Slaveholders Listed on this Page
- Amberson, William (Enslaved persons: Harry)
- Boyd, Robert (Enslaved persons: Unspecified enslaved persons)
- Cromwell, Thomas (Enslaved persons: Un-named woman)
- Evans, George (Enslaved persons: Unnamed boy)
- Gibson, John, Col. (Enslaved persons: Nell)
- Girty, Thomas (Enslaved persons: Jack)
- Horner, James (Enslaved persons: Un-named woman, Un-named man)
- McKee, John (Enslaved persons: Un-named persons)
- Perry, John (Enslaved persons: Un-named man)
- Peters, Lewis (Enslaved persons: Un-named woman)
- Riddle, James (Enslaved persons: George)
- Robertson, Andrew (Enslaved persons: Moses)
- Skelton, Josiah W. (Enslaved persons: Un-named woman)
- Steel, David (Enslaved persons: Jack)
- St. Leger d'Happart, Joseph (Enslaved persons: Mary Baltise)
- Wallace, George (Enslaved persons: Jefferson)
Enslavement Data
- Slaveholder Name: Amberson, William
City or Township: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny County
Occupation:
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Harry
Age: "about 23 years old"
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: circa 1770
Description: "Mullato Slave"
Status: Escaped, 1793
Notes: "Lived formerly with Col. Blaine in Carlisle." Harry ran away from William Amberson of Pittsburgh in late 1793. He had a wife and brother in Carlise. Amberson placed the following ad in the Carlise Gazette:
"Eight DOLLARS Reward. RANAWAY from the subscriber a Mullato Slave Named HARRY, he is about 23 years old, and lived formerly with Col. Blaine, in Carlisle, is much addicted to drink: he took with him a county linen shirt and trowsers, and a red-spotted Swanskin jacket; he was seen on the road making for Carlisle: As his brother lives with Dr. M'Coskry, and a woman he calls his wife with Mr. Stephen Duncan, he will, no doubt, be lurking about them. Any person who will apprehend him and put him in any jail, so that I get him shall have the above Reward.
WILLIAM AMBERSON.
Pittsburgh, October 1st, 1793."
Click here to read the listings for Stephen Duncan.
Date of Record 01 October 1793
Source: Carlisle Gazette, December 04, 1793
- Slaveholder Name: Boyd, Robert
City or Township:
County: Allegheny County
Occupation:
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Names not in ad
Age: Not specified
Sex: Not specified
Date of Birth: Not known
Description: "Negroes"
Status: Slaves for life
Notes: Historian Edward Burns, writing in 1925, notes:
On February 2, 1790, Robert Boyd advertised for sale in the Pittsburgh Gazette a plantation of 365 acres, situated on the road leading from Pittsburgh to Washington, about seven miles from Pittsburgh. The terms of payment called for half in cash and the balance in negroes.
Date of Record 02 February 1790
Source: Edward M. Burns, "Slavery in Western Pennsylvania," Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, Volume 8, Number 4, October 1925, pp. 204-214. Burns cites his source for this item as: Boyd Crumrine, Editor, History of Washington County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, 1882.
- Slaveholder Name: Cromwell, Thomas
City or Township: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny County
Occupation:
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Unnamed Woman
Sex: Female
Age: "about 45 years"
Date of Birth: c1768
Status: Slave for life
Description: Slave
Notes: Advertised for sale in June 1813. Text of advertisement:
Negro Woman for Sale.
THE subscriber offers for Sale a Negro Woman, aged about 45 years, a slave for life. She may be seen by applying to Mr. Samuel Mercer, at the jail in this place. Any person purchasing her must obligate himself to take her at least 20 miles from Pittsburgh--to such a person a great bargain will be given.
THOMAS CROMWELL.
Pittsburgh, June 14, 1813.
Date of Record: 14 June 1813
Sources: Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, 09 July 1813, page 3.
- Slaveholder Name: Evans, George
City or Township: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny County
Occupation:
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Unnamed Boy
Sex: Male
Age: Not given, described as a "boy"
Date of Birth: Not known
Status: Slave for a term of years
Description: "Mulatto Boy"
Notes: Advertised for sale in November 1813. Text of advertisement:
A MULATTO.
The subscriber will sell the unexpired
Time of a
MULATTO BOY.
GEORGE EVANS.
Pittsburgh, November 12, 1813.
Date of Record: 12 November 1813
Sources: Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, 26 November 1813, page 3.
- Slaveholder Name: Gibson, John, Col.
