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January 1756: Toby, a Jamaican Fortune Teller, escapes from East New Jersey.
RUN away from the subscriber, living at Middletown, in East New Jersey, the 9th of January last, a Negro man, named Cato, alias Toby, aged about 30 years; a lusty well set fellow, full faced; Had on when he went away, a plain made bearskin coat, with flat metal buttons, a white woollen vest, wool hat and cap, a brown tow shirt, buckskin breeches, wool stockings, a pair of pumps with large brass buckles; he was branded when a boy, in Jamaica in the West Indies, with B (and I think) C on his left shoulder blade; he is a sly artful fellow, and deceives the credulous, by pretending to tell fortunes, and pretends to be free, speaks English as well as if country born, and plays on the fiddle; it is thought he is gone towards the cedar swamps, and that some base person has given him a pass. Whoever apprehends the said slave, and secures him, so that his master may have him again, shall receive Forty Shillings reward, and reasonable charges, paid by
RICHARD STILLWELL.
Notes
The man known to his enslavers as Cato had been enslaved in Jamaica as a boy or young man. Whether he was born in Jamaica, or Africa, or elsewhere is not known but at some point he was brought from the Caribbean to the American mainland and ended up in eastern New Jersey, enslaved by Richard Stillwell. Cato came to be known as Toby, possibly by his own insistence, not wanting to be addressed by the slave name placed on him. Toby escaped from Richard Stillwell's Middletown, New Jersey plantation early in January 1756. Stillwell's advertisement above reveals clues that he made extensive preparations for his escape. He was well clothed against the bitter January cold with a bearskin coat and wool vest and stockings, among other apparel. He also was suspected by Stillwell of having a pass, which could be used to pass safely through populated areas without arousing suspicion if questioned.
Toby's preparations appear to have aided him in avoiding capture, as Stillwell was still attempting to find him more than eighteen months after his escape. A follow-up advertisement placed in The Pennsylvania Gazette in August 1757, offered a significantly higher reward of five pounds, and added information gained by Stillwell since his initial notice, including the warning that Cato, identifying him by his slave name, "has since his Elopement changed his Name several times." Stillwell also revised his description of the clothing worn at the time of escape, describing it as "a Pair of Buckskin Breeches, fine brown Linen Shirt, a plain made whitish Camblet Coat, dark Yarn Stockings, new Shoes and a Wool Hat." He also elaborated on the man's skills, hopeful that it would help with identification by anyone who might have engaged him in employment: Cat0 "understands Husbandry in all its Parts, an excellent Hand with a Scythe in Grass or Grain" and "plays poorly on the Fiddle."
In both ads, Stillwell noted how his formerly enslaved man had been branded on the shoulder. His 1757 ad describes the branding most clearly: "Underneath his Right-shoulder Blade he was branded in Jamaica when a Boy with the Letters BC, which are plain to be seen." Although this description differs from the earlier ad by specifying the right should blade as the location of the brand, it agrees with data presented by historians Anthony W. Wood and Billy G. Smith in their 2021 study of escaped slaves in Jamaica. With regard to the violent practice of branding enslaved people in Jamaica, Wood and Smith wrote "slaves laboring in the fields were most often marked on the back or shoulder." Stillwell was sure to specify Jamaica as the place where Toby, or whatever name he was now using, received the brand, to ensure the abuse was not charged to him.
Beyond his foresight in preparation, Toby had additinal important skills. He had mastered English and spoke as if he had been born in New Jersey. Stillwell disparaged him as "sly" and "artful" but as survival talents the terms show he was smart and understood much about human nature. In fortune telling and playing fiddle he had marketable skills beyond his prowess with a scythe and knowledge of husbandry. Stillwell's second advertisement was published a few more times but after having been at large for more than a year-and-a-half, it seems probable that Toby's escape to freedom was successful.
Sources
The Pennsylvania Gazette, 29 April 1756.
The Pennsylvania Gazette, 11, 25 August 1757.
Wood, Anthony W. and Billy G. Smith. "Fugitives from Slavery in Jamaica, 1718-1795: Lessons from Newspapers and Datasets." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 2, no. 1 (2021): 26-35. Online at https://jsdp.enslaved.org/fullDataArticle/volume2-issue2-fugitives-from-slavery-in-jamaica/, accessed 21 November 2025.
Covering the history of African Americans in central Pennsylvania from the colonial era through the Civil War.
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