Josemin (b. circa 1823 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-050587
Fled from Slavery, Cracklin District, Montgomery County, Maryland,
1845
Biography:
Josemin, nicknamed Jo, fled his enslavement on Saturday, August 9, 1845
with another slave named Jess.
Both Josemin and Jess were slaves of Elisha
Riggs, whose farm
stood near the Triadelphia factory in Montgomery County.1 On
August 15, 1845, Riggs advertised
in the Baltimore Sun for the two runaway slaves.2
The
advertisement described Josemin as "6 feet high, and very black, with
large
white eyes and large feet, and about 22 years of age." Riggs offered
$100 for each slave, plus an extra $100 each if captured outside
Maryland. Although the ad ran for four weeks, Jo and Jess were
still fugitives from the state five years later.3
1. Montgomery County District 1, Simon J. Martenet, Martenet and Bond's Map of Montgomery County, 1865, Library of Congress, MSA SC 1213-1-464.
2. "Ran Away." Baltimore Sun 15 August 1849: 2. Baltimore Sun Historical Archive. Enoch Pratt Free Library.
3. U.S. Census Bureau (Census
Record, MD), for Elisha Riggs, Slaves, 1850, Montgomery County, Cracklin
District, Page 10, Line 3 [MSA SM61-168, M 1505-5].
Researched and written by Rachel Frazier, 2010.
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