Slaveholders Listed on this Page
- Farney, Jacob (Enslaved persons listed: Dick)
- Findley, James (Enslaved persons listed: Jack, Tom, Luce)
- Finlay, James (Enslaved persons listed: Sampson, Beck, Doll, Cuff, Will)
- Fisher, Thomas (Enslaved persons listed: Letty, John, Harry Collins, David, unnamed child)
- Fleming, John (Enslaved persons listed: Mary, Sharlott)
- Fleming, William (Enslaved persons listed: Dina, Frank, Charlotte, Jacob, Violet, Doll, Isaac, Nance)
- Forney, George (Enslaved persons listed: Nance)
- Gaddis, William (Enslaved persons listed: Ham)
- Galbraith, Andrew (Enslaved persons listed: Ann, Luce)
- Galbraith, Barbara (Enslaved persons listed: George, Isaac)
- Galbraith, John (Enslaved persons listed: Sampson, Pegg, Dinah, Ruth, Peter)
- Galbraith, Robert (Enslaved persons listed: Un-named man)
- Galbreath, James (Enslaved persons listed: Violet, Sharper, Luce, Rachell, Hercules, Chloe)
- Galloway, Samuel (Enslaved persons listed: Hannah, Abraham, Rachel, Israel)
- Gemmill, John (Enslaved persons listed: Flora, York, Abraham)
- Gibson, Ann (Enslaved persons listed: Sall or Sarah)
- Gibson, Col. George (Enslaved persons listed: James, Nathaniel, Hannah)
- Gibson, Robert (Enslaved persons listed: Poll, Phillis, Nance, Margaret)
- Gibson, William (Enslaved persons listed: Bob)
- Gillespy, George (Enslaved persons listed: Jack, Frank, Violet, Dinah)
- Goodman, Simon (Enslaved persons listed: Elmer George)
- Greason, James (Enslaved persons listed: Kissia)
- Greason, William (Enslaved persons listed: Betsey)
- Gregory, James (Enslaved persons listed: Mingo)
- Haldeman, Jacob M. (Enslaved persons listed: Un-named man, Esther)
- Hammil (Enslaved persons listed: Will)
- Hammill, James (Enslaved persons listed: Bett, Kesiah)
- Harkness, William (Enslaved persons listed: Betsy, Peggy, Richard, Hannah, Cuffee)
- Harris, John (Enslaved persons listed: Meeld, Amee)
- Harwick, Anthony (Enslaved persons listed: Harry)
- Hawthorn, James (Enslaved persons listed: Betsey, John, Jane, George)
- Hay, Adam (Enslaved persons listed: Spencer, Becky, Isaac)
- Hays, Robert (Enslaved persons listed: Rachel)
- Henderson, Steel (Enslaved persons listed: Colhoon Bennet)
- Hendle, Bernard (Enslaved persons listed: Jenny McClintock)
- Hendricks, Tobias (Enslaved persons listed: David, Prince, Betty, Charity, Violet)
- Henry, Robert (Enslaved persons listed: Cynthia)
- Herron, James (Enslaved persons listed: Cuff, Richard, Jerry, Sall)
- Holiday, Adam (Enslaved persons listed: Bill, Paris, Hannah, Nell)
- Holmes, Andrew (Enslaved persons listed: Tim, Arthur, Jude)
- Holmes, Daniel (Enslaved persons listed: Hall)
- Holmes, William (Enslaved persons listed: Jim, Bill, George, Bett)
- Hook, George (Enslaved persons listed: Juk)
- Hughes, Daniel (Enslaved persons listed: James)
- Hughes, John (Carlisle) (Enslaved persons listed: Foederal, Jack Robison)
- Hughes, John (Middleton Twp.) (Enslaved persons listed: Jo)
- Hunter, John (Enslaved persons listed: Tom)
- Hurwick, Anthony (Enslaved persons listed: Hardy)
- Huston, David (Enslaved persons listed: Sam)
- Huston, William (Enslaved persons listed: Phillis, Hannah, Jacob, Rachell, Dinah, Tom, Toncy)
- Irvin, John (Enslaved persons listed: Julia, Sharlet)
- Irwin, Archibald (Enslaved persons listed: Thomas, Eneas, Hannah)
- Irwin, Gen. William (Enslaved persons listed: Tom)
- Irwin, James (Enslaved persons listed: Leah)
- Irwine, Matthew (Enslaved persons listed: Jack Harris, Harry Hill)
Enslavement Data
- Slaveholder Name Farney, Jacob
City or Township East Pennsboro Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Dick
Age:
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1800-June 06
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1800
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Findley, James
City or Township Peter's Township
Occupation
Notes Registered in 1780 with Robert McFarland.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jack
Age: 18
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1762 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Tom
Age: 10
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1770 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Luce
Age: 13
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1767 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Finlay, James
City or Township Letterkenny
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Sampson
Age: 30a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1750 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Beck
Age: 05a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1775 (calculated)
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Doll
Age: 15a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1765 (calculated)
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Cuff
Age: 16a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1764 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Will
Age: 24a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1756 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Slaveholder Name Fisher, Thomas
City or Township "East Pennsboro Township"
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Letty
Age: 23
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1783 (calculated)
Description: Negro, "Very Black"
Status: Runaway
Notes: Letty ran away on the night of October 25, 1806 with slaves Harry Collins and an unnamed 14 month-old child. She is described in the runaway ad as follows: "5 feet, 6 or 7 inches high, stout made, very active, good countenance, and walks very straight."
Date of Record October 28, 1806
Source: Dauphin Guardian, October 28, 1806
- Enslaved Person's Name: John
Age:
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1805-September 01
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1805
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Collins, Harry, also known as William Powel
Age: 40
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1766 (calculated)
Description: Negro, "Very Black"
Status: Runaway
Notes: Ran away on October 25, 1806. He ran away with a slave named Letty, and a 14 month-old child, all slaves of Thomas Fisher. Text of runaway advertisement:
"40 Dollars Reward. RAN-AWAY form the subscriber, living in East Pennsboro township, Cumberland county, and state of Pennsylvania, on the night of the 25th inst. A NEGRO MAN, named HARRY COLLINS, aged 40 years; 5 feet, 5 inches high, out mouthed, his teeth black, and decayed before. Had on, and took with him, a grey mixed cloth Coat, almost new; a drab coloured sailor's Jacket; one swansdown, and one marsailles waistcoat; and an old fur Hat.
