 30 July 1796.
TEN DOLLARS REWARD
Ran away from the subscriber’s plantation, about the last of February, one mile and a half from Georgetown, a NEGRO WOMAN, about 35 years of age, of a slender make, a yellow complexion; down look, stoops in her walk—her name is CREASA—has a coarse voice. Whoever takes up said negro, and secures her, so that I get her again, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable charges. THOMAS MOSBY, July 28, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette. 06 August 1796
TEN DOLLARS REWARD
Run away from the subscriber, living in Green county, on the _______ Pittman’s creek, the 25th of June last, a likely young Negro fellow, about eighteen years of age, rather tall, has a down look when spoken to, and a scar (on I believe) his right hand occasioned by a burn when he was young, his name is TOM, had on when he went away, a brown linen shirt and overalls and a felt hat. I have some reason to believe he will make towards Lexington or Bourbon town—Whoever will deliver me the said slave or give me such information that I get him again shall receive the above reward besides what the law allows. THOMAS RICHESON, August 3, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 06 August 1796
FIFTEEN DOLLARS REWARD
RAN AWAY From the subscriber, living about two miles from Lincoln court-house, a yellow negro man, names CHARLES, about 22 years of age, nearly six feet high. There went with him a brother of his, whose name is HENRY; but he calls himself HENRY BAKER a darker yellow and smaller man than Charles, abut twenty five years of age- they will probably change their names and try to pass for free men. Whoever delivers Charles to the subscriber, shall have the above reward; or if confined in Lexington or Georgetown jail, Four Dollars. WILLIAM GLOVER, August 23, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 27 August 1796
TEN DOLLARS REWARD
Ran away from the subscriber living in Maddison county, about four miles from the mouth of Tate’s creek, a yellowish negro man, named ADAM, about twenty four or twenty five years of age, about five feet seven or eight inches high, well set, has a scar in his forehead over one of his eyes—had on when he went away, a blue cloth sailor’s jacket, bound round with yellow ferreting, scarlet waistcoat, striped cloth overhalls, and high crowned hat—he was seen on the 23d ult. in Lexington. Whoever delivers said negro to the subscriber, shall have the above reward. DAVID WILLIAMS
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 01 October 1796
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD
Will be giving for taking up and delivering to the subscribers living in Lexington, two runaway Negro men, the one named BILLEY, a lusty well made fellow about 25 years of age, had on when he went away (which was in the time of the races last week) a new pair of leather overalls, a black coat and other common cloaths; the other a tall likely made fellow, named NED, and about the same age, lately the property of JOHN M’NAIR, and well known in this town for a great rascal, he had on when he went away, a new pair of leather breeches, but I do not recollect his other cloaths; they are supposed to be lurking about this town as one of them (say Ned), has a wife in it, the property of Mr. S. Downing the other a sister, the property of Mr. James Parker. The above reward will be paid for taking and delivering the two or ten dollars for either by THOMAS HARP
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 05 November 1796
Ten Dollars Reward
Run away from the subscriber last night, near Washington, in Mason county, Kentucky, a mulatto boy named URIAH, alias HUGH, near nineteen years old, about five feet nine or ten inches high, a likely straight limbed fellow, has long feet for his age, and has a bashful or down look when spoken to by his superiors. He had on and took with him, a light colored surtout with metal buttons, a fulled linsey straight bodied coat, and one short nankeen ditto, a red flannel jacket, one home made cotton ditto, and one striped nankeen ditto, brown linsey overalls, and one pair new nankeen ditto, a white linen shirt, and one tow ditto, a felt hat and good strong shoes. It is expected he will try to get to a paper mill in Carolina or Virginia, as he has worked at that business, and has been heard to say, he would try to get to a paper mill again. Whoever will apprehend and bring him to me, or give information so that I get him again, shall have the above reward. SAM CANBY.
N.B. All persons are forewarned harboring him or aiding him in getting away, at their peril. Mason county, Oct. 14, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 12 November 1796
RAN AWAY
From the subscriber, living in Woodford county, a young, dark mulatto woman, named BETTY, aged about twenty years, of a low stature, had with her, a green skirt, and a white Marsailles, spring heeled slippers, a hat and several handkerchief—she has large eye brows, a small scar in the edge of her hair, flat nose, and lips rather thick. She is probably about Lexington, Capt. John Holder’s, or Bourbon. Whoever will secure her in jail, shall have a reward of FIVE DOLLARS—if she is brought home a reward of TEN DOLLARS shall be give by H. MARSHALL, Nov. 9.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 November 1796
TEN DOLLARS REWARD
Run away on the 29th of Dec. from the subscriber, in Fayette county, near Lexington, state of Kentucky, a Negro Slave, named CHARLES, about eighteen years of age, about 5 feet high, well-made, has a very full face, flat nose and thick lips, yellow complexion, had on and took with him, an old green coarse cloth big coat, a long close bodied coat mixed with cotton, a pair of yellow nankeen breeches, a pair of striped do. country made resembling nankeen, a striped store waistcoat, a pair of blue yarn stockings, a pair of shoes with no seem in the quarters, a large old wool hat. He was seen a few days after leaving home, making towards Strode’s station. Whoever takes up said slave, and delivers him to me, shall receive the above reward. BIRD PRICE. January 23, 1797
N.B. I expect he will endeavour to pass for a free man.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 25 January 1797
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD
Run Away from the subscriber, living on Cooper’s run, Bourbon county, some time in October last, HARRY, a mulatto man, abut six feet high, about twenty-five years of age, whoever apprehends him, and secures him, so that I get him, shall have the above reward, and reasonable charges if brought home to MARY MOREN Feb. 4, 1797
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 February 1797
RAN AWAY
From the subscriber, (on the 8th instant) living about three miles from Shelbyville, CHARLES, a negro man, about 30 years of age, a slim spare fellow; had on when he went away, a green short coat, velvet waistcoat, and buck-skin breeches—he was seen on Sunday last, at the cross roads about 5 miles from Frankfort, where he passed by the name of GUY. Whoever takes up said negro, and secures him in any gaol so that the owner gets him, shall have Four Dollars, and if brought home all reasonable charges paid. ROBERT GLASS February 17.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 February 1797
Ran away from the subscriber, living in Bourbon county, about 5 miles from Paris, near Martin’s tavern, on the road leading to Limestone, a black negro woman named LETT, well made, a very artful sensible woman, has lost some of her toes, was with child when she went away, supposed to have it about Christmas. It is expected she has got a pass and will attempt to pass for a free woman, as it is supposed she was persuaded away by some of her acquaintances near Lexington. Whoever takes up said negro and secures her so that I get her, shall receive Twenty Dollars reward and all reasonable charges by me. QUINTIN MOORE.
