Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Sam (b. ? - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51552
Fled from Slavery, Anne Arundel County, Maryland 1756

Biography:

Sam was an enslaved African American owned by Richard Moore, a property owner near London Town. On Thursday, October 21, 1756, Moore posted a runaway advertisement for Sam saying that he ran away on October 13.1 Sam was described as "a very likely short, well-fet Negro Man... with remarkable good and white Teeth, is a notorious Villain, as his Back will testify."2 

Moore did not know what Sam was wearing when he ran away, but reported that he had "with him a grey Cloth Frock Coat, turned up with blue, and white Metal Buttons."3 Moore offered ten shillings if he was found "within ten Miles of home," twenty shillings if found still in the county, and a pistole if found outside of the county.4 

In Richard Moore's inventory, taken in 1760, a slave named Samm, age 25, is included.5 It is not known for sure whether this is the same Sam who ran away from Moore in 1756.

 

1. "Ran away," Maryland Gazette, October 21, 1756.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. PREROGATIVE COURT (Inventories) Richard Moore, 1760, Liber 79, folio 391, MSA S534-80, MdHR 1186.



Researched and written by Sarah Hartge, 2012.

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