"--ALSO--
"A Negro Woman, named LETTY, aged 23 years; 5 feet, 6 or 7 inches high, stout made, very active, good countenance, and walks very straight. Had on, and took with her, one white muslin, and one callico Gown; a number of Short-gowns, white, striped, and callico; a dark muslin bonnet, trimmed with black; a brown stuff'd Petticoat, one dimmity ditto, and two of striped linsey, red and blue. The above Negroes are very black--they took with them a mulatto child, aged 14 months, good countenance, and can walk alone.
"Whoever secures the above described Negroes, in any Jail, so that their master may get them again, shall have the above reward, and reasonable charges, if bro't home, paid by me, Thomas Fisher. October 28, 1806."
A similar ad ran in the Franklin Repository, in Chambersburg, on November 4, increasing the reward to $80, and adding some additional information on Collins, describing him as "a Negro man, who calls himself Harry Collins, supposed to be the property of John Hershey, of Hagerstown, Maryland, and if so, whose real name is Wm. Powel." The updated advertisement also notes that he "artfully seduced, a Negro woman, named Letty, the property of the subscriber to go with him."
Date of Record October 28, 1806 (Note: this advertisement also ran in the Bedford Gazette (Bedford County, PA) November 10, 1806.
Source: Dauphin Guardian, October 28, 1806; The Franklin Repository, November 4, 1806.
- Enslaved Person's Name: David
Age:
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1807-February 26
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1807
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: ???
Age: 01
Sex: Undetermined
Date of Birth: 1805 (calculated)
Description: Mulatto
Status: Runaway
Notes: This 14 month-old child was taken with Harry Collins and Letty when they ran away from Thomas Fisher. The child is described in the runaway ad as follows: "good countenance, and can walk alone."
Date of Record October 28, 1806
Source: Dauphin Guardian, October 28, 1806
- Slaveholder Name: Fleming, John
City or Township: North Middleton Township
Occupation: Farmer
Notes: Son of William Fleming, below. Surname also spelled Flemming. Died 24 March 1814 (date on tombstone, Meeting House Springs Graveyard, North Middleton Township). Upon his death, the executors of the estate of John Fleming held a public auction, which included one enslaved woman and her five-month-old child.
PUBLIC SALE.
WILL BE SOLD AT PUBLIC SALE
On Wednesday the twentieth April, at the late residence of John Flemming, deceased, in North Middleton township, Cumberland County, the following property of said deceased.
Horses, Cows, Calves, Sheep and Hogs, Grain in the bushel and in the ground, Hay, Plaster of Paris in the stone and bushel, one large Road Waggon completely fitted for the roads, and one Farm Waggon, Ploughs, Harrows, Horse Geers and other Farming utensils -- Also Feather Beds, Carpeting and a variety of Household and Kitchen Furniture.
The sale will commence at ten o'clock, A.M. when the terms of sale will be made known by
JAMES FLEMING, ROBERT CLARK, & GEORGE A. LYON.} Adm'rs
April 7th, 1814.
N.B. There will be sold at the same time a Stout healthy Negro Girl, who has twelve years to serve, with her child about five months old duly recorded.
J.F. R.C. G.A.L.} Adm'rs.
The five-month-old child is probably Sharlott, entered below. Her mother might be Doll, who was bequeathed, along with the enslaved boy Jacob, to John by his father William in 1802.
Source: Kline's Weekly Carlisle Gazette, 08 April 1814.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Mary
Age: Less than two weeks old at Registration
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 09 September 1811
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 20 September 1811
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Sharlott
Age: Four months old at Registration
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 05 November 1813
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 10 March 1814
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024.
- Slaveholder Name Fleming, William
City or Township Middleton Township
Occupation: Farmer
Notes Died 1802; Father of John Fleming, above. At the time of his death in August 1798, William Fleming had 8 enslaved people in his household (Dinah, Jacob, Doll, Frank, Isaac, Violet, Nance, Charlotte). All were bequeathed to children and his wife per his will, probated February 1802, as follows:
"Negro Jacob" and his "Negro girl Doll" to son John Fleming
"Negro man called Frank" to son James Fleming
"Negro boy named Isaac" to his daughter Sarah, the wife of Richard Crain
"To my daughter Susannah, the wife of Paul Randolph, my Negro girl named Violet"
"Negro girl named Nance" to daughter Rebecca (married Robert Elliott and moved to Venango County)
"I order and will that my Negro girl Dinah will live with and be the servant of my two daughters, Nancy Gregg [widow of Charles Gregg], and Rebecca while they remain single and in the house with their brother John, unmarried.If and when the two herein named daughters marry, Dinah shall remain with John."
"I give and bequeath to my daughter Margaret, the wife of George Crain, three pounds and my Negro girl Charlotte."
Source: Thomas E. Robertshaw, "William Fleming and Mary Sarah Parker," https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/fleming/6451/, accessed 28 August 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Dina or Dinah
Age: 16
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: circa 1764
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes: 1795 Registration notes that the mother of Charlotte (entry below) is "Dinah." Dinah would have been about 31 years old at the birth of Charlotte. Upon the death of William Fleming, Dinah was bequeathed per his will, probated February 1802, as follows: "I order and will that my Negro girl Dinah will live with and be the servant of my two daughters, Nancy Gregg [widow of Charles Gregg], and Rebecca while they remain single and in the house with their brother John, unmarried.If and when the two herein named daughters marry, Dinah shall remain with John." Their brother John is John Fleming.
Date of Record: 17 October 1780 (Registration); 27 February 1802 (will probated)
Source: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024; Thomas E. Robertshaw, "William Fleming and Mary Sarah Parker," https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/fleming/6451/, accessed 28 August 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Frank
Age: Age not specified in the will of William Fleming.
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: Not known
Description: "Negro man"
Status: Uncertain
Notes: Frank does not appear in surviving slave registrations for William Fleming. He only appears as a bequest in Fleming's will. Upon the death of William Fleming in August 1798, Frank was bequeathed per his will, probated February 1802, to his son James Fleming.
