History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 66

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216


USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 66


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155 | Part 156 | Part 157 | Part 158 | Part 159 | Part 160 | Part 161 | Part 162 | Part 163 | Part 164 | Part 165 | Part 166 | Part 167 | Part 168 | Part 169 | Part 170 | Part 171 | Part 172 | Part 173 | Part 174 | Part 175 | Part 176 | Part 177 | Part 178 | Part 179 | Part 180 | Part 181 | Part 182 | Part 183 | Part 184 | Part 185 | Part 186 | Part 187 | Part 188 | Part 189 | Part 190 | Part 191 | Part 192 | Part 193 | Part 194 | Part 195 | Part 196 | Part 197 | Part 198 | Part 199 | Part 200 | Part 201 | Part 202 | Part 203 | Part 204 | Part 205 | Part 206 | Part 207 | Part 208 | Part 209 | Part 210 | Part 211 | Part 212 | Part 213 | Part 214 | Part 215 | Part 216 | Part 217 | Part 218 | Part 219 | Part 220 | Part 221 | Part 222 | Part 223 | Part 224 | Part 225 | Part 226 | Part 227 | Part 228 | Part 229 | Part 230 | Part 231 | Part 232 | Part 233 | Part 234 | Part 235 | Part 236 | Part 237 | Part 238 | Part 239 | Part 240 | Part 241 | Part 242 | Part 243 | Part 244


1839.


Samuel Frew, April. Daniel Leet, May. Daniel M. Edgington, April. Joseph Henderson, May.


J. P. Avery, November. 1840.


Lewis Roberts, February. Robert H. Koontz, August.1


Isaiah Steen, February. Peter F. Ege, August.


Robert Woods, August. Thomas R. Hazzard, Nov.


1841.


Ross Black, February. Seth T. Hurd, May.


John H. Deford, February. Samuel Kingston, August.


Thomas MoGiffin, February. Simon Meredith, November.


William Montgomery, November.


1842.


Robert F. Cooper, May.


John Watson, Jr., August.


Francis C. Flenniken, November.


1843.


Obadiah B. McFadden, Feb. Alexander Murdoch, August."


George Acheson, February. Wm. F. Johnston, August.


Solomon Alter, May. Jonathan D. Leet, November.


1844.


Uriah W. Wise, February. Henry H. Clark, May.


James Dunlop, February. William Wilson, May.


John D. Creigh, February. Ebenezer Boyce, August.


J. W. F. White, May. G. W. McIlvaine, August.


R. F. McIlvaine, August.


1845.


Job Johnston, February.


Richard J. Allison, November.


Alexander Miller, May. J. Bowman Sweitzer, Nov. 1846.


Thomas H. Baird, Jr.,* Feb. Elbridge G. Creacraft, Aug.


R. C. Ingall, February. George E. Appleton, August.


David Reed, May. Wilson McCandles, August.


George Scott Hart, August. George W. McGiffin, Nov.


William Grayson, August.


John P. Penny, November.


1 Robert Hamilton Koontz was a son of John H. Koontz, who came from Lancaster County to Washington, Pa., about 1792. He was born June 16, 1818, and after graduating at Washington College while quite young, studied the law with T. M. T. & William McKennan, and was admitted as above. He never held any public office, except that of deputy attorney-general for this county, by appointment under the old system, from February, 1848, to December, 1850. Mr. Koontz was a man of a very high degree of culture, literary and legal. Full of the finest quality of wit and humor, life to him was a bright spring morning ; yet he was a laborious student and a successful lawyer. He it was who was always called upon for an address on public occasions, and his powers of oratory in such efforts were not more effective than he exhibited as an advocate at the bar. He died June 30, 1863.


