James Thomas
War of 1812 Refugee, St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1814
Biography:
James Thomas lived on Sotterley Plantation in St. Mary's County, Maryland, as a slave of John R. Plater. Between July 22 and 25, 1814, James escaped from Sotterley by boarding the British frigate Severn, captained by Joseph Nourse, in the Patuxent. James was one of 49 slaves who escaped from Sotterley during the War of 1812 and one of 44 slaves that escaped aboard the Severn, including another slave who shared his surname: one-year old Louisa Thomas.1
James retained his freedom after the war in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and
his name appears on a list of Black refugee men not living with their families.2
Miel Wise, another claimant from St. Mary's County, specified in his reparations
claim that James was married to Winny Thomas, who was one of Miel Wise's
slaves.3 After the war, however, Winny did not move to Halifax
with James, but instead settled in Trinidad with her son Shedrick. Shedrick
also escaped from Miel Wise and enlisted in the Third Company of the Colonial
Marines on August 19, 1814. For his service to the crown, Shedrick
received land in Trinidad that he settled on with his mother Winny.4
The fact that James was married to Winny suggests he may have been the
father of Shedrick.
2. Commissioner of Public Records NSARM RG 1 vol. 305 no. 7 (microfilm no. 15387)
3. Claim of Miel Wise, St. Mary's County, Case #664, Case Files. Ca. 1814-28, entry 190, Record Group 76, National Archives, College Park
4. Weiss, John McNish. The Merikens:
Free Black American Settlers in Trinidad 1815-1816. London, UK: McNish
& Weiss, 2002.
Return
to James Thomas's Introductory Page
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|