The clip below is taken from the Torch Light and Advertiser (Hagerstown, Maryland), from September 8, 1831, but the subject of the clipping is a slave named Paul Taylor, who escaped from Frederick County, in the Shenandoah Valley. As he made his escape on August 13, by the time this appeared in the newspaper, he may have been well on his way to Pennsylvania (perhaps having followed the “drinkin’ gourd“). I’m particularly interested the reference to his father being a Methodist preacher, about whom, I’m afraid, I’ve yet to learn anything. Incidentally, the Matthias/Mathias Rutter mentioned, at the end of the clipping, was a lifelong resident of Frederick County, dying in 1867.
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Jill Snyder
April 18, 2017
Thank you for this interesting article. My 2X great-grandfaher’s 1882 obituary states that he was born in 1807 on a plantation near Winchester, VA and escaped when he was about 20 years old. He made his way to Pennsylvania where he lived out his life working for a Quaker farmer in Catawissa. Have you come across any ads for runaway named Henry? Thank you.