N.B. All persons are forewarned from harboring said negro, as they will be prosecuted with the utmost rigor of the law. October 15, 1796.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 March 1797
Run away from the subscriber the 13th instant, a likely young negro man, by the name of TOM, of a rather black complexion, about five feet ten inches high, a little knock-kneed, but thick and well made for strength. He was scalded when young and the scar very plain yet on his back and side; he has a down look when spoken to; he had on when he went away a white linsey short coat and leather breeches with old shoes; he took with him a rifle gun, double triggered that runs about 100 balls to the pound, well-finished, with R. Bohannon on the box; also an Otter skin shot pouch and powder horn, with a tin charger fastened to the strap; he is of a cowardly disposition and may be easily taken. I rather suppose he will make for the north west side of the Ohio, where he will endeavor to pass for a freeman; or perhaps he may attempt to go thro’ the wilderness to Virginia—any person taking up said negro and delivering him to me, or securing him in any public jail, so that he may be brought to justice, shall receive a generous reward and all reasonable charges. GEO. CALDWELL. Fayette, March 15, 1797
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 March 1797
Seventy-five Dollars Reward. Runaway from the subscriber, the tenth of December last, a likely Negro Fellow named ISHMAEL, about twenty six years of age, five feet nine or ten inches high, stout, well made, his upper fore teeth a little wide, it is supposed that he is detained by the instigators of a certain Mrs. Mary Netherland, or some of her associates—the said Mary Netherland was formerly the wife of John Netherland of Virginia. Also, a Negro fellow, named BOB (who was violently taken from me by a certain Martin Hawkins), about forty years of age, with a blemish in one of his eyes, about five feet eight or nine inches high, limps in his walking, occasioned by a hurt in his hips. Also, (runaway), the fourteenth inst. a Negro Fellow named PHILL, about forty years of age, five feet nine or ten inches high, well set, and has a large scar on one of his legs, occasioned by an old sore, which is not yet cured. The above said Negroes, I expect, will pass as the property of the said Mrs. Mary Netherland, and notwithstanding the many assertions against John Netherland, it is hoped, no persons of character, will be so uncharitable as to condemn him, until a full investgation of the circumstances between him and the said Mary can be heard; all persons will be particularly cautious from purchasing or hiring said Negroes from said Mary, or other Persons, and also, the said Mary is legally divested of all power of making use of any property belonging to the said John Netherland, and further, any property in my possession, belonging to the said John Netherland I am ready to deliver to said Mrs. Netherland, on her legal application, agreeable to their mutual separation. The above reward will be given, for the three Negroes, delivered to me in Hickman Creek, Fayette County, or lodged in any jail in the state, or twenty-five dollars each, and all reasonable charges paid by NETHERLAND Agents for JOHN NETHERLAND.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 April 1797
Thirty Dollars Reward Ran away from the subscriber, the night of the 2nd instant, a negro man named CHARLES, 25 or 26 years of age, 5 feet 9 or 10 inches high, a smart sensible fellow; took with him sundry cloathing, among which is a blue coat, a D. blue jacket bound with red, a red waistcoat, a surtout of a dark colour. Also a negro woman named MILLEY, about 27 years of age, a stout well made, sensible woman; she took with her sundry cloathing, linsey coats and jackets, a new habit of calico, one ditto of muslin, a new hat with a fine band; has also with her a female child, about six months old, and its cloathing. Whoever delivers the said negroes to me in Scott county, one mile and a half from Georgetown, or to Maj. James Lemon in Georgetown, shall receive the above reward, or Ten Dollars if committed to any jail in the state.—I do hereby forewarn all persons from harboring or entertaining said negroes—and all masters of boats or vessels are forewarned on their peril, from conveying them from this state. BENJAMIN JOHNSON
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, April 12, 1797
Ten Dollars Reward
Ran away from John Peebel’s, on the line between Bourbon and Clarke counties, Easter Sunday, the 16th instant, a likely negro man, named STEPHEN, about nineteen years of age, five feet nine inches high, very black and thick lips, straight and well made, slender body and thick limbs, had a small spot near his mouth that appears white; had on when he went away a white coat too large for him, small striped waistcoat, old thickset breeches, old shoes and coarse stocking legs, a wool hat that has been bound. Whoever takes up said negro and brings him home, or secures him in any jail, so the I get him, shall have the above reward, and reasonable charges paid by me. THOMAS PEEBELS.
N.B. It is expected that he will make for the old settlement, or over the Ohio. April 19, 1797
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 April 1797
Ten Dollars Reward
RUN away from the subscriber, in Lexington on Friday evening the 1st inst. a mulatto, named ISAAC, 21 or 22 years of age, five feet 6 or 8 inches high, he had on when he went away, a plain Nankeen sailor’s jacket, a pair of Thickset breeches, a striped Calico under jacket, a pair of cotton stockings and an old pair of shoes. It is supposed he carried off a light colored Lady’s hat, which he may try to dispose of. As he is an artful fellow, it is supposed he may change his name and clothes, and may try to pass out of this state for a free man. Any person who will deliver the said mulatto to the subscriber in Lexington, shall receive ten dollars, or will secure or have him safely lodged in any gaol where he can be got, shall receive five dollars. MONTGOMERY BELL.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 29 April 1797
STOP THEM. Ran away from Golston Stepp’s on the 27th of March, three Negroes, viz. A man named ISAAC, a black fellow about 25 years of age, about 5 feet 10 inches high; he formerly belonged to Richard Higgins, Golston Stepp and James Knight—LYDIA, a woman 18 years old, the common size; she has a female child named ANACA, about one year old. It is supposed they are in the neighborhood of Joseph Craig. Whoever will deliver the above Negroes to the subscriber living on Jessamine, shall be handsomely rewarded. MARSTIN CLAY.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 03 May 1797
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Fayette County, between Lexington and Frankfort, NAT, a likely Negro man, about 22 years old, of rather a black complexion, about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high, sour look, and short crusty speech, had on a long Negro cotton coat and overalls, coarse shoes with iron plates on the heels; he took with him sundry other cloathing. Also TOM, a likely Negro man, twenty years old, brother to Nat, and of the same complexion, about five feet ten inches high, a down look, but generally smiles when spoken to, he has with him a king of light infantry cap, and a black wool hat, a short gray linsey coat and one long blue broadcloth do. I expect he has overalls of home make. I will give the above reward for said negroes, or ten dollars for either, and if taken over fifty miles from home, or out of this state, all reasonable charges. GEORGE CALDWELL.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 April 1797
Ten dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Mason County, near Williamsburg, on the tenth of this instant, WILL, a likely Negro man, about twenty years of age, five feet seven or eight inches high, has some scars occasioned by the whip, one remarkable, under the right breast; had on when he went away, a blue sailor’s jacket, green cassimer waistcoat, and a high crowned wool hat, (all about half worn). Whoever takes up said Negro and secure him(so that I can get him again), either in Fayette, Bourbon or Mason gaol, or deliver him to the subscriber, shall receive the above reward. DEVALT COOPER.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 03 May 1797
Strayed away about the twenty second day of January last, a Negro man named CAESAR, about five feet eight inches high, his legs and thighs are small, he stoops when he walks, has a down look, he makes a shew at times to be a great christian of the Methodist profession, he is apt to get drunk when opportunity serves, he is about twenty-five years old; he formerly belonged to Nicholas Lewis when he kept public house in Lexington—he is very fond of dressing fine when his cloaths admit—I expect he will endeavor to pass for a free man. … Any person that will bring the aforementioned Negro to me in Lincoln County, near the court house, or secure him so that I get him, shall have Five Dollars Reward, and reasonable expenses. WM. PATTON.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 03 May 1797
Ten Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber on the night of the 20th of April last, a likely Negro man named NED, about twenty years of age, five feet seven or eight inches high, and of a yellow complexion. Had on when he went away a country linen shirt and overalls, a short striped linsey coat and an old wool hat—though he may have changed his dress, as he carried sundry other clothes away with him. Whoever apprehends said Negro, and delivers him to me, living on the East fork of Hickman, Fayette county, near Venable’s tavern, shall receive the above reward, & all reasonable charges paid by me. ABNER YOUNG.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 10 May 1797
Ten Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, on the 13th instant, SAM, a likely Negro man, five feet ten or eleven inches high, rather slim, but straight and well made, with long hollow feet, of a dark complexion, about twenty two years old, he took with him a blue cloth coat, a short country fulled lead coloured ditto, a thin home made ditto, a pair of black breeches, a black half worn wool hat, and a twilled Dutch blanket, with sundry other clothing. I will give the above reward for said Negro if delivered to me, in Fayette county, on Steele _____, or Five Dollars if secured in any jail so that I get him. MOSES HICKS.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 17 June 1797
Thirty Dollars Reward. Ran away from Washington (Mason county, Kentucky), some time in May last, a Negro Man named LOUIS (or LUE) about twenty four years of age, five feet six or eight inches high, has a halt in one of his legs. The above reward will be given if secured in any jail in this state. A. HOLMES.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 15 July 1797
Ran Away From the subscriber, near Lexington, about the 8th of July 1796, a Negro Man named DICK, forty years of age, four feet 7 or 8 inches high. Very black, is of a slow speech, had on when he went away, a wool hat bound with leather ferreting, a pair of leather breeches, short cloth brown coat with no skirts, a pair of linen overlls and other cloathing, has lost some of his fore teeth); I expect that he will go into Clarke County or thro’ the wilderness. He formerly belonged to George Pemberton of Clarke county. –Whoever takes up said Negro and delivers him to me, shall receive FIVE DOLLARS, or more if taken out of the state, and all reasonable charges paid. ROBERT PRICE.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 22 July 1797
Twenty Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber about the middle of March last, a black negro man named WAT, about twenty years of age, about five feet six or seven inches high, well set, smart and active, his right ankle appears much swelled, though it is no impediment to his walking, large full eyes, with a small scar over one of them, long nappy hair; dressed in course hemp linen, except a pair of buckskin breeches. Whoever will deliver said Negro to the subscriber, living on Muddy creek, Madison county, shall have the above reward, and all reasonable charges paid. SAMUEL GILBERT.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 05 August 1797
Ran away from the subscriber, in Fayette County, near Bryan’s station, a Negro man, by the name of JOHN, thirty years old, about five feet ten inches high, had on when he went away a pair of hemp linen overalls & hemp tow shirt, had two blue coats, one a short coat, coarse cloth, the other a long coat, fine cloth, some other clothing; a remarkable black Negro, with a bold look. Whoever takes up said Negro, and brings him to me, shall have FIFTEEN DOLLARS reward. LEONARD YOUNG.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 August 1797
There is at my house a remarkably small African Negro woman, about forty years old, speaks very broken, says her name is JENNY, and that she formerly belonged to James Rutter in Loudon county, Virginia, who gave her her freedom, and that she came to Kentucky to see her children, who, she says belonged to Nancy Stephens. She has been in Lexington about six weeks, and as it is possible she may be a runaway, I have thought proper to give this information in order that the owner may know where to get her. HIRAM MITCHEL.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 02 September 1797
Twenty Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Shelby county, about eight miles from the court-house, two Negro men, by the names of PARMER and DICK, Parmer is young and very well made for strength, and Dick is old, but well made also. Whoever will take up the said Negroes and confine them so that I get them, shall be entitled to the above reward, or ten dollars for either of them and reasonable charges paid. RICHARD M. BOOKER
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 06 September 1797
Ten Dollars Reward. Ran away on the 5th of this instant, a negro man, named CAESAR, about five feet eight or nine inches high, twenty-four years old, a yellow complexion, apt to get drunk, broad shoulders, his thighs and legs rather small; he was formerly the property of NICHOLAS LEWIS, when living in Lexington; I expect he will endeavor to pass for a free man; he sings and dances well; I expect he will endeavor to cross the Ohio. Any person who will bring said negro to me in Lincoln county, or secure him so that I get him, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable expences. WM. PATTON.
