Henry Viney (b. circa 1835 - d. )
MSA SC 5496-8006
Fled from slavery, Dorchester County, Maryland, 1857
Biography:
Henry Viney was a member of a massive group of freedom seekers, who fled from Dorchester County on October 24, 1857. They were notable not just because of their size, but also due to their overwhelming success in the face of various impediments. Henry, along with most of his family, was owned by Samuel Pattison of Cambridge.1 As of early 1857, Pattison enslaved 19 African-Americans, including Susan Viney and her four children, all eight years old or younger.2 Henry's father Joseph was also among the fugitives, but he was actually owned by a Virginia planter who probably hired out his services on the Eastern Shore. Joe, Tom, and Henry Viney, all over sixteen years old, were Joseph's oldest children from a prior relationship.3
In a November 16 letter, Pattison expressed his exasperation and proposed a $2650 reward for "a fair proportion" of those chattel that had escaped him. On their way north, the Vineys braved continuous storms, hunger, and the ever-present threat of slave catchers. Some members of the large group, who were armed with numerous guns and knives, had a violent engagement with "several Irishmen" while being conducted through Delaware. The freedom seekers apparently made it through the scuffle relatively unscathed, though they would have to remain vigilant against similar threats along the journey.4 The family was able to reach Philadelphia, where Still provided clothing and food to the exhausted travelers. They may have been forwarded through Norristown, PA, through abolitionist Elijah Pennypacker.5 Most of the Vineys settled in Ontario, Canada, within the large fugitive community in St. Catharine's.
However, neither Henry nor his two oldest brothers were listed in 1861 Canadian Census with the others.6 They may have decided to stay in the United States, settling in among free blacks in Massachusetts or New York. There is an African-American named Henry Vina, who enlisted in the 55th Massachusetts Regiment on June 2, 1864. This individual claimed to have been born in Easton, Maryland, and was 24 years old at the time. His age and physical characteristics roughly match those of Viney, but there is little else to confirm his identity. Vina was killed at the Battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina, in November of 1864.7 There is also a 27 year old sailor, Henry Viney, who enlisted in Easton, Maryland in July 1863.8 The specifics of this man's service are unknown. It is possible, but difficult to verify, that one of these men was the former Dorchester County slave who fled from Samuel Pattison in 1857. Henry may also have been recaptured and returned to bondage. Pattison's 1860 slave schedule included a 25 year old male, who was unaccounted for in his slave statistics, which were compiled starting in 1864.9,10
Footnotes -
1. Kate Clifford Larson. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. Ballantine Books: New York, NY, 2004, pp. 145-9.
2. DORCHESTER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (Assessment Record) for Samuel Pattison, 1852-1910 C687, Election District 7, p. 161.
5. Larson, p. 148.
6. Ancestry.com. 1861 Census of Canada. Lincoln, Canada West, p. 146.
9. U.S. Census Bureau (Slave Schedules, MD) for Samuel Patterson, 1860, Dorchester County, District 7, Page 45, Lines 22-26.
10. DORCHESTER COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF SLAVE STATISTICS (Slave Statistics) C738, 1867-1868, p.145.
Researched and Written by David Armenti, 2012.
Return to Henry Viney's Introductory Page
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