2 Hon. A. Murdoch is the grandson of Jobn Murdoch, a native of Scotland, who removed from near Carlisle, Pa., to what is now North Strabane township in 1778. The third son of John Murdoch was Alex- ander, born in Carlisle in 1770; in 1803 married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Matthew Henderson; was appointed prothenotary and clerk in 1809, and held those offices until 1819; built the brick house on corner of Main Street and Pine Alley, now occupied and owned by bis eldest daughter, the widow of Hon. John L. Gow, deceased; also what is now the principal part of the Fulton House building; in the mean time hav- ing purchased the " Morganza" tract, he subsequently removed thither, where he died in 1836. The seventh of his eleven children was Alexan- der, admitted to the bar as above. Mr. Murdoch while at the bar prac- ticed chiefly in partnership with his brother-in-law, Mr. Gow. In April, 1861, he was appointed by President Lincoln United States marshal for the Western District of Pennsylvania, served four years; reappointed in April, 1865, and served two years, and again appointed by President Grant to same office in March, 1869, but resigned in December, 1872. The family is now represented at the bar by his son, John H. Murdoch.


17


254


HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.


1847.


Joseph S. Morrison, Nov. John McKee, November. Andrew Hopkins, November.


1848.


David Craig, February. W. M. Farrar, May.


R. S. Moody, February. William S. Moore, November.


John J. Pierson, May. George II. Oliver, November. J. A. J. Buchanan, November.


1849.


Thomas W. Porter, February. William Baird, August.


Daniel Donehoo, May. David S. Wilson, August.


Daniel M. Stockton, August. Daniel Kaine, August. John C. Flenniken.


1850.


William Linn, May. Samuel G. Pepper, November. 1851.


Ellis Gregg, February. John M. Stockdale, May. Huston Quail, May.


Harvey J. Vankirk,“ Feb.


Alfred Howell, February. J. Lawrence Judson,# Aug. 1852.


Marcus W. Acheson, May. D. W. Bell, May.


William L. Bowman, Nov. Jacob F. Slagle, November.


1853.


Alexander Wilson, February. John B. Kreeps, August.


George W. Miller,* February. Robert M. Gibson, August.


John D. Braden,# February. Samuel M. Semmes, Nov. George A. Peare, November.


1854.


Charles Naylor, February. John C. Messenger, February. John Nicholls, May.


A. S. Ritchie, February.


A. P. Morrison, February. Robert F. Strean, August. B. W. Lacy, November.


A. S. Fuller, February.


1855.


Samuel N. Cochran, May.


Samuel Cole, Jr., May.


Peter B. McMahon, August. William Mills, August.


Eugene Ferero, November.


1856. John H. Craig, May. 1857.


Jasper E. Brady, February. Addison Oliver, February. Alexander M. Gow, May.


1858.


Thomas Ewing, February. Ira J. Lacock, August. Francis P. Fitzwilliams, Aug. John R. Donehoo, May. Jonathan W. Mott, Nov.


William A. Stokes, May.


1859.


William E. Gapen, February. R. P. Lewis, May.


Archibald McBride, August. James Lindsey, November.


1860.


Andrew A. Purman, February. William F. Templeton, May. Freeman Brady, Jr.,* May. Charles McClure Hays, Aug. Wilson N. Paxton, May. H. G. Rogers, November. 1861.


John G. Ruple, April. James R. Ruth, May. Boyd Crumrine," August.


Leroy W. Little, May.


Isaac Y. Hamilton,* May.


Mordecai B. Massey, May.


Thomas Boyd, November. William J. Patton, November. James Murray Clark, November.


1862.


David Crawford, February. William C. Lindsey, May. Robt. A. McConnell, Feb. Isaac Bailey, August. George W. Caldwell, August.


1863.


Hill Burgwinn, April. Samuel 0. Taylor, November.


James S. Rutan, May. A. W. Wilson, November. Samuel B. Wilson, May. Simon Buckingham, Nov.


Wesley Wolf, August. Daniel W. Leet, November.


Eugene Tarr, November.


1864.


A. W. Aiken, May. Samuel F. White, May.


1865.


Marshal Swartzwelder, Feb. R. Galy Barr, August.


David F. Patterson, May. David S. Smith, August.


Henry Gantz, May. Joseph Hays, November.


1866.


John L. Gow,# February. John S. C. Weills, May.


Ianthus Bentley, February. David T. Watson, July.


Charles M. Ruple,# May. J. W. Kirker, August.


1867.


M. L. A. MeCracken, May. John A. McIlvaine,* August.


George L. Gow, May. John W. Wiley, August.


