Isaac Reed (b. 1816 - d.
?)
MSA SC 5496-8341
Fled from slavery, Kent County, 1856
Biography:
Isaac Reed was kept under the servitude of Benjamin Franklin Houston near the Poplar Neck section of Kent County, before fleeing in 1856. It is unknown how Isaac came into the man’s possession or what type of treatment he endured while in Maryland. Houston was listed as a doctor in the 1850 Census and did not claim official ownership of any slaves.1 However, there is an 18 year old African-American laborer named Abraham living in the residence.
Reed may have actually been an indenture, or was hired out to Houston by his legal owner, though neither option was recorded in county records. As with many Eastern Shore fugitives, Isaac was directed to the active abolitionist community in Philadelphia. His presence was briefly recorded by William Still, who noted only that “Isaac left his wife, Hester Ann Louisa, and the following named children: Philip Henry, Harriet Ann and Jane Elizabeth.”2 It is quite possible that his wife was free-born, and there is a black Hester Reed listed in the 1860 Census for Kent County.3 Regardless of his family’s status in Maryland, they were never able to join Isaac in the North.
From Pennsylvania, Reed was
ultimately led to the
free soil of Canada, likely supported by other Underground Railroad
agents
along the way. He appears in the 1861 Census, living near Toronto in
the
town of York, and working as a shoemaker.4 Isaac
had already been remarried
to a fellow African-American named Rachael. By 1871, they were living
together
in Hamilton, closer to the established ex-slave community in St.
Catharine’s.5
Footnotes -
1. Ancestry.com, 1850 United States Federal Census, Kent County, Maryland, District 2, p. 12.
3. Ancestry.com, 1860 United States Federal Census, Kent County, Maryland, District 1, p. 46.
4. Ancestry.com. 1861, Census of Canada, York, Canada West, p. 9407.
5. Ancestry.com. 1871, Census of Canada, Hamilton, Ontario, p. 80.
Researched and Written by David Armenti, 2012.
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