John Ashton places a runaway advertisement for Tom, June 15, 1775
Dublin Core
Title
John Ashton places a runaway advertisement for Tom, June 15, 1775
Subject
Fugitive slaves -- Maryland -- History -- 18th century
Description
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 twenty-one year-old "mulatto fellow" who was a "shoemaker by trade."
Creator
Maryland State Archives
Source
Maryland Gazette, June 15, 1775, Maryland State Archives. Also transcribed in Lathan A. Windley, Runaway Slave Advertisements : A Documentary History from the 1730s to 1790. Vol. 2: Maryland (Greenwood Press, 1983), p. 112.
Publisher
Maryland State Archives
Date
1775-06-15
Contributor
Adam Rothman
Format
PDF
Language
English
Type
Runaway advertisement
Identifier
GSA458
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
SIX POUNDS REWARD
RAN away from the subscriber, living near Bellair, on Patuxent, in Prince George's county, Maryland, a mulatto fellow called Tom, a shoemaker by trade; he is about one and twenty years old, 5 feet 9 or 10 inches high, stoops naturally, he is fair, but has a remarkable beard when he lets it grow: he has the look of a rogue when sharply spoken to, and discovers a great deal of assurance and impudence in his conversation. As he has always lived in the neighborhood of Queen Anne's, the Governor's Bridge, and Bellair, and been acquainted with the priests of this province, his conversation may easily discover him: It is likely that he may call himself free, and have forged a pass under another name, or he may probably be concealed and kept at his trade in Annapolis, or in the neighborhood of Bellair, on Patuxent, where he lived, by some white people, who make too familiar with my slaves to my great prejudice, and whom I hereby forewarn from having any dealings with them, either in the shoemaking business, or in any other way, without my express consent. Whoever secures the above fellow in jail, or brings him home to me, will be entitled to the above reward, from
JOHN ASHTON
RAN away from the subscriber, living near Bellair, on Patuxent, in Prince George's county, Maryland, a mulatto fellow called Tom, a shoemaker by trade; he is about one and twenty years old, 5 feet 9 or 10 inches high, stoops naturally, he is fair, but has a remarkable beard when he lets it grow: he has the look of a rogue when sharply spoken to, and discovers a great deal of assurance and impudence in his conversation. As he has always lived in the neighborhood of Queen Anne's, the Governor's Bridge, and Bellair, and been acquainted with the priests of this province, his conversation may easily discover him: It is likely that he may call himself free, and have forged a pass under another name, or he may probably be concealed and kept at his trade in Annapolis, or in the neighborhood of Bellair, on Patuxent, where he lived, by some white people, who make too familiar with my slaves to my great prejudice, and whom I hereby forewarn from having any dealings with them, either in the shoemaking business, or in any other way, without my express consent. Whoever secures the above fellow in jail, or brings him home to me, will be entitled to the above reward, from
JOHN ASHTON
Original Format
Newspaper advertisement
Files
Collection
Citation
Maryland State Archives, “John Ashton places a runaway advertisement for Tom, June 15, 1775,” Georgetown Slavery Archive, accessed January 11, 2025, https://slaveryarchive.georgetown.edu/items/show/543.