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4 - Dress under constraint

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2015

Robert S. DuPlessis
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
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Summary

RUN away from the Subscriber, living in Donegall, Lancaster county, an Irish servant man, named JOHN ROBESON, about 22 years of age, about 5 feet 6 inches high, of a fresh complexion, red hair, and commonly wears it tied behind, and cued; had on, when he went away, a shirt and trowsers, a linen jacket, with 4 rows of buttons on the breast, and a pair of old shoes; he is a good scholar, and perhaps may pass for a Doctor. There went off with him, a Negroe man, named NED, well set, and strong, but not very tall, aged about 28 years, born in the Jerseys, speaks very good English, and can read and write, of a down look, and thick lips; had on, when he went away, a coarse shirt and trowsers, a hat, bound round the edge, and a hood worked in it; he may be taken for a Mulattoe, by his colour, and probably both may have provided other clothes. Likewise ran away in company with them, a likely Negroe man, belonging to Joseph Chambers in York town, named JAMES JONES, about 28 years of age, about 5 feet 11 inches high, slim made, born in this country, and has a good countenance; he took with him a blue broadcloth coat, black velvet jacket, and breeches, a pair of leather ditto, two fine shirts, one of them ruffled, 2 coarse ditto, two pair of coarse trowsers, a pair of pumps, with silver shoe buckles, a pair of strong shoes, a blanket, and a gun, with a splint in the stock, near the butt. It is likely they may have forged passes, as the white man writes a good hand. Whoever takes up and secures the said servants, so that their masters may have them again, shall have SIX POUNDS reward for the three, or Forty Shillings for either, if taken separate, and reasonable charges, paid by us, ALEXANDER LOWRY, JOSEPH CHAMBERS.

This highly circumstantial advertisement was one of three concerning runaway laborers published in the Pennsylvania Gazette dated August 17, 1769. Most such listings were briefer, and it was rare for both enslaved persons and indentured servants to appear together, so this one is in effect a compendium of the types of information proffered by (and the preoccupations of) masters seeking the return of valuable human property.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Material Atlantic
Clothing, Commerce, and Colonization in the Atlantic World, 1650–1800
, pp. 125 - 163
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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