William Tabbs
MSA SC 5496-51946
Fled from slavery, St. Mary's County, 1833
Biography:
William Tabbs was born around 1810. He lived in Saint Mary's County, where he was owned by John Truman Hawkins, a landholder who lived near Charlotte Hall. [1] Hawkins served as a delegate representing Saint Mary's County in the state legislature from 1824 to 1830 and he also served as a member of the Levy Court of Saint Mary's County. [2] Hawkins owned a significant number of slaves, according to the 1831 slave assessment record. [3] William Tabbs was one of eight men and teenagers between the ages of 14 and 45. There were five women between the ages of 14 and 36. Also included in the 1831 slave assessment was a one hundred year old man named Pompy who had witnessed both the War of 1812 and the American Revolution. Neither Hawkins nor Pompy probably knew Pompy's real age, and one hundred was almost certainly an approximation. Rivaling Pompy's life experience was Lucy, an 85-year-old woman. In total, there were eighteen adults living as slaves on Hawkins' property. Hawkins also owned seventeen children, from infants to fourteen-year-olds; there were eight girls and nine boys. These adults and children were probably family groups, but their relationships to each other were not recorded in the slave assessment.
William Tabbs made his escape from slavery on May 3, 1833. [4] He had evidently planned ahead and obtained free papers; however, John T. Hawkins did not have a guess as to what the name on those papers could be. William Tabbs was twenty three years old and stood five feet seven or eight inches tall in 1833. Hawkins described him as "not very black" and "when well dressed a very likely fellow." He wore a country cloth roundabout and vest with red, blue and yellow stripes over a domestic cotton shirt and a pair of old blue cassimere or cloth pantaloons. He also had an old wool hat and a worn blue cloth coat. Hawkins noted that William Tabbs could play the fiddle. John T. Hawkins thought William was heading to Piscataway in Prince George's County. It is unknown if William successfully reached freedom or if he was captured. The runaway advertisement was supposed to be run for three months beginning in May but it only ran once.
John T. Hawkins died of an illness in 1835 at the age of 38. [5] His will made provisions for where his slaves would go after his death, expressing that he wanted his executor to "keep all the servants together... until all my debts are paid." [6] This meant that he did not want his slaves to be sold to pay for his debts, an occasion that often irreparably broke up families. There is no mention of a William in his will, leaving William Tabbs' fate inconclusive.
1. "One Hundred Dollars Reward," Daily National Intelligencer, May 13, 1833.
2. House of Delegates, St. Mary's County, Historical List, Archives of Maryland.
3. SAINT MARY'S COUNTY LEVY COURT (Assessment Record, Slaves) 1831. H, Districts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
4. "One Hundred Dollars Reward."
5. "Death," Daily National Intelligencer, April 10, 1835.
6. ST. MARY'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills), 1658-1975. EJM 1, "John T. Hawkins."
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