Rev. John Ashton, a Jesuit priest in Maryland, places an advertisement in the Maryland Gazette for a man named Tom in 1775. Rev. Ashton was a Jesuit priest who would later become one of the founders of Georgetown. The advertisement describes Tom as a…
An advertisement in the American and Commercial Daily Advertiser dated March 15, 1842 reports the escape of Moses Taylor from his owner, James Evans, as well as the escape of Moses's wife Eliza from a Mr. Clarke. Evidence suggests that Eliza had been…
An advertisement for Michael published in the Daily National Intelligencer on June 13, 1822. He had escaped in late April, and the subscriber, Notley Maddox, was offering a $50 reward for his capture. The ad reveals that Michael had been hired out to…
On December 29, 1804, Francis Beeston, the assistant to Bishop John Carroll in Baltimore posted a runaway slave advertisement for William Castle, a twenty year-old man, in the Baltimore Telegraphe Daily Advertiser.Beeston asserted that Castle…
This remarkable letter from 1820 narrates the case of Becca, an enslaved woman who approached Fr. John Baptist Cary at Georgetown College after fleeing from her owner, a man who is described in the letter as "very hard & has no religion at all."…
This series of letters from 1843 illustrates the Maryland Jesuits' attempts to sell Isaac, an enslaved man who appeared to be "fugitive since the fall of 1838." The Jesuits received news of Isaac's whereabouts after he was arrested in Baltimore. The…
In a letter from 1805, Leonard Neale, President of Georgetown College, wrote to his brother Rev. F. Neale that Spalding had ran away. The following entries from the College Cashbook register payments for "going after A. Spalding," and paying…