Daffney Cornish (b. 1824 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-8012
Fled from slavery, Dorchester County, Maryland, 1857
Biography:
Daffney Cornish was one of the twenty-eight slaves to escape from the Cambridge District of Dorchester County on October of 1857. She escaped with her husband Aaron and six of their children, making them one of the six families represented in the group. Prior to her escape, Daffney belonged to Reuben E. Phillips of Town Point, Maryland, who listed her in the county's official slave statistics as late as 1868.1 However, she was allowed to live with her husband, who was owned by Levi D. Travers of the same township. His old master, Travers' uncle, had died in May of 1857 without leaving a will. This motivated Aaron Cornish to break away with his family, rather than await the legal wrangling that might separate them later. In a runaway ad that he placed on October 25, Travers acknowledged that the husband and wife had probably fled together, though he gives no additional description of Daffney Cornish.2 She and her children also do not appear in the tax assessments or inventories of either owner, likely due to their uncommon living arrangement.3
Daffney and Aaron were only able to escape with six of their eight surviving children: Solomon, George Anthony, Joseph, Edward James, Perry Lake, and an unnamed infant. The massive group of freedom seekers faced countless trials along the journey to Pennsylvania.4 In addition to Travers' notice, Phillips and the other aggrieved owners posted a $3100 in the Baltimore Sun a few days after the escape.5 The slave holders soon learned that the party was headed to Wilmington, Delaware and followed close behind. However, the runaways had been warned that their captors were in pursuit and therefore stayed clear of the city. They were able to narrowly avoid detection, but still faced other obstacles. Poorly provisioned and clothed, the group battled severe rainstorms throughout the week. On October 31, part of the group was violently accosted by several Irishmen with clubs. One of the fugitives insured their escape by shooting one of the attackers in the head. A fourteen year old boy, likely one of the Cornish's children, was separated from the rest and it is unclear if he ever rejoined his family.6
The fugitives were somehow able to make it to Philadelphia, where the Vigilance Committee provided them with medical care and food following the stressful journey described by Aaron Cornish. In this account, recorded by William Still, he identifies a "Miss Jane Carter of Baltimore," as Daffney's mistress. Jane Cator was actually Phillips' stepdaughter. Since she was only twenty years old and unmarried at the time, Phillips had become the caretaker of the estate and its human chattel. Cornish asserted that their oldest son, had been hired "the year he left for forty dollars." The other older child was also left behind, probably due to similar circumstances.7 Still would give the Cornishes directions in their pursuit of freedom further North. Some of the former slaves, including Kit Anthony and Joseph Viney, established themselves in the growing black communities in Ontario, Canada.8 However, there is no record of Daffney's family in the Census records for those neighborhoods, or similar ones in upstate New York.
Footnotes -
1. DORCHESTER COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF SLAVE STATISTICS (Slave Statistics) 1867-1868.
2. "$300 Reward." Cambridge Democrat. 4 November 1857.
3. DORCHESTER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (Assessment Record) "Reuben E. Phillips", 1852-1910, C687, Election District 7, p. 162.
DORCHESTER COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Inventories), William D. Travers, 1857, p 11, MSA CM434-8, CR9029-1a. - p. 17(Negroes Listed)
5. $3,100 Reward, Baltimore Sun, 28 October 1857.
6. Still, pp. 639 - 640, 100.
7. Still, p. 99 - 101.
8. Kate Clifford Larson. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. Ballantine Books: New York, NY, 2004, p. 148.
Researched and Written by David Armenti, 2012.
Return to Daffney Cornish's Introductory Page
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