History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 67

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 67

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).

" Be it therefore enacted, &c., . . . that all and every Person or Persons inhabitants of the raid counties of Westmoreland and Washington, whose names shall be found in the records hereinafter mentioned, & who shall be possessed of certified copies of their having taken the oath of Alle- giance and fidelity as aforesaid, shall within six months after the pub- lication of this act produce to the clerks of the General Quarter Sessions of the said Counties, respectfully, the said certified copies or certificates of their having taken the oath of Allegiance and fidelity to the State of Virginia before the said Boundary was agreed to, shall be and they are hereby declared to be, to all intents and purposes free citizens of this State.

" And be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful for all such inhabitants of the said counties, who were on the 23rd day of Sept., 1780, possessed of Negro or Mulatto slaves or servants until the age of thirty-one years, to register such slaves or servants agreeable to the directions of the acts aforesaid for the gradual abolition of slavery, on or before the 1st day of January next, and the said master or masters, owner or owners, of such slaves or servants shall be entitled to his or their service as by the said act is directed, and the said slaves and ser- vants shall be entitled to all benefits and immunities in the said act contained and expressed.

" And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the clerks of the Orphans Courts, the Registers of the probates of wills & granting letters of administration and the Recorders of deeds, for the respective counties of Westmoreland and Washington aforesaid, shall be author- ized and empowered to call on the late clerks of the said counties of Yohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio, for all such papers and records in their custody or possession which relate to or affect the taking of the oath or affirmation of Allegiance, the probates of wills, granting letters of administration, and the Recording of Deeds, or other Indentures of Bargain and Sale, of any of the inhabitants of the said Counties of West- moreland and Washington, and when they shall have received all or any part of the said papers and records as aforesaid they shall be lodged within their respective offices and become part of the records of said counties; and the said Clerks are hereby required and enfomed on de- mand as aforesaid to deliver up intire and indefaced all such papers and records as aforesaid, and in case they or either of them sball refuse or neglect to deliver up the papers and records in manner and form afore- said, they or either of them so neglecting or refusing shall forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred pounds to be recovered by action of debt in any Court of Common Pleas within this Commonwealth, for the use of the same.

" Signed by order of the House, "FREDE. A. MUHLENBERG, Speaker."

Before referring to the "Registry" of slaves and slave children, made under the act abolishing slavery, and the special act just quoted, attention is called to another act upon the subject, entitled “ An Act to ex- plain and amend an act Entitled an Act for the grad- ual abolition of Slavery," passed March 29, 1788,2 which made quite an advance in the antagonism to slavery.

" III. Carey and Bioren, 269 ; II. Smith L., 443; IL Dall. L., 586.

1 III. Bryant's Hist. of the U. S., 177.

258

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

By Section II. slaves brought into the State by per- sons intending to reside therein were to be deemed free persons ; Section III., slaves or servants for a term of years were not to be removed out of the State without their consent ; Section IV., persons possessed of children liable to serve till twenty-eight years old were required to make entry thereof with the clerk of the peace, in terms provided, on or before April 1, 1789, or within six months next after the birth of such child. By Section V. vessels builded and equipped for and employed in the slave trade were to be forfeited ; Section VI., slaves or servants for terms of years were not to be separated, parents from children, husbands from wives ; in Section VII. severe penalties were provided against forcibly carrying off a slave or a servant for a term of years; and Section VIII. re- quired the justices of the Court of Common Pleas "to cause this act to be read at least twice in each term for the two terms next following the passing of this act."

With these several acts in mind, a small manu- script book, yellow with a century's age and cover worn, but complete, becomes of great interest. The first entry is copied verbatim :

" WASHINGTON COUNTY.

" List of Negroes Registered pursuant to the Late act of assembly for Redress of Certain Grievances in the Counties of Westmoreland and Washington.

" October 1st 1782.

" William Fry of Peters Township, Miller.

"One man named Jame, aged 25 years.

"One wench named Nell, aged 20 years.

"One wench named Sarah, aged 14 years."

The following list is made up from this registry, and shows the date of registration, the owner's name, and, when given in the record, his residence and oc- cupation, and also the number of slaves entered. The spelling of names is preserved.

