Levin Keene (b. 1784 - d. 1853)
MSA SC 5496-51913
Property Owner, Dorchester County, Maryland
Biography:
Levin Keene was born into a fairly prominent family on June 17, 1784.1 As a farmer and slaveholder, Keene resided in the Parsons Creek District in Dorchester County, Maryland. His property was located at the head of the Hungar River.2 By 1830, Keene had amassed a substantial amount of property, including 15 African American slaves working on his property.3 In 1830, there was also 10 free whites living in his household. Ten years later, in 1840, Keene officially owned 14 slaves with only six free whites residing in his household.4 In 1850, Keene had a real estate value of $2,000 as he worked as a farmer.5 He resided with his wife, Ann Broome Travers Keene, and their four children: Thomas, Eliza A., Samuel, and James. Thomas was 24 years old and working as a merchant. According to the 1850 slave schedules, Keene saw a drastic decrease in his slaves as he owned only six.6
Keene recorded his first manumission of five negroes on May 20, 1802. The five slaves were Isaac, Murry, Moll, Jacob, and Joshua. Isaac, Murry, and Moll were to be free "on the first day of January Eighteen hundred and nine."7 Jacob was "to be free on the first day of January Eighteen hundred and ten."8 Joshua was "to be free on the first day of January Eighteen hundred and thirteen."9 Delayed manumissions were noted in land records as a deed of manumission for some future date.10 This was a method "of ensuring loyalty from enslaved people, who could eventually join the growing freed and freeborn black population."11 Term limits could have also allowed for slaveholders to relieve their troubled consciences.
Soon after his 1802 manumission of slaves, Keene began to allow for more delayed manumissions on April 6, 1805. In this deed of manumission he released from bondage six slaves: Black Nan, Yellow Nan, Rhoda, Mack, Phillis, and Jacob (son of yellow Nan).12 Black Nan "so called for distinction to be and shall be absolutely free, on the first day of January eighteen hundred and twelve and her Increase if a male or males, to be free at the age of twenty five if a female or females to be free at the age of eighteen."13 The rest of the slaves were held to the same stipulation of males being free at the age of 25 and females being free at the age of 18. Yellow Nan was "to be free on the first day of January eighteen hundred and fourteen."14 Rhoda was "to be free on the first day of January Eighteen hundred and Sixteen."15 Mack was "to be free on the first day of January eighteen hundred and twenty."16 Phillis was "to be free on the first day of January eighteen hundred and twenty one."17 Jacob "son of Yellow Nan to be free on the first day of January eighteen hundred and thirty."18 Keene could have provided these slaves with their delayed manumissions in order to preserve loyalty and free his guilty conscience.
While Keene provided term limits to some of his slaves, he may not have offered the same for others. As a result, Keene had one of his slaves escape from his property. This slave was known as "Jack," who was formerly the property of Robert Wyvell.19 Jack was described as approximately 18 years old and could "tell a very plausible story, dress a lie and give it a good appearance."20 Jack was involved in the "coasting business," which meant he could have traveled the waterways in order to make his escape. By all accounts, it is unknown whether or not Jack's escape was successful. Keene attempted to reclaim Jack by posting a runaway advertisement in the Cambridge Chronicle on April 02, 1825.
Keene passed away on April 19, 1853, at the age of 67.21 He was buried in Grace Cemetery on Taylor's Island, Dorchester County, Maryland. Levin and Ann had seven children, with only two surviving Levin, and three surviving Ann. Ann died on September 4, 1852. Their son, James E. Keene, died shortly after on September 21, 1852. Susan Amanda Keene died in 1856 and Thomas Henry Keene died in 1900.
Endnotes:
1. "Levin Keene." Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=27155034
2. "Forty Dollars Reward." Cambridge Chronicle. April 02, 1825.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Kate Clifford Larson. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2004), 7.
11. Ibid., 8.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. "Forty Dollars Reward." Cambridge Chronicle. April 02, 1825.
20. Ibid.
21. "Levin Keene." Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=27155034
Researched and Written by Tanner Sparks, 2014.
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