Date of Record: 27 February 1802 (will probated)
Source: Thomas E. Robertshaw, "William Fleming and Mary Sarah Parker," https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/fleming/6451/, accessed 28 August 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jacob
Age: Registered (1789) at 5 years of age
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: May 1784
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Upon the death of William Fleming, Jacob and Doll were both bequeathed per his will, probated February 1802, to his son John Fleming.
Date of Record 30 March 1789 (Registration); 27 February 1802 (will probated)
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024; Thomas E. Robertshaw, "William Fleming and Mary Sarah Parker," https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/fleming/6451/, accessed 28 August 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Doll
Age: Registered at 6 years of age
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: June 1783
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Upon the death of William Fleming, Jacob and Doll were both bequeathed per his will, probated February 1802, to his son John Fleming.
Date of Record 30 March 1789 (Registration); 27 February 1802 (will probated)
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024; Thomas E. Robertshaw, "William Fleming and Mary Sarah Parker," https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/fleming/6451/, accessed 28 August 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Violet
Age: Registered at 9 months of age
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: June 1788-June
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Upon the death of William Fleming, Violet was bequeathed per his will, probated February 1802, to his daughter Susannah, the wife of Paul Randolph.
Date of Record 30 March 1789 (Registration); 27 February 1802 (will probated)
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024; Thomas E. Robertshaw, "William Fleming and Mary Sarah Parker," https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/fleming/6451/, accessed 28 August 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Isaac
Age: Less than two weeks old at Registration
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 10 January 1793
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Upon the death of William Fleming, Isaac was bequeathed per his will, probated February 1802, to his daughter Sarah, the wife of Richard Crain.
Date of Record 22 January 1793 (Registration); 27 February 1802 (will probated)
Source: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024; Thomas E. Robertshaw, "William Fleming and Mary Sarah Parker," https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/fleming/6451/, accessed 28 August 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Charlotte
Age: Three months old at Registration
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 13 July 1795
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: 1795 Registration lists Charlotte's mother as "Dinah." (see entry above); Upon the death of William Fleming, Charlotte was bequeathed per his will, probated February 1802, to his daughter Margaret, the wife of George Crain.
Date of Record 22 October 1795 (Registration); 27 February 1802 (will probated)
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024; Thomas E. Robertshaw, "William Fleming and Mary Sarah Parker," https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/fleming/6451/, accessed 28 August 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Nance
Age: Two months old at Registration
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 15 April 1798
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Nance was registered two months before the death of William Fleming. Upon the death of William Fleming, Nance was bequeathed per his will, probated February 1802, to his daughter Rebecca. Rebecca married Robert Elliott and moved to Venango County.
Date of Record 29 June 1798 (Registration); 27 February 1802 (will probated)
Source: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024; Thomas E. Robertshaw, "William Fleming and Mary Sarah Parker," https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/fleming/6451/, accessed 28 August 2025.
- Slaveholder Name Forney, George
City or Township East Pennsboro Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Nance
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1802-July 21
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1802
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Gaddis, William
City or Township West Pennsboro Township
Occupation Farmer
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Ham
Age: 45a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1735 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: This person was registered after the deadline, and legally should have been freed.
Date of Record December 12, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Galbraith, Andrew
City or Township East Pennsboro Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Ann
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1800-October 27
Description:
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1801
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Luce
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1802-June 01
Description: Negro
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1802
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Galbraith, Barbara
City or Township Carlisle
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: George
Age:
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1808-September 10
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1809
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Isaac
Age:
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1810-January 26
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1810
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Galbraith, John
City or Township East Pennsboro Township
Occupation: Farmer
Notes: Died circa December 1802. His executors, John Carothers and wife Mary sold his estate at a public sale on March 18, 1803. The advertisement for this sale intially did not mention any enslaved people, but later ads did include enslaved people as part of the public auction.
Sources: Kline's Carlisle Weekly Gazette, 02 March 1803. (early estate sale notice); Carlisle Weekly Herald, 16 March 1803 (public sale notice including enslaved people).
To be sold,
At public sale on Friday the 18th of March ensuing, at the house of John Galbraith late of East Pennsborough, deceased, the following property, viz:
HORSES, horned Cattle, Sheep and Hogs, Grain in the bushel, consisting of Wheat, Rye, Indian-Corn and Oats, Grain in growth, Waggons, Ploughs, Harrows and horse-Gears, Beds and Bedding, two cases of Drawers, one eight-day musical Clock, with a number of household and kitchen Furniture too tedious to insert, one Slay and harness complete, likewise a number of young NEGROES. The Vendue to continue from day to day until all be sold.
The sale to begin at 10 o'clock on said 18th, where attendance & credit will be given by
MARY GALBRAITH, Administratrix,
JOHN CAROTHERS, Administrator.
March, 1st 1803.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Sampson
Age: 16
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: circa 1764
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 25 October 1780
Source: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 13 October 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Pegg a.k.a. Peggy Loudon
Age: 14
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: circa 1766
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes: Mother (with father Boston Loudon) of Hannah DeWitt, a slave to age 28. In March 1803, Pegg was sold to Christian Kauffman by the estate executors of John Gailbraith.
Date of Record 25 October 1780
Source: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 13 October 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Dinah
Age: Three months old at Registration
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 23 December 1797
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 22 March 1798
Source: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 13 October 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Ruth
Age: Six months old at Registration
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 23 December 1799
Description: Negro
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 21 June 1800
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; 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 13 October 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Peter
Age: One month old at Registration
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 07 April 1801
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 05 May 1801
Source: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 13 October 2025.
- Slaveholder Name: Galbraith, Robert
City or Township: Allen Township
Occupation:
Notes: Died 1795
- Enslaved Person's Name: Name not given in ad
Age: "Twenty-one or Twenty-two years of age"
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: circa 1774 or 1775
Description: "Negro Man"
Status: Slave for life
Notes: Scheduled to be sold by the administrators of the estate of Robert Galbraith. Text of sale announcement:
To be Sold,
BY the Administrators to the Estate of ROBERT GALBRAITH, (deceased) on the first day of April ensuing, at Lisburn, in Allan township, Cumberland county,
A STOUT YOUNG NEGRO MAN,
Twenty-one or Twenty-two years of age, REGISTERED. Attendance will be given by
MARY GALBRAITH, JAMES GALBRAITH, ANDREW GALBRAITH, Administrators.
