William M.
Hardcastle (b. 1778 - d. 1874)
MSA
SC
5496-51532
Property Owner, Caroline
County
Biography:
William Molleson Hardcastle was a native of Caroline County, who appears to have lived there throughout his adult life. His father Thomas had been a prominent public servant and property holder, accumulating over 1500 acres of land. He also enslaved between 20 and 25 African-Americans in the late 18th century. As early as 1800, William was also a slaveholder, having four bondsmen at that time.1 At this time, increased acquisition of such property was becoming unusual in the county, where the number of slaves had gradually declined since the American Revolution. While 2,057 had been counted as of 1790, there would be less than 800 fifty years later.2 Hardcastle married Anna Colston in 1805, the same decade in which he would more than triple his human chattel. Along with thirteen enslaved individuals, the next census also included three free white children in his household, likely products of the recent union.3
William's 1830 tax assessment includes nearly 1,000 acres of land on two Caroline County farms, worked by at least 13 enslaved African-Americans.4 This would have included the family homestead "Castle Hall," which had been established by his forbears in 1781.5 On Maryland's Eastern Shore, such significant property holdings often led to proportionate political power. Between 1811 and 1836, William M. Hardcastle was elected to represent his home county at the General Assembly eleven times.6 He and several other local men also became trustees for a proposed grade school in the county 1830. One of the other trustees, Robert Hardcastle, was William's brother.7 Also a Caroline County slaveholder, Robert would soon lose two bondsmen who fled to New Jersey. This was a common destination for Shore freedom seekers, as the path through Delaware and Philadelphia was home to many abolitionists. In a rare occurence, Robert Hardcastle was actually able to retrieve his chattel as a result of an 1833 trial in Gloucester County, in which his son appeared Aaron attested to the identity of "Negro Slaves Samuel & Louisa."8 Maryland owners were well aware of the various rural communities in southern New Jersey, which took on great numbers of fugitive blacks well into the 1840's.
William M. Hardcastle was indirectly connected to this migration through another family of alleged fugitives. Joshua Saddler, reputed founder of a free black settlement in Camden County, was said to have been enslaved in Caroline County. Family members claimed that he had fled from Maryland, likely in the 1820's. In 1834, Saddler's daughter Ann married another former black resident of the state named Jefferson Fisher.9 Though he was born free, Fisher was still required to register as a free man with the Caroline County Court. None other than "the oath of William Hardcastle" was provided as evidence of Jefferson's status.10 In the 1830 Census, Hardcastle appears to be listed directly next to a free black family named Fisher.11 The young man may have labored for his white neighbor, or had enslaved relatives on the nearby plantation. He was also recorded as owning 20 African-American slaves at the time, significantly more than he declared in the recent tax assessment.
George Comegys ran away from Hardcastle of Caroline County, in June of 1850. The fugitive would have been one of twenty slaves belonging to the elderly farmer that year.12 At the time, Hardcastle declined to publish a runaway advertisement in any local papers. In fact, he did not make official notice of the flight until October 1859, when he had it recorded in the Caroline County Court Minutes. Here the slaveowner described Comegys as being "a dark chestnut colour...having a small defect in one of his eyes."13 This document provides no hints as to his destination or his motivations for fleeing. Comegys had belonged to Hardcastle since 1843, when he was sold by Richard Culbreth along with land and 12 other slaves.14 This transaction also identifies George's parents, "my negro woman Tilly or Matilda, wife of one Perry Comegys free negro." Furthermore, the document states that Tilly and two of her other children had been living outside of Culbreth's property, possibly with her husband, which likely afforded them a degree of freedom.15 While George may have been assisted or utilized the contacts of his free father, the owner does not attempt to implicate any family members in the flight. Apparently, Hardcastle's feelings were not too hardened toward the black family because he would go on to sell Tilly Comegys to her husband in 1852.16 However, there is no official record of George Comegys' whereabouts after his successful escape in 1850.Alford Fisher would also flee from Hardcastle, in June of 1852. However, Alford was not technically a slave and had actually been born free. He had been indentured by his impoverished mother to another white resident, 15 years earlier.17 Despite his semi-free status, Alford may have been the 18 year old slave, one of twenty total, listed in the farmer's 1850 census record. At the time of his disappearance, Hardcastle declined to publish a runaway advertisement in any local papers. In fact, he did not make official notice of the flight until October 1859, when he had it recorded in the Caroline County Court Minutes.18 Here it is alleged that Fisher "owed service and labor to the said William Hardcastle for life," despite the language of his original indenture. Though we cannot discern his exact motivations, Alford must have sensed that the freedom promised to him at age 21 was not going to come to fruition. It was not uncommon for a formerly free African-American to find himself labeled a "slave for life," especially when multiple transactions were involved. White owners like Hardcastle, with the help of the local court systems, routinely cheated blacks of their legal rights by citing misbehavior or ignorance of pre-existing contracts. There is no record that his efforts led to the Alford's capture.
By 1860, the elderly William and Anna Hardcastle were living with their son Alexander, who was a local doctor and farmer.19 He still claimed ownership of twelve enslaved blacks, though much of the property's administration had likely been passed to his grown children.20 In 1864, he formally passed the four hundred acre Castle Hall plantation and its environs on to Alexander.21 This included "all my negroes saving and excepting negro woman Charlotte and negro boy Wash," all of whom would be freed several months later with the passage of Maryland's new constitution. In 1868, William was also one of several whites who sold land to the "trustees of the African congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church."22 Some of the trustees and church members may have been Hardcastle's former slaves, but there is little evidence in the record to suggest his relationship to the black church. The 92 year old still resided with his son's family in 1870, when the two men's combined estate was worth nearly $30,000.23 William M. Hardcastle died four years later, without any additional probate records.
Footnotes -
1. Ancestry.com. 1800 United States Federal Census, Caroline County.
2. University of
3. Ancestry.com. 1810 United States Federal Census, Caroline County, District Not Stated, p. 31.
4. CAROLINE COUNTY LEVY COURT (Assessment Record) 1830
Maryland Historical Trust, Inventory of Historic Properties, "Castle Hall, Caroline County."
6. Archives of Maryland, Historical List, House of Delegates, Caroline County.
7. CAROLINE COUNTY COURT (Land Records) Book Q, 1827-1830, pp. 436 - 437.
10. Caroline County, Certificates of Freedom, 1827-1857, p. 45.
11. Ancestry.com. 1830 United States Federal Census, Caroline County, District 1, pp. 23 - 24.
12. Ancestry.com, United States Federal Census, 1850, Slave Schedule, Caroline County, p. 317. CAROLINE COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (page 1) Indentures, 1836-1840, p. 177-178 (page 2).
18. CAROLINE COUNTY COURT (Minutes), 1852-1861, October Term 1859.22. CAROLINE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records), Book JJ 32, 1866-1868, pp. 395 - 396.
23. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census, Caroline County, District 1, p. 3.
Researched and Written by David Armenti, 2012.
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