Oct. 1, 1782, William Fry, Peters, miller, 3; Nich- olas Crist, Fallowfield, 4; James Fry, Fallowfield, 1; Abraham Fry, Fallowfield, 2; Benjamin Fry, Fallow- field, 1; Henry Spears, Fallowfield, 1; William Minor, Greene township, 4; John Minor, Greene township, 1; Isaac Julan, Bethlehem, 2; Alexander Boling, Strabane, 1.

Oct. 3, 1782, Thomas Wells, Fallowfield, 2; William Rankin, Smith, 5; Samuel Bealer, Smith, 7; Thomas Scott, prothonotary, 1; Thomas Cherry, Smith, 3; John Bill, Peters, 3; James Bill, Peters, 1; Joshua Meeks, Nottingham, 3; Henry Heath, Nottingham, 2; Nicholas Crist, Fallowfield, 1; William Campbell, Hopewell, 2; Ezekiel Ross, Bethlehem, 1; Richard Wills, Hopewell, 1; John Kerr, Fallowfield, 2; Jesse Morton, Hopewell, 1.

Nov. 26, 1782, Ezekiel Dewit, Hopewell, 2; Cath- arine Atcheson, Cecil, widow, 1; George Vallandig- ham, Robinson, 1; William Henry Tarvin Noble, and Martha Noble, Robinson, widow, 4; John Mc- Donald, Robinson, 4; Daniel McFarlin, Bethlehem,

7; James Edgar,1 Smith, 2; Joseph Vance, Smith, 1; the Hon. Dorsey Pentecost, 2; Dr. Benjamin John- ston, Strabane, 2; Samuel Glasgow, Peters, wheel- wright, 2; Zachariah Pomfrey, Strabane, 2; Elijah Nuttell, Strabane, 6.

Dec. 2, 1782, William Crawford, Cumberland, 1; Thomas Redman, Peters, 2; Est. of Thomas Rigby, 4; Charles Stewart, 1; Richard Baum, 1; Dr. Charles Wheeler, Fallowfield, 4; Frederick Cooper, Fallow- field, 5.

Dec. 19, 1782, Samuel Sweringin, 3; John Tonhill, 1; John Ross, 3; Samuel Frye, Fallowfield, 3; Nich- olas Crist, Fallowfield, 1; John Swan, Cumberland, 7; William Greathouse, 1; Edward Dooling, 4; John Marquis, Cecil, 2; James Hazelrigg, Strabane, 3; Samuel Blackmore, 7; Richard Hawkins, 1; Joshua Meek, 3; John Hall, 1; Charles Morgan, 1; Lewis Peisse, 1; Nicholas Johnston, 4.

Dec. 28, 1782, James Ewing, Robinson, 3; James Caldwell, Donegal, 2; David Shepherd, Strabane, 1; William McIntire, Strabane, 1; John Dickerson, Amwell, 5; James Ellis, Fallowfield, 1; Jacob Jones, Fallowfield, 4; Zephaniah Beall, Fallowfield, Major, 6; Benjamin White, 1; John Cunningham, Peters, 7; John Bland, Fallowfield, 5; John Darnall, Fal- lowfield, 1; Matthew Laughlin, Fallowfield, 1; Thomas Moody, Nottingham, 4; David Evans, Am- well, 2; Francis Wallace, Fallowfield, 11; John Fleming, Fallowfield, 1; William Wallace, Fallow- field, 1; Herbert Wallace, Fallowfield, 20; John Hopkins, Fallowfield, 10; Thomas Waller, Donegal, 1; Vinson Colvan, 2; John Robinson, Nottingham, Sadler, 4; Andrew Heth, Nottingham, 1; Moses Holliday, Nottingham, 1; Neal Gillespie, Bethlehem, 2; Henry Wills, 1.