N.B. He had a horse lock around one of his legs when he went away.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 20 September 1797
Ran away from the subscriber, in Fayette county, near Bryan’s station, a negro man, by the name of JOHN, thirty years old, about five feet ten inches high, had on when he went away a pair of hemp linen overalls, & hemp tow shirt, had two blue coats, one a short coat, coarse cloth, the other a long coat, fine cloth, some other clothing; a remarkable black negro, with a bold look. Whoever takes up said negro, and brings him to me, shall have fifteen dollars reward. LEONARD YOUNG.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 20 September 1797
Ten dollars Reward. Runaway, on the 18th of September, from the three islands, a servant man, abut 22 years of age, of the name of JOHN CLEVELAND, he had on when he went away, a brown cape, a pair of linen trowsers, a handkerchief tied about his head, he is about five feet ten inches high. It is supposed he has gone to his brothers, within fourteen or fifteen miles of Lexington. Whoever takes up said John Cleveland, and secures him, shall have the above reward, and all reasonable charges, paid by me. ARMISTED ADAMS.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 11 October 1797
Ran away on Thursday the 9th instant, from Mr. SAMUEL SANDUSKY, a negro man named ELECK, about five feet 8 or 9 inches high, 23 years of age, of yellow colour, had on a short pea-green colored coat, he had two waistcoats, one royal rib, the other nankeen, both nearly one color, and two pair of overalls, one buckskin the other linen, also a bearskin cap, he rather limps when walking; the said negro I have contracted for since he ran away; Whoever takes up said negro and secures him in any jail so that I can have him, or brings him home to me about four miles from the mouth of Hickman near the road shall be handsomely rewarded by me. JOHN FREEMAN.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 November 1797
Six Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, about the first of last September, a negro man, named BEN, he is a stout, able fellow, about fifty years of age; he formerly belonged to CAD SLAUGHTER, who lived near the falls of Ohio, who sold him to Col. JOHN CAMPBELL, near Lexington, of whom I purchased him; he has a wife at said Campbell’s and probably may be in the neighborhood; he has worked abut Lexington and Georgetown; the last account I had of him, he was below Frankfort, at work, he pretends to have a pass from me, but if he has, it must be forged. Whoever takes up said fellow, and secures him in any gaol, so that I may get him, shall receive the above reward, paid by JOHN METCALFE. January 8, 1798.
N.B. I forewarn all persons from harboring said fellow, or employing him after this date.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 17 January 1798
Ran away from the subscriber, on Saturday the 3rd inst. a mulatto fellow named HUMPHREY, about twenty years of age, five feet nine or 10 inches high, took away with him a set of brick-laying and plastering tools, it is supposed he will aim to pass as a free man, and brick-layer, as he knows something about the business: he has sundry suits of clothes with him likewise three blankets’ two Dutch and one country made. Any person delivering said Negro to me, living in Garrad county, near Lancaster, shall receive ten dollars reward, and all reasonable charges paid by me. PLEASANT SLEAKEY
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 28 February 1798
Run away from the subscriber on the 19th of January, a likely negro woman named MILLE, about 22 years of age, has a scar under one of her eyes, she commonly dressed well, and carried off with her a number of clothes suitable for that purpose, she generally wears a half worn man’s hat—I suspect a negro fellow named GLASCO or JONATHAN, who trades commonly to the licks to free himself and is the property of the widow Heron, near Frankfort, of conveying her away, together with some white people. I will give ten dollars for apprehending the said negroes, if bound together, or five dollars for the negro woman, and reasonable charges for bringing her home, or conveying her to the nearest gaol, so that I get her. WILLIAM SCOTT.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 27 March 1798
Six Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, about the first of last September, a negro man named BEN, he is a stout able fellow, about fifty years of age, he formerly belonged to CAD SLAUGHTER, who lived near the falls of Ohio, who sold him to Col. JOHN CAMPBELL, near Lexington, of whom I purchased him; he has a wife at said Campbell’s and probably may be in the neighborhood; he has worked about Lexington and Georgetown; he has lately been seen at Col. Campbells in the neighborhood of Lexington, he pretends to have a pass from me, but if he has, it must be forged. Whoever takes up said fellow, and secures him in any gaol, so that I may get him, shall receive the above reward, paid by JOHN METCALFE. January 8, 1798. N.B. I forewarn all persons from harboring said fellow, or employing him after this date.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 28 March 1798
STOP THE RUNAWAY. HARRY a squat made negro fellow, about five feet seven inches high, aged 26 or 27 years, speaks quick, his upper lip cocks up much at the sides, he is bow legged, he is quick and active in his motions, resolute and irritable in his temper, ran away from me in Jefferson county joining Lynn’s station, about the beginning of this month, passed to the neighborhood of Lexington as a slave belonging to Col. John Campbell of whom I had him, at whose house I found him after his first elopement, relying on his promises to return home to his wife & children I did not confine him, he has availed himself of the indulgence and stole away when I was ready to start. I supposed he would return to the neighborhood of Lexington or Hickman creek where his mother lives with Frederick Zimmerman, who sold him to Walter Carr Esq. who sold him to Col. John Campbell of whom I purchased him. I will give five dollars reward over and above what the law allows for apprehending and securing said negro in any jail in Kentucky, or double the sum if taken and secured in any other state, and if brought home reasonable charges. NICHOLAS BUCKNER.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 28 March 1798
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD. Run away from the subscriber on Friday night the 30th inst., ABRAHAM, a likely negro man, who sometimes calls himself ___ KERBY, he is about six feet high, of a yellow complexion, large frame and fleshy, speaks fast, and has an impediment in his speech, is an excellent fiddler, had on when he went away a blue, short coat, with a red cape and cuffs, a pair of thickset breeches, and leggins of a rust color, he is a sensible, arch, crafty fellow, with a bold look, and has passed for a free man for some time on the N.W. side of the Ohio; has been in the service of a Mr. Smith and Finley, of Cincinnati, was apprehended in Washington on his way to Philadelphia, waiting on Mr. Smith, and proved there to be the property of Col. Nicholas, of Lexington, from whom I purchased him. He has a white woman to wife near Cincinnati, and it is probable will make to that place, and from thence to Detroit, where he is well acquainted; whoever will apprehend said negro and secure him in any jail so that I may get him, or deliver him to me near Lexington, shall receive the above reward. PETER LE GRAND.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 1 April 1798
Run away from the town of Danville, on the first of March, a NEGRO MAN named JOHN DICK, stout and well made, five feet ten inches high, twenty six years old; he was raised by Hail Tolbert, of Madison County, he can read tolerable well, is fond of shewing it, is very forward and impudent when a little acquainted, attempts to speak words he does not understand. I will give FIVE DOLLARS to any person delivering said fellow to me in Danville. I expect he has crossed the Ohio. EDWARD HUGHES.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 16 May 1798
