Margaret Haskins (b. 1813 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51315
Accomplice to slave flight, Dorchester County, 1858
Biography:
Margaret Haskins caused quite a stir on the Eastern
Shore of Maryland when she attempted to make away with her enslaved husband
and children on the night before New Year's Day, 1858. Her original owner,
Richard Willoughby of Caroline County, had provided for Haskins' eventual
freedom in his 1827 will.1 This document stipulated that she would be manumitted
"31 years from 1 January" of that year. The deceased master also provided
that the rights to his female slave be passed to William Willoughby, probably
a brother or cousin. It was this individual who sold her to Francis P.
Phelps in 1838 for $165.2 Phelps was a Delaware native who lived near Cambridge
in Dorchester County.3 The chattel
record again mentioned that Haskins was to be freed as of the date
in Willoughby's will.4
It was likely that, during her time laboring for
Phelps, Margaret met her husband, whose name remains unknown. He was enslaved
by James E. Hall, a Delaware resident, who owned a large plantation along
the Choptank River in Maryland.5 By the time of their escape, Margaret and
her husband were raising at least four children, Milley, Henry, Isaac,
and Maria, who were all owned by Phelps as well. The eldest was described
as being seventeen years old in 1858, meaning that his parents had met
shortly after his mother was purchased by the Dorchester farmer.6 Having
established a family while enduring the degraded existence of slavery obviously
had an intense impact on Margaret Haskins. She decided that her release
from bondage, on January 1, 1858, was as good a time as any to attempt
to rescue her family from the oppressive institution.
Haskins' confidence may have derived from the relative success of slave flight in the region in recent years. Largely due to Harriet Tubman's numerous sojourns back to Dorchester County, scores of enslaved blacks had found freedom in Canada and New York. Unfortunately, Margaret's family could not achieve what many before them had. By January 6, the group had been captured just above Denton in Caroline County by a "Mr. Satterfield," who received a $1,000 reward from the aggrieved owners.7 They were transported back to the jail in Cambridge, where the family members were questioned by authorities. Suspecting that there was a covert abolitionist network in their midst, Eastern Shore whites were often quick to identify potential accomplices to fleeing slaves. Interestingly, a notice was published on January 14 touting the recent capture, while also asserting that the fugitives "had a white guide a part of the way."8
Either from legitimate testimony or from lingering community suspicion, this white individual was soon identified as Arthur W. Leverton, a Quaker who lived just over the border in Caroline County. Leverton's neighbor, free black Daniel Hubbard, was also suspected of being involved with Haskins' late night escape.9 Once word had spread of their alleged participation, Cambridge whites began to organize a mob who presumably threatened violence against the men. Within days Hubbard and Leverton had fled the state, knowing full well that the locals would exact their revenge through lynch law or the court system.10 Maryland Quakers were routinely targeted for, and were often legitimately involved in, the fight against slavery's existence. Free African-Americans, owing to their familial and economic ties to the slave community, also faced such suspicion.
While it is unclear what connection Margaret Haskins
may have had to the two men, it is quite possible that they did assist
her family's escape. However, neither was willing to wait to see if their
guilt could be proven. Margaret was the only one who was formally charged
in the courts. She was charged in Dorchester County with "enticing, persuading,
and assisting slaves to run away," May of 1858.11
She pled not guilty on
the 14th, and was found not guilty by the jury that same day. Even so,
it is unlikely that Haskins was not punished in another manner. The
court
may have struck a deal that forced her to leave the state or be sold
elsewhere,
despite her status as a free woman. A contemporary newspaper account
claimed that "the poor fugitive wife is, we understand, to go to the
penitentiary, the husband is sold South, and the children are returned
to their mistress."12
However, there is no record of Margaret having entered the state
penitentiary. She and her husband may have experienced the same
unfortunate outcome. F.P. Phelps' 1860 slave schedule does list
numerous children, several of which seem to fit the ages given for
Milley,
Henry, Isaac, Maria, and the formerly unnamed newborn.13 However, there is
little else to suggest what happened to Margaret Haskins, her husband,
or her children after their attempted escape in 1858.
Footnotes -
2. DORCHESTER COUNTY COURT (Chattel Records) 1827-1851, Book ER 2, p. 279.
4. Chattel Record, p. 279.
5. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census, Slave Schedule, Sussex, Delaware, p. 3.
6. "Runaways and Arrests," Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser. 14 January, 1858.
7. "Runaway Negroes Taken," Cambridge Democrat. 6 January 1858. (Guida, p.119)
8. "Runaways and Arrests".
9. "American Slavery." Friends' Intelligencer, Vol. XV, No 2, pp. 24-25 (March 27, 1858). (Guida, p. 129)
10. Ibid.
11. Dorchester County Circuit Court (Court Papers), Presentments, April 1858, State Vs. Margaret Haskins, Free Negro.
12. "American Slavery," Friends' Intelligencer, Vol. XV, No. 2, Third Month 27, 1858.
Researched and Written by David Armenti, 2012.
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