March 1st, 1796.
Date of Record 01 March 1796
Source: Kline's Carlisle Weekly Gazette, 16 March 1796.
- Slaveholder Name Galbreath, James
City or Township East Pennsboro Township
Occupation
Notes The 1780 registration paper is signed by Andrew Galbreath. In his will, dated 27 May 1782 and proved 3 August 1786, James Galbraith leaves all of the slaves to his wife Elizabeth. (Cumberland County Will Book EF, page 117, cited on "James Galbreath and Elizabeth Bartram," by Walter Gilbert at http://www.otal.umd.edu/~walt/gen/htmfile/384.htm)
- Enslaved Person's Name: Violet
Age: 06
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1774 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Sharper
Age: 70
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1710 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Luce
Age: 05
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1775 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Rachell
Age: 08
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1772 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Hercules
Age: 16
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1764 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Chloe
Age: 60
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1720 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Galloway, Samuel
City or Township Wayne Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Hannah
Age: 08
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1781-March
Description: Negro Girl
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Abraham
Age: 04
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1785-September
Description: Negro Boy
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Actual name on 1789 Registration was listed as "Abm." Translation of this into "Abraham" is based upon other slave names with this slaveholder, all of which are Biblical names.
Date of Record 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Rachel
Age: 02
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1787-September
Description: Negro Girl
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Israel
Age: 06
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1783-March
Description: Negro Boy
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Gemmill, John
City or Township Derry Township; A 1764 runaway ad lists John Gemmil's location as Carlisle (number 3, below).
Occupation Clock and Watchmaker
Notes Excerpt from 1780 registrations for slaves York and Flora: "both of which Negroes he holds as Slaves for Life, and desires they may be registered by the Clerk of the Peace for Cumberland County, having heard only this Day of the Law requiring such registry to be made, given under my hand this 14th Day of Decr 1780."
- Enslaved Person's Name: Flora
Age: 42a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1738 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: This person was registered after the deadline and legally should have been freed.
Date of Record December 14, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: York
Age: 40a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1740 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: This person was registered after the deadline and legally should have been freed.
Date of Record December14, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Abraham
Age: 19a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1745 (calculated)
Description: Negroe Lad
Status: Runaway
Notes: Text of Advertisement:
"FIVE POUNDS Reward. RUN away from the Subscriber, living in Carlisle, in Cumberland County, on the 24th of September last, a Negroe Lad, named Abraham, about 19 Years of Age, 5 Feet high, this Country born, can do a little in Silver Work, is active in any Kind of Farming Business, cut in both Ears; had on an Iron Collar, Blanket Coat, Buckskin Breeches, Stockings, and Shoes with Whitemetal Buckles. Supposed to have gone with a Deserter, as the same Night the Shop of John McKee, Taylor, was broken, and the following Goods taken, viz. a blue Coat, with white lining, much worn, a Soldier's light coloured coat, with Horn buttons, a scarlet Jacket newly turned, tow pair of Breeches, one black cloth, the other Nankeen, supposed by a Deserter, as next Day an old Soldier Coat, with some other Goods taken out of said Shop, were found in the Woods. Whoever takes up said Negroe and Thief, and secures them in any County Goal, so as his Master may have the Negroe, and the Thief brought to Justice, shall have Five Pounds for either of them Fifty Shillings paid by JOHN GEMMIL."
Several items stand out in this ad. Note the mention of an iron collar, worn by the slave Abraham. The ad also notes in the physical description that Abraham is "this Country born," indicating that slaves born in Africa or the Caribbean were distinguishable by their nativity. The "cut in both Ears" is probably a tribal scarification mark. The owner, John Gemmil, in 1780 Slave Registration papers listed his occupation as "clock and watchmaker" which probably explains the silversmith skills noted for Abraham.
Date of Record October 11, 1764
Source: The Pennsylvania Gazette, October 11, 1764
- Slaveholder Name Gibson, Ann
City or Township Tyrone Township (modern day Perry County)
Occupation Daughter of Francis West. Widow of Col. George Gibson.
Notes See "Gibson, Col. George," for the children Hannah and Nathaniel of the slave Sall (Sarah). Ann Gibson is cross-posted on the Perry County pages.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Sall or Sarah
Age:? (adult)
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: ?
Description: "Mulatto girl"
Status: "Indentured servant"
Notes: Mentioned in Cumberland County court Indictments as follows: "Michael Boys (Buoy) of Tyrone Twp. F&B (fornication and bastardy) with a mulatto girl named Sall, indentured servant to Mrs. Ann Gibson of Tyrone Twp. Sall said that on Aug. 20, 1787 she was delivered of a girl named Hannah; on June 14, 1789 she gave birth to a boy named Nathaniel; on Nov. 26, 1790 she had a daughter named Maria; and on Nov. 24, 1792 she had a daughter named Isabella. She says Michael Buoy is the father of all 4 children. Test: Samuel Laird, John Holmes."
(I have been unable to determine what happened to the child Isabella. She was not registered by Col. Gibson, below, as were the other three children. --Afrolumens Project editor)
Date of Record 1794
Source: Schaumann, "Indictments--1750-1800, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.", Item #1619.
- Slaveholder Name Gibson, Col. George
City or Township Rye Township (1789); Tyrone Township (1789-1791); modern day Perry County
Occupation Farmer, Colonel
Notes Col. George Gibson is cross-posted on the Perry County pages.
- Enslaved Person's Name: James
Age: Four years old at time of Registration
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 26 February 1785
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: 1789 Registration identifies James' mother as "Sarah."
Date of Record 20 March 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; 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 04 February 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Hannah
Age: Two years old at time of Registration
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 20 August 1787 (per Court document; Col. Gibson reported 30 August 1787)
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: 1789 Registration identifies Hannah's mother as "Sarah." A Cumberland County court indictment charges Michael Buoy of Tyrone Township as being the father of Hannah and three other children to Sall.
