1758-08-13 Freedom Seeking: Prince

Identifier
NJS-EVE-01017
Source
Runaway ad for Prince, by William Peartree Smith
Runaway ad for Prince (updated with five pound reward), by William Peartree Smith

Runaway ad for Prince, by William Peartree Smith, "RUN away on the 13th of August," New-York Gazette, or, the Weekly Post-Boy, August 21, 1758, p. 3.

Runaway ad for Prince (updated with five pound reward), by William Peartree Smith, "RUN away on the 13th of August," New-York Gazette, or, the Weekly Post-Boy, September 18, 1758, p. 4.
Event Description
On August 13, 1758, a Black man named Prince ran away from his enslaver William Peartree Smith of Elizabethtown (present-day Elizabeth), New Jersey. He went to New York and crossed over King's Bridge heading north from Manhattan Island. At the bridge, he showed a false pass and said that he was enslaved by a butcher in New York City and that he had authorization to go to the country to bring back cattle for the butcher.

Prior to this escape, Prince was at one time a resident of Dutchess County in New York's Hudson Valley, where he had been enslaved by a man named Mr. Nixon, and it is possible that Prince was headed toward his old home when he passed King's Bridge.

William Peartree Smith, who was a long-time trustee of Princeton University (then called the College of New Jersey), posted a runaway ad seeking Prince. The transcript below is from the August 21, 1758, issue of the New-York Gazette, or, the Weekly Post-Boy newspaper:


"RUN away on the 13th of August Instant, from William Peartree Smith Esq; of Elizabeth-Town in New Jersey; A Negro Man called Prince, had on a Leather Cap, Linnen Waistcoat and Breeches, coarse blue Stockings, a thick pair of Shoes, speaks English and Dutch, has lived in Jamaica in the West-Indies with Mr Simon Parsco, and in Dutchess-County, in New York Colony with Mr. Nixon, has been lately seen in New-York, and it is said has passed King's-Bridge, where he shewed a Pass and pretended that he belonged to a Butcher in New-York, and was going into the Country to fetch Cattle for his Master: Whoever secures him in any of his Majesty's Goals, so that his Master may have him again, shall be well rewarded."

This ad ran in the paper for three weeks. Then, on September 18, 1758, Smith updated the ad, changing only the last sentence to specify the amount of the reward: "Whoever secures him in any of his Majesty's Goals, so that his Master may have him again, shall have FIVE POUND reward."

Considering the timing of this update, it appears that Prince was still at large more than a month after his escape. Prince's fate after September 1758 is uncertain.
Event Type
Freedom Seeking
Date
August 13, 1758 – September 18, 1758
Location of Event
Elizabeth (formerly Elizabethtown)
Kingsbridge, Bronx, New York (King's Bridge)
Related Place
Dutchess County, New York
Primary Participants

Prince
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02409
Role: Runaway
Age category: Adult
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- William Peartree Smith (1723-1801)
Verbatim description from source:
"A Negro Man called Prince; speaks English and Dutch, has lived in Jamaica in the West-Indies with Mr Simon Parsco, and in Dutchess-County, in New York Colony with Mr. Nixon"
Additional Participants

William Peartree Smith (1723-1801)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02414
Role: Enslaver, Advertiser

Simon Parsco
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02419
Role: Former Enslaver Mentioned
Comment: in Jamaica

Mr. Nixon
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02420
Role: Former Enslaver Mentioned
Comment: in Dutchess County, New York
Related Resource
Michael R. Glass, "Princeton's Founding Trustees," Princeton & Slavery Project.
Record Contributor
R. Isabela Morales
Princeton & Slavery Project
Resource class
Event