[155] Except immediately following the negro “insurrection” in New York in 1712. Cf. Stat. at L., II, 433; 1 Pa. Arch., IV, 792; 2 Pa. Arch., XV, 368.
[156] “A negro man and a White Woman servant being taken up ... and brought before John Simcocke Justice in Commission for runaways Who upon examination finding they had noe lawful Passe Comitted them to Prison” ... MS. Court Rec. Penna. and Chester Co., 1681–88, p. 75; MS. New Castle Ct. Rec., Liber A, 158 (1677); MS. Minutes Ct. Quarter Sess. Bucks Co., 1684–1730, p. 138 (1690); MS. Minutes Chester Co. Courts, 1681–1697, p. 222 (1694–1695). For the continual going away of Christopher Marshall’s “Girl Poll,” see his Remembrancer, vol. D.
[157] The following is not only typical, but is very interesting on its own account, since Abraham Lincoln was a descendent of the family mentioned. “Run away on the 13th of September last from Abraham Lincoln of Springfield in the County of Chester, a Negro Man named Jack, about 30 Years of Age, low Stature, speaks little or no English, has a Scar by the Corner of one Eye, in the Form of a V, his Teeth notched, and the Top of one on his Fore Teeth broke; He had on when he went away an old Hat, a grey Jacket partly like a Sailor’s Jacket. Whoever secures the said Negro, and brings him to his Master, or to Mordecai Lincoln ... shall have Twenty Shillings Reward and reasonable Charges.” Pa. Gazette, Oct. 15, 1730.
[158] Mercury, Apr. 18, 1723; July 11, 1723; Gazette, May 3, 1744; Feb. 22, 1775; July 28, 1779; Jan. 17, 1782; Packet, Oct. 13, 1778; Aug. 3, 1779. One negro indentured himself to a currier. Gazette, Aug. 30, 1775. Such negroes the community was warned not to employ. Packet, Feb. 27, 1779.
[159] The penalty was thirty shillings for every day. Stat. at L., IV, 64 (1725–1726). There was need for regulation from the first. Cf. Col. Rec., I, 117. An advertisement from Reading in Gazette, July 31, 1776, explains the procedure when suspects were held in jail. Such advertisements recur frequently. Cf. Mercury, Aug. 13, 1730 (third notice); Gazette, Dec. 27, 1774; Packet, Mar. 23, 1779.
[160] For negroes carried off or who ran away at this time cf. MS. Miscellaneous Papers, Sept. 1, 1778; Nov. 19, 1778; Aug. 20, 1779; and others. Numbers of strange negroes were reported to be wandering around in Northumberland County. Ibid., Aug. 29, 1780. In 1732 the Six Nations had been asked not to harbor runaway negroes, since they were “the Support and Livelihood of their Masters, and gett them their Bread.” 4 Pa. Arch., II, 657, 658.
[161] So I judge from statistics which I have compiled from the advertisements in the newspapers.
[162] Mercury, Apr. 18, 1723; Packet, July 16, 1778; Gazette, June 12, 1740; Feb. 4, 1775; Jan. 3, 1776; July 2, 1781; Gazette, Nov. 17, 1748; Feb. 21, 1775. “‘Old Dabbo’ an African Negro ... call’d here for some victuals.... He had three gashes on each cheek made by his mother when he was a child.... His conversation is scarcely intelligible”; MS. Diary of Joel Swayne, 1823–1833, Mar. 27, 1828. Mercury, Aug. 6, 1730; Packet, Aug. 26, 1779; Gazette, July 31, 1739–1740; Mercury, June 24, 1725; Packet, June 22, 1789; Packet, Dec. 31, 1778; Gazette, Sept. 10, 1741; July 21, 1779; Sept. 11, 1746; Oct. 16, 1776; July 30, 1747; May 14, 1747; Oct. 22, 1747; Aug. 30, 1775; Mar. 22, 1747–1748; July 24, 1776; Apr. 23, 1761; July 5, 1775; Packet, Jan. 26, 1779.
[163] “My Dear Companion ... has really her hands full, Cow to milk, breakfast to get, her Negro woman to bath, give medicine, Cap up with flannels, as She is allways Sure to be poorly when the weather is cold, Snowy and Slabby. its then She gives her Mistriss a deal of fatigue trouble in attending on her.” Ch. Marshall, Remembrancer, E, Mar. 25, 1779. “To Israel Taylor p order of the Coms for Cureing negro Jack legg ... 4/10 To Roger Parke for Cureing negro sam ... /9/9.” MS. William Penn’s Account Book, 1690–1693, p. 8. A bill for £10 10 sh. 4d. was rendered to Thomas Penn for nursing and burying his negro Sam. Some of the items are very humorous. MS. Penn Papers, Accounts (unbound), Feb. 19, 1741. The bill for Thomas Penn’s negroes, Hagar, Diana, and Susy, for the years 1773 and 1774, amounted to £5 5 sh. Penn-Physick MSS., IV, 253. An item in a bill rendered to Mrs. Margaretta Frame is: “To bleeding her Negro man Sussex ... /2/6.” MS. Penn Papers, Accounts (unbound), June 5, 1742. St. John Crèvecœur, Letters, 221. Masters were compelled by law to support their old slaves who would otherwise have become charges on the community. Cf. Stat. at L., X, 70; Laws of Pa., 1803, p. 103; 1835–1836, pp. 546, 547. In very many cases, however, old negroes were maintained comfortably until death in the families where they had served. Cf. MS. Phila. Wills, X, 94 (1794). There are numerous instances of negroes receiving property by their master’s wills. Cf. West Chester Will Files, no. 3759 (1785). For the darker side cf. Lay, All Slave-Keepers Apostates, 93.
[164] “Many of those whom the good Quakers have emancipated have received the great benefit with tears in their eyes, and have never quitted, though free, their former masters and benefactors.” St. John Crèvecœur, Letters, 222; Pa. Mag., XVIII, 372, 373; Buck, MS. History of Bucks Co., marginal note of author in his scrapbook. For the superiority of slavery cf. J. Harriot, Struggles through Life, etc., II, 409. Also Watson, Annals, II, 265.