Runaway advertisements, so-called, can tell us a lot about the lives and experiences of persons who made the difficult decision to break for freedom. The newspaper ad reproduced here tells a story in miniature of two freedomseekers whose journey north took them through Montevallo, Alabama or, as it was then called, "Wilson's Hill."

In June 1824, Zilphey and Moses ran away together from their enslaver in Montgomery County, Alabama. A month later they were captured and jailed in Shelby County, probably in Shelbyville, and then, in August, by some means or other, managed to slip free of their county keepers. Four months later, having twice managed to break free, they were seen at Wilson's Hill. 

Perhaps some of our earliest Montevallo ancestors found ways to hide, feed, and comfort Zilphey and Moses on their journey.

Their enslaver, a James Goodson, knew they would travel north. He placed runaway advertisements in at least two Tennessee papers, in addition to the Huntsville ad featured above.

Advertisements for runaway slaves, written by slave owners seeking to recover their property, are rich with identifying details that tell tales valued today for reasons far different from their original intent.  

We learn that Moses, light-complected and stoutly built, the younger of the two, had a rough life. Both feet are missing toes and he "is considerably marked on his back," suggesting a back scarred by multiple whippings. And yet -- it is one of those moments when a person's individuality flashes into view -- he "carries a very smiling countenance." 

Zilphey, also light-complected with a bushy head of straight hair, is said to be in her early to mid-thirties. She can be identified by a "wen," a swelling, on the back of one wrist. A final tell-tale piece of information shines out for us today: "It is probable she may have had a child during her absence." 

Her pregnancy suggests another probability.

It suggests that Zilphey chose to endure the unimaginable hardships and dangers of flight in order to save a child from the life of slavery she had known. Zilphey's voice is forever lost, but we have the testimony of enslaved mother Harriet Jacob, who famously wrote her own story in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: "I knew the doom that awaited my fair baby in slavery, and I determined to save her from it, or perish in the attempt." 

It is sad to report that Moses was caught and jailed in June 1825 in Davidson County, Tennessee, and presumably sent back to his enslaver in Montgomery County. No further information about Zilphey has turned up. Godspeed to you Zilphey! We can only hope that she and her newborn child succeeded in following the North Star to freedom.

Moses's story played out in a newspaper advertisement that appeared in the Huntsville Democrat, June 21, 1825.

Image copy, Newspapers.com by Ancestry, accessed Dec. 12, 2024.

It was common practice for jailors to post notices of suspected fugitive slaves in order that they be reclaimed by their owners, in this case the same James Goodson who placed the runaway advertisements noted above. If no owner made themselves known, the fugitive -- or as we would say, freedomseeker -- would be sold at auction, with the proceeds going to the jailor. 

Readers who want to discover more stories about enslaved persons seeking freedom -- the story of Zilphey and Moses is just one of the "thousands of stories of resistance that have never been accessible in one place"--should check out the fascinating website Freedom on the Move. 

The website states with admirable clarity the significance of the advertisements for runaway slaves. "Created to control the movement of enslaved people, the ads ultimately preserved the details of individual lives--their personality, appearance and life story. Taken collectively, the ads constitute a detailed, concise, and rare source of information about the experiences of enslaved people."

We can find there stories of other freedomseekers with Shelby County associations, including Austin and Elisha (1824) and an unnamed man "with a scar on his left leg, immediately above the knee" (1853). 

Huntsville Weekly Democrat, 12 Jan 1824. 

Montgomery Advertiser, 30 Nov 1853

A valuable resource for runaway advertisements during the era of the American Revolution is the Adverts 250 Project. The extraordinary first-person slave narrative by John Swanson Jacobs, Harriet's brother, lost since it was published in an Australian newspaper in 1855, is now available with an informative introduction and biography by Jonathan D. S. Schroeder. The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery, source of one of our epigraphs, was published by the University of Chicago Press (2024).

Do you have stories to share? We would love to hear from you! Write us at Montevallolegacy@gmail.com.