Date of Record 20 March 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; 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 04 February 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Nathaniel
Age: Six months old at Registration
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 14 June 1789 (per Court document; Col. Gibson reported 15 June 1789)
Description: Mulatto Boy
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: 1789 Registration identifies Nathaniel's mother as "mulatto mother Sarah." A Cumberland County court indictment charges Michael Buoy of Tyrone Township as being the father of Nathaniel and three other children to Sall.
Date of Record 12 December 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; 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 04 February 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Maria
Age: Five months old at Registration
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 26 November 1790 (per Court document; Col. Gibson reported 08 November 1790)
Description: Mulatto Girl
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: A Cumberland County court indictment charges Michael Buoy of Tyrone Township as being the father of Maria and three other children to Sall.
Date of Record 22 April 1791
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; 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 04 February 2025.
- Slaveholder Name Gibson, Robert
City or Township Middleton Township
Occupation
Notes See also the runaway ad placed by John Steel in 1765. In 1768, Robert Gibson was assessed for owning one Negro while living in Carlisle Borough (History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Chicago: Warner & Beers & Co. 1886, p. 221.)
- Enslaved Person's Name: Poll
Age: ?
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: ?
Description: Mulatto Girl
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Philllis
Age: 25a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1755 (calculated)
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave for life
Notes: 1780 Registration notes "blind in both eyes."
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Nance
Age: 03
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1785-November 06
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1788
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Margaret
Age: -
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1796-August 14
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1796
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Gibson, William
City or Township East Pennsboro Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Bob
Age: 01
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1791-May 23
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: 1792 Registration lists Bob's mother as "Hannah."
Date of Record 1792
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Gillespy, George
City or Township West Pennsboro Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jack
Age: 02
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1787-April
Description: Twins
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Twin brother to Frank, according to 1789 registration. See also note with slave Dinah, listed with this same slaveholder.
Date of Record 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Frank
Age: 02
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1787-April
Description: "Twins"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Twin brother to Jack, according to 1789 registration. See also note with slave Dinah, listed with this same slaveholder.
Date of Record 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Violet
Age: 04
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1785-April
Description: Negro
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: See note with slave "Dinah," listed with this same slaveholder.
Date of Record 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Dinah
Age: ?
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: ?
Description: Negro Mother
Status: Slave for life
Notes: It is unclear from the transcripts if this person is actually the mother of the three children listed with her in the 1789 registrations. That situation seems to make the most sense, given the existing data.
Date of Record 1789
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Goodman, Simon
City or Township
Occupation
Notes The Dauphin County Registration paper of his slave Elmer George notes that Simon Goodman is a "former resident of Harrisburg."
- Enslaved Person's Name: George, Elmer
Age:
Sex: Male
Slave Date of Birth
Description:
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Elmer George's birth was registered in Dauphin County, even though his owner was a resident of Cumberland County It is possible that Elmer was born in Dauphin County.
Date of Record
Source: Children of Previously Registered Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Greason, James
City or Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Kissia
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1820-October 04
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: 1821 Registration lists Kissia's mother as "mulatto Issabell Gaw."
Date of Record 1821
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Greason, William
City or Township East Pennsboro Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Betsey
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1801-January 03
Description:
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1801
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Gregory, James
City or Township Allen
Occupation Farmer
Notes Born about 1732; died about 1818. Married Agnes Trindle, daughter of William Trindle. Property owned: 1778--170 acres; 1779--470 acres. (Pennsylvania Archives, Volume 20).
- Enslaved Person's Name: Mingo
Age: 16
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1764 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 10, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Haldeman, Jacob M.
City or Township Area of present day New Cumberland
Occupation: Industrialist; iron master, Cumberland Forge
Notes Purchased a forge at the mouth of the Yellow Breeches Creek circa 1806 and began in iron production. Supplied iron to the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, where it was used in the production of rifled muskets for the War of 1812.. Iron was sent by mule train over South Mountain to the arsenal. He also bought interests in an iron forge on the Conodoguinet Creek, north of Hogestown, and in 1830 purchased the Mary Ann and Augusta furnaces in Southampton Township. His wife, Eliza Ewing Jacobs, was the daughter of Mount Hope and Colebrook iron furnace operator Samuel Jacobs.
Source: "Jacob Miller Haldeman," Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pp. 829-831.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Name not given in source
Age: Age not specifed in news article, but described as a "man."
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: Not known
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes: News article described an incident in which he survived a canoe mishap on the Susquehanna River in which another man drowned.
On Sunday last, as two negro men were attempting to cross the Susquehannah in a Canoe, opposite to this place, they, by some means or other, unfortunately tilted the canoe over, and were both immediately precipitated to the bottom; one of them, however, being an expert swimmer, by good luck made his way to the shore. The other fell a victim to the element.
We understand, they were both in the employ of Mr. Haldeman, at his Iron Works -- One a slave, the other free; and, by what we could learn, the slave effected his escape.
Date of Record 28 April 1807
Source: Dauphin Guardian, 28 April 1807.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Esther
Age: 6 years old at time of sale
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: circa 1803
Description: "Negro girl"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Jacob M. Haldeman purchased Esther from Esther Brisben for $120. Was Esther Brisben the widow of Doctor James Brisben, who died in 1806?
Date of Record 11 December 1809 (Bill of sale)
Source: Bill of Sale for Esther, December 11, 1809, in Haldeman-Wright Family Collection, 1789-1899, MG-64, Pennsylvania State Archives.
- Slaveholder Name Hammil
City or Township
Occupation
Notes Identified by the Philadelphia Workhouse keeper as the owner of Will, who was imprisoned there as a suspected escaped slave. Will was traveling with James, who escaped from Daniel Hughes in Cumberland County. Slaveholder Hammil was probably also located in Cumberland County, particularly as that surname is found there.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Will
Age: Age not specifed in ad, but described as "an old Negroe."
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: Not known
Description: "Negroes"
Status: Suspected escaped slave; slave for life
Notes: Imprisoned in the Philadelphia Workhouse along with another man named Will, both suspected of having escaped from Cumberland County. Text of the ad placed by Workhouse keeper James Whitehead:
WAS committed to the Work-house, two Negroes, who call themselves by the Name of James and Will; James says he belongs to Daniel Hughes, in Cumberland County; Will is an old Negroe, and says he belongs to Hammil or Hamilton, and speaks so bad English, I cannot find where he belongs. Their Masters are desired to come or send for them, and pay Charges to JAMES WHITEHEAD, Keeper of the Work-house in Philadelphia.