Wm. Owens, Jr., May. W. C. Moreland, August.


Ebenezer Williams, Jr., May. John W. McWilliams, Dec. George Shiras, Jr., June. J. G. Wood, December. Solomon Bell, December.


Bishop Crumrine, August.


John W. Donnan, August. John W. Donaldson, Dec.


R. B. Patterson, December.


1868.


A. G. Cochran, February.


R. L. Morrison, February.


R. C. Hoffman, February.


Alexander M. Todd,* May. George R. Cochran, May. W. M. Nickerson, August.


1869.


Marcus C. Acheson,* Feb. David W. Brown,* August.


Henry M. Dougan, May. L. McCarrell,* August.


Joshua R. Forrest, May. James L. Black, August.


Cicero Hasbrouck, May. James P. Sayer,* December.


J. W. McDowell,# August. John Aiken,* December.


1870.


Franklin Ezra Oliver, May. Oscar L. Jackson, August.


John Milton Oliver, May. H. P. Mueller, August. John Mueller, August.


Clark Riggle,# August.


George Fetterman, May. William McEnrue, December.


1871.


Jacob Davis, February. B. F. Lucas, May. Joseph McK. Acheson, April. George O. Jones,* August.


Daniel N. MeCracken, April. Leopold Becker, December.


1872.


W. G. Guyler, January. William S. McFadden, Aug.


G. W. G. Waddle, February. William Blakeley, October. B. C. Christy, December.


S. A. McClung, April.


1873.


J. Hanson Good, February. E. G. Creacraft, February. Nathaniel Richardson, Feb. John H. Murdoch,* August. John McCracken Hoon, August.


255


CIVIL AND LEGAL-SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA.


1874.


Edgar Galbraith, January.


John Dalzell, January.


J. B. Jones, April. Thomas Henry, May.


William HI. White, April. John R. Braddock, June.


1875.


John M. Kennedy, June. Charles W. McCord, Oct. James L. Berry, October.


David II. Martin, April.


Thomas J. Duncan,* October. George A. Hoffman, Jr.,# Oct.


1876.


John W. Morehead, February. William O. Crawford, May. Isaac S. Vanvoorhis, February. John H. McCreary, May.


John A. Moninger, March. A. S. Miller, August.


B. Frank Montgomery, May. Julian B. Crenshaw, Dec. 1877.


Alvan Donnan, January. David F. Enoch, May. Joseph S. Haymaker, May. Wm. Archibald Barr, Aug.


William F. Wright," January. John M. Davis, January.


J. Carter Judson, January. Ernest F. Acheson, August.


James M. Sprowis, March. W. C. Stillwagon, August.


Ralph C. McConnell,# March. William M. Boggs, October. J. B. R. Streator,* October.


John F. O'Mally, May. 1878.


J. N. Patterson, February.


John Barton, July.


Charles C. Montooth, March.


Louis R. Smith, April.


William M. Watson, August. James Irwin Brownson," Oct. J. F. McFarland,* October.


J. H. S. Trainer, May.


George C. Burgwin, June.


W. McBride Perrin," October.


James McFadden Carpenter, October.


1879.


Samuel C. Cook, March. Thomas J. Lazear, April.


John M. Braden,# March. John D. McKennan, October.


John S. Marquis, Jr., March. Julius P. Miller,* October.


William Reardon, March. Albert S. Sprowls,* October.


William H. Playford, March. James Franklin Taylor,# Oct.


1S80.


Samuel C. Clark,# January. Thos. Fleming Birch," June. Thomas McK. Hughes, June. William G. Stewart, Sept.


1SSI.


Hugh A. Rogers,# January. Robert Wilson Irwin,# June. Joseph M. Swearingen, June. Joseph T. Noble, June. 1882.


George W. Guthrie, February. Joseph M. Dickson, June. Wm. Sanders Parker,« March. John L. Rogers,# June.


James Q. McGiffin, June. J. M. Patterson,* June. George Peyton Miller, June.


LAW STUDENTS. [Term of study required, three years.]


1879.


Edwin Linton, January T. Geo. A. Spindler, January T. E. G. Hemphill, January T. Thomas Irwin, October T. 1880.


