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September 1820: Aaron leaves Frederick County, Maryland and is hiding in Pennsylvania
Fifty Dollars Reward
Will be paid for the apprehension of my negro man Aaron. Who ran away from my farm on Saturday week last, the 23d of September. He is about 5 feet, 3 or 4 inches high, chunky and strong built, is about 26 or 27 years old, black, has small eyes, indented at the insertion of the nose into the forehead, thick lips, and small yellowish teeth.
At the time he absconded, his clothing consisted of a fulled linsey doublet, much worn, a pair of good Osnaburg trowsers, and old cotton shirt, with an old fur hat. His dress, however, has been changed since he got into Pennsylvania, into a blue roundabout and blue overhalls, not fitting, with buttons on the side at the bottom.
He was traced from the Maryland line to near Millerstown, where he successfully resisted one or two attempts to apprehend him; from that neighborhood, he passed into the settlement of the Friends, on Opossum creek and Conewago.--Finding no refuge there he expressed his intention of going on to York; near to which place he has been ascertained to have passed.
He is believed to have assumed the name of "Peter," and to have a forged pass signed "John Doyne," or some such name, purporting that he is allowed to search for work until Christmas. He affects to be confident and indifferent, is somewhat plausible, and although disposed to surliness and impudence, is easily overawed, and if committed to jail, will readily make confession.
I think he may be found lurking about York, Columbia, or Lancaster. If secured in any jail, so that I get him again, I will give this above reward,--and if, besides, he is brought home, all reasonable additional charges will be paid.
Grafton Duvall.
Near Newtown, Trap, Frederick County, Maryland,
October 13.
Notes
This unusually detailed ad from Frederick County, Maryland slaveholder Grafton Duvall reveals quite a lot about the planning and strategies used by successful freedom seekers. Aaron, who escaped from Duvall in late summer 1820, was tracked by Duvall from the Maryland line traveling to "Millerstown," an old name for the borough of Fairfield, about five miles across the border in present day Adams County "where he successfully resisted one or two attempts to apprehend him." The capture attempts apparently convinced Aaron to move to a safer area and he continued northward to the confluence of the Opossum Creek with the Conewago, which is near Biglerville in present day Adams County, a distance of about thirteen miles. Duvall's reference to a "settlement of the Friends" in that area refers to the Menallen Meeting, a Quaker Meeting that is known to have been highly active at this time in providing assistance to freedom seekers. That Aaron found "no refuge" there is unusual if accurate. He was then tracked to York, a further distance of about twenty-six miles, and Aaron's last stop for which Duvall had received information.
Aaron discarded his "much worn" and "old" clothing once across the Pennsylvania line, clothing that was probably easily associated with poorly dressed enslaved persons from the south, in favor of blue overalls and a blue roundabout, typical working persons clothing in rural Pennsylvania, and began calling himself Peter, a name that may have matched the name on a pass that he carried signed by someone named John Doyne. Those strategies, along with a plausible story and confident air seemed to work as he made his way from community to community without being "taken up" by local authorities and jailed as a suspected fugitive slave.
Taken as a whole, the details of this episode reveal that freedom seekers did not always make successful contact with local underground railroad operatives once in Pennsylvania and often changed their plans and routes, based upon circumstances and real or perceived threats. In this instance, Aaron's enslaver believed him to be hiding out in the large African American communities in York, Columbia or Lancaster. It is not known if Duvall ever recaptured Aaron.
Sources
Lancaster Journal, 13 October 1820.
York Gazette, 05 October 1820. Note: The text of the escape notice in this newspaper indicates that Grafton Duvall himself made the capture attempts near Fairfield. The exact wording in the York Gazette is "He was traced from the Maryland line to near Millers town where he successfully resisted me on two attempts to apprehend him."
Pennsylvania Republican, 07 October 1820.
Covering
the history of African Americans in central Pennsylvania from the colonial
era through the Civil
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