enslavement data

• Slaveholder Name: Allison, William
  City or Township:
  County: Franklin
  Occupation:
  Notes:

   

  1. Slave Name: Tom
     Sex: Male
     Slave Age: 24
     Slave Date of Birth: 1769 (calculated)
     Slave Status: Runaway
     Slave Description: "Negro Man"
     Slave Notes: Tom ran away on October 14, 1793. The text of the runaway advertisement is below:

     RANAWAY from the subscriber, in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, the night of the 14th instant, a Negro Man named TOM, five feet nine or ten inches high, twenty four years of age, stout made, had on a gray coating sailors jacket, the buttons the same of the cloth, three buttons on the sleeves, coarse shirting shirt, a pair striped ticking trowsers, old shoes, high crowned felt hat, it is likely he may steal other cloathing, and will try to pass for a free negro. Whosoever secures said fellow that I get him, shall have Ten Dollars Reward, and if brought home reasonable charges, paid by WILLIAM ALLISON.
     October 16, 1793.

     Date of Record: October 16, 1793
     Source: Carlisle Gazette, November 27, 1793

   

• Slaveholder Name: Cummin, Charles
  City or Township: "near Strasburg"
  County: Franklin
  Occupation:
  Notes:

   

  1. Slave Name: Bill
     Sex: Male
     Slave Age: 26a
     Slave Date of Birth: 1774 (calculated)
     Slave Status: Runaway
     Slave Description: "Negro Man"
     Slave Notes: Bill ran away on August 29, 1800. The text of the runaway advertisement is below:

     EIGHT DOLLARS REWARD. RAN away from the subscriber, living in Franklin County, near Strasburg, on the 29th of August last, a Negro Man, named BILL, about five feet five or six inches high--about twenty-six years of age, --he is a short thick built fellow with a smiling countenance when he talks, and has lost one of his fore teeth--he inclines to play on the fiddle--took with him when he went away, a mixed coloured blue coat; and a blue coat faced with red--a wool hat--a corduroy jacket, and two shirts.-- It is probable he has got a counterfeit pass with him.-- Whoever takes up said runaway, and brings him to the subscriber, or puts him in the nearest Jail, so that he may get him, shall have the above reward, and reasonable charges, paid by
     CHARLES CUMMIN. September 19th, 1800.

     Date of Record: September 19, 1800
     Source: Klines Carlisle Weekly Gazette, October 08, 1800

   

• Slaveholder Name: Davison, Elias
  City or Township: Antrim
  County: Franklin
  Occupation:
  Notes: Lived 1736 - 1806.  Settled in Antrim Township about1760. Married Agnes McDowell, daughter of Major John McDowell, in 1771. Click here for notes on the Davison family and a photograph of the Davison Family graveyard.

   

  1. Slave Names: Jim
     Sex: Male
     Slave Age: Not stated, but described as "boy."
     Slave Date of Birth: Not stated
     Slave Status:  Not stated
     Slave Description: "negro boy"
     Slave Notes: In his will, dated June 18, 1804, Davison leaves "negro boy Jim" to his daughter Mary Davison.
     Date of Record:  Will dated 18 June 1804, proved 23 April 1806
     Source:  "Abstracts and Letters of Administration: Franklin Co, PA," Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Carolyn K. Shearer <cks@pa.net>. http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/franklin/wills/willabst01.txt  accessed February 24, 2005.
  2. Slave Names: Rose
     Sex: Female
     Slave Age: Not stated but described as "girl."
     Slave Date of Birth: Not stated
     Slave Status:  Not stated 
     Slave Description: "negro girl"
     Slave Notes: In his will, dated June 18, 1804, Davison leaves "negro girl Rose" to his daughter Mary Davison.
     Date of Record:  Will dated 18 June 1804, proved 23 April 1806
     Source:  "Abstracts and Letters of Administration: Franklin Co, PA," Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Carolyn K. Shearer <cks@pa.net>. http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/franklin/wills/willabst01.txt  accessed February 24, 2005.
   
• Slaveholder Name: Finley, John (also spelled "Findlay")
  City or Township: Letterkenny
  County: Franklin (then Cumberland)
  Occupation: Farmer
  Notes: Husband of Mary Finley. In the 1768 tax assessments, John Findlay of Letterkenny is assessed for 2 horses, 4 cows, 12 sheep, and 1 negro. (Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Tax Records, 1768 Assessments)

   

  1. Slave Names: Rachel
     Sex: Female
     Slave Age: Not determined
     Slave Date of Birth: Not determined, but before 1783.
     Slave Status:  Slave for life
     Slave Description: "Negro wench"
     Slave Notes: In his will, dated , Finley leaves "the Negro wench called Rachel " to his wife Mary.
     Date of Record:  Will dated 9 August 1783, proved 21 October 1783
     Source:  Will of John Finley, Letterkenny, Cumberland County Will Book D, 38..
   
• Slaveholder Name: Johnston, Robert
  City or Township: Antrim
  County: Franklin
  Occupation: Major General
  Notes: Born 1750, died 1808.  Married to Eleanor Pawling.

   

  1. Slave Names: not stated
     Sex:
     Slave Age:
     Slave Date of Birth:
     Slave Status: 
     Slave Description: "negroes"
     Slave Notes: In his will, dated November 12, 1808, Johnston leaves "all my negroes" to his wife Eleanor.
     Date of Record:  Will dated 12 November 1808, proved 29 November 1808
     Source:  "Abstracts and Letters of Administration: Franklin Co, PA," Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Carolyn K. Shearer <cks@pa.net>. http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/franklin/wills/willabst01.txt  accessed February 24, 2005.
   