1 This entry in full is thus:

" James Edgar, gentn., of Smiths township. One woman named Press, Aged 21 years, One Dto. Hannah, 5 Dto." There is on record in our recorder's office, in Book L., vol. i., 703, this paper :

" Know all men by these presents that whereas I James Edgar of Smiths township and county of Washington and State of Pennsylvania being on the twenty-sixth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two in the township and county aforesaid possessed of a negroe girl as a slave and then of the age of five years did register the said girl being of the name of Hannah on the said day and so described in the office of the Clerk of the Sessions of the said County according to the Act of Assembly of Pennsylvania for the Gradual abolition of slavery whereby the said Negroe girl Hanna re- mained a slave to the said James Edgar and whereas I am under a Berious conviction that involuntary servitude beyond a just compensa- tion for maintenance and education is incompatible with a sense of duty to God and my fellow-creatures. I the said James Edgar do hereby re- lease and forever quit claim to the said Hannah all my right or claim or all right and claim which any may derive under me to the time or service of the said, Hannah after she shall have arrived at the age of twenty-seven years and do hereby declare that the said negroe woman Hanna as soon as she shall arrive at the age of twenty-seven years shall be and thereafter remain entirely free. In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand and seal this sixth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six.

" Acknowledged before me 6th January 1796, " JAS. EDGAR.

" ALEXR. ADDISON."

Recorded 7th January, 1796, Book I., L. 703.

259

CIVIL AND LEGAL-SLAVERY IN WASHINGTON COUNTY.

Dec. 31, 1782, Richard Wells, Sr., 5; Bazil Wil- liams, 1; William McMahon, 13; Edmond Riggs, 1; abstract : James McMahon, 1; Samuel Agnew, Hopewell, 2; | Thomas McGuire, 1 ; Rev. Mr. Jos. Smith, Hopewell, 1; Henry Morrison, Nottingham, 1; Moses Chaplain, Donegal, 1; Robert Woods, 1 ; Absalom Wells, Hope- well, 3; Richard Talbot, 1; John Timele, 10; Thomas Suttals, Cecil, 1; Mordecai Richards, Cecil, 1; George Mccullough, 1; Thomas Rodgers, 1 ; Seshbazar Bent- ley, 1; Solomon Gregg, 2; John Hopkins, Peters, 3; Benjamin Mills, Peters, 2; Michael Thomas, 3; Benjamin Bentley, Bethlehem, millwright, 1; Levi Dungan, Cecil, 2; William Blackmore, Nottingham, 2; Samuel Workman, Strabane, 2; William Mc- Combs, Fallowfield, 1; John Neville, Cecil, 8; Pa- trick Allison and John Swan, Amwell, 3; Robert Hill, Amwell, 1; James Foreman, Strabane, 4; Wil- liam Johnstone, Strabane, 1; Joshua Harvin, 2; Eliz- abeth Harvin, 2; Lucy Nichols, 1; George Reed, Bethlehem, 1; James Carmichael, Cumberland, 2; James Innis, 10; Joseph Brown, 3; William Hutton, Fallowfield, wheelwright, 5; Christian Leatherman, Sr., 1; Edward Geather, Strabane, 1; David Duncan, 6; John and George Wilson, 11.

Dec. 12, 1782, Joseph Dorsey, Bethlehem, 9; Joseph Wilson, Somerset, 1; Mr. Richard Yeates, 4; Elizabeth Yeates, 1; Mr. Phelix Hughes, 3; Mr. Thomas Hughes, 2; Mr. Philip Ross, 1; Coll. John Campbell, 2; Rezin Pomphrey, 6.

Dec. 26, 1782, Jacob Long, 1; John Swearingen, 1; Forgus Smith, 3.

July 17, 1782, Col. William MeCleary, 6; Mrs. Seaton, 6; Mr. James Seaton, 1; Samuel Irwin, 6; George McCormick, 5.

Total owners, 155; total slaves, 443.

The foregoing contains all the entries made under the act of 1780, as extended by the special act of 1782, already quoted. It is observed that they are not in chronological order, though given here in their order in the registry. This was doubtless because the pa- pers were filed, and not put on record till afterwards, and not in the order of date.

