1801-01-01 Jailing: Matthew Fairfax, Levi Brown
- Identifier
- NJS-EVE-00799
- Source
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Runaway pickup notice for Matthew Fairfax and Levi Brown, by Peter Keenon
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Runaway pickup notice for Matthew Fairfax and Levi Brown, by Peter Keenon, "TWO NEGROMEN," Guardian, Or, New-Brunswick Advertiser, March 27, 1801, p. 4. Archival location: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries. Loose Newspaper Collection (Ac. 3193). Box 27, Folder 15.
- Event Description
-
On January 1, 1801, two Black men were incarcerated in the Middlesex County jail in New Brunswick, NJ, on suspicion of being fugitives from slavery. Their names were Matthew Fairfax and Levi Brown. Two months later, on March 4, 1801, the keeper of the Middlesex County jail, Peter Keenon, issued a notice about the men and informed the public that they would be sold if their enslavers did not come forth to take them away by March 26.
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Transcript of the source document:
"TWO NEGROMEN,
WERE Committed to my custody on the first day of January last, —MATTHEW FAIKFAX, black, about five feet eight inches high, and about 25 years old, speaks quick, and plays on the violin, had a forged pass, from Fairfax county in Virginia, and from his dialect, supposed to be from Maryland or Virginia. —LEVI BROWN, a mulatto, says he is from Pennsylvania, about five feet eight inches high, stout made, and about 20 years old, both say they have been brought up to the farming business —If they are not claimed by their masters on or before the 26th instant, they then will be sold to pay charges and goal fees.
PETER KEENON, Keeper of the prison of Middlesex county
New-Brunswick, New-Jersey, March 4, 1801. } 19--4w" - Event Type
- Jailing
- Date
- January 1, 1801 – March 4, 1801
- Date Certainty
- Inferred
- Location of Event
- Middlesex County gaol (jail), New Brunswick
- Preceding Event
- 1800-12 Freedom Seeking: Matthew Fairfax
- Primary Participants
-
Matthew Fairfax (b. ca. 1776)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01953
Role: Jailed Person
Age: 25
Status: Enslaved
Verbatim description from source:
"MATTHEW FAIKFAX, black, about five feet eight inches high, and about 25 years old, speaks quick, and plays on the violin, had a forged pass, from Fairfax county in Virginia, and from his dialect, supposed to be from Maryland or Virginia"Levi Brown (b. ca. 1781)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01954
Role: Jailed Person
Age: 20
Status: Enslaved
Verbatim description from source:
"LEVI BROWN, a mulatto, says he is from Pennsylvania, about five feet eight inches high, stout made, and about 20 years old" - Additional Participants
-
Peter Keenon (d. 1814)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01952
Role: Jailer
Comment: keeper of the Middlesex County jail - Record Contributor
- Kate Jackson