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD. Ran away from the subscriber, in March last, a negro boy named JACK, he is fourteen years old, and not darker than some mulattos, he is pretty well set, he is likely and sensible, and will likely pass for a free born; he rode away a likely bright sorrel mare, about fourteen hands high, four years old, no brand nor mark, but a small star, had a long tail, and trots natural; he had also a twenty Dollar saddle; part worn, and a plated bitt snaffle bridle; he has been seen in Woodford and Lexington since he went off, and if he is taken and not well lectured he will in all probability get away: the above reward will be paid or an equal proportion for the boy, or for the mare, if delivered to the subscriber. JAMES. A. STURGIS Jun. Man’s Lick.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 04 July 1798
EIGHT DOLLARS REWARD. Ran away from the subscribers, in Fayette county on Sunday the 15th inst., two negro men, named SCIPIO and JACOB. Scipio is about five feet five inches high, has a halt in his left leg which is the smallest occasioned by a cut, tow linen shirt and trowsers, and a dove colored wool hat. Jacob had on tow linen shirt and trowsers, nankin waistcoat, and an old hat, about five feet four inches high: Whoever takes up said negroes and secures them so that we get them again, shall receive the above reward and what is allowed by law. ANDREW M’CALLA, JOSHUA BROWN.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 18 July 1798
FIVE DOLLARS REWARD. Run away from the subscriber, living on the David’s fork of Elkhorn, last Sunday, a negro fellow, named MOSS, about five feet eight or nine inches high, twenty-two years of age, well made, a smart, likely fellow, has had a cut in one of his hands, not sure which, but I think it was the left, some of his fingers are stiff, had on when he went away, a wool hat, linsey short coat, a nankin waistcoat, with two rows of buttons on the breast, the buttons fixed on with rings of brass wire, linen overalls of about six hundred, blue yarn stockings, with a little white at the head, old shoes, with the toe of one capped. I have reason to believe he has by some means secured a pass. WILLIAM SCOTT.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 18 July 1798
Ran Away from the subscriber, on the night of the 29th instant, living in Lexington, a Negro man named GEORGE about 20 years of age; well made, 5 feet 6 or 8 inches high, can write his name pretty legibly, and signs himself GEORGE LINN: had on when he went away, a fustian jacket with sleeves half worn, gray cassimer breeches, white cotton stockings: he carried off one fine shirt ruffled at the bosom, one country linen ditto, and one pair of trowsers: he is a sensible fellow, and will no doubt attempt passing for a free man. Whoever delivers the said slave to me in Lexington, shall receive Eight Dollars and reasonable charges paid: or Five Dollars if lodged in any jail, on producing jailor’s receipt. JAMES MORRISON.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 01 August 1798
Ran Away from the subscriber on Tuesday the 14th of August last, a stout well made negro man, named HARRY, about twenty four years of age, at least six feet high, a remarkable black fellow, when spoken to he expresses himself badly, I expect he will endeavour to pass for a free man. I will give fifteen dollars to any person that may put him in jail, so that I get him again, or twenty dollars if delivered to me living in Jefferson, two miles from the Spring Station. EDWARD LIGHTFOOT.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 03 October 1798
Ten Dollars Reward. Ranaway from the subscriber, living two and a half miles from Lexington on Tates creek road, on the night of the 18th inst. a negro man, named DICK, about 30 years old, five feet 6 or 7 inches high, with an impediment in his speech, has a scar on his knee or thigh, caused by a burn or cut; took with him different kinds of cloathing; he possible has got a pass to carry him through the wilderness, he is very active and sensible; all persons are hereby forewarned from harbouring or protecting him, or any boat passing from this state from carrying him off. Any person taking up said negro and delivering him to the subscriber, or secure him in any jail, so that he may get him again shall receive the above reward and all reasonable charges. JOHN CLARK.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 03 October 1798
TEN DOLLARS REWARD. Ranaway from the subscriber, about the 12th of September, two negro men, one about twenty two years of age, named EPHRAIM, a yellow fellow about five feet eight or nine inches high, has loft about half of one of his feet, and the toes from the other, by being frostbitten. The other about nineteen years of age, named NAT, a very black fellow, something smaller than Ephraim, has remarkable thick lips; The above reward will be given to any person who will secure said slaves in any jail in this state, or deliver them to the subscriber on Silver Creek, Madison County. WILLIAM WALKER.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 10 October 1798
FIFTEEN DOLLARS REWARD, Ranaway from the subscriber, living near the mouth of Hickman, Garrard county, a likely young negro fellow about twenty one years of age, five feet eight or nine inches high, a well set fellow; had on when he went away, a hemp linen shirt and trowsers, a wool hat, red cloth jacket, and new shoes. And person taking up said negro, and delivering him to me, or secure him in any jail, so that I get him again, shall have the above reward, paid by me. SAMUEL RENSHAW
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 17 October 1798
Scott County, Near Georgetown. Runaway, about the middle of September last, two negroes, one man which is about thirty five years old, five feet six inches high, named HARRY, when he laughs he shews his teeth more than common, he talks slow, and with a down cast with his head when talked to, he doth not like to talk without he is talked to, he had on when he went away a Painter skin jacket, and other old clothes of country linen. The woman, she’s about thirty-five years old, she is a low woman of a yellow cast a little, when she walks she stoops forward, and when she walks her feet turn out more than common, she has large lumps in the middle of her feet, she has a scar on her upper lip, she has a long face, talks saucy when talked to, brasen look, she has a hat with a ribband around it, also a blue linsey coat, and a striped cotton one, she is named EASTER. They took with them a spotted dog, it is supposed that they will make for the settlement to Virginia, or over the river Ohio, I expect they have a forged pass with them. Any person or persons that will apprehend the same and secure them so that I get them again, or deliver them to Nathaniel Barker, living in Lexington Kentucky, shall receive a handsome reward, besides all reasonable charges paid by me, or Nathaniel Barker living in Lexington. JEREMIAH WILLIAMS.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 12 December 1798
Twenty-five Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living near Bullitt’s lick, Bullitt county, on Delany’s road, HARRY, a negro man slave, a trim made fellow, about five feet, eight or ten inches high, a little yellow cast in his complexion, about twenty two years of age, has a large scar in his forehead, nearer to one of his eyes than the other, and stands nearly up and down, he is a fiddler, he took with him two deep blue broad cloth coats, nankin overalls, and white shirt, with sundry other cloaths. I learn he has a forged pass, calls himself SAM BUTLER, and passes for a blacksmith, but does not understand the business that I know of. Whoever delivers said negro to the subscriber, shall have the above reward. JAMES YEWELL.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 19 December 1798
Ranaway from the Subscriber on the 8th day of this month, a Negro Man Slave named JOHN LEWIS. He is about 34 or 35 years old, stout made, near 5 feet 10 inches high, speaks English in a broken manner, and also speaks some French─had with him when he went away, a pair of check pantaloons, and an old fur hat, besides other cloathes. He will most probably pretend that he is a free man, or that he has hired his own time. CH. HUMPHREYS. Lexington, Ky. Oct. 17, 1811
Source: The Reporter, 02 January 1812
Ranaway from the subscriber, living in Lexington a Negro Man, named JACK; about five feet eight inches high, slender made, he has a scar on the forehead, from a burn, also on one hand, and a little nick in the end of one nostril, very plausible in conversation; he has a rupture in the right groin, for which he wears a truss. Any person taking up said boy and returning him to me in Lexington shall be rewarded for their trouble─he left me in August last, E. WARFIELD. Lex., Oct. 29th, 1811.
