Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Murray "Morris" Anthony (b. 1856 - d. 1880)
MSA SC 5496-8004
Fled from Slavery, Dorchester County, Maryland 1857

Biography:

    Murray Anthony, also known as Morris, was one of twenty-eight slaves to escape from the Cambridge District of Dorchester County on October 24, 1857. Murray fled with his parents, Kit and Leah, and his two siblings. He would have only been about a year old at the time of their escape, but Murray's absence was still recognized by their owner Samuel Pattison. The planter owned eighteen slaves in 1857, including his 8 year old brother Adam and seven year old sister Mary.1  

    This group of freedom-seekers likely received information from Harriet Tubman, as many local blacks had in recent years. The news of the escape quickly spread throughout the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Their profile was much too high to head directly to the known accomplices in Wilmington, Delaware. Pattison had already bought a runaway advertisement, with a $2000 reward for the "fourteen head of negroes" he lost in one night.2 He and the other fugitives' owners, were also reportedly on the trail of the massive group. Murray's parents were forced carry the infant through constant rain with scant supplies, assuming that plotting enemies could be anywhere. They were finally able to make it to William Still's Philadelphia depot in early November.3

    Fellow travelers Aaron Cornish and Joseph Viney were among those that recounted their harrowing journey to the abolitionist. Still described their pitiable condition, "with several of the children sick, some of their feet bare and worn, and one of the mothers with an infant in her arms, incapable of partaking of the diet." This infant was Murray Anthony, whose survival must have been seen as a minor miracle. The group, who were heavily armed for the perilous journey, even had a violent encounter with "several Irishmen" in Delaware. One of the white attackers was severely injured from either a stabbing or bullet wound from the determined fugitives.4      

    Despite his public efforts, and the likelihood that he utilized slave catchers, Pattison was not able to retrieve Kit Anthony or any members of his family. In fact, nearly all of the Cambridge party was able to successfully relocate to the growing fugitive community in Canada. The Anthonys appear in the 1861 Canada Census, where they lived as freemen alongside many of the same individuals that they had labored with as slaves in Maryland, including Joseph and Susan Viney.5 Here, Murray's literate father was able to support the transition of newcomers in his role as secretary of the Fugitive Aid Society of St. Catharines, established and staffed by Harriet Tubman.6 However, life was difficult in the new country and many succombed to the weather conditions or lack of basic necessities. It seems that Murray's mother Leah was one of these victims as she is no longer documented after 1861. The rest of the family, save for his older brother and sister, would move back to the United States shortly after.

    By 1870, "Morris" was living with his father Kit, stepmother Mary, and brother Robert in Elmira, New York.7 The family was on the move once again in the subsequent decade. Kit may have felt that he and his sons would find better economic opportunities in Philadelphia, where many formerly enslaved migrants had moved during the post-war years. He was working there as a steward, according to the 1880 Census, though his elder son is not recorded.8 At just 25 years old, Murray Anthony died in Philadelphia on Christmas Eve, 1880.9
Footnotes -

1. DORCHESTER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (Assessment Record) for Samuel Pattison, 1852-1910 C687, Election District 7, p. 161.

2. "Fourteen Head of Negroes", 26 October, 1857.

3. William Still. Underground Rail Road: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, etc. Philadelphia, PA: Porter & Coales, Publishers, 1871.

4. Ibid.

5. Ancestry.com. 1861 Census of Canada, St. Catharine's, Lincoln County, District 4, p. 56.

6. "Relief of Fugitive Slaves in Canada," The Liberator, 25 October, 1861.

7. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census. Elmira, Chemung County, NY, Ward 3, p. 44.

8. Ancestry.com. 1880 United States Federal Census. Philadelphia, PA, District 104, p. 13.

9. Ancestry.com. Philadelphia, Pennyslvania, Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915, "Morris Anthony".

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