City or Township: Fort Pitt
County: Allegheny County
Occupation: Soldier (Regimental commander during Revolutionary War); politician, judge
Notes: Gibson registered Nell in Westmoreland county. See that listing. Gibson lived 1740-1822.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Nell
Sex: Female
Age: 50 (at Registration)
Status: Slave for life
Date of Birth: 1731 (estimated)
Date of Registration: 29 December, 1781
Notes: In 1787, Gibson advertised to sell Nell. Text of advertisement:
TO BE SOLD,
To any Person residing in the Country,
A Negro Wench.
She is an excellent cook, and can do any kind of work in or out of doors. She has been registered in Westmoreland county. Produce will be taken, or cattle of any kind.
Enquire of Col. John Gibson, Fort-Pitt.
May 23, 1787.
Date of Record: 23 May 1787 (ad)
Sources: Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, 26 May 1787.
- Slaveholder Name: Girty, Thomas
City or Township: Plumb Township
County: Allegheny County
Occupation: Farmer
Notes: See also the runaway listing from David Steel.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jack
Sex: Male
Age: "about 40 years of age"
Date of Birth: c1747
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro man"
Notes: This is the same man who escaped from David Steel in June 1787. Jack then escaped from Girty in August 1789. Text of runaway advertisement:
RANAWAY on the 19th instant, from the subscriber, living on Plumb creek, Alleghany county, a negro man named JACK, he is about 40 years of age, and his hair is not so curly, nor so much like wool, as the most of negroes. It is supposed he is lurking about Pittsburgh. Whoever will take up said Negro and deliver him to his master, shall receive Two Dollars Reward, paid by
THOMAS GIRTY.
August 21, 1789
Date of Record: 21 August 1789
Sources: Pittburgh Weekly Gazette, 10 September 1789, page 3.
- Slaveholder Name: Horner, James
City or Township: Pitt Township
County: Allegheny County
Occupation: Farmer
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Unnamed Woman
Sex: Female
Age: 24
Date of Birth: 1776
Status: Slave for life
Description: Slave
Notes: Enumerated in the 1800 Septennial Census of Pitt Township
Date of Record: 1800
Sources: "Allegheny County PA Archives Tax Lists - 1800 Septennial Census - Allegheny County," US GenWeb, Transcribed from the microfilm of original documents of the; Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg; Record Group 7,Records of the General Assembly; House of Representatives; Septennial Census Returns (Series 7.26), Westmoreland County.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Unnamed Man
Sex: Male
Age: "between 30 and 40 years of age"
Date of Birth: between 1772 and 1782
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Black Man"
Notes: Advertised for sale by James Horner in February 1812. Text of sale advertisement:
FOR SALE,
A BLACK MAN, between 30 and 40 years of age, stout made and healthy. A slave for life. For particulars apply to SUTTON & M'NICKEL, Pittsburgh, or to the subscriber in Pitt township.
JAMES HORNER.
February 11, 1812
Date of Record: 11 February 1812
Sources: Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, 28 February 1812, page 3.
- Slaveholder Name: McKee, John
City or Township: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny County
Occupation:
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Unnamed persons
Sex: Sex not specified
Age: Ages not specified
Date of Birth: Not known
Status: Slaves for life
Description: "Negroes"
Notes: Sherrif William Perry advertised a public auction of John McKee's property, which included "negroes."
By Virtue of a writ of Fieri Facias, to me directed, will be exposed to public sale in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, the 16th. day of next June, horses, cows, sheep, stills, negroes, and household furniture.
Taken in execution as the property of John McKee, and to be sold by, William Perry, Sheriff.
Date of Record: 09 May 1789
Sources: Pittburgh Weekly Gazette, 09 May 1789.
- Slaveholder Name: Perry, John
City or Township: Braddock's Field
County: Allegheny County
Occupation:
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Unnamed Man
Sex: Male
Age: "about 40 years of age"
Date of Birth: c1749
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro Man"
Notes: This man escaped from Perry in March 1789. Text of runaway advertisement:
RANAWAY on the 11th instant, a Negro Man about 40 years of age has lost two of his fore teeth speaks midling good English, had on when he went away a pair of striped linen trowsers, a new course linen shirt, an old brown coat, an old felt hat, and a pair of tanned mokasins. Whoever takes up said negro, and brings him home, or secures him so that his owner may get him again, shall receive Two Dollars Reward, and reasonable charges.
JOHN PERRY.
Braddock's Field, March 23, 1789
Date of Record: 24 February 1818
Sources: Pittburgh Weekly Gazette, 11 April 1789, page 4.
- Slaveholder Name: Peters, Lewis
City or Township: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny County
Occupation:
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Unnamed Woman
Sex: Female
Age: "21 years old"
Date of Birth: 06 March 1795
Status: Slave for 28 years
Description: "Negro Woman"
Notes: This woman was offered for sale in May 1816. Text of advertisement:
FOR SALE,
A STOUT healthy Negro WOMAN. She was 21 years old the 6th day of March last, and has to serve until 28. For particulars enquire of the Subscriber.