Source: The Reporter, 02 January 1812
Ten Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber living in Scott county, near Calhoon’s Mill, on Monday the fourth of November, a black Negro Man, by the name of GEORGE, supposed to be about twenty years of age, has a small scar on one of his cheeks, has a very bad countenance, and when he looks at you, shews the whites of his eyes very much. When he left me, took with him two three point blankets and clothes of other dimensions. It is supposed he will direct his course towards or to the state of Ohio.
I will give the above Reward to any person that will confine the said George in any hail within this state, and give proper information so that I get him; but if taken out of state and confined I will give TWENTY DOLLARS reward, so that I get information of him and get him, but if delivered I will pay all other necessary charges. JOHN HICKS.
Source: The Reporter, 07 January 1812
$100 reward. Ran away from the subscriber on Saturday morning, the 18th inst., a Negro man named NED, 33 years of age, about 5 feet 6 inches high, well set, has a scar on one side of his face, having the appearance of a burn, small eyes with a blemish in one of them, a slight impediment in his speech, only perceptible when he speaks fast, had on blue linsey pantaloons and coatee.
A woman, his wife, named SUKEY, with a Female Child, 6 months old. SUKEY is a very bright black woman, very large full eyes, her voice soft and fine. The above reward will be paid for the delivery of the said slaves to Mr. Nathaniel Prentiss in Lexington, or to the subscriber. M.A. GIRAUD.
Source: Lexington (KY) Public Advertiser, 22 March 1820.
Ran away from the subscriber, a Negro woman named BETTY, about 36 or 37 years of age, very black, has a very sharp nose; she took a trunk and bed with her, two linsey, and two or three check cotton dresses. It is supposed she is somewhere in the neighborhood of Lexington. She ran away on Saturday evening, the 8th inst. A liberal reward will be paid to anyone who will bring said Negro to the subscriber, living in Lexington; or to lodge her in a by jail in the state, so that I may get her again, and all reasonable expences paid. JEHU BAKER.
Source: Lexington (KY) Public Advertiser, 22 April 1820.
50 Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Bourbon County, Kentucky on Wednesday evening the 2d. inst. a Negro Man named DAVY, About 23 or 24 years of age. He is about five feet eight or ten inches high, of a dark complexion, full mouth, thick lips, and tolerable stout made, that is stout bone, but not very full of flesh and answers quick when spoken to, and is frustrated when close examined; had on when he left me a tow linen shirt and pantaloons and a grey jeans roundabout, and wool hat, with a tolerable large brim, about half worn, he has with him a fine linen or cotton shirt, and a grey jeans coat, an old brown cloth coat and pantaloons, and a pair of grey jeans pantaloons and dark linsey sertout coatee about half worn, and perhaps other clothing. I suppose he will make for the Ohio or Alabama. The above reward will be given for apprehending and securing him in any jail within the state, so that I may get him again, and if taken out of the state a reward of One Hundred Dollars will be given; the reward to be paid in Notes on the Bank of the Commonwealth, or an equivalent in gold and silver. JOHN HEDGES.
Source: Kentucky Reporter, 14 June 1824
$150 reward. This sum will be paid for securing the man known by the name of WILLIAM WHITING. A negro of light complexion about 37 years old 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high. Slender made with holes in his ears in which rings are generally worn—This fellow has no doubt made his way to Philadelphia or New York where he has been known as a servant to Major _____ctiss on his trip to New Jersey last Summer. the above reward will be given if taken out of the State or fifty dollars if taken in the State and returned to me in Jessamine County Ky. JOHN F. NELSON.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 06 January 1825
$100 Specie Reward. Ran away from the subscriber in Lexington, Ky. On the 3d of February, a NEGRO MAN named REUBEN, about 30 years of age, about six feet high, dark complexion, slim made, stutters much when spoken to, a small scar on the stomach; a shoe and boot maker by trade; pretty fond of gambling; had on when he went away blue pantaloons, grey surtout coat. He rode away a black nag. Any person delivering the said Negro Slave shall have the above reward and all reasonable charges paid - or 50 DOLLARS reward to secure him in any Jail in the U. States, and forward on information to John Gordon, of Lexington, or James R. Turnbull, of Winchester, Kentucky. JOHN GORDON, J.R. TURNBULL.
Source: Kentucky Reporter, 20 June 1825
300 Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber of the 5th of June last, a NEGRO MAN named BACCHUS, about 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, thin visage, stoops a little when walking, full mouth, broad upper fore teeth, say 25 years old. Said negro crossed the Ohio in the neighborhood of Maysville as supposed on his route to Canada; and it is believed from information that he crossed Lake Erie at the mouth of Sandusky Bay, and is now in the neighborhood of Turtle Creek in Canada, or on the Sister Island; this route he has taken, but his ultimate object is Philadelphia, Bacchus obtained the papers of a free negro by the name of Reuben, who is dead, and was a free man, and it is thought he has passed in the name of Reuben; this man Reuben obtained his free papers from the Fayette County Court. Bacchus is a first rate Blacksmith, and will probably seek employment at his trade. I will give the above reward if taken in Canada and secured in any Jail in the United States so that I can get him, or I will give the 300 DOLLARS and all reasonable charges if delivered to me in Woodford, Kentucky, or 250 DOLLARS if taken in the United States and secured so that I get him, and if brought home, all reasonable expenses paid. MARQUIS CALMES.
…Gen. Marquis Calmes is one of the surviving officers of the Revolution, and requests the aid of military gentlemen on the Lakes in the recovery of his servant. The reward offered will without doubt be paid, as he does not belong to the Relief party in this State.
Source: Kentucky Reporter, 20 June 1825
$10 Specie Reward. Ranaway from the subscriber on the 18th inst. a Negro man named NATHAN, about 21 years of age, tolerably black, of the middle size, has a large scar from the cut of a knife on the left cheek about one inch long. It is supposed he rode off on a blind horse, the property of Mr. Davis. I purchased said Slave about ten days ago from Mr. Lee Bird, near the Crossings of Elkhorn, Scott County. JOHN FOSTER.
Source: Kentucky Reporter, 20 June 1825
$50 reward. Ran away from the subscriber living in Jessamine county, Ky., 4 miles west of Nicholasville, about the 4th of November last, a negro girl named HEATHY; about 18 years old, round face and pop eyes; looks wild when spoken to by strangers; she is about the usual height of girls of that age; had on when she left home a red check plaid coat; and a calico sun bonnet. I will give twenty Dollars if taken in the State, of fifty Dollars out of the State. GEO. E. MONROE
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 18 February 1832
$20 reward. Ran away from the subscriber living on the Ohio river on Oldham county, two miles below Westport, on the 29th ult. two slaves, named JACK & BRISTOL; The former is a black man about 45 years of age and about 5 ½ feet high, and of common size. The latter is a mulatto about 36 years of age, about six feet high, has a round face and is stout built.—They were both raised in Jessamine county where they have wives and were seen going in that direction. The above reward will be given for said slaves or ten dollars for either of them, to any person who shall apprehend and lodge him or them (as the case may be) in some convenient jail and apprize me thereof. RICHARD E. MEADE. Westport, Ky.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 05 January 1833
$150 reward!!! For the delivery to the subscriber , in Warren County, Georgia, of a negro man named LEWIS, about twenty five or thirty years of age, about five feet six inches high, weighs about one hundred and sixty five pounds’ a little bald, rather yellow complected; and a yellow bay mare, about four years old, four feet seven or eight inches high, star in her face, right hind foot white, well made, works and rides well.
They left me the 6th of this month, at night.—At the same time, left the neighborhood, a white man, called and named RAWEL ADAMS, about twenty five or thirty years of age, about the same height of the negro.
It is believed they will make their way towards Tennessee or Kentucky.
