Joseph Cornish (b. 1813
- d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-8026
Fled from slavery, Dorchester County, Maryland, 1855
Biography:
Joseph Cornish escaped from slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland in late 1855. He was formerly owned by a US Naval officer named Samuel Lecompte, who "was very hard on his servants, allowing them no chance whatever to make a little ready money for themselves."1 Aside from the limited economic opportunity, Joseph had recently learned that he was to be sold. In fact, another of his slaves who would run away in 1857 claimed that Lecompte "had of late years been selling and buying slaves as a business." While the county land and chattel records cannot fully attest to this trend, such activity was more likely to be done in secret, especially if certain slaves had provisions for future manumissions. Cornish chose to flee, despite having to leave behind his free wife, Amelia, and their five children.2
Like many Eastern Shore African-Americans, Joseph Cornish was at least somewhat familiar with the waterways that provided transport and commerce for the region. He decided to travel on foot to Gilpin Point, "where he had heard there was a vessel about to sail."3 This location was located along the northernmost reaches of the Choptank River, as it stretched into Caroline County. Cornish managed to get aboard a vessel there, then work his to Baltimore. He was then able to make it to William Still's Philadelphia office, having likely benefitted from the direction of Harriet Tubman or her various associates along that route.4 Still forwarded him to fellow abolitionist Sydney H. Gay in New York City. From there, he was able to successfully reach the common fugitive destination of St. Catharine's, Ontario.
Cornish was an African Methodist Episcopal preacher, whom Still noted was "respected by the respectable white and colored people in his neighborhood."5 He also expressed regret at having to leave his Maryland congregation without their spiritual leader. However, he would continue to practice his profession after his escape from slavery, while living in Canada. Though it does not appear that the Cornish children ever joined their parents in the new country, Joseph and Amelia are listed in the 1861 Canadian Census, with his occupation recorded as "Rev."6 His oratory skills and personality must have been quite impressive. Still stated that Cornish was "a remarkable man ... and felt it to be a privelege and a pleasure to aid him."7 Living in St. Catharine's until at least 1871, Joseph Cornish likely assumed a leadership role within the burgeoning black community that included many former slaves from the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Footnotes -
2. Ibid.
3. Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, "Gilpin Point."
4. Kate
Clifford Larson. Bound for the Promised Land:
Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. Ballantine Books:
5. Still, p. 335.
6. Ancestry.com.
1861 Census of
7. Still, p. 335.
Researched and Written by David Armenti, 2012.
Return to Joseph Cornish's Introductory Page
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