Joe (b. circa 1795 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51906
Fled from Slavery, Dorchester County, Maryland, 1824
Biography:
Joe was born around 1795 in Dorchester County, Maryland. His owner, Robert Dennis, had a plantation near Vienna. Joe was among eight slaves to escape from Dennis's plantation during the "Easter Holydays" of 1824.1 With Dennis being deceased at the time, his executor, Clement Stanford, publicly pushed to apprehend those slaves by placing a runaway advertisement in the Cambridge Chronicle on November 13, 1824. Joe was described as "a short chunky fellow, down look, silent and reserved, very black."2 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.
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."4 On January 1, 1825, two months after the original advertisement, Stanford increased the reward amount to $1000 for all slaves.5 However, he offered another stipulation: "100 dollars for each man, or 50 for the woman and each of the children."6 Most runaway advertisements from slave owners generally placed a higher value on male slaves.
Endnotes:
1. "$750 Reward." Cambridge Chronicle. November 13, 1824.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. "One Thousand Dollars Reward." Cambridge Chronicle. January 1, 1825.
6. Ibid.
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