BENJAMIN ADAMS, Sen. (his mark). Test, Henley Jones. The Republican, Nashville, Tennessee and the Gazette, Lexington, Kentucky will publish the above advertisement twice, weekly, and forward their accounts to Warrenton, Warren county, Georgia, for payment.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 26 February 1833
Fifty dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber on the 20th August last; a likely Negro man slave, named HENRY, some times called JAMES; about 28 years of age, about 5 feet 8 or 10inches high; slender made, of a yellowish complexion, with a small scar on high right cheek, two or three small black spots on his forehead, and a black streak across his left temple to a small lump under the outer corner of his left eye; tolerable high forehead, rather thin face and small eyes, with delicate hands and feet for a negro. He is a good house servant, ostler, carriage driver, wagoner and shoemaker.—was taken up at the Choctaw Agency, and escaped from there on the 7th October last, and is probably making his way towards Fredericksburg, Virginia, from whence he was brought to this State; was owned by Dr. Carmichael, in Virginia, and since then by Mr. Fisk in Natchez, Miss. If said slave is taken and secured in jail, or otherwise, so that I can get him in my possession again, I will pay the above reward of fifty dollars to the person who so secured him, and gives me notice of it. HENRY HUNT Liberty, Amite co., Miss.
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 13 April 1833
Stop the runaway. Fifty dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber in May 1832, while mining on Broad River a yellow man named RALPH. Said negro has been twice since apprehended and made his escape. He was first lodged in Ashville hail Buncombe county N.C. from which he broke out in company with Metcalf a noted Horse thief, he was afterwards apprehended and lodged in the same Jail from whence I took him on the 8th July same year, and on my way home he broke from me and made his escape. The same Negro or someone answering a very accurate description at Marshall’s ferry Tennessee with Free papers in his possession signed by John Patterson, Hillsboro in this State, on a strict examination of the pass it was judged to be forged and he was started to jail with, but broke and made his escape again. Ralph is of low statu[r]e I suppose 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, of bright mulatto complexion, twenty-six or seven years of age he ahs, as well as recollected, a small scar above one of his eyebrows, his fore teeth open, speaks when spoken to in a low tone but with intelligence. He will no doubt try and procure another pass and make his way to Ohio which was his view when detected before. I will five to any person who will have the man confined in jail so I get him again, fifty dollars. Jailors will confer on me if any such man should be brought to their charge by dropping me a line at Bundleton, Burke county N.C. and have said man confined in the dungeon until they hear from me as he has made several escapes from jail. WM. F. COLLINS
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 03 August 1833
Fifty dollars reward. Ran away from the subscriber living in Lincoln County, Ky., a bright yellow man named NED, about Thirty years old, Five feet ten or 11 inches high, a stout awkward, raw bones fellow, thick lips, high cheek bones, and has a sulky unpleasant countenance. Ned had on when he left me, a grey Janes Coat, two pair Janes pantaloons, and a fur Hat about half worn. From information, I have no doubt he has obtained a free pass, and will endeavour to make his escape to a free state, it is also probable that he is traveling in company with a White Woman. I will give Twenty Dollars reward if taken in the state and secured so that I can get him, or Fifty Dollars if apprehended out of the state and secured and notice given so that I can recover possession of him. JOEL EMBRY
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 08 February 1834
$20 reward. Run away from the subscriber living at Georgetown, Ky. A negro woman named ALOY; aged about 35 years, tolerably large and fleshy—some few gray hairs in her head—speaks a rather quick and short when spoken to; it is supposed she may have gone into Jessamine, as her mother belongs to a widow Prather, or Prater; who, I am informed lives somewhere in that county. The above reward will be given for the apprehension of said slave when she is delivered to me, or put in the jail at Lexington or Georgetown. She left my house three weeks since. JOHN C. MILLER
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 27 September 1834
$400 REWARD. Ran away from the undersigned, on the 2d of July, a negro man and wife, named THOMAS and RACHEL. Recently purchased of Messrs. Webb and Shell of Scott County. Thomas is about five feet 10 or 11 inches in height, between 25 and 30 years of age, of a very black complexion, has a down look, and stammers in his speech, especially when talking to a white man. He carried with him his best clothing and a violin, upon which he is very fond of playing. Rachel is about five feet 3 or 4 inches in height, perhaps 30 years old, of a very fat, heavy figure, and remarkably mild countenance; her whole appearance indicating fine health and good constitution; she likewise carried her best clothing with her.
Said negroes are supposed to have made their way to Augusta, or Dover, Bracken County as they had been owned in the latter place, and their design is doubtless to pass the river into Ohio, and from there into Canada. $200 reward will be given to any person apprehending them in this State, or $100 if taken out of the State and lodged in any jail within this State, or half of the above rewards for either of them. LOUISA E. SANDERS. 7 miles North of Lexington, KY.
Source: Kentucky Gazette, 20 July 1844
$100 Reward. Ranaway from the subscriber, in September 1844, a Negro Man named POPE about 30 years of age. He is remarkably black, and when addressed he has a downward look. I will give for his recovery $25 if caught in the county of Fayette, $50 if any other county in the State, and $100 if out of the State, and secured in any jail where I can get him. P.M. PARRISH
Source: Lexington Observer & Reporter, 16 April 1845
$300 Reward! Ranaway from the subscriber, living in Lexington, on Wednesday morning the 6th inst., a negro boy named GEORGE, about 18 years old, black, large mouth, thick lips, sullen looks.—His clothing was red jeans, black coat and pants. I purchased him of Wm. H. Richardson, at his sale in the fall of 1856. He was seen on Friday morning, the 8th inst., at Mr. Milton Gregg’s, in the Lemon Mill neighborhood, and pretended to be hired by one of the neighbors. He is a son of HARRY BRUEN, who was for several years Porter of Chiles’ Hotel. I will give the above reward if taken out of the State; $150 in any county bordering on the Ohio River; $20 in any adjoining county; and $10 in Fayette county and delivered to me. WM. W. BRUCE
Source: Lexington Observer & Reporter, 13 January 1858
$20 Reward! Ranaway from the subscriber, living in Boyle county, on the 22nd of December, a negro boy named PETER, about 28 years old, of yellow complexion, about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high, and weighs about 150 lbs., had on when he left a black jeans coat, with patched sleeves, a pair of new jeans pants, an old wool hat, and heavy shoes. No scars recollected except one across his left fore finger. I will pay the above reward for the apprehension of said boy if taken out of the county or $10 if taken in Boyle county and delivered to me or confined where I can get him. Information should be directed to the undersigned at Nevada Post office, Mercer county, Ky. LEONARD TAYLOR
Source: Lexington Observer & Reporter, 13 January 1858
RANAWAY From the subscriber, living on the Richmond Turnpike 5 miles from Lexington, on the 2d of January, 1858, a negro man named REUBEN, aged 21 years, about 5 feet 10 inches in height, and of a light brown complexion. The usual reward will be paid for the apprehension of said slave taken in or out of the county or State, and secured so that I get him. THOS. S. REDD
Source: Lexington Observer & Reporter, 16 January 1858
RANAWAY From the subscriber, living in Fayette county, 7 miles from Lexington near the Maysville turnpike, on the 8th of January, 1858, a negro man named EDMOND, about 21 or 22 years old, 5 feet 9 or 10 inches high, of a black complexion and a pleasant address when spoken to. He had on when he left a new brown suit of jeans, sack coat, black wool hat and white apron. He passes himself off as a free boy but will excuse himself by saying when he is overtaken that he is hired just below this.
I will give for the above the usual reward—$10 if taken in this county, and $100 in any county bordering on the Ohio river, and delivered to me or secured in jail so that I get him. MARY HUGHES.
Source: Lexington Observer & Reporter, 16 January 1858
People were escaping left and right I wonder how many got away for good?
wow.. crickets like mofo...NO ONE has any opinions or comments about this subject??
Are you trying to make a particular point or something?
well I find it fascinating that we get a glimpse into history where the slaves triumph. Its something we NEVER get any real kind of real examination about. Theres the underground railroad and sojourner truths story and thats it. But these people were escaping left and right and the only documented proof of it are these articles.
And even tho they are descriptions from the slavers POV some of them give enough detail to get a glimpse into what kinds of person they were and based on the date mention how long they were gone.
I thought that people on here would be more into it but so far its really a passive response.
100 Amazing Facts About the Negro: Whether so-called house slaves betrayed others in bondage.
If Given the Chance
In the first place, it is important to remember that the historical record is full of masters expressing their fears that their house servants were trying to poison them! As Robin Kelley and Earl Lewis explain in To Make Our World Anew: Vol. 1: A History of African Americans to 1880, "As early as 1755 a Charleston slave woman was burned at the stake for poisoning her master, and in 1769 a special issue of the South Carolina Gazette carried the story of a slave woman who had poisoned her master's infant child."