• Slaveholder Name: McClanahan, John
  City or Township: Greencastle
  County: Franklin
  Occupation:
  Notes:

   

  1. Slave Name: Sam
     Sex: Male
     Slave Age: 20
     Slave Date of Birth: 1799 (calculated)
     Slave Status: Runaway
     Slave Description: "black man"
     Slave Notes: Sam ran away late in 1819 with his wife and her young son. The text of the runaway advertisement is below:

     Fifteen Dollars Reward.
     I will give fifteen dollars for apprehending and putting to jail a black man named SAM, twenty years old, remarkably thick upper lip, rather a down look, 5 feet 10 inches high; is well dressed:  blue super broad cloth coat, fur hat.  His shoes have small straps and buckles.  Also a variety of clothes to work in; is a good and harmless servant but decoyed by a mulatto woman, to whom he is lately married.  She has stolen sundry articles of value, say two pieces linen cambric, a yellow damask shawl half worn, handkerchief, &c and absconded for fear of punishment; has a male child two or three years old.
     John M'Lanahan, of James
     Greencastle, Franklin co.
     December 17, 1819

     Date of Record: December 17, 1819.  This ad ran through January 1820.
     Source: Harrisburg Republican, December 17, 1819

   

• Slaveholder Name:  White, Alexander
  City or Township:
  County: Franklin County
  Occupation:  Farmer
  Notes:  Passage from History of Butler County, Pennsylvania, 1895, page 68: "In 1799, when Matthew White settled at Whitestown--where he had previously purchased 400 acres of land--he brought with him three slaves named George Mitchell, Pompey and Eleanor Troy, or "Black Nell."  They were really the property of Alexander White, of Franklin county, father of Matthew, who manumitted them prior to 1803, in fulfillment of a promise made during a serious illness. In order, however, that they might be cared for, he gave George Mitchell to his son, Matthew, Pompey to his son, James, later of Waterford, Erie county, Pennsylvania, and "Black Nell" to his daughter, Mrs. Anna Galbraith, the wife of Alexander Galbraith, of Centre township. Eleanor Troy, or "Black Nell," who was listed in the assessment of 1821, in Centre township, as a female slave forty-five years old, died March 11, 1857. For over thirty years she was a member of the Associate Reformed Church, of Butler. She was buried on the Moses Thompson farm in Centre township, where a monument marks her grave."

   

  1. Slave Name: George Mitchell
     Slave Sex: Male
     Slave Age: not determined
     Slave Date of Birth: prior to 1799
     Slave Status:  Manumitted in or before 1803
     Slave Description:
     Slave Notes: Ownership of George Mitchell passed from Alexander White, of Franklin County, to his son Matthew White, who settled in Butler County circa 1799.  A county history (see above) notes that Alexander White retained legal ownership of Mitchell and other slaves, and manumitted them "prior to 1803."
     Date of Record:  1895 county history
     Source:  History of Butler County, Pennsylvania. R. C. Brown Co. 1895, page 68.

      

  2. Slave Name: Pompey
     Slave Sex: Male
     Slave Age: not determined
     Slave Date of Birth: prior to 1799
     Slave Status:  Manumitted in or before 1803
     Slave Description:
     Slave Notes: Ownership of Pompey passed from Alexander White, of Franklin County, to his son Matthew White, who settled in Butler County circa 1799 and then to James White.  A county history (see above) notes that Alexander White retained legal ownership of Pompey and other slaves, and manumitted them "prior to 1803."
     Date of Record:  1895 county history
     Source:  History of Butler County, Pennsylvania. R. C. Brown Co. 1895, page 68.

      

  3. Slave Name: Eleanor Troy a.k.a. "Black Nell"
     Slave Sex: Female
     Slave Age:  Age reported as 45 years old in tax records of 1821
     Slave Date of Birth: circa 1776
     Slave Status:  Manumitted in or before 1803
     Slave Description: "female slave"
     Slave Notes: Ownership of Eleanor Troy passed from Alexander White, of Franklin County, to his son Matthew White, who settled in Butler County circa 1799 and then to Anna Galbraith, wife of Alexander Galbraith.  A county history (see above) notes that Alexander White retained legal ownership of Eleanor and other slaves, and manumitted them "prior to 1803."  Eleanor was a long time member of the Associate Reformed Church, of Butler, and died on March 11, 1857.  She was buried on the farm of Moses Thompson, in Centre Township.
          Eleanor is found in the 1850 census for North Butler Township, Butler County, living with Joseph and Jane Galbraith and their five children.  She is listed as "Nelly Troy," age 76, female, Black, born in Pennsylvania.
     Date of Record:  1895 county history; 1850 census of North Butler Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, page 84.
     Source:  History of Butler County, Pennsylvania. R. C. Brown Co. 1895, page 68.

   

• Slaveholder Name:  White, Elizabeth Lettice
  Slaveholder Location:  Franklin County
  Slaveholder Notes:  Born about 1761 in Lurgan Township, Cumberland County (later Franklin County). Wife of Edward White. In 1786 her father, James W. McKibben, Sr., bequeathed to her and her sister "all of his negroes and household goods."

  1. Slave Name: No name recorded
     Slave Age:  Not known
     Slave Sex: Not known
     Slave Date of Birth: Not known 
     Slave Description: "Negroe"
     Slave Status: Not determined
     Slave Notes: Bequeathed by James McKibben, Sr. to his daughter Elizabeth Lettice White in 1786.
     Date of Record 1786
     Source:  Ancestors of Everett "Skeets" Wilhite.