1797 Freedom Seeking: Jack
- Identifier
- NJS-EVE-01081
- Source
-
Runaway ad for Jack, by Frederick Cruser
-
Runaway ad for Jack, by Frederick Cruser, "100 Dollars Reward," Daily Advertiser, January 16, 1799, p. 3.
- Event Description
-
A Black man named Jack ran away from his enslaver Frederick Cruser of Rocky Hill mills, near Princeton, New Jersey. He left Rocky Hill and went toward Boston. He was seen in Dighton, MA, and passed Taunton, MA, on his way to Boston before he was captured and brought back to New Jersey.
The exact date of this escape is not known. It occurred sometime in 1798 or earlier, and Jack would have been under the age of 23 at the time. Information about this escape attempt comes from a runaway ad that was published after Jack ran away again; that runaway ad, published in January 1799, mentioned that Jack had run away before and detailed Jack's previous escape route. The ad stated: "ran away once before and was found at one Devenports 10 miles this side of Boston, on the road from Tanton to Boston, had been at Diton." - Event Type
- Freedom Seeking
- Date
- 1797
- Date Certainty
- Approximate
- Related Place
- Princeton
- Following Event
- 1798 Capture: Jack
- Primary Participants
-
Jack (b. 1775)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02504
Role: Runaway
Age category: Adult
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Frederick Cruser (b. 1766) - Additional Participants
-
Frederick Cruser (b. 1766)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02503
Role: Enslaver - Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker