HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
 

793
 


 

CHAPTER   LI.
 

NEGRO SLAVERY IN BUCKS COUNTY.
 

First slaves on the Delaware.—Penn a slave-holder.—Slaves in Bucks.—Slaves'
graveyard,—Mingo.—Friends favor their freedom.—Action of yearly meeting,
and the council.—Practice to liberate slaves.—Samuel Hart.—Slavery abolished.
—Number of slaves held and where.—Distribution of slaves.—All registered.—
But few among Germans.—Age of slaves.—Matthew Hughes.—Slaves gradually
decrease.— Priam. — Alice. — Jack.—Old slave-woman. — Margaret. — Under¬
ground railroad.—Big Ben,—Redemptioners.—Lord Altham.—Peter William¬
son.—English indentured servants.—Apprenticeship.

Negro slavery was introduced into Pennsylvania b}^ the early
Holland settlers. We find negroes on the west bank of the Dela¬
ware as early as 1636, but neither their number nor location is given.
In 1639 one Coinclisse was sentenced to serve " along with the
blacks," besides paying a fine for wounding a soldier. In 1657
Vice-director Alricks was complained of " for using the company's
oxen and neo-roes ;" and five vears afterward Vice-director Beek-
man ^Vahts Governor Sttiyvesant to " accommodate him wdth a com¬
pany of negroes," which he needs. These negroes were slaves, for
at that time black men, everywhere, were in bondage.

Long before the arrival of William Penn the English and Dutch
were actively engaged in the African slave-trade, which the demand
for labor in this and adjoining colonies made profitable. It was
under the protection of the English government, and he had no
control over it. A number of slaves came into the possession of the
Quaker immigrants, and even the great founder himself was a slave¬
holder, but we venture nothing in saying that he was a kind master.
Negro slavery in Pennsylvania was always of a mild type, and slaves