After the registry, from which the above list is abstracted, is another immediately succeeding it, from which is here copied the heading and the first entry :

"The following is a list of Negro and Mulatto children Recorded agreeably to the Act of assembly intituled an Act to explain and amend an Act intituled an Act for the gradual abolition of Slavery, passed at Philadelphia on Saturday the twenty-ninth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight."

" July 22d, 1788.

" David Bradford of Straban Township in the County of Washington Attorney at Law hereby makes application to Thos. Scott, Esquire, Clerk of the Peace of the County of Washington aforesaid, that he enter upon Record agreeably to an Act of assembly a female mulatto child born since the let March 1780, named Hesther, alias Het, aged two years.

"Given under my hand the date aforesaid

" DAVID BRADFORD.

" Oath made according to law

before me the date above

"THOMAS SCOTT."

Omitting the form of entry the following is an

July 22, 1788, David Bradford, Strabane, attorney, 1. Sept. 3d, Zephaniah Beall, Bethlehem, 1. Oct. 2d, Daniel Elliott, Peters, 1. Sept. 24th, Alexander Wells, Hopewell, 1. Oct. 27th, David Bradford, Washington, attorney, 1. Jan. 1st, 1789, Benjamin Parkinson, Nottingham, 1. Jan. 2d, Neal Gillespie, Fallowfield, 2. John McDonald, Robinson, 4. Jan. 14th, Thomas Scott, Prothonotary, Washington, 1. Feb. 27th, William McComas, Fallowfield, 2. Wil- liam Wallace, Somerset, esquire, 3. March 7th, John Hopkins, Jr., Fallowfield, 2. March 9th, Her- bert Wallace, Fallowfield, 1. March 21st, Frederick Cooper, Fallowfield, 4. Abraham Fry, Fallowfield, 3. Rev. John ·Brice, Nottingham, 1. March 31st, Daniel Swearingen, Hanover, 1. Samuel Swearin- gen, Hanover, 1. Dorsey Blackmore, Strabane, 2. Joseph Dorsey, Bethlehem, 1. James Innis, Fallow- field, 2. Edward West, Fallowfield, Const., 2. Dan- iel Jacobs, Nottingham, 1. John Swearingen, Peters, 2. Henry Morrison, Nottingham, 2. Samuel Glas- gow, Hanover, esquire, 1. April 1st, Charles Bruce, Robinson, 2. . Joseph Bentley, Nottingham, mill- wright, 1. William Henry Town Noble, Robinson, 1. Sheshbazzar Bentley, Somerset, millwright, 2. Aug. 6th, John McDonald, Robinson, 1. Aug. 25th, James Stephenson, Donegal, 1. Oct. 2d, Richard Talbert, Hopewell, 1. Sept. 30th, Frederick Cooper, Fallowfield, 1. Jan. 29, 1790, Mary Cherry, Smiths, 1. Feb. 2d, James Gillespie, Hopewell, 1. Feb. 29th, John Swearingen, Peters, 1. July 15th, Wil- liam Wallace, Somerset, Esquire, 1. Sept. 2d, Zach- ariah Pumphrie, Strabane, 1. Sept. 29th, James Innis, Fallowfield, 1. Sept. 30th, Samuel Glasgow, Hanover, 1. Dec. 27th, Richard Wells, Cross Creek, 1. March 31, 1791, Elizabeth Bradford, widow of Charles, Nottingham, 1. Henry Speers, Fallowfield, 1. June 21st, Abraham Fry, Fallowfield, 1. July 11th, Thomas Scott, Washington, Esquire, 1. Sept. 19th, Basel Williams, Donegal, 1. Nov. 19th, John McDonald, Robinson, 2. Feb. 9, 1792, James Fore- man, Cecil, 1. Feb. 21st, John Cooke, Smiths, 1. March 2d, John Boyer, Peters, 1. May 3d, An- drew Swearingen, Washington, 1. June 2d, Wil- liam Wallace, Bethlehem, Esquire, 1. Samuel Glas- gow, Hanover, Esquire, 1. Richard Wells, Cross Creek, 1. Dec. 19th, Nicholas Johnston, Fallow- field, 1. Dec. 31st, James Foreman, Cecil, 1. Feb. 11th, 1793, James Boyer, Peters, 1. March 11th, John Dodd, Washington, "In-holder," 1. March 15th, Thomas Catton, Amwell, 1. March 16th, John Baldwin, Nottingham, millwright, 1. March 26th, Samuel Swearingen, Hanover, 1. May 14th, James Parker, Fallowfield, 1. June 25th, Thomas Perrin Cherry, Smith, 1. June 29th, Abarilla Blackmore, Peters, widow, 1. Aug. 9th, James Ross, Washing- ton, attorney, 1. Aug. 16th, Frederick Cooper, Not- tingham, 1. Abraham Fry, Nottingham, 1. Aug.

