Bill (b. circa 1807 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-9369
Fled from slavery, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, 1830
Biography:
Bill and his brother, Sam, ran away from their master, Nicholas D. Warfield, on November 20, 1830. At the time of their disappearance, Bill was twenty-three and Sam was around seventeen or eighteen years old. Bill and Sam were accompanied by Ned, who had previously escaped from his master, Mr. Elie G. Warfield. Ned was later captured near Westminster, Maryland, near the Pennsylvania boarder. According to their master, Bill and Sam were encouraged and aided by Ned in their escape. The runaway advertisement notes that Ned would act "as a spokesman and pilot for the other two."1
Nicholas D. Warfield, who lived near the Poplar Springs in Anne Arundel County, suspected that the group did not travel far from his residence.2 He explained, "It is probable they may remain some time in the neighborhood or about Baltimore."3 Bill and Sam's father, also named Bill, was a free black man who lived in Baltimore. The father Bill, worked for Mr. James Carroll after he was freed by Mr. Samuel C. Owings. The Frederick Town Herald carried the runaway ad for nearly three months.
1."$40 Reward," Frederick Town Herald, 27 November 1830.
2. Poplar Springs is a familiar location to many living in what is currently identified as Howard County, Maryland. It is clearly identifed on the Simon J. Martenet, Map of Howard County, 1860, Library of Congress, MSA SC1213-1-467. The more western part of Anne Arundel County, often called the Howard District, was eventually recognized as its own county - Howard County - and became the state's twenty-first county in 1851. Bill, Sam, and Ned escaped from Anne Arundel County in 1830, but it is important to note the geographic change in later years.
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