Winfield Mellvaine, June T. F. A. McGill, June T. Albert G. Braden, June T. John M. Birch, September T. D. L. McConaughey, September T.


1881.


Wm. Brown Ewing, June T. D. W. Wilie, June T.


1882. Jas. MoC. McBurney, Jan. T. Ernest E. Crumrine, Sept. T.


THE CIVIL AND LEGAL HISTORY .- (Continued.)


XII.


Slavery and Servitude-Slavery in Pennsylvania- Act of 1780 abolishing Slavery-Slavery in Washington County -Special Act for Washington and Westmoreland Counties-Supplementary Act of 1788- Regi-try of SInves-Registry of Servants-Statistics of Slaves, 1790-18-10-The Underground Railway.


Slavery and Servitude .- As a final chapter of the civil and legal history of our county is placed the subject of slavery and servitude; for, though "God has sent forth all men free, and nature has made no man slave," yet there was a time when, even in Wash- ington County, human beings were held and sold as slaves. To show how slavery was abolished in Penn- sylvania, and how and when it ceased to exist with us, is the purpose of the following pages.


Slavery in Pennsylvania .- Coeval with the grant of the charter to William Penn, in April, 1681, and the first settlement of Pennsylvania, slavery entered that province. William Penn himself was a slave- holder. Nevertheless, from the very earliest date of the new government, the benign spirit of the Quaker element set itself against the continuance of the evil. The German settlers about Germantown, who were indeed of substantially the same religious belief with the Quakers, in the year 1688, but six years after the establishment of Penn's government, bore their testi- mony against the slave traffic, as follows :1


" We hear," they said, "that the most part of such negroes are brought hither agninst their will and consent, and that many of them aro stolen. Now, though they are black, we cannot conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves as [than] it is to have other white ones. . . . But to bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will, we stand against. . . . Pray, what thing in the world can be done worse to us, than if men should rob or steal us away and sell us for slaves to strange countries ; separating husbands from their wives and children. Being now this is not done in the manner we would be done at, there- fore we contradict and are against this traffic in men-body."


This memorial was referred to the Quarterly Meet- ing, and thence to the Yearly Meeting, but no definite action was taken. However,subordinate meetings still continuing to remonstrate, in 1696 the Yearly Meeting advised that "Friends be careful not to en- courage the bringing in of any more Negroes," and that those who have them be careful of their moral training. Four years afterward, in 1700, a minute of the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Quakers at Philadelphia says, "Our dear friend and Governor laid before the meeting a concern that hath laid upon his mind for some time, concerning the Negroes and Indians." And William Penn, in a will written about the same time, provided for the emancipation of his own slaves, and having also made recommendations to the Provincial Assembly looking in the same direc- tion, upon the ground that there was no precedent for such legislation as he proposed, the Assembly de- clined to accede to his wishes. However, soon after


1 See III. Bryant's History of the United States, 1.5.


256


HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.


settling into regular legislative action, the Assembly made from time to time frequent efforts to suppress the slave trade, yet as long as Pennsylvania remained an English colony every attempt to interdict the im- portation of African slaves was promptly suppressed by the English government.1


Nevertheless the Friends, or Quakers, still con- tinued to bear testimony against slavery and the slave trade, and finally, in 1755, just in the beginning of the Indian wars which disturbed the country until and after the Revolution, a "rule of discipline was adopted for the disownment of all members of the Society who persisted in the practice of buying ne- groes. Three years afterwards Friends were advised to manumit their slaves ; in 1776 this advice was en- forced by discipline, and Friends were no longer per- mitted to retain their membership if they continued slaveholders.2


Except in particular localities, the Friends and, allied to them by similarity of principles, the Ger- mans formed a majority of the settlers, and naturally it would not be long, after a separation from the mother-country would be completed, until the blot of slavery, now abhorred, would be erased. Proud, the early historian of the State, writing between 1760 and 1770, says of the inhabitants of that period : 3


"The negroes, or black people, it is supposed, are less numerous in Pennsylvania and New Jersey than in most of the other colonies, in proportion to the number of inhabitants; the Legislature at different times having used the best endeavors in their power to discourage and prevent the impolitic und inhuman practice of the introduction and im- portation of them ; a practice which has long prevailed in this part of the world, both in its nature and manner not only the great opprobrium of Christianity, but even the shameful disgrace of human nature itself."


