Jacob Hall (b. ? - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51281
War of 1812 Escaped Slave, St. Mary's County, Maryland
Biography:
Jacob Hall was the slave of Robert Dunkinson, who lived in St. Mary's County, Maryland. Jacob and another slave, Abram, escaped from Dunkinson during the War of 1812, when the British military set up a blockade on Maryland waterways. The British offered immediate emancipation to any slave who would fight with the British in the war against America. Jacob Hall went on board the British ship Havannah with at least eight other fugitive slaves from St. Mary's County. Following his escape, Jacob Hall went with a British officer to the home of George Loker to retrieve his wife Lucinda "Lucy" Hall and their daughter Letty. In addition, six other slaves escaped to the Havannah from Loker's property. The refugees boarded His Majesty's Ship Havannah were later transferred to H.M.S. Orlando. The slaves were carried to Tangier Island, where they remained until after the war.
After the war Jacob Hall and his family were carried to Nova Scotia. The Hall family settled in the Annapolis Valley community of Horton Bluff in Nova Scotia. Jacob and Lucy Hall had seven more children, including William Hall, who became the first person of color to recieve the Victoria Cross. Jacob and William worked for shipping magnate Samuel Cunard. Hall's wife Lucinda also worked for Cunard as a cook. Jacob and Lucinda lived out the rest of their years in Nova Scotia, never returning to their previous life of enslavement in Maryland.
Robert Dunkinson, Hall's former owner, later filed a claim with the
State Department in 1828 to be reimbursed for the loss of his slave Jacob.
Dunkinson also acted as a deponent in the claim of other St. Mary's County
residents whose slaves had fled to the British. His affidavit was found
in the cases of George Loker and William Smith, both of whom had slaves
that escaped with Dunkinson's slave Jacob Hall.
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