Description:

Slavery



A Manumitted "mulatto Girl" in 19th C. Maryland: South of the Mason-Dixon Line

 

1p ADS from Frederick County, Maryland dated May 16, 1817. The document confirming that a 24-year-old "mulatto Girl" had been manumitted three years earlier, in 1814, was signed by Justice of the Peace George Ross as "George Ross" at bottom right. Docketed verso. Overall light toning, a few stains, minor paper folds, and a several chipped edges, else near fine. 7.625" x 6.125". Exhibition history: Exhibited as part of a temporary installation at the Wilton Historical Society, Wilton, Connecticut, 2019.

 

In full, with unchanged spelling:

 

"Maryland, Frederick County Set

 

On this 16th day of May 1817 personally appears Richard Potts Esquire before me the Subscriber a Justice of the peace for the County aforesaid and makes oath that the person to whom this is delivered, a mulatto Girl, about twenty four years of age about five feet five inches and a quarter high a small scar on the upper lip is the same Girl heretofore manumitted by Charles B. Ross by deed of manumission bearing date the 7th June 1814 and recorded in Libir 10 R No. 47 folios 236 + 237 one of the land records of the Frederick County Court

 

Sworn before,

George Ross."

 

What is remarkable about this document is that it is written in the same style as fugitive slave notices. The manumitted woman is described by age, race, height, and physical characteristics. Nowhere is her name listed. Ironically, this signer was probably a relative of Declaration of Independence signer George Ross (1730-1779) of Maryland.

 

Frederick County, Maryland is located in northern Maryland, about 30 miles south of the Mason-Dixon line. Slavery was not officially abolished in the state until November 1864, although it is estimated that almost half of Maryland's population of people of color were free by the start of the Civil War.

 

A document poignantly reminding us of our past as a slave-dependent economy and society.

 

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