Hence there is found in the minutes of the meeting of the Supreme Executive Council, on Feb. 5, 1779,4 three years after the declaration of independence, an address by the Council to the General Assembly, con- taining inter alia the following paragraph :


" We would also again bring into your view a plan for the gradual abolition of slavery, so disgraceful to any people, and more especially to those who have been contending in the great cause of liberty themselves, and upon whom Providence has bestowed such eminent marks of its favor and protection. We think we are loudly called on to evince our gratitude in making our fellow-man joint heirs with us of the same in- estimable blessings, under such restrictions and regulations as shall not injure the community, and will imperceptibly enable them to relish and improve the station to which they will be advanced. Honored will that State be in the annals of history which shall first abolish this violation of the rights of mankind, and the memories of those will be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance who shall pass the law to restore and establish the rights of human nature in Pennsylvania. We feel ourselves so interested on this point as to go beyond what may be deemed hy some the proper line of our duty, and acquaint you that we have re- duced this plan to the form of a law, which, if acceptable, we shall in a few days communicate with you."


This recommendation of the Supreme Executive Council, of whom Joseph Reed was president, and


George Bryan vice-president, resulted in the passage by the General Assembly of " An act for the gradual abolition of slavery" on the 1st day of March, 1780. The celebrated preamble to this act, written by Vice- President George Bryan, though of some length, will here be given, that the reader of this day who re- members the great civil war, the slaveholders' Re- bellion, may see how our own forefathers regarded the institution of slavery. It is as follows :5


" AN ACT for the gradual abolition of slavery.


" When we contemplate our abhorrence of that condition, to which the arms and tyranny of Great Britain were exerted to reduce ns, when we look back on the variety of dangers to which we have been exposed, and how miraculously our wants in many instances have been supplied, and our deliverances wrought, when even hope and human fortitude have become unequal to the conflict, we are unavoidably led to a serious and grateful sense of the manifold blessings, which we have undeservedly received from the hand of that Being, from whom every good and per- fect gift cometh. Impressed with these ideas, we conceive that it is our duty, and we rejoice that is in our power, to extend a portion of that freedom to others, which hath been extended to us, and release them from that state of thraldom, to which we ourselves were tyrannically doomed, and from which we have now every prospect of being delivered. It is not for us to enquire why, in the creation of mankind, the inhabit- ants of the several parts of the earth were distinguished by a difference in features or complexion. It is sufficient to know, that all are the work of an Almighty hand. We find, in the distribution of the human species, that the most fertile as well as the most barren parts of the earth are inhabited by men of complexions different from our's, and from each other ; from whence we may reasonably, as well as religiously, infer, that He, who placed them in their various situations, hath extended equally his care and protection to all, and that it becometh not us to counteract his mercies. We esteem it a peculiar blessing granted to us, that we are enabled this day to add one more step to universal civiliza- tion, by removing, as much as possible, the sorrow of those who have lived in undeserved bondage, and from which, by the assumed authority of the Kings of Great Britain, no effectual legal relief could be obtained .. Weaned, by a long course of experience, from those narrow prejudices and partialities we had imbibed, we find our hearts enlarged with kind- ness and benevolence towards men of all conditions and nations; and we conceive ourselves at this particular period extraordinarily called upon, by the blessings which we have received, to manifest the sincerity of our profession, and to give a substantial proof of our gratitude.


" And whereas the condition of those persons, who have heretofore been denominated Negro and Mulatto slaves, has been attended with circumstances, which not only deprived them of the common blessings that they were by nature entitled to, but has cast them into the deepest afflictions, by an unnatural separation and sale of husband and wife from each other and from their children, an injury, the greatness of which can only be conceived by supposing that we were in the same unhappy case. In justice, therefore, to persons so unhappily circumstanced, and who, having no prospect before them whereon they may rest their sor- rows and their hopes, have no reasonable inducement to render their service to society, which they otherwise might, and also in grateful commemoration of our own happy deliverance from that state of uncon- ditional submission, to which we are doomed by the tyranny of Britain, Be it, etc."


