This is the fifth volume compiled by Mr. Boyle containing 18th-century Maryland runaway servant ads posted in local newspapers. It follows runaways from the final years of the American Revolution to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. While most of these ads concern runaway servants, apprentices and slaves, quite a few name lawbreakers, both men and women, horse thieves, an occasional murderer, and other lowlifes. Most of the crimes beyond running away pertained to thefts of clothing or money.
In addition to an individual’s age and whereabouts, the ads tell a great deal more about the character and physical appearance of runaways than we are accustomed to learning from most source records. While many of the physical descriptions found in the ads are generic, some stand out. One was Michael Toole with “fore teeth like a hog’s tusks.” Irishman Daniel Dunleavy had a scar on his face “and marked with gunpowder all over it, by firing a blast in his hands”. A Black slave named Joe “has a remarkable seam on one side of his head, occasioned by the cut of a hand-saw.” Advertisements by men whose spouses “eloped” from them are included. Francis Brumfield reported that wife Elizabeth “eloped from my bed and board without any provocation” and forbad anyone to deal with her. Adam Strickstroke’s wife, Otillow, eloped and “carried with her my Bed, Furniture and several other Articles.” Black slaves and Indians listed in these advertisements are listed by race as well as by surname, when one is given.
In preparing this latest volume in the series, Mr. Boyle consulted more than twenty late 18th-century newspapers from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, as well as from Maryland. Indeed, some runaways made their escape from places beyond their base in Maryland. The roughly 1,000 ads found here name close to 4,000 persons.
