James Pattison (b. 1772 - d. 1844)
MSA SC 5496-51897
Property and Slave Owner, Dorchester County, Maryland
Biography:
James Pattison was born on August 5, 1772 in Dorchester County, Maryland.1 As a property owner in Slaughter Creek, Pattison owned a number of slaves while also manumitting a number of slaves.2 According to the 1830 census, Pattison was residing in the Eighth Election District of Dorchester County. His household consisted of 28 persons (free white, slaves, free colored). Of those 28 individuals, there were 12 free white persons, 12 slaves, and four free colored persons. The majority of Pattison's slaves for both male and female were in the age range of 10 through 23.3 By 1840, Pattison's household had decreased substantially to 15 persons (free white, slaves, and free colored). Of those 15 individuals, only five were free whites and 10 were slaves.4
Pattison would "liberate, manumit, and set free all my Negroes slaves that I am possessed of at present" in 1817.5 He would set free nine slaves: Peter (aged 31), Jerry (aged 18), Jack (aged 8), Daniel (aged 6), Leah (aged 10), Mary (aged 5), John (aged 3), Bet (aged 2), and Joe (an infant). They would be free once there term of servitude expired.6 The terms of servitude would last until they reached a certain age and then would be free. Manumissions in Maryland were not uncommon even in the earliest days of slavery.7 It's possible that Pattison offered delayed manumissions to most of his slaves to ensure their loyalty.
However, on July 10, 1824, Pattison placed a runaway advertisement in the Cambridge Chronicle for Sam Willson after he escaped on July 4, 1824.8 Willson was not listed among the nine slaves that were to be manumitted meaning he had no sense of loyalty to Pattison. Willson could have been a slave for life and chose to seek out his freedom by escaping from Pattison's plantation. He offered a "fifty dollar reward" for any person that apprehended his slave out of the state of Maryland.9 Pattison also offered a $30 reward if taken in the state and out of the county, and a $20 reward if he was apprehended in the county. Pattison made a concerted effort to have Willson apprehended with a detailed description and sizeable reward. It is unknown if Sam Willson was captured, but Pattison placed a runaway advertisement in the local newspaper in hopes of reclaiming his property.
Pattison, and his wife, Elizabeth LeCompte Pattison (1782-1809) had three children together.10 These three children were: Jeremiah LeCompte Pattison (1804-1873), Anne Elizabeth Pattison (1807-1881), and Margaret W. Pattison Fooks (1809-1868).11 James Pattison died on September 7, 1844 and was buried in Grace Cemetery on Taylors Island in Dorchester County, Maryland.12
Endnotes:
1. "James Pattison." Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=pattison&GSfn=james&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=22&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=70908448&df=all&
2. "Fifty Dollars Reward." Cambridge Chronicle. 10 July 1824.
6. Ibid.
7. Kate Clifford Larson. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2004), 5.
8. "Fifty Dollars Reward." Cambridge Chronicle. 10 July 1824.
9. Ibid.
10. "James Pattison." Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=pattison&GSfn=james&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=22&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=70908448&df=all&
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
Researched and Written by Tanner Sparks, 2014
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