York County, Pennsylvania, Slaves in 1800 Census

Enslavement to freedom
	A series of pages exploring various aspects of enslavement in Pennsylvania
Enslavement in York County, Pennsylvania Enslaved Persons Enumerated in the Septennial Census of 1800 The State of Pennsylvania took an enumeration of taxable inhabitants every seven years. Known as the Septennial Census, this enumeration also listed enslaved persons in each county, by township, for some of the years. The amount of information on the enslaved persons varies greatly. Some townships list the names of the slaves, others give only age and sex. A few townships also list the slaveholder's names. Few enslaved persons younger than 20 are listed, indicating that only those born before March 1780 were enumerated, they being considered "Slaves for Life." Children of enslaved mothers born after that date were to be freed upon their 28th birthday, according to the Gradual Emancipation Act of 1780. These children, although held in bondage for 28 years, were officially called "servants," and often not counted in tax and census listings as slaves.
Click on a township name to go to the listings for that township. Spellings are preserved from the original document. Chanceford \| Dover \| Fawn \| Hellam \| Heidelberg \| Hopewell Manchester \| Manheim \| Monaghan \| Paradise \| Warrington \| Windsor \| York Bor. Statistics \| Source York County, 1800 Dover Township "Negro Female Slave named Gates, 24 Years" Hellam Township "Negro Male Slave, Aged 23 Years" Heidelberg Township A Return of Slaves together with the owners names Henry, Welsh, Esq., Owner Male Slave, age 28 Years Karl, George, Owner Male Slave, age 34 Years Female Slave, age 20 Years Manheim Township Hupert, Adam Male Slave, 25 Years Eichelberger, Michael; Occupation-- Innkeeper Male Slave, 21 Years Kitzmiller, George; Occupation-- Miller Male Slave, 28 Years Male Slave, 22 Years Female Slave, 24 Years Morningstar, George; Occupation--Farmer Female Slave, 22 Years Sherman, Conrad, Esq.; Occupation--Innkeeper Male Slave, 43 Years Male Slave, 22 Years Male Slave, 46 Years Paradise Township Bales, Caleb; Occupation--Farmer Male Slave, 24 Years Tucker, Tempest; Occupation--Innkeeper Male Slave, 37 Years York Borough Barnitz, Jacob, Esq., Owner; Occupation--Recorder Mulatto Male Slave, 20 years Dinkle, Peter; Occupation--Storekeeper Negro Male Slave, 24 Years Gardner, Jacob, Esq. Negro Female Slave, 25 years Greer, Widow Negro Female Slave, 35 years Negro Female Slave, 22 years Hartley, Thomas, Esq.; Occupation--Attorney Negro Female Slave, 80 Years Hackendorn, John Negro Female Slave, 22 Years Irwin, George; Occupation--Storekeeper Male Slave, 67 Years Female Slave, 60 Years Kreber, Adam; Occupation--Blacksmith Male Slave, 27 Years Long, James; Occupation--Storekeeper Female Slave, 54 Years Ness, William; Occupation--Storekeeper Female Slave, 38 Years Pennington, Ephraim; Occupation--Cordwain Male Slave, 33 Years Spangler, Widow Female Slave, 30 Years Worley, Nathan; Occupation--Retailer Male Slave, 12 Years Manchester Township Day, Samuel; Occupation--Farmer Male Slave, 23 Years Wogan, George; Occupation--Farmer Female Slave, 38 Years Monaghan Township "Negro Wench aged 35 Years" Windsor Township Mullatoe Wench Aged 30 Negro Man Negro Wench Negro Man aged 45 Negro Boy Hopewell Township Gemmill, Robert Robert, male slave, age 21 years Patience, female slave, age 25 years Wiley, David Kate, female slave, age 40 years Warrington Township Ross, William; Occupation--Sadler Male Slave, 29 Years Gartner, Peter; Occupation--Farmer Male Slave, 26 Years Hoke, Fred; Occupation--Farmer Female Slave, 24 Years Chanceford Township Downing, Alexander Female Slave, 50 Years Finley, Martha, Widow Female Slave, 34 Years Kelly, John Male Slave, age not specified Sprout, James Male Slave, 35 Years Female Slave, 30 Years Scott, Garvin Male Slave, 60 Years Female Slave, 40 Years Fawn Township Reed, William Male Slave, 19 Years Ramsey, James Male Slave, 50 Years Female Slave, 35 Years Steel, Rachel Female Slave, 50 Years Sample, John Male Slave, 20 Years Female Slave, 50 years Scott, Patrick Female Slave, 52 Years Sample, Cunningham Male Slave, 36 Years Boyd, John Female Slave, 22 Years Cooper, Alexander Male Slave, 30 Years Female Slave, 26 Years Cooper, Stephen Thomas Male Slave, 38 Years Female Slave, 30 Years Statistics Total number of slaves enumerated: 65. The Federal Census for 1800 enumerates 77 slaves in York County. That figure would include children of slaves, who are not listed here, indicating that there were an additional 12 slaves under the age of twenty years, residing in the county. However there were probably more children of slaves than that, as many were not counted as "slaves" but as "servants" because their term of bondage was not for life. The two terms, "slave" and "servant," were not used consistently in official recordkeeping. Average (mean) age of all slaves listed: 33.4 years. This average does not include four slaves whose ages were not given in the original document. Oldest slave enumerated: a female slave in York Borough, property of Attorney Thomas Hartley, who was listed as 80 years old. Fifteen of the sixty-five slaves whose ages are known, or 24.6%. are age 40 and over. This is the lowest percentage of older slaves for any county that I have found so far. It should be remembered that this represents data for the adult slave population, as children were not enumerated in this census (see the exception below). Youngest slave enumerated: a male slave in York Borough, property of Nathen Worley, who was listed as 12 years old. His year of birth, if his age is accurately listed, would have been 1788. Since slaves born after 1780 were not to be considered "slaves for life," his presence on this list is unusual. Those slaves, who were held in bondage until their twenty-eighth year, were seldom listed on earlier Septennial Census records. Source: Pennsylvania Septennial Census, 1800. Microfilm in the Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg PA. Go to the York County Septennial Census slave listings for 1807. York County Index Page \| Enslavement Main Page \| Afrolumens Project Home

Original content on these pages copyright 2025 Afrolumens Project.
The URL of this page is: https://www.afrolumens.com/slavery/yor1800.html