LEWIS PETERS.
Pittsburgh, May 30, 1816.
Date of Record: 30 May 1816
Sources: Pittburgh Gazette, 6 July 1816.
- Slaveholder Name: Riddle, James
City or Township: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny County
Occupation: Cordwainer
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: George
Sex: Male
Age: One month old at Registration
Date of Birth: 17 July 1806
Status: Slave for 28 years
Description: "Mulatto"
Notes:
Date of Record: 18 August 1806
Sources: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 18 September 2025;
- Slaveholder Name: Robertson, Andrew
City or Township: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny County
Occupation: Allegheny County Jailer
Notes: Not a slaveholder, but responsible for persons jailed as suspected escaped slaves. His responsibility also included advertising to return the captured person to their enslaver, if any.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Moses
Sex: Male
Age: Not specified in ad, but described as a "man."
Date of Birth: Not known
Status: Jailed as suspected escaped slave
Description: "Negro Woman"
Notes: Moses was captured in Allegheny County and jailed on August 23, 1794. Text of advertisement placed by Robertson:
WAS apprehended and brought to the goal of Allegheny county on the 23d of August, a Negro MAN who calls himself MOSES; he is about 5 feet 6 inches high, thick set fellow, bandy legs, a very broad flat nose, he is pure black; had on when apprehended a light coloured cloth coat, tow trowsers, it is supposed he means to deceive, as he first said his master lived in Winchester, Virginia, by the name of Runer, but then said his master lived near Chester, in Pennsylvania, by the name of John Crowley.
ANDREW ROBERTSON.
Pittsburgh, Sept. 10, 1794.
Date of Record: 10 September 1794
Sources: Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, 04 October 1794.
- Slaveholder Name: Robinson, James
City or Township: Allegheny
County: Allegheny County
Occupation: Ferry operator
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Ned Goff
Sex: Male
Age: "30 years of age"
Date of Birth: 1777
Status: Slave for life; self-emancipated May 1807
Description: "Negro man slave"
Notes: Registered as a slave for life by John Bell in Washington County on October 3, 1782. Goff escaped from Robinson on May 27, 1807. Text of advertisement placed by Robinson:
RANAWAY from the subscriber living on the bank of the Allegheny river, opposite Pittsburgh, on the 27th inst. a negro man slave named NED GOFF; he is 5 feet 10 inches high, 30 years of age, very black, and noted as a great laugher, plays on the violin, and was raised by Mr. John Bell, on Chartiers creek, and has served as ferryman for me upwards of 7 years. Had on and took with him a brown bear-skin cloth surtout coat, a drab coloured home-made cloth jacket and trowsers, a light blue mixed cloth coat with a velvet cape, a light jean jacket and trowsers, and a hat almost new. It is supposed his brother, named William, is in company with him. If the above fellow is apprehended within 20 miles of home, and secured so that I may get him again, I will give Ten Dollars Reward; if exceeding 30 miles, Twenty Dollars, and if exceeding 100 miles, Thirty Dollars, together with reasonable charges if brought home.
JAMES ROBINSON.
May 29, 1807.
Date of Record: 29 May 1807
Sources: Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, 02 June 1807.
- Slaveholder Name: Skelton, Josiah W.
City or Township: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny County
Occupation: Druggist
Notes: Skelton's business was at the corner of Wood and Third Streets, Pittsburgh.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Unnamed Woman
Sex: Female
Age: 46
Date of Birth: 1772
Status: Slave for life
Description: Negro Woman
Notes: Advertised for sale in February 1818. Text of advertisement:
A Negro Woman
FOR SALE.
A Negro Woman 46 years of age, a slave for life, she is a good plain cook, and understands well, washing, ironing and scrubbing; she has a remarkable strong constitution, and can undergo great fatigue. She is well provided with clothes, and is fond of young children.
Enquire of
J. W. SKELTON.
February 24.
Date of Record: 24 February 1818
Sources: Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, 20 March 1818, page 1.
- Slaveholder Name: St. Leger d'Happart, Joseph
City or Township: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny County
Occupation: Merchant
Notes: Joseph St. Leger d'Happart was a French immigrant to the United States who resided mostly in Pennsylvania. He was a merchant, trading in goods with Suriname and France. A few months after he lost Mary Baltise, below, he was arrested in Pittsburgh for debt and imprisoned in Philadelphia for about a year. After his release, he lived in Chambersburg until his death in 1815.
Source: "Guide to the Joseph St. Leger d'Happart Papers, 1768-1815," University of Pittsburgh, online at https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3AUS-PPiU-dar195701/viewer, accessed 16 July 2024.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Mary Baltise
Sex: Female
Age: "turned of 17 years of age"
Date of Birth: circa 1790
Status: Slave for a term of years, possibly until age 18 (see notes); escaped
Description: "Mustee"
Notes: Baltise was sold and resold, ending up with St. Leger d'Happart. She escaped from his multiple times. The first of his escape notices is below:
Fifty Dollars Reward.