Section III. of the act provided that no negro or mulatto children who should be born within the State after the passage of the act should be deemed or considered as servants for life or slaves, and that all slavery of children by reason of the slavery of their mothers should be and was utterly taken away, extinguished, and abolished.


And Section IV. provided that every negro and mulatto child born within the State after the passage of that act, who would in case the act had not been


1 See IV. Bancroft, Centenary Ed., 232, et seq.


2 III. Bryant's Hist. of the U. S., 176.


3 II. Proud's Hist. of Penna., 274.


4 XI. Col. Records, 688.


6 II. Carey & Bioren, 246; I. Dall. L., 838; I. Smith's L., 492.


257


CIVIL AND LEGAL-SLAVERY IN WASHINGTON COUNTY.


passed been born a slave, should be deemed to be a servant until the age of twenty-eight years, to be held as servants bound by indentures are holden, and to like freedom, dues, and other privileges.


And Section V. provided that every person who was the owner of any negro or mulatto slave should register on or before the 1st day of November next, with the clerk of the peace of his county, his or her name and surname and occupation or profession, and also the names and ages of his or her slaves, in order to distinguish them from all other persons.


And Section VI. provided that the owners of un- registered slaves should be liable for their support and maintenance to the overseers of the poor.


By Section VII. negroes and mulattoes, whether slave or free, were to be tried for criminal offenses as other persons, except that a slave should not be per- mitted to testify against a freeman.


By Section VIII. when sentence of death should be passed upon a slave his value was to be found by the jury and paid by the State.


By Section IX. rewards for the taking up of run- away slaves and servants were to be the same as pro- vided in cases of servants bound for years.


By Section X. it was provided that no man or woman, of any nation or color, except negroes or mulattoes registered as aforesaid, should be adjudged or held as slaves, excepting domestics attendant upon delegates in Congress from the other American States, upon foreign ministers and consuls, and upon persons passing through or sojourning in the State without becoming residents.


It will be seen that this act abolished slavery very gradually indeed. By its provisions a slave born prior to the act continued a slave for life, if regis- tered. The children of registered slave mothers be- came servants for twenty-eight years, at the end of which time they became free, with freedom dues and privileges. But by this means slavery was certainly to disappear with that generation. And so it was that " at length, in 1780, Pennsylvania, first of all the States, passed an act for the gradual emancipation of all the slaves within its jurisdiction." 1


: = =


Slavery in Washington County .- It will be re- membered that Washington County was not erected until March 28, 1781, one year after the passage of the act abolishing slavery, but still formed a part of Westmoreland County; and also that the Virginia boundary along Washington County was not finally ascertained, run, and marked until the year 1785. For these reasons, and the resultant contentions arising out of the two jurisdictions, already discussed in previous pages, there were difficulties not only as to land titles, wills, and administrations, but also as to slaves. And hence it was that on April 13, 1782, the General Assembly passed an act which, as it is not


printed in any of the editions of our laws, and is a part of our legal history, is now printed entire:


"AN Art to redress certain grievances within the Coun'ies of Westmore- land and Washington.


" Whereas, a number of the inhabitants of Westmoreland and Wash- ington Counties have represented to the General Assembly that they labor under many inconveniences by reason that Before the Boundary was agreed to between the States of Virginia and Pennsylvania, many of the inhabitants aforesaid, conceiving themselves under the jurisdic- tion of Virginia, which exercised judicial Authority over them, had taken and subscribed the math of Allegiance and Fidelity as prescribed by the laws and usages of the said state, are considered in many re- specta as not intitled to all the rights of free citizens of this State ; and that for the reason above mentioned they have had no opportunity of entering or registering their slaves agreeable to the act of Assembly of this State for the gradual Abolition of slavery; and that a number of the records and papers containing the proceedings of the late counties of Yohogania, Monongalia and Ohio are now in the hands of the late Clerke, who are not Authorized to give exemplified copies thereof :




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.