Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Kit (b. ? - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51895 
Fled from slavery, Dorchester County, Maryland, 1824

Biography:

    Kit was an enslaved African American owned by Moses Geoghehan (or "Geoghegan"), a property owner in Dorchester County, Maryland. On August 27, 1824, Geoghehan posted a runaway advertisement for his female slave, Kit, in the Cambridge Chronicle saying she fled from slavery eleven days earlier on August 16.1

    Kit was described as "about 5 feet 2 or 3 inches high, stout made, dark complected, one glass eye, her clothes not recollected."2 Geoghehan made a strong attempt to have his slave apprehended and returned. He suggested that "she probably made for the Upper Camp Meeting on her way for the State of Delaware."3 Geoghehan believed that his slave headed north to seek freedom and sought to reclaim his property. With Kit fleeing from his property, Geoghehan stood to lose profit from the loss of his slave. 

    Geoghehan offered a "forty dollar reward" if she was taken out of the state of Maryland and a thirty dollar reward if taken in Maryland.4 The reward for Kit was fairly substantial, which highlights her value as a slave. It is unknown if Kit was successful in her attempt to escape from slavery, but her goal was to be free.

Endnotes:

1. "Forty Dollars Reward." Cambridge Chronicle. August 27, 1824.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

Researched and Written by Tanner Sparks, 2014

Return to Kit's Introductory Page

 


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