Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Jacob Matthias Boyer (b.1835-d.?)
MSA SC 5496-8329
Fled from Slavery, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, 1855

Biography:

According to William Still, the son of a fugitive slave from Maryland and a Philadelphia-based "agent" of the Northern Underground Railroad, Jacob Boyer successfully escaped from slavery in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in 1855. In his book, Underground Railroad, Still uses logs of fugitives received in his home to document more than four hundred slave flights from Maryland.

Jacob Boyer ran from slavery after his owner, Richard Carman, died around 1855.  Twenty years old at the time, Boyer chose to escape when faced with the prospect of being sold.  Often, slaves were sold after their owners passed away.  Boyer ran from Annapolis, where his owner had been a bank cashier, and reached Philadelphia, where he was taken in and assisted by William Still.

Return to Jacob Matthias Boyer's Introductory Page


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