African-American Freedom Seekers, Harford County, Maryland, 1774-1864 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780788454158)

African-American Freedom Seekers, Harford County, Maryland, 1774-1864

It is estimated that about 100,000 slaves used the Underground Railroad to escape slavery. Many of them came through Maryland via Harford County to cross over the Susquehanna River into Cecil County or follow the river north to Pennsylvania and beyond. Harford County was a busy corridor for freedom seekers with stations at the Hays House near Bel Air (now the Hays-Heighe House at Harford Community College), Swallowfield in Berkley (near Darlington) where slaves hid in the ice house, William Worthington's house at Shure's (or Worthington's) Landing near Darlington (house now gone), "Had" Harris House (once located on the Susquehanna River, but now under Conowingo Lake created by the 1928 Conowingo Dam), and Belle Vue Farm near Havre de Grace (on Chesapeake Bay, south of Susquehanna River). Many unidentified homes and buildings secreted African-American freedom seekers along the Susquehanna River.

It is not the purpose of this book to discuss in any detail the Underground Railroad itself; rather, the intent is to identify, as many as possible, those slaves in Harford County who escaped to freedom. Being such a secretive activity made it inherently difficult to find only a few hundred, who are alphabetically arranged within the text by surname. Those without surnames are also arranged alphabetically, like Negro Jack or Mulatto Joe.

There are many advertising notices about runaways from extant Harford County and Pennsylvania newspapers. Such notices gave detailed descriptions. Three nationally significant events - Rope Ferry Incident (1841), Prigg vs. Pennsylvania (1842), and Christiana Resistance (1851) - occurred in Pennsylvania and were connected to Harford County freedom seekers. They are also briefly discussed.

There is some information about accomplices, black and white, who helped in the flight to freedom in Harford County prior to 1864 and also some runaway indentured servants between 1864 and 1882.

Henry C. Peden, Jr.

2026, 5.5" x 8.5", paper, index, 186 pp.

ISBN: 9780788454158

101-P5415