1846 Letter Seeks Freedom for Enslaved Person
Read this poignant letter by William Thomas to an attorney in Cumberland, Maryland, pursuing freedom for an enslaved man named Richard in 1846.
Apr 21, 2025
BY Alan Zhou
During ANTIQUES ROADSHOW’s 2024 visit to Baltimore, Maryland, a guest named John brought in a handwritten letter dating from 1846, which he had inherited through his family, explaining that it had originally been received by his great-grandfather's uncle, Thomas Harvey, an attorney in Cumberland, Maryland.
Written by a man named William Thomas, who may have been Harvey’s father-in-law (John is unsure), the letter concerns an enslaved man named Richard, who had been freed by the writer's father in 1820, but was later unjustly sold back into slavery by William Thomas's nephew, Samuel. According to the letter, Thomas is seeking to learn the name of Richard’s new "master," which he believes will allow him to petition for Richard’s freedom.
Books & Manuscripts appraiser Devon Eastland, of Swann Auction Galleries, explained that the letter was written after Nat Turner's Rebellion, a slave revolt that took place in Virginia in 1831. The rebellion cost the lives of hundreds of people, and raised fears among white Southerners of the potential for an even larger revolt.
In the aftermath of the rebellion, state legislatures passed tighter laws restricting the movements of enslaved people. Eastland noted that a person died in jail in 1846 for helping to establish several Underground Railroad stops around Maryland. This adds important context for the letter, highlighting its writer William Thomas's courage in his determination and effort to stand up for the rights of a man who had suffered repeated injustice.
Unfortunately, as with the personal history of so many other enslaved people in the United States, Richard's specific fate is not documented.
You can read a full transcript of William Thomas's letter below.
Letter Written by William Thomas to Thomas P. Harvey, 1846
Sandy Spring 11th mo. 24th 1846
Dear Son,
We received thy letter (dated the 11th 13th & 14th and post marked 16th) on the 20th and I expect one of the girls will answer it, my business is of another kind. I begin by saying that my Father Rich[ard] Thomas by his last will set all his blacks free at the ages of 21 for males and 18 for females, among whom there was a boy named Richard (sometimes called Dick). This boy was born on the 14th of June 1799, to be free the 14th of June 1820, and was in the division of young blacks awarded to my nephew Sam[ue]l Thomas until of age, but instead of this I find he has been sold as a Slave to some man near Cumberland and is still in Slavery, am told his master lives near your town. His name I did not hear, but wish to get to it. This boy (or now man) is hired to work sometimes about town, from some accident has lost one Eye, he is now over 46 years old. I have little doubt but Samuel Thomas sold him as a Slave, but that will have no effect on his right to immediate freedom; should I be obliged to petition for his freedom it may cost his owner all his wages to this time — please make some enquiry who his master is, without letting Dick know of his right for the present. Had I known this man’s name I should of wrote to him — we are all well as usual and send our loves to all three of you.
Wm. Thomas
[Addressed to:]
Thomas M. Harvey, Esq.
Cumberland, Md.
GUEST: My great-grandfather's uncle was an attorney in Cumberland, Maryland.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: And received this letter from somebody who lived in Brookville who may be a distant relative as well.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: Um, asking for the release of a person who had been recaptured and re-enslaved 26 years after their original release in 1820.
APPRAISER: And so the addressee is Thomas Harvey, Esquire, an attorney in Cumberland, Maryland, MD. And you can see the postmark from 1846. And what he says is his father freed all of the enslaved people...
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: ...that he "owned" in his will. And the rule was, men freed at 21.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Women at 18, right?
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: But this man has also kept tabs on one particular man-- he says he was sold by his nephew to another man.
GUEST: To a person in Cumberland.
APPRAISER: "I have little doubt but Samuel Thomas sold him as a slave, but that will have no effect on his right to immediate freedom." The year this letter is written is 1846.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And this man should have been freed in 1820.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: He knows his date of birth. June 14, 1799. He knows his name, Richard. He knows he's lost an eye…
GUEST: As-- he's injured himself, so yes.
APPRAISER: By some unfortunate... And he mentions that this should be kept, kind of, on the down low.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: "Should I be obliged to petition for his freedom, it may cost his owner all his wages to this time. Please make some enquiry who his master is without letting Dick know of his right for the present." For the context of what was going on in Maryland at this period, there was the Nat Turner's rebellion in early 1830s in Virginia...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...and it made a lot of white, slave-owning people very worried about a slave revolt. As a result, the Maryland legislature had really cracked down very heavily on the movements of enslaved people. People that owned property in Baltimore that were free, were not allowed to send their children to school...
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: ...even though they paid school taxes. Frederick Douglass himself escaped in 1838-- from Baltimore.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And the year this letter was written in 1846, there was a man who had established a bunch of underground railroad stops who died in jail in 1846 just for helping.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: So for this person to put themselves out there and say, "I know that there's this person who's being horribly wronged, "and I want the help of an attorney. I want to do right by this man," is he's really exposing himself to a lot of risk.
GUEST: That's interesting.
APPRAISER: So he had to have really strong beliefs in a time when a lot of people did not stand up for the moral right.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Another interesting point is Black Americans have a lot of trouble doing genealogy because so much of their history has been completely expunged as though it didn't exist. We have a location, we have a first name. We have, uh, the month, the day and the year, 1799, that he was born, and so that might be just the little tidbit of information that a genealogist is looking for or needs...
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: ...to put together somebody's complete genealogy of somebody living now. If I was to assign an auction estimate, I would say $2,000 to $3,000 at auction.
GUEST: Oh, that's fantastic. That's really cool. Thank you for that background, too, that's fascinating.
Alan Zhou is a former intern for ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
