PA County Index

PA Enslavement FAQs

A series of pages exploring
various aspects of enslavement in Pennsylvania

Enslavement in Pennsylvania

York County Slave Counts, 1780

Introduction

Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act of 1780 required the registration of all enslaved persons in the state in order to begin the process of eliminating slavery. Though the law used phrases such as "kindness and benevolence," it also took great care to preserve the present and future property of current slaveholders by making the process gradual. The law did not free any slaves whose owners properly registered them by the specified date. Those persons would remain in bondage until they died. Their children, no matter how long after 1780 they were born, would also not be free, but would be held to slavery for twenty-eight years. The first enslaved persons to be emancipated by force of this law, therefore, would not appear until 1808.

Slaves of owners who did not comply with the law and properly register them, supplying the enslaved person's name, age, sex and term of service, all by November 1, 1780, were subject to immediate emancipation. A few did gain their freedom in this way, but the majority of slaveholders avoided losing their property and made the proper registrations with the county clerk. Those registration records are the basis for this listing. The following listings are from a secondary source, as we have not yet located a repository for the original 1780 Registrations. When we do obtain transcripts of the original records, we will modify this list and expand the information provided on the individual slaves and slaveholders.

1780 Slave Registration Totals

York Borough

• Andrews, Rev. John: 3 slaves
• Alexander, William: 1 slave
• Chambers, Joseph: 2 slaves
• Crantz, Valentine: 2 slaves
• Doudel, Michael: 3 slaves
• Doudel, Widow: 1 slave
• Donaldson, Joseph: 1 slave
• Dobbins, James: 1 slave
• Eichelberger, Bernard: 1 slave
• Erwin, George: 3 slaves
• Grier, Colonel David: 1 slave
• McAllister, John: 1 slave
• Moore, Widow: 1 slave
• Reel, Peter: 1 slave
• Swope, Colonel Michael: 2 slaves
• Spangler, Baltzer: 3 slaves
• Stoehr, George: 1 slave
• Welsh, Andrew: 1 slave

Other York County Locations

• Chanceford Township: 21 slaves
  -includes Lower Chanceford
• Codorus Township: 5 slaves
• Dover Township: 0 slaves registered
• Fawn Township: 40 slaves
  -includes Peach Bottom
• Heidelberg Township: 14 slaves
  -includes Hanover
• Hellam Township: 8 slaves
• Hopewell Township: 5 slaves
• Manchester Township: 30 slaves
  -includes West Manchester
• Manheim Township: 14 slaves
• Menallen Township (later Adams County): 2 slaves
  -both slaves were owned by Ephraim Johnson.
  -one of those slaves was registered as 110 years old, making his year of birth, if true, 1670.
• Monaghan Township: 21 slaves
  -includes Carroll and Franklin Townships
  -nine of those slaves were owned by James Dill
• Newberry Township: 7 slaves
  -includes Fairview
  -all seven slaves were owned by William Chesney, "who owned the ferry below New Market," making him the only slaveholder in the township at the time.
• Paradise Township: 2 slaves
  -includes Jackson Township
• Shrewsbury Township: 22 slaves
• Warrington Township: 0 slaves registered
• Windsor Township: 10 slaves
  -includes Lower Windsor

Notes to the 1780 registration info above

Additional York County Enslavement Statistics

• Total slaves enumerated in 1783: 471
• Total slaves enumerated in 1790: 499
• Total slaves enumerated in 1800: 77
  -note that Adams County was now separated from York County.
  -the 1800 state septennial census recorded 65 taxable slaves (adults)
• Total taxable slaves in 1807 Septennial Census: 34
• Total slaves enumerated in 1810: 22
• Total slaves enumerated in 1820: 6 (four females, two males)

Sources

1. Pennsylvania Septennial Census, 1800; 1807. Microfilm in the Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg PA.
2. History of York County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1. George R. Prowell. J.H. Beers & Co., Chicago. 1907. Repository: Dauphin County Library, Main Branch, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.