Date of Record 17 September 1767
Source: The Pennsylvania Gazette, 17 September 1767.
- Slaveholder Name Hammill, James
City or Township Shippensburg
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Bett
Age:
Sex: Undetermined
Date of Birth: 1801-November 25
Description: "Mustee"
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Registered in 1802 by Robert Shannon. Bought by James Hammill that same year.
Date of Record 1802
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Kesiah
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1801-November 25
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Registered in 1802 by Robert Shannon. Bought by James Hammill that same year.
Date of Record 1802
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Harkness, William
City or Township Allen Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Betsy
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1813-February 28
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1813
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Peggy
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1804-April 01
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1804
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Richard
Age:
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1808-September 03
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1809
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Hannah
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1813-Februrary 28
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1813
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Cuffee
Age: ?
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: ?
Description: Negro
Status: Undetermined
Notes: Indicted in Cumberland County court as follows: "Negro Cuffee, slave of William Harkness stole 1 cow from Michael Hauk and a cow from Jacob Cosh. Test: Jacob Weiser, John Clark, Jacob Cosh, George Logue, Esq. (July 2)"
And as follows: "Negro Cuffee, the slave of William Harkness, stole 1 cow & 2 steers from James Orr, laborer, who is indicted for receiving stolen goods (July 2)" (Source 94, item 1552)
Date of Record July 02, 1792
Source: Schaumann, "Indictments--1750-1800, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.", Items #1531 and 1552.
- Slaveholder Name Harris, John
City or Township Fermanagh
Occupation
Notes This is not the John Harris who founded Harrisburg. This Harris was a member of the 1779 Pennsylvania Assembly, and voted in favor of the Gradual Emancipation Act. He owned 375 acres in Fermanagh Township (modern Mifflintown, Juniata County).
In 1780 he was assessed for 1 slave, 6 horses, and 7 cows in Fermanagh; 150 acres, 2 horses and 2 cows in Milford Township. (Alosi, page 17
- Enslaved Person's Name: Meeld
Age: 14a
Sex: Undetermined
Date of Birth: 1766 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Amee
Age: 11a
Sex: Undetermined
Date of Birth: 1769 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Slaveholder Name Harwick, Anthony
City or Township Carlisle
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Harry
Age: 22a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1756 (calculated)
Description: "Negroe man"
Status: Slave for life
Notes: Text of runaway advertisement placed by Harwick in the Pennsylvania Gazette: "Carlisle, May 21, 1778.
THIRTY DOLLARS Reward.
RUN away last night from the subscriber, a Negroe man, named Harry, country born, about 22 years of age, a stout well made fellow, about five feet 6 or 7 inches high, talks both English and Dutch, can do all sorts of farming work, and something at baking: Had on when he went away, a dark coloured coat, with black buttons, lined with an Indian blanket, a pair of two trowsers and a pair of half worn shoes, his other clothes unknown. Whoever apprehends said Negroe and secures him in any goal, so that his master may get him again, shall have the above reward, and reasonable charges if brought home, paid by
ANTHONY HARWICK."
Date of Record May 30, 1778
Source: Accessible Archives--Pennsylvania Gazette, May 30, 1778; ITEM #62035.
- Slaveholder Name Hawthorn, James
City or Township Newton Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Betsey
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1802-March 08
Description:
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1802
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: John
Age:
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1804-November 17
Description: Negro
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1804
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jane
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1809-April 13
Description: Negro
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1809
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: George
Age:
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1806-October 29
Description:
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1807
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name: Hay or Hays, Adam
City or Township: West Pennsboro Township
Occupation: Farmer
Notes Lived circa 1703-1789. The enslaved people Spencer and Becky were possibly acquired by Andrew Parker of East Pennsboro Township, after Adam Hays' death. The name Spencer for an enslaved man is rare, occuring in extant registration documents only once, here, in the registration of Spencer by Adam Hay. An enslaved man named Spencer and an enslaved woman named "Beck" appear in post 1789 documents related to Andrew Parker.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Spencer
Age: 27
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: circa 1753
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 31 October 1780
Source: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Becky
Age: 20
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: circa 1760
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 31 October 1780
Source: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Isaac
Age: One year and one month old at Registration
Sex: Sex not specified in registration, but the name is a male name
Date of Birth: September 1779
Description: "Negro"
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 31 October 1780
Source: Young, Cory James. "A Just and True Return: Pennsylvania’s Surviving County Slave Registries, 1780-1826." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.25971/QS08-YE30. Accessed 31 July 2024.
- Slaveholder Name Hays, Robert
City or Township Shippensburg Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Rachel
Age:
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1814-June 04
Description: Negro
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1814
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Henderson, Steel
City or Township West Pennsboro Township/ South Middleton Township
Occupation
Notes Died late 1814 or early 1815
- Enslaved Person's Name: Colhoon Bennet
Age: "about 15 years of age"
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: circa 1798
Description: "A MULATTO Apprentice Boy," and "of a Mustee colour"
Status: Either a term slave or indentured as an apprentice
Notes: Bennet escaped from Henderson in the spring of 1813. Henderson placed the following ad in a Carlisle newspaper:
Five Dollars Reward.
RANAWAY from the subscriber living in West Pennsborough Township, Cumberland County, A MULATTO Apprentice Boy, about 15 years of age, about 5 feet 6 inches high, of a Mustee colour, named, COLHOON BENNET. Whoever will take up said Ranaway, and secure him in Jail so that his master can get him again, shall receive the above reward, with reasonable charges if brought home, paid by
STEEL HENDERSON.
April 14th, 1813.
Date of Record 14 April 1813
Source: Kline's Weekly Carlisle Gazette, 16 April 1813.
- Slaveholder Name Hendle, Bernard
City or Township Carlisle
Occupation Clock and Watchmaker
Notes Hendle's occupation is noted from Egle's Notes and Queries, XLI, 1898 Annual Volume, page 251, "Cumberland Valley Marriages." The entry reads:
Hendel, Barnhard, clock and watchmaker, of Carlisle, m. May 13, 1813, Rebecca Kline, daughter of George Kline, Editor of "Gazette."
