Patience (b. circa 1796 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51902
Fled from Slavery, Dorchester County, Maryland, 1824
Biography:
Patience was one of eight slaves to escape from near Vienna in Dorchester County, Maryland around "the Easter Holydays" in 1824.1 She was about 28 years of age at the time and escaped with her husband, Levin, and two children, Anne Maria and Sophia, among the others.2 Patience was under the ownership of the late Robert Dennis, esq., who owned a plantation near Vienna. The executor for Dennis, Clement Stanford, made a strong public effort to have this group of slaves apprehended on November 13, 1824. Stanford had the same advertisement posted in the "Patriot, Baltimore; Star, Easton, Md. - Emporium, Trenton, N.J. and National Gazette, Philadelphia."3 Stanford appeared to focus his efforts in Baltimore and northern cities where many slaves were fleeing to seek their freedom. Patience was described as "tall and robust, prominent bosom, rather dark, of a chesnut color."4
Stanford offered a reward of $750 dollars "to any person or persons, who may apprehend said negroes and secure them in jail or otherwise, so that the subscriber gets them again, or 75 dollars for each one secured."5 On January 1, 1825, two months after the original advertisement, Stanford increased the reward amount to $1000 for all slaves.6 However, he offered another stipulation: "100 dollars for each man, or 50 for the woman and each of the children."7 Most runaway advertisements from slave owners generally placed a higher value placed on male slaves. Patience and Levin sought to freedom for not only themselves, but also their two children.
1. "$750 Reward." Cambridge Chronicle. November 13, 1824.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. "One Thousand Dollars Reward." Cambridge Chronicle. January 1, 1825.
7. Ibid.
Researched and Written by Tanner Sparks, 2014.
Return to Patience's Introductory Page
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