And there were many other cases of poisoning and allegations of poisoning, such as "a slave named Julia who [in 1785 in New Orleans] was said to have confessed to putting ground glass in her mistress's food," according to Ned Sublette in The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square. She was given 200 lashes and placed in the stocks "for two hours a day for eight days."
In addition, historically, as Frederick Douglass eloquently points out, the slave who had access to literacy -- far more likely to have been a house slave, to use Malcolm's formulation, than a field slave -- found the urge to achieve physical freedom, to run away, well-nigh irresistible. Once they were literate, they understood even more fundamentally than when illiterate that they were intellectual equals, by nature, with their masters, and that the deprivation of the right to learn to read and write was another form of slavery -- metaphysical slavery. And so, these literate slaves (whether living in the house or in the field, and in the house and then the field, like Douglass did) spent a lot of time plotting their escape. Few slaves -- whether literate or not, whether working in the house or the field -- really wanted to remain slaves, and we can see this clearly by their behavior during the Civil War.
http://www.theroot.com/views/were-there-slaves-stephen-django?page=0,0
If Given the Chance
In the first place, it is important to remember that the historical record is full of masters expressing their fears that their house servants were trying to poison them! As Robin Kelley and Earl Lewis explain in To Make Our World Anew: Vol. 1: A History of African Americans to 1880, "As early as 1755 a Charleston slave woman was burned at the stake for poisoning her master, and in 1769 a special issue of the South Carolina Gazette carried the story of a slave woman who had poisoned her master's infant child."
And there were many other cases of poisoning and allegations of poisoning, such as "a slave named Julia who [in 1785 in New Orleans] was said to have confessed to putting ground glass in her mistress's food," according to Ned Sublette in The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square. She was given 200 lashes and placed in the stocks "for two hours a day for eight days."
In addition, historically, as Frederick Douglass eloquently points out, the slave who had access to literacy -- far more likely to have been a house slave, to use Malcolm's formulation, than a field slave -- found the urge to achieve physical freedom, to run away, well-nigh irresistible. Once they were literate, they understood even more fundamentally than when illiterate that they were intellectual equals, by nature, with their masters, and that the deprivation of the right to learn to read and write was another form of slavery -- metaphysical slavery. And so, these literate slaves (whether living in the house or in the field, and in the house and then the field, like Douglass did) spent a lot of time plotting their escape. Few slaves -- whether literate or not, whether working in the house or the field -- really wanted to remain slaves, and we can see this clearly by their behavior during the Civil War.
http://www.theroot.com/views/were-there-slaves-stephen-django?page=0,0
bump
Which Slave Mailed Himself to Freedom? Really!
But another slave plotted his own escape from bondage in even more astonishing and harrowing way, and his name was Henry Brown.
If Job ben Solomon expressed his desperate quest for freedom in a letter, Henry Brown expressed his own desperate desire to be free in an even more novel form: He actually mailed his own body from slavery to freedom, from Richmond to Philadelphia, from the slave state of Virginia to the free state of Pennsylvania, a distance of 250 miles.
Brown was the ultimate "escape artist," as Daphne Brooks brilliantly labels him in her book Bodies in Dissent. He was a precursor, she argues, to Houdini. And as we shall see, he not only performed his amazing -- and quite dangerous -- escape once, but reprised part of the journey during a lecture tour in England. But I get ahead of my story.
Henry Brown was born into slavery on a plantation called "The Hermitage" in Louisa County, Va., around 1815, fairly close to Charlottesville, where Thomas Jefferson was still living at Monticello. Upon his master's death, when Brown was 15, he was sent to work for his late owner's son, William, in his tobacco factory in Richmond. In about 1836, he married another slave (curiously, with their owners' consent), a woman named Nancy, who was owned by a bank clerk. Brown was able to rent a house for his family. Together, they had three children.
Over time, Nancy was sold twice. Her third owner, Samuel Cottrell, actually charged Brown $50 a year to keep Nancy from being sold. But in August 1848, Cottrell sold Nancy anyway, along with their three children, to a Methodist minister in North Carolina. Brown raced to the jail where his family was being held, but it was too late. As they were shuffled through the streets of Richmond, Brown held Nancy's hand for four miles. Nancy and the three children were marched on foot along with 350 other slaves, in the horrendous second Middle Passage, all the way to North Carolina. Nancy was pregnant with their fourth child. The two would never see each other again.
Brown tells us in his slave narrative that he begged his own master to purchase his family but his master refused: "I went to my Christian master … but he shoved me away."
Devastated and overcome with the most acute sense of his own sheer powerlessness, Brown sought solace and guidance through prayer. "An idea," he reported, "suddenly flashed across my mind." And what an idea it was! Perhaps only God -- or an official at the expanding express delivery service in America -- could have fashioned such a bizarre plan: "Brown's revelation," Paul Finkelman and Richard Newman write in their entry on him in The African American National Biography, "was that he have himself nailed into a wooden box and 'conveyed as dry goods' via the Adams Express Company from slavery in Richmond to freedom in Philadelphia."
How was he to realize such a bold, and wild, idea? How would he avoid suffocation in this coffin-like encasement? What about claustrophobia? How long could a human being live in a box without dehydration? Not to mention deal with his body functions? As Brown's biographer, Jeffrey Ruggles, explains in The Unboxing of Henry Brown, Adams Express advertised the one-day trip from Richmond to Philadelphia, a distance of 250 miles -- but only if the package encountered no glitches, no delays. If so, the trip could take much longer. Could a human being survive such a trip? Or would his crate turn into his casket?
How He Did It
Though only 5 feet, 8 inches tall, Brown at the time weighed 200 pounds, so this was not going to be an easy thing to accomplish, and impossible, of course, without a lot of assistance. Two friends, both named Smith, decided to help Henry with this crazy scheme: James Caesar Anthony Smith, a free black man who sang with Brown in the choir of First African Baptist Church, introduced Brown to Samuel Alexander Smith, a white shoemaker and gambler. Brown paid Samuel Smith $86 to help him.
Through James Smith's intervention, a black carpenter named John Mattaner built the wooden box -- "complete with baize lining, air holes, a container of water and hickory straps" -- to fit Brown's rotund frame. Samuel Smith corresponded with James Miller McKim, the Philadelphia abolitionist (and the father of future famed architect, Charles McKim) for guidance. McKim asked Smith to address the package to James Johnson, 131 Arch Street.
As Henry Brown scholar Hollis Robbins writes in a 2009 American Studies article, "Smith's correspondence with McKim about the timing of the trip, particularly his attention to the breakup of the ice on the Susquehanna [River], indicates his -- and perhaps Brown's -- practical understanding of the conditions necessary for the box to arrive swiftly enough for Brown to survive the journey." The entire box measured only 3 feet 1 inch long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet 6 inches high. Brown burned his hand with sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) so he could justify taking the day off without raising suspicion. He took along a few biscuits, or crackers, and a small bladder of water to sustain him.
With "This Side Up With Care" painted on the container, at 4:00 a.m. on March 23, 1849, Brown's friends loaded his boxed self onto a wagon, and delivered it to the depot. In his slave narrative, Brown describes his harrowing journey, including the sickening effect of traveling much of the journey upside-down, head-first, in spite of the label on the box. One wrong move, one unguarded sound or smell, would lead to his detection, capture, imprisonment and return to slavery, and perhaps to the Deep South.
Brown nearly died on the 27-hour trip: At one point, he was turned upside-down for several hours. His sole relief came when two passengers, wanting to talk, tipped the box flat to sit on it. The box was flipped again when it was boarded on a train in Washington, D.C. Brown had no choice but to remain silent and not move, no matter how the box was positioned.
Some 24 hours later, as Robbins describes, traveling by wagon to the depot, hefted by express workers from wagon to railcar, to steamboat, to another wagon, to another railcar, to a ferry and the once again by railcar, Brown finally arrived at the depot in Philadelphia. Three hours later, Brown's box was taken by wagon to the Anti-Slavery Committee's offices on North Fifth Street in Philadelphia. No one could know if their cargo was alive or dead. The four waiting abolitionists, including McKim, tapped on the lip of the crate four times, the signal that all was clear.
Finkelman and Newman describe what happened next: "A small, nervous group, including William Still, the African-American conductor of Philadelphia's Underground Railroad, pried open the lid to reveal … the disheveled and battered Henry Brown, who arose and promptly fainted," but not before exclaiming, "How do you do, gentlemen!" Revived with a glass of water, Brown sang Psalm 40: "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!" McKim noted that the trip "nearly killed him," and that "Nothing saved him from suffocation but the free use of water … with which he bathed his face, and the constant fanning of himself" with his hat. He managed to breathe through the three small holes that he bore in the box with a gimlet. Brown called his trip "my resurrection from the grave of slavery."
Henceforth, the word "Box" would become Henry's self-chosen legal middle name, with no quotation marks around it. His friend, James Smith, however, did gain a nickname from the adventure: He became known as James "Boxer" Smith.
http://www.theroot.com/views/which-slave-mailed-himself-freedom-really?page=0,0&wpisrc=root_lightbox
But another slave plotted his own escape from bondage in even more astonishing and harrowing way, and his name was Henry Brown.
If Job ben Solomon expressed his desperate quest for freedom in a letter, Henry Brown expressed his own desperate desire to be free in an even more novel form: He actually mailed his own body from slavery to freedom, from Richmond to Philadelphia, from the slave state of Virginia to the free state of Pennsylvania, a distance of 250 miles.
Brown was the ultimate "escape artist," as Daphne Brooks brilliantly labels him in her book Bodies in Dissent. He was a precursor, she argues, to Houdini. And as we shall see, he not only performed his amazing -- and quite dangerous -- escape once, but reprised part of the journey during a lecture tour in England. But I get ahead of my story.
Henry Brown was born into slavery on a plantation called "The Hermitage" in Louisa County, Va., around 1815, fairly close to Charlottesville, where Thomas Jefferson was still living at Monticello. Upon his master's death, when Brown was 15, he was sent to work for his late owner's son, William, in his tobacco factory in Richmond. In about 1836, he married another slave (curiously, with their owners' consent), a woman named Nancy, who was owned by a bank clerk. Brown was able to rent a house for his family. Together, they had three children.
Over time, Nancy was sold twice. Her third owner, Samuel Cottrell, actually charged Brown $50 a year to keep Nancy from being sold. But in August 1848, Cottrell sold Nancy anyway, along with their three children, to a Methodist minister in North Carolina. Brown raced to the jail where his family was being held, but it was too late. As they were shuffled through the streets of Richmond, Brown held Nancy's hand for four miles. Nancy and the three children were marched on foot along with 350 other slaves, in the horrendous second Middle Passage, all the way to North Carolina. Nancy was pregnant with their fourth child. The two would never see each other again.
Brown tells us in his slave narrative that he begged his own master to purchase his family but his master refused: "I went to my Christian master … but he shoved me away."
Devastated and overcome with the most acute sense of his own sheer powerlessness, Brown sought solace and guidance through prayer. "An idea," he reported, "suddenly flashed across my mind." And what an idea it was! Perhaps only God -- or an official at the expanding express delivery service in America -- could have fashioned such a bizarre plan: "Brown's revelation," Paul Finkelman and Richard Newman write in their entry on him in The African American National Biography, "was that he have himself nailed into a wooden box and 'conveyed as dry goods' via the Adams Express Company from slavery in Richmond to freedom in Philadelphia."
How was he to realize such a bold, and wild, idea? How would he avoid suffocation in this coffin-like encasement? What about claustrophobia? How long could a human being live in a box without dehydration? Not to mention deal with his body functions? As Brown's biographer, Jeffrey Ruggles, explains in The Unboxing of Henry Brown, Adams Express advertised the one-day trip from Richmond to Philadelphia, a distance of 250 miles -- but only if the package encountered no glitches, no delays. If so, the trip could take much longer. Could a human being survive such a trip? Or would his crate turn into his casket?
How He Did It
Though only 5 feet, 8 inches tall, Brown at the time weighed 200 pounds, so this was not going to be an easy thing to accomplish, and impossible, of course, without a lot of assistance. Two friends, both named Smith, decided to help Henry with this crazy scheme: James Caesar Anthony Smith, a free black man who sang with Brown in the choir of First African Baptist Church, introduced Brown to Samuel Alexander Smith, a white shoemaker and gambler. Brown paid Samuel Smith $86 to help him.
Through James Smith's intervention, a black carpenter named John Mattaner built the wooden box -- "complete with baize lining, air holes, a container of water and hickory straps" -- to fit Brown's rotund frame. Samuel Smith corresponded with James Miller McKim, the Philadelphia abolitionist (and the father of future famed architect, Charles McKim) for guidance. McKim asked Smith to address the package to James Johnson, 131 Arch Street.
As Henry Brown scholar Hollis Robbins writes in a 2009 American Studies article, "Smith's correspondence with McKim about the timing of the trip, particularly his attention to the breakup of the ice on the Susquehanna [River], indicates his -- and perhaps Brown's -- practical understanding of the conditions necessary for the box to arrive swiftly enough for Brown to survive the journey." The entire box measured only 3 feet 1 inch long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet 6 inches high. Brown burned his hand with sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) so he could justify taking the day off without raising suspicion. He took along a few biscuits, or crackers, and a small bladder of water to sustain him.
With "This Side Up With Care" painted on the container, at 4:00 a.m. on March 23, 1849, Brown's friends loaded his boxed self onto a wagon, and delivered it to the depot. In his slave narrative, Brown describes his harrowing journey, including the sickening effect of traveling much of the journey upside-down, head-first, in spite of the label on the box. One wrong move, one unguarded sound or smell, would lead to his detection, capture, imprisonment and return to slavery, and perhaps to the Deep South.
Brown nearly died on the 27-hour trip: At one point, he was turned upside-down for several hours. His sole relief came when two passengers, wanting to talk, tipped the box flat to sit on it. The box was flipped again when it was boarded on a train in Washington, D.C. Brown had no choice but to remain silent and not move, no matter how the box was positioned.
Some 24 hours later, as Robbins describes, traveling by wagon to the depot, hefted by express workers from wagon to railcar, to steamboat, to another wagon, to another railcar, to a ferry and the once again by railcar, Brown finally arrived at the depot in Philadelphia. Three hours later, Brown's box was taken by wagon to the Anti-Slavery Committee's offices on North Fifth Street in Philadelphia. No one could know if their cargo was alive or dead. The four waiting abolitionists, including McKim, tapped on the lip of the crate four times, the signal that all was clear.
Finkelman and Newman describe what happened next: "A small, nervous group, including William Still, the African-American conductor of Philadelphia's Underground Railroad, pried open the lid to reveal … the disheveled and battered Henry Brown, who arose and promptly fainted," but not before exclaiming, "How do you do, gentlemen!" Revived with a glass of water, Brown sang Psalm 40: "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!" McKim noted that the trip "nearly killed him," and that "Nothing saved him from suffocation but the free use of water … with which he bathed his face, and the constant fanning of himself" with his hat. He managed to breathe through the three small holes that he bore in the box with a gimlet. Brown called his trip "my resurrection from the grave of slavery."
Henceforth, the word "Box" would become Henry's self-chosen legal middle name, with no quotation marks around it. His friend, James Smith, however, did gain a nickname from the adventure: He became known as James "Boxer" Smith.
http://www.theroot.com/views/which-slave-mailed-himself-freedom-really?page=0,0&wpisrc=root_lightbox
bump
dope info here. will come back to digest it all.
....
Whites used guns government and orchestrated military to enslave and dehumanize us.....
America considered us property and not human beings......
America considered us property and not human beings......
Subs.
Its a shame this topic hasn't gotten much traction...these are real stories of real black people who were in a ungodly fucked up situation and resolved to get out of it by any means necessary. I get the feeling people think runaway slaves are some kind of less than because they didn't go all django at the end and burn down the plantation while walking away slowly and anything less than that is somehow either dishonorable or cowardly and not worth the time.
these articles show they were people with a fucking plan who took charge of their lives..thats no dishonorable coward
these articles show they were people with a fucking plan who took charge of their lives..thats no dishonorable coward
How the hell,do yall find these old as threads
I've been trying to find this and many others for a minute...
I've been trying to find this and many others for a minute...
lol...I did a a key search and the name of the poster.. in this case runaway slave and my name..popped right up
Courrier de la Louisiane - Jul 21, 1824
.