- Enslaved Person's Name: McClintock, Jenny
Age: 15
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1813 (calculated)
Description: Mulatto
Status: Runaway
Notes: Jenny ran away on June 30, 1828. Text of runaway ad: "Bernard Hendle offers 6c reward for Jenny McClintock, age 15 a mulatto. Ran away June 30 from Carlisle."
Date of Record July 26, 1828
Source: Harrisburg Argus, July 26, 1828
- Slaveholder Name Hendricks, Tobias, Jr.
City or Township East Pennsborough Township
Occupation Innkeeper
Notes "The tavern of Tobias Hendricks, Jr. was an early landmark on the Great Road from Harris's Ferry to Carlisle. It stood on what became Market Street in Camp Hill." Hendricks kept his tavern from the 1740's to his death in 1779. (Schaumann, "Taverns of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, 1750-1840" page 121)
- Enslaved Person's Name: David
Age: ?
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: ?
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: From the inventory of Tobias Hendricks, dated 1779, David was valued at 100 Pounds, the same as Prince, but less than either Betty, Charity or Violet.
Date of Record 1779
Source: Schaumann, "Taverns of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, 1750-1840" page 13.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Prince
Age: ?
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: ?
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: From the inventory of Tobias Hendricks, dated 1779, Prince was valued at 100 Pounds, the same as David, but less than either Betty, Charity or Violet.
Date of Record 1779
Source: Schaumann, "Taverns of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, 1750-1840" page 13.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Betty
Age: ?
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: ?
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: From the inventory of Tobias Hendricks, dated 1779, Betty was valued at between 300 and 500 Pounds, the same as Charity and Violet, and more than the value of 100 Pounds for either David or Prince.
Date of Record 1779
Source: Schaumann, "Taverns of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, 1750-1840" page 13.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Charity
Age: ?
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: ?
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: From the inventory of Tobias Hendricks, dated 1779, Charity was valued at between 300 and 500 Pounds, the same as Betty and Violet, and more than the value of 100 Pounds for either David or Prince.
Date of Record 1779
Source: Schaumann, "Taverns of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, 1750-1840" page 13.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Violet
Age: ?
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: ?
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: From the inventory of Tobias Hendricks, dated 1779, Violet was valued at between 300 and 500 Pounds, the same as Betty and Charity, and more than the value of 100 Pounds for either David or Prince.
Date of Record 1779
Source: Schaumann, "Taverns of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, 1750-1840" page 13.
- Slaveholder Name Henry, Robert
City or Township Hopewell Township
Occupation Physician
Notes Occupation noted on 1780 registrations as "Practitioner of Physic." Registered together with Kezia Bainbridge.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Cynthia
Age: 11
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1769 (calculated)
Description: Negro Girl
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 10, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Herron, James
City or Township Lurgan Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Cuff
Age: 07a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1773 (calculated)
Description: Boy
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Richard
Age: 18a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1762 (calculated)
Description: Man
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jerry
Age: 15a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1765 (calculated)
Description: Man
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Sall
Age: 12a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1768 (calculated)
Description: Girl
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Slaveholder Name Holiday, Adam
City or Township Peter's Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Bill
Age: 40
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1740 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Paris
Age: 20
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1760 (calculated)
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Hannah
Age: 12
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1768 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Nell
Age: 43
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1737 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 12, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Holmes, Andrew
City or Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Tim
Age: 24a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1754 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Arthur
Age: 37a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1743 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jude
Age: 30a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1750 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Slaveholder Name Holmes, Daniel
City or Township Middleton Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Hall
Age: -
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1796-February 01
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: 1796 Registration lists Hall's mother as "mulatto mother- Lucie."
Date of Record 1796
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Holmes, William
City or Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jim
Age: 10a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1770 (calculated)
Description: Negro Boy
Status: Slave for life
Notes: Original 1780 registration reads: "A Negroe Boy named Jim, about ten Years of Age, a Slave for Life."
Date of Record October 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Bill
Age: 26a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1754 (calculated)
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 31
Notes: Original 1780 registration reads: "A Mullattoe Man named Bill about twenty-six Years of Age, about five Years to Serve."
Date of Record October 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: George
Age: 02
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1778-December (calculated)
Description: Mulatto Boy
Status: Slave to age 31
Notes: Original 1780 registration reads: "A Mullattoe Boy one Year and ten Months Old named George, Servant to the Age of thirty one years ."
Date of Record October 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Bett
Age: 18a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1762 (calculated)
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 31
Notes: Original 1780 registration reads: "A Mullattoe Girl named Bett about eighteen Years of Age, about thirteen years to Serve."
Date of Record October 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Hook, George
City or Township Carlisle
Occupation Innkeeper
Notes Hook's tavern was located at the Southeast corner of Pomfret and Bedford streets in Carlisle. It is now demolished. Hook moved to Carlisle in 1759 after being indicted the previous year in York for keeping a disorderly public house. He died in 1762, deeply in debt. (Schaumann, Taverns, page 56)
- Enslaved Person's Name: Juk
Age: -
Sex: Undetermined
Date of Birth: ?
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: Listed on the 1762 inventory of George Hook. Two white indentured servants, Charles Gill and John Gorel, were also listed in the inventory as having 3 1/2 years to serve each.
Date of Record 1762
Source:Schaumann, Taverns of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, 1750-1840, page 56
- Slaveholder Name Hughes, Daniel
City or Township
Occupation
Notes Identified by the Philadelphia Workhouse keeper as the owner of James, who was imprisoned there as a suspected escaped slave.
- Enslaved Person's Name: James
Age: Age not specifed in ad, but likely an adult
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: Not known
Description: "Negroes"
Status: Suspected escaped slave; slave for life
Notes: Imprisoned in the Philadelphia Workhouse along with another man named Will, both suspected of having escaped from Cumberland County. Text of the ad placed by Workhouse keeper James Whitehead:
WAS committed to the Work-house, two Negroes, who call themselves by the Name of James and Will; James says he belongs to Daniel Hughes, in Cumberland County; Will is an old Negroe, and says he belongs to Hammil or Hamilton, and speaks so bad English, I cannot find where he belongs. Their Masters are desired to come or send for them, and pay Charges to JAMES WHITEHEAD, Keeper of the Work-house in Philadelphia.