260

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

28th, John McDonald, Robinson, 1. Sept. 23d, James McFarlane, Fallowfield, miller, 1. Oct. 31st, John Ross, Morgan, 1. Nov. 18th, James Kerr, Strabane, Cutler, 1. Dec. 23d, Richard Wells, Cross Creek, 1. Feb. 25, 1794, Thomas Scott, Washington,

1. March 24th, Abarilla Blackmore, Peters, 1. March 26th, John McDonald, Robinson, 1. March 28th, John Swearingen, Peters, 1. May 31st, Basil Williams, Donegal, 1. June 3d, James Boyer, Peters, 1. June 24th, Abraham Fry, Jr., Fallow- field, 1. Frederick Cooper, Fallowfield, 1. Feb. 12, 1795, John McDonald, Robinson, 1. Andrew Swearingen, Washington, 1. March 10th, James Foreman, Cecil, 1. April 11th, Susannah Caton, widow of Thomas Caton, Amwell, 1. June 4th, James Hughes, Strabane, blacksmith, 1. June 22d, Samuel Moore, Hanover, 1. James Bradford, Greene, 1. Aug. 18th, Thomas Rankin, Smith, 1. Sept. 28th, Richard Talbot, Hopewell, 1. James Edgar, "farmer and one of the judges of C. P.," 1. Oct. 14th, Thomas Hill, West Bethlehem, 1. Nov. 14th, Mary Dodd, Washington, widow of John Dodd, 1. Feb. 6, 1796, Richard Wells, Cross Creek, 1. April 7, Adam Wickerham, Jr., Nottingham, 1. April 16th, James Kerr, Cutler, 1. Sept. 10th, John Cooke, Smith, 1. Oct. 25th, James Hughes, Strabane, black- smith, 1. Jan. 30, 1797, Susannah Caton, Amwell, widow of Thomas Caton, 1. March 13th, Charles Valentine, Washington, baker, 1. April 7th, Samuel Black, Nottingham, merchant, 1. May 6th, Basil Williams, Donegal, 1. May 30th, John Dannell, Cecil, 1. Sept. 26th, Andrew Boggs, Fallowfield, 1. Oct. 23d, Absalom Baird, Washington, practitioner of physic, 1. Feb. 28, 1798, James McCalister, Fal- lowfield, merchant, 1. March 26th, John McDonald, Robinson, 1. June 14th, Henry McDonough, Som- erset, 1. June 18th, John McDonald, Robinson, 1. Aug. 3d, John Cook, Smith, 1. Sept. 15th, Mary Dodd, Washington, widow of John, 1. March 11, 1799, James Hughes, Strabane, blacksmith, 1. May 27th, Michael Sowers, West Bethlehem, "In-holder," 1. Richard Talbot, Hopewell, 1. July 12th, Basil Williams, Donegal, 1. Aug. 3d, Samuel Black, Not- tingham, merchant, 1. Aug. 26th, Andrew Boggs, Fallowfield, miller, 1. Aug. 29th, Dr. Absalom Baird, Washington, doctor of medicine, 1. Nov. 28th, James Edgar, Smith, Esq., 1. March 22, 1800, Henry Woods, Canton, 1. Aug. 20th, Robert Jack- man, Pike Run, 1. Sept. 1, John Cooke, Smith, 1. Sept. 6th, Alexander Sweeney, Peters, 1. Sept. 12th, Mary Dodd, Washington, spinster, 1. Sept. 18th, James McCallister, Fallowfield, merchant, 1. Jan. 21, 1801, Michael Sowers, West Bethlehem, “In- keeper," 1. March 30th, Andrew Boggs, Fallowfield, 1. April 9th, John McDonald, Robinson, farmer, 1. Sept. 1st, Henry Conrad, Pike Run, 1. Oct. 24th, George McCulloch, Smiths, 1. Nov. 5th, James Kerr, Strabane, cutler, 1. Nov. 30th, John McDonald, Robinson, 1. Dec. 14th, Hugh Wilson, Washington,

