Week Two at MSA

I'm still getting lots of training on state and county records and am beginning to learn more about the Maryland State Colonization Society. One of the primary purposes of the Maryland State Colonization Society was to rid the state of free people of color. Among the Society’s records are lists of slaves manumitted throughout Maryland. Agents of the Society would then try to recruit these freed people to emigrate to the colony in West Africa. The lists contain fascinating demographic information such as the name, age, occupation, and county of residence of the freed people as well as information about how they were freed (such as by deed or will), when their freedom would commence, and the name of their former slave owners. As one example, thirty-two year old Maria Datcher (line 100), a former house servant, was manumitted "henceforth" by her owner, John Snider of Washington County. The remarks note that Maria was unwilling to go to Liberia, preferring instead to move to Pennsylvania. 

Krystal