Page (b. circa 1730 - d.
?)
MSA SC 5496-51554
Fled from Slavery, Anne
Arundel County, Maryland 1749
Biography:
Page was an enslaved African American owned by Thomas Stockett, a property owner near London Town. On Wednesday, October 11, 1749, Stockett posted a runaway advertisement in the Maryland Gazette for Page saying that he ran away on August 22, 1749 near South River.1
He was described as "a Country born Negro Fellow, about 19 years of Age, tall and well grown, of a yellow or near a Mulatto Colour, and is apt to stutter when speaking hastily."2
Stockett wrote in the advertisement that Page often changed his name and that he did not know what Page was wearing when he ran away because he often steals clothing. "He has been once since at Piscataway Town, on Potowmack River, but was seen at home two Days after, with a Horse which he is supposed to have stolen; he has likewise been often seen near home 'til within ten Day..."3 Stockett offered a twenty shillings reward "and reasonable Charges" to whomever returned Page to Stockett.4
In Thomas Stockett's inventory, taken in 1763, a slave named Page, "a young fellow," is included.5 It is not known for sure whether he was the same Page who ran away from Stockett in 1749. Page would have been around 33 years old in 1763 and that was not necessarily considered "young" in the eighteenth century. However, Page was also not a very common name so there is a possibility that the Page who ran away and the Page who appeared in Stockett's inventory were the same person.
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