merchant, 1. May 7, 1802, John Wallace, Notting- ham, 1. May 25th, Michael Sowers, West Bethle- hem, inn-keeper, 1. Aug. 11th, Mary Dodd, Washing- ton, spinster, 1. Jan. 15, 1803, Ebenezer Jinnings, physician, 1. March 18th, Robert Jackman, Pike Run, 1. March 26th, John Simonson, Washington, attorney, 1. Sept. 1st, Henry Conrad, Pike Run, 1. Jan. 21, 1804, Hugh Wilson, Washington, merchant, 1. May 8th, Mary Dodd, Washington, spinster, 1. Aug. 13th, John Arbuckle, Fallowfield, inn-keeper, 1. Oct. 17th, George Miller, Smiths, 1. Feb. 28, 1805, Ebenezer Jinnings, 1. March 19th, Absalom Baird, Esquire, 1. May 4th, John Hoge, Canton, Esquire, 1. May 29th, Frederick Cooper, Fallow- field, 1. May 31st, James McCallister, Fallowfield, 1. June 24th, Daniel Moore, Washington, 1. Aug. 8th, John Wallace, Nottingham, 1. Sept. 11th, Edward Todd, Somerset, 1. Nov. 1st, John McDon- ald, Robinson, 1. Dec. 17th, Hugh Wilson, Wash- ington, 1. Dec. 30th, Thomas Ward, Somerset, 1. April 4, 1806, Mary Arbuckle, Fallowfield, 1. May 3d, Alexander Reed, Washington, 1. June 17th, Robert Jackman, Pike Run, 1. Feb. 10, 1807, Thomas Smith, Cross Creek, 1. April 2d, Mary Dodd, Wash- ington, widow, 1. June 6th, Ebenezer Jinnings, Smiths, 1. June 27th, John McDonald, Robinson, 1. Aug. 1st, John Simonson, Washington, attorney, 1. Aug. 4th, John Hoge, Washington, Esquire, 1. Sept. 29th, Frederick Cooper, Fallowfield, 1. Nov. 24th, the Rev. Matthew Brown, Canton, 1. June 22, 1808, Robert Jackman, Pike Run, 1. Nov. 19th, Mary Dodd, Washington, widow, 1. Jan. 2, 1809, Joseph Pentecost, Esquire, 1. Jan. 31st, Thomas Ward, Somerset, 1. Feb. 25th, Jane Sweetman, Fal- lowfield, widow, 1. March 30th, Hugh Wilson, Washington, merchant, 1. Sept. 20th, Thomas Smith, Washington, Esquire, 1. May 7, 1810, Mary McCa- mant, Washington, spinster, 1. July 2d, Valentine Cooper, Fallowfield, 1. Robert Jackman, Pike Run, 1. Oct. 17th, Thomas McGiffin, Washington, attor- ney, 1. Nov. 1st, John McDonald, Robinson, 1. Nov. 21st, Elizabeth Cunningham, Washington, spin- ster, 1. Dec. 11th, Mary Dodd, Strabane, 1. March 22, 1811, John Krepps, East Bethlehem, 1. Aug. 9th, Thomas Cherry, Mount Pleasant, 1. Oct. 8, 1812, John McDonald, Robinson, 2. May 25, 1813, James McDonald, Robinson, 1. June 21st, John Kreps, East Bethlehem, 1. Nov. 6th, John Cooper, Fallowfield, 1. Dec. 2d, Samuel Clark, East Bethle- hem, 1. Jan. 8, 1814, William Hoge, Canton, 1. Dec. 13th, James Kerr, Strabane, 1. June 7, 1815, James McDonald, Robinson, 1. June 22d, John Cooper, Fallowfield, 1. Jan. 16th, Mary Dodd, Strabane, 1. June 15th, Elizabeth McDonald, Robinson, 1. June 18th, James McDonald, Robinson, 1. Aug. 12, 1816, James Bunyan, 1. May 16, 1817, Isabella Hoge, 1. July 11th, Rev. Thomas Hoge, Washington, 1. Sept. 1st, John Neal, Esquire, Washington, 1. Nov. 22d, Elizabeth Cunningham, Washington, 1. Feb. 28,