Date of Record 17 September 1767
Source: The Pennsylvania Gazette, 17 September 1767
- Slaveholder Name Hughes, John, Esq.
City or Township Carlisle
Occupation
Notes Died September 7, 1804 (Egles Notes and Queries, Annual Volume 1900, XXXII, p. 172).
- Enslaved Person's Name: Foederal
Age: -
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1796-December 21
Description:
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1797
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jack Robison
Age: ? (adult)
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: ?
Description: Negro
Status: Undetermined. Given in document as "servant."
Notes: Indicted in 1798 in Cumberland County as follows: "Negro Jack Robison, servant of John Hughes, Esq. of Carlisle, stole 1 gelding from Samuel Cuswell (Creswell). Long deposition about where he rode with the horse, etc. (Feb. 1)"
Date of Record February 01, 1798
Source: 94, Item #1951.
- Slaveholder Name Hughes, John (2)
City or Township Middleton Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jo
Age:
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1803-March 03
Description: Negro
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1803
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Hunter, John
City or Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Tom
Age: ?
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1781
Description:
Status: ?
Notes: This person was listed along with the 1780 registrations. Date of birth may be a typo.
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Slaveholder Name Hurwick, Anthony
City or Township Carlisle Borough
Occupation Baker
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Hardy
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1755 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 30, 1780
Source: 70
- Slaveholder Name Huston, David
City or Township Peter's Township
Occupation
Notes Registered in 1780 with William Huston and Henry Work.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Sam
Age: 20
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1760 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 11, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Huston, William
City or Township Peter's Township
Occupation Farmer
Notes Registered in 1780 with David Huston and Henry Work.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Phillis
Age: 29
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1751 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 11, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Hannah
Age: 01a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1779-July (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: Registration lists "aged about 14 months."
Date of Record September 11, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jacob
Age: 04a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1776 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 11, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Rachell
Age: 07a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1773 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 11, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Dinah
Age: 10a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1770 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 11, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Tom
Age: 20
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1760 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record September 11, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Enslaved Person's Name: Toncy (Tony?)
Age: 12a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1768 (calculated)
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave for life
Notes: A slave "during life."
Date of Record September 11, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Irvin (Irwin), John
City or Township Rye Township (modern Perry County)
Occupation Tavernkeeper
Notes Surname also spelled Irwin. Cross-posted on the Perry County pages.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Julia
Age: Two weeks old at time of Registration
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 19 January 1807
Description: Negro
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Registered in Cumberland County
Date of Record 30 January 1807
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; 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 05 February 2025.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Sharlet
Age: Two months old at time of Registration
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 20 January 1810
Description: Negro
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes: Registered in Cumberland County
Date of Record 16 March 1810
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves; 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 05 February 2025.
- Slaveholder Name Irwin, Archibald
City or Township Peter's Township
Occupation
Notes
- Enslaved Person's Name: Thomas
Age: 35a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1745 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Eneas
Age: 27a
Sex: Undetermined
Date of Birth: 1753 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Enslaved Person's Name: Hannah
Age: 12a
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1768 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record 1780
Source: "Slave Returns Listings"
- Slaveholder Name Irwin (Irvine), Gen. William
City or Township Carlisle
Occupation Physician
Notes Surname is also spelled Irvine. Registration paper for Tom was signed by Isabella Irwin. William Irvine was born in Ireland and attended the University of Dublin. He became a surgeon in the Royal Navy, serving from 1754 to 1763, when he resigned his commission. He lived in Carlisle and practiced medicine, and joined the Continental Army in 1776, serving as a Colonel. He was captured by the British at Quebec in June 1776, exchanged in 1777, and was promoted to Brigadier General in 1779. Irvine settled border disputes between Pennsylvania and Virginia in southwestern Pennsylvania.
His 1776 tax record shows a lot, 2 slaves, 2 horses and 2 cows.
Irvine's 1779 tax records shows 1 slave (a man) and 2 cows. (Alosi, page 17)
- Enslaved Person's Name: Tom
Age: 40a
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1740 (calculated)
Description:
Status: Slave for life
Notes:
Date of Record October 13, 1780
Source: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves
- Slaveholder Name Irwin, James
City or Township Middleton Township
Occupation Farmer
Notes Registered his slave Leah in 1780 along with William Chambers.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Leah
Age: 20
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1760 (calculated)
Description: Negro
Status: Slave for life
Notes: The possible public sale of Leah is suggested by this advertisement placed in the Carlisle Gazette in April, 1787: "By virtue of sundry writs of Fieri Facias to me directed, will be exposed to public sale on Friday the 20th of this instant April, at the Court House in the Borough of Carlisle, one Negroe Wench and horses. Seized and taken in
execution as the property of James Irwin, and be sold by Charles Leeper, Sheriff.
April 10, 1787"
Date of Registration October 13, 1780
Sources: Register of Negro and Mulatto Slaves | Carlisle Gazette, April 10, 1787
- Slaveholder Name Irwine, Matthew
City or Township East Pennsboro Township
Occupation
Notes Surname also spelled Irwin.
- Enslaved Person's Name: Jack Harris
Age: 15
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1800 (calculated)
Description: Negro "Very Black"
Status: Runaway
Notes: Jack ran away on June 20th, 1815. It is unknown if Matthew Irwin ever recovered him. Text of runaway ad:
"20 Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, residing in East Pennsborough township, Cumberland County, about 7 miles from Harrisburg and 8 from Carlisle, on the 20th inst. a Negro boy, named Jack Harris, aged 15 years, about 4 feet 5 or 6 inches high, very black, and flat featured...
Matthew Irwin. June 26th, 1815."
Date of Record June 26, 1815
Source: The Oracle of Dauphin, and Harrisburgh Advertiser, July 1, 1815
- Enslaved Person's Name: Harry Hill
Age:
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 1816-September 01
Description: Mulatto
Status: Slave to age 28
Notes:
Date of Record 1816
Source: Registrations of Children of Slaves
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