1774 Freedom Seeking: Costant
- Identifier
- NJS-EVE-01047
- Source
-
Runaway ad for Costant, by John Williams Sanders
-
Runaway ad for Costant, by John Williams Sanders, "Eight Dollars Reward," New-York Gazette, and the Weekly Mercury, November 7, 1774, p. 2.
- Event Description
-
In 1774, a Black man named Costant ran away from his enslaver John Williams Sanders, near Princeton, New Jersey. Costant was 26 years old and accustomed to working as a domestic servant. The enslaver supposed that Costant had a forged pass and planned to go to New York or Philadelphia to board a ship bound for the West Indies. Sanders published a runaway ad offering a reward for Costant's return and warning shipmasters not take Costant on board. The enslaver listed multiple associates in Philadelphia, New York, and Elizabethtown who were ready to assist him in apprehending Costant.
The exact date of Costant's escape is uncertain. It occurred before November 7, 1774, when the runaway ad appeared in the paper.
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Transcript of the source document:
"EIGHT DOLLARS Reward.
RUN-away from the subscriber, living near Princeton in New-Jersey, a negro man named COSTANT, about the age of twenty-six; he is a well-built, likely, black, active, sensible fellow, and has been accustomed to attend a gentleman : Had on, and took with him the following cloaths, viz. Two brown broad cloth coats, one of them too large and long for him, with silver plated buttons, the other very short, with plain buttons ; a blue surtout coat ; one brown holland and one fustian short coat ; one pair of fustian, and one ditto of leather breeches; one pair of striped, and one ditto of check trowsers. one fustian, one striped gingham, and two white waist-coats; one pair of old boots : a pair of new and a pair of old shoes, with a pair of neat pinchbeck buckles ; one or two old beaver hats, cut in the fashion; two white and three check shirts, with sundry other things. Whoever takes up and secures said negro in any of his Majesty's goals, so that his master may get him again, shall receive the above reward, with all reasonable charges, by applying to the subscriber, near Princeton, to Dr. Samuel Duffield at Philadelphia, to Mr. Lloyd Daubney at New-York, or to Dr. Bates Williams Peterson, near Elizabeth-Town.
JOHN WILLIAMS SANDERS
N.B. It is imagined he may have a forged pass, and go towards New-York or Philadelphia, with a view of procuring a passage to the West-Indies, from whence he came ; therefore all master of vessels or others, are forewarned not to take him off, or any ways harbour him at their peril. He is learning to play on, and is very fond of the fiddle." - Event Type
- Freedom Seeking
- Date
- 1774
- Location of Event
- Princeton
- Primary Participants
-
Costant (b. 1748)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02484
Role: Runaway
Age: 26
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- John Williams Sanders
Verbatim description from source:
"A negro man named COSTANT, about the age of twenty-six; he is a well-built, likely, black, active, sensible fellow, and has been accustomed to attend a gentleman; He is learning to play on, and is very fond of the fiddle" - Additional Participants
-
John Williams Sanders
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02483
Role: Enslaver, AdvertiserLloyd Daubney
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02486
Role: Agent for Enslaver
Comment: in New York CityBates Williams Peterson
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02487
Role: Agent for Enslaver
Comment: in Elizabethtown (present-day Elizabeth)Samuel Duffield
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02485
Role: Agent for Enslaver
Comment: in Philadelphia - Related Resource
- Andre Fernando Biehl, "Strategies for Escape: A Study of Fugitive Slave Ads (1770-1819)," Princeton & Slavery Project.
- Record Contributor
- Larissa Jimenez Gratereaux
- Princeton & Slavery Project