CIVIL AND LEGAL-SLAVERY IN WASHINGTON COUNTY.

261

1818, James Runyon, Cecil, 1. March 26th, Chris- tian Krepps, East Bethlehem, 1. Dec. 11th, James . McDonald, Robinson, 1. May 5, 1819, John Mitchell, Smith, merchant, 1. June 15th, Moses Bell, Donegal, tanner, 1. June 26, 1820, Christian Krepps, East Bethlehem, inn-keeper, 1. July 14th, Rev. Thomas Hoge, Washington, merchant, 1. March 6th, Thomas McGiffin, Washington, attorney, 1. April 28th, Thomas Brice, Washington, merchant, 1.

Total entries, 232.1

After the foregoing there is one other entry, and but one, which is as follows :

" James A. D. Henderson, of Morris township, Cumberland Presbyte- rian Minister, enters of record, a female mulatto child named Harriet, born of the body of Margaret, of Marion county, Kentucky, in the year A. D. 1836, on the 9th day of September, 1845.

" Cognovit, September 9, 1845.

" A. G. MARSHMAN, Clerk."

It was slow work indeed for the people of any country to become educated up to the idea that slavery in any form was wrong; witness the extraor- dinary paper executed and put upon record by Hon. James Edgar, a judge upon the bench and a man of the highest character in his day, found in a note to a previous page. And there is an extraordinary pro- ceeding recorded as having taken place before the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania on Aug. 9, 1699.2 Translating the record into modern English it is this: One Samuel Hadden appeared before the Council- a Quaker Council at that-and complained that he had bargained with one Samuel Cart, in Bristol, Eng- gland, that if he would procure the latter seventeen passengers for Pennsylvania, he should then have his own passage free, and the passage for his wife and four children for fifteen pounds; that he had secured for Cart that number of passengers, and with them had brought his family and goods a distance of seventy miles, and put his goods on board ; that then the said Cart would not permit the wife and children to em- bark unless the complainant would pay him five pounds for his own passage and as much for each one of his children ; nor would Cart re-deliver his goods; that having but three pence left, the complainant was forced to sell to Cart two of his children, one for nine and the other for ten years, or else stay in England when his whole substance was carried elsewhere :

" and yfor Requesting ye Gov. & Council to Order His Children to be returned him, or else yt they order him satisfacon some other way. Samuel Cart appearing and having heard ye sd petion read, and after a tedious disput on ye matter between ye per and the sd Samll Cart They both submitted ye difference to ye Lt. Gov. & Council, the per being poor & not able to go to law. Whereupon it was ordered yt the sd Samll Cart do return to ye sd Samll Hadden his son Adam Hadden, & yt the ed Samll Hadden give securitie to Samll Cart to pay him 8 pounds, &c."

Here was justice for you, administered in the shape of equity. Still, let us not look at our forefathers with the glasses we wear to-day.

The writer has compiled from various authoritative sources these data as to the colored people :

1790, there were, total slaves. 263

1800, = 4. = =

×4

1810, 16 =

1820, in Amwell, both females, and over 45 2

= in Cross Creek, both females, and over 45. 2

46 in Allegheny County, total.

= in Westmoreland County, total

in Fayette County, total.

in Beaver County, total

in Greene County, total.

in Western District of Pennsylvania, total

130

in Eastern District of Pennsylvania, total free colored in Washington County ...

742

1830, in Cross Creek, a female slave, and over 45.

in Western District of Pennsylvania, total

182

in Eastern District of Pennsylvania, total ..

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 67

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

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