Self-Emancipated Luke From Isle of Wight Found in Essex

Based on the other typos here, I think Lyhe in the first runway ad is Luke in the second ad. If they are in fact the same person, Luke, working as a carpenter, passed for free for several years and was captured and placed in the Essex County Jail in 1771. When pressed, he said he belonged to Moses Allman (not my Moses) of Isle of Wight County.

The next year Luke got away again. This second ad mentions belonging to Lewis Allman of Isle of Wight and that we was a carpenter who passed as free until condemned by the Essex Court. This ad forbade any vessels from carrying him away from the Colony, but I hope he got away.

I hope I run into Luke in MY own research.

Source: 

  • Virginia Gazette (Rind), Williamsburg, August 8, 1771.
  • Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon), Williamsburg, September 3, 1772.

Found at The Geography of Slavery in Virginia http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/index.html

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