STOP THE THIEF.
RANAWAY from the subscriber, on the 2d inst. MARY BALTISE, a mustee, turned of 17 years of age, short black hair, crooked nose, yellow colored eyes, good teeth, had on a striped linsey short gown and petticoat, woolen stockings, and black leather shoes; but she probably will immediately change her dress, having taken a bundle of clothes of the subscriber, besides two very elegant real garnet necklaces, with a gold locket to each; a gold ring; a gold breast pin, supplied with pearls; a pair of silver sugar tongs; two silver table spoons, and a quantity of linen, too tedious to be enumerated. The subscriber offers the above reward, provided the above articles are returned, or Five Dollars for the wretch alone, if brought to this house, so as to be punished agreeably to law. The subscriber purchased said Mary Baltise of the late Thomas Cemp, who bought her of John Smith of this town. She possesses all kind of vices, and is capable of every thing bad, without the smallest exception.
ST. LEGER d'HAPPART.
Pittsburgh, February 2d, 1807.
Baltise must have been captured and returned to St. Leger d'Happart, and it seems likely he recovered his valuables that she took the first time, but she got away again just a few weeks later. He published another escape notice, indicating she had nine months left to serve. From this it may be calculated that she was originally enslaved to age 18.
Take Notice.
RANAWAY again, Mary Baltise, a mustee, who I advertised in this paper on the 3d inst. The said girl absconded twice yesterday, the 18th inst. I warn any body from trusting her on my account, and whoever dares to harbour her, shall be prosecuted, as the law directs. --
She is, as I solemnly before said, a thief; a liar, and unexceptionably speaking, ONE OF THE GREATEST MONSTERS IN NATURE. She has about 9 months to stay with me, but I offer her for sale, to any body wishing to have a plague in his family.
St. LEGER d'HAPPART.
Pittsburgh, Feb. 19, 1807.
Date of Record: 02 February 1807, 19 February 1807
Sources: Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, 03 February 1807, 03 March 1807
- Slaveholder Name: Steel, David
City or Township: St. Clair Township
County: Allegheny County
Occupation: Farmer
Notes: See also the 1789 runaway notice from Thomas Girty.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jack
Sex: Male
Age: "about 40 years old"
Date of Birth: c1747
Status: Slave for life
Description: "Negro fellow"
Notes: Jack escaped from Steel in June 1787. Text of runaway advertisement:
RAN away from the subscriber a Negro fellow named Jack; five feet six or seven inches high, about forty years old, speaks bad English, he is of a swarthy complexion, his hair more like a whiteman's than Negro's, it is supposed he will endeavour to pass for a freeman. Whoever takes up said Negro and delivers him to Thomas Girty in Pittsburgh, shall be generously rewarded by me
DAVID STEEL.
June 14, 1787
Two years later, Jack escaped from Thomas Girty in Plum Creek.
Date of Record: 14 June 1787
Sources: Pittburgh Weekly Gazette, 16 June 1787, page 3.
- Slaveholder Name: Wallace, George
City or Township: "Braddock's Field, near Pittsburgh"
County: Allegheny County
Occupation:
Notes:
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jefferson
Sex: Male
Age: "about 19 years of age"
Date of Birth: c1802
Status: Escaped; self-emancipated
Description: "Negro boy"
Notes: Jefferson escaped from Wallace in company with another enslaved man named Dick, in September 1821. Text of runaway advertisement:
$20 REWARD.
RAN away on the 30th of last month from the subscriber, living on Braddock's field, near Pittsburgh, a negro boy, named JEFFERSON;
about 19 years of age, five feet six or seven inches in height. The clothing he took with him, was a roundabout, jacket, and trowsers, of blue striped cotton, a pair of tow-linen trowsers, a white vest and two two shirts, a wool hat somewhat less than half worn. He has a scar on the top of his head, occasioned by the fall of a brick from a scaffold when a child, which yet continues tender and causes pain when pressed, he is fond of whiskey and will get drunk, at which time he has a stupid look, he effects to be a rigid methodist, and is fond of singing hymns, which he frequently practices. I will give the above reward and all reasonable charges if brought home, or twenty dollars for securing him in any jail in the U. States, so that I can get him again. He went away in company with a yellow man named DICK, who sometimes calls himself Henry Dickson, the property of J. & H. Wallace, who will give a reasonable reward for his apprehension.
Geo. Wallace
Pittsburgh Oct. 19
Date of Record: 19 October 1821
Sources: Pittburgh Weekly Gazette, 4 January 1822
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