Jane Cator (b. circa 1837 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51326
Slave Owner, Dorchester County, Maryland
Biography:
Jane Cator (sometimes known as Hannah E.J. Cator) was still an infant when her mother Elizabeth Cator married Reuben E. Phillips, a wealthy farmer and slave holder, on June 10, 1839.1 Jane held wealth and slaves in her own right although, since she was a minor, her step-father likely helped manage her property. The Dorchester County 1852 tax assessment recorded her as the owner of six slaves. These were Joseph (age 3), George (age 5), Solomon (age 7), Bill (age 9), Nicolina (age 6), and Dafney (age 28).2
On October 24, 1857, a group of twenty-eight slaves fled in a mass escape from neighboring plantations in Dorchester County. Jane Cator owned at least seven of the group, Daffney Cornish and her six children, including Edward James, George, Perry Lake, Solomon, Joseph, and a two week old infant. Joining his family on their flight to freedom was Daffney's husband, Aaron Cornish, a slave owned by Rev. Levi Traverse. The Cornishes were forced to leave behind two of their children, who had been hired out to another master.3
It was probably on Jane's behalf that Phillips placed a joint advertisement with fellow slave holders, Samuel Pattison and Willis Brannock (spelled V. Branwick),offering a reward of $3,100 for the capture of the fugitives.4 Pattison learned that the group was headed to Wilmington, Delaware and followed close behind. However, the runaways had been warned that their captors were in pursuit and therefore stayed clear of Wilmington. Although the group split up to avoid detection, they faced many other obstacles. Poorly provisioned and clothed, the group battled severe rainstorms.On October 31, part of the group was attacked by several Irishmen with clubs. One of the fugitives insured their escape by shooting one of the Irishmen in the head. A fourteen year old boy, likely one of the Cornish children, was separated from the rest and it is unclear if he rejoined his family.5
William Still, an Underground Railroad conductor in Philadelphia, recorded the party's safe arrival to the Philadelphia area.6 However, it is unclear if the Cornish family was later recaptured since some of their names appear in the 1867-1868 Dorchester County slave statistices. Former Maryland slave owners hoped to be compensated for the value of emancipated slaves as a reward for their loyalty to the Union during the Civil War. In each Maryland county, slave owners thus recorded the slaves that they had owned when slavery was abolished in Maryland on November 1, 1864. Acting as her agent, Reuben Phillips, recorded the ownership of seven slaves for Mrs. H.E.J. Spilman (Jane Cator's married name). Dafney, Solomon, George, Edwin, and Lake Cornish appear in the slave statistics, as well as Nicholina (Lena) Cornish and her son, George.7 It is also possible that the Cornishes were not recaptured but that Reuben Phillips and Jane Cator Spilman recorded fraudaulent information in the hope of recouping the value of her fugitive slaves.
Nevertheless, the October 24, 1857 flight is significant, both for the large number of slaves who ran away and for the fact that family groups with small children escaped together. They likely received information from Harriet Tubman, a native of the area, to aid their escape. Following this and a rash of other slave escapes, Dorchester County whites feared that northern abolitionists and free blacks were conspiring to destroy the institution of slavery. As a result, community leaders passed resolutions resticting the personal liberties of free and enslaved blacks. Vigilante groups also assaulted or attempted to lynch individuals suspected of aiding runaways. Nevertheless, slaves in Dorchester County continued to run away to freedom.8
In 1860, Cator married James D. Spilman, a fancy dry goods dealer from Virginia with a personal estate valued at $4,000 in 1870. The Spilmans may have lived briefly in Washinton, D.C., as their first child, Pierre, was born there. The couple eventually settled in Baltimore, raising their four children: Pierre D. (b. circa 1862), Benjamin F. (b. circa 1866), Bessie A. (b. circa 1868), and Gedden D. (b. circa 1877). By 1880, Jane was a widower although the family was still wealthy enough to employ a servant.10, 11 After this date, the Spilmans disappear from the census records.
2. DORCHESTER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (Assessment Record) for Hannah E.J. Cator, Minor, 1852-1910 C687, Election District 7, p. 30. 01/04/05/019
3. Larson, Kate Clifford. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman,Portrait of an American Hero. (New York: Ballantine Book, 2005), p. 145.
4. $3,100 Reward, Baltimore Sun, October 28, 1857.
5. Larson, p. 146-148.
8. Larson, p. 148-149.
9. DORCHESTER COUNTY COURT (Marriage Licenses) CM447, 1780-1841.
10. U.S. Census (U.S. Census, MD) for Jane Spilman, 1870 Baltimore City, 5th Precinct, 18th Ward, Page 162, Lines 16-22.
11. U.S. Census (U.S. Census, MD) for E.J. Spillman, 1880 Baltimore
City, 5th Precinct, 19th Ward, Enumeration District 194, Page 37, Lines
29-33.
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