New Jersey Slavery Records · 1799, John, Capture

1799, John, Capture

Item

Title: 1799, John, Capture
Identifier: NJS-EVE-00498
Event Description: John, a French-speaking Black boy aged 16, ran away from his enslaver Mr. Reausseau in New York. The exact date of his escape is not known, and it is uncertain how long he was on the run.

On Friday, December 6, 1799, he was captured and jailed in Trenton. Henry Drake, Marshal for the city of Trenton, issued a notice of John's jailing in the Trenton newspaper New-Jersey State Gazette on December 10, 1799. Below is a transcript of the notice as it appeared in the December 31, 1799, issue of the paper:

"TAKEN UP

AND committed to gaol on Friday last, a French Negro Boy, by the name of JOHN, about 16 years of age, five feet 5 inches high, well built; has on a blue cap, mixed colored coat, brown pantaloons and half-boots—Says he is from New-York, and that his master lived near the New-Gaol, by the name of Reausseau, formerly of Jeremie in St. Domingo.—His owner is desired to send for him, pay charges and take him away, within four weeks, or he will be sold to pay charges.

HENRY DRAKE, Marshal.

Trenton, Dec. 10, '99. 41-4w."
Event Type: Violence: Capture
Action Status: Completed
Date: 6 December 1799
Date Certainty: Inferred
Location: New Jersey Penitentiary (Trenton)
Preceding Event: 1799, John, Freedom seeking (Resistance)
Primary Participant: John (b. 1783)
Sex: Male
Age: Young Adult; 16
Freedom Status: Enslaved
Enslaver of Primary Event Participant: Mr. Reausseau
Additional Participant: Henry Drake
Source: Runaway pickup notice for John; Runaway pickup notice for John, by Trenton Marshal Henry Drake. New-Jersey State Gazette. December 31, 1799.
Record Contributor: Jesse Bayker

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Items with "Following Event: 1799, John, Capture"
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1799, John, Freedom seeking (Resistance)	Event