A series of pages exploring
various aspects of enslavement in Pennsylvania

Fayette County, Pennsylvania Slaveholders, I - M

Slaveholders Listed on this Page

1. Laughlin, John (Enslaved persons listed: One un-named slave)

Enslavement Data

• Slaveholder Name: Laughlin, John
  City or Township: Springhill Township
  County: Fayette County
  Occupation: Farmer
  Notes: Died in 1800. The History of Fayette County, by Franklin Ellis (1882) describes Laughlin's slaveholding in beneficient terms, falling for the then popular notion that slaveholding was socially acceptable as long as slaveholders were kind and generous to the people they enslaved. Ellis notes on page 726:

  Laughlin was a bachelor, a farmer of some enterprise, and employed slave labor almost exclusively...He had been an excellent master to his slaves, and in his will left to each one a substantial reminder of his thoughtful care. Laughlin was not only a kindly-disposed and gentle master to his servants, he was an earnest and faithful worshipper at the Dunlap's Creek Church, despite the fact that he was not a member thereof.

  1. Enslaved Person's Name: Not known
     Sex: Not determined
     Age: Not determined
     Date of Birth: Not known.
     Status: Slave for life
     Description: "slave"
     Notes: One of several slaves owned in Springhill Township by Laughlin.
     Date of Record: Township history written in 1882.
     Source: History of Fayette County, by Franklin Ellis, Philadelphia, L H Everts and Company, 1882.