Harry Mason (b. circa 1823 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-048438
Escaped from the Rockville District, Montgomery County, Maryland,
1846
Biography:
Born in Montgomery County around 1823, Harry Mason was the slave of Caroline C. Getzendanner. Although a native of Rockville, Getzendanner had moved to Allegany County by 1846, leaving Mason for hire in Montgomery County.1 Consequently, Mrs. Eliza M. Scott purchased Mason's labor for a full year on her farm between Gaithersburg and Rockville.
Mason fled slavery on June 2, 1846. He timed his escape with Whit-Monday, a holiday on the Monday after Pentecost, seven weeks after Easter.2 Slaves often escaped during holidays and Sundays, when their absence was more likely to go unnoticed for a longer period of time.3 Meanwhile, Mason's wife Caroline escaped from the farm of the slaveholder Samuel. Crown's farm stood just a few miles south of Scott's place.4
After learning of Harry Mason's escape, Getzendanner placed a runaway advertisement in the Maryland Journal offering a $150 reward for his capture.5 She described Scott's farm as standing four miles west of Rockville,6 and provided a detailed description of Mason. Getzendanner identified him as "very black; stout built; about six feet or upward high; a good suit of hair, and generally wears large whiskers; ... a very large and beautiful set of teeth, and perhaps a little defect in one of his eyes." Moreover, Mason wisely "took with him a good many clothes, of different descriptions," allowing him to change his appearance. Getzendanner mentioned that Mason might have shaved his beard to further disguise himself. The advertisement appeared three more times in the weekly Journal.
The Journal was already running an advertisement for the capture of Mason's wife Caroline. On June 13th, Crown's trustee James W. Campbell had published a runaway ad describing Caroline as "mulatto, ... about eighteen years of age, about 5 feet high, with a scar on one of her arms caused by a burn when a child; when spoken to, she has quite a pleasing look."7
Harry and Caroline Mason were still missing four years later when the
1850 slave census listed them as fugitives from the state.8
When Joseph Getzendanner provided the information regarding the two slaves
for the census, he claimed that Harry was twenty-seven and Caroline was
seventeen—even though Caroline was supposedly eighteen when she had escaped
four years earlier.
1. U.S. Census Bureau (Census
Record, MD) for Thomas Getzendanner, 1840, Montgomery County, Rockville
District, Page 26, last line [MSA SM61-113, M 4722].
U.S. Census
Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Caroline Getzendanner, 1850, Allegany County,
District 5, Page 58, Line 28 [MSA SM61-121, M 1481].
2. William Wright Hardwicke. The Evolution of Man: His Religious Systems and Social Customs (London: Watts & Co., 1899) 269.
3. John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger. Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999) 228-229.
4. "$50 Reward." Maryland Journal 13 June 1846: 3. Microfilm Reel: M 7933. MSA SC 3839. Maryland State Archives.
5. "$150 Reward." Maryland Journal 20 June 1846: 3. Microfilm Reel: M 7933. MSA SC 3839. Maryland State Archives.
6. Montgomery County District 4, Simon J. Martenet, Martenet and Bond's Map of Montgomery County, 1865, Library of Congress, MSA SC 1213-1-464. Huntingfield Map Collection.
7. "$50 Reward." Maryland Journal 13 June 1846: 3. Microfilm Reel: M 7933. MSA SC 3839. Maryland State Archives.
8. U.S. Census Bureau (Census
Record, MD) for Joseph Getzendanner, Slaves, 1850, Allegany County, Page
2, Line 25 [MSA SM61-168, M 1505-5].
Researched and written by Rachel Frazier, 2009.
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