Study Areas

Enslavement

20th Century History

July 1785: Hannah is Believed Hidden by Her Husband Big Bill

Waterford township, Gloucester county, July 12, 1785. FORTY SHILLINGS Reward.
RAN away from the subscriber, on the 25th of June last, a Negroe woman, named HANNAH, about 35 years of age, pretty likely, about 5 feet 2 or 3 inches high, came from Guinea, has one mark each side of her eye, if examined, and a small lump or scar on the back of her neck; had on, when she went away, a red flannel jacket and petticoat, old blue quilt, with mixed cloth in the fore part, and some patches on the lower part behind, had on a coarse white shift, but expect her dress will be altered. Her husband is a free man, and it is expected he harbours her; his name is Big Bill, formerly belonging to Daniel Cooper, deceased. Whoever apprehends the said Negroe woman, and secures her in any goal in the United States, so that the subscriber may have her again, or delivers her to the subscriber, shall have the above reward, and reasonable charges, paid by
ISAAC HORNER.

Daniel Cooper, the previous enslaver of Hannah's husband Bill, operated the ferry in what is now Camden, New Jersey. Cooper lived 1721-1776. The Cooper family purchased the ferry rights in the 1690s and operated it for nearly a century. Daniel Cooper was the fourth generation of this Quaker family to run the ferry linking western New Jersey with Philadelphia.

Waterford Township is located about twenty miles southeast of the ferry, close to which her husband Bill may have lived. Isaac Horner published the escape ad above a little over two weeks after her escape, dating it July 12 and publishing in The Pennsylvania Gazette on July 13. The ad ran unchanged through the end of July and stopped. Several weeks later it reappeared, dated August 16, mostly unchanged but now offering a reward of four pounds and signed by Elizabeth Horner. The revised advertisement ran through August 31, 1785 and does not reappear again. By now, Hannah had been away just over two months and the Horner's changes of finding her were fading.

Additional Notes

Six months prior to the escape of Hannah, Isaac Horner lost another ensalved person with the escape of the man Sambo, who was about the same age as Hannah:

Waterford township, on Cooper's creek, New-Jersey, Jan. 12.
RAN AWAY from the subscriber, on the evening of the 27th of December last, a Negroe Man, named SAMBO, about 33 years of age, has very thick lips, speaks somewhat broken, and has a very large scar on his forehead; he had on when he went away, a homespun round jacket, of a twilled mixed cloth, a striped under jacket, a pair of light coloured cloth breeches, tied with strings at the knees, a pair of black and white mixed stockings, and a pair of almost new shoes, with double soals and hobnails, two hats, one a large French hat, the other round, also an oznabrig shirt, marked S in the bosom. Whoever will apprehend the aforesaid Negroe, and secure him in any goal within the United States, and give information thereof to the subscriber, shall receive the sum of FORTY SHILLINGS Reward, and all necessary charges paid, by ISAAC HORNER.

Sources

The Pennsylvania Gazette, 27 July 1785.

Covering the history of African Americans in central Pennsylvania from the colonial era through the Civil War.

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