# 18 - Jordan, age 14, who fled from his enslavers in 1810
NOTICE. RAN AWAY from the subscriber's plantation in Martin County, on the 1st ult. a Mulattto Boy named JORDAN, about 14 years of age, of a yellow complextion, has a scar on his left cheek, near his ear about three fourths of an inch long, speaks quick, is very artful, and has a lie ready to answer every question, had on when he went away a felt hat, a mixed jacket, and trousers, black wool and cotton homespun, and a cotton shirt: As he has been at home but one week from a former trip, he had a stop of iron rivited round each ancle [sic], which he may get some evil disposed person to take off; it is supposed he has a free pass. A reasonable reward will be given to any person who will secure the said runaway in any Jail, and send me information so that I get him again. JESSE F. JONES
Hamilton, May 14
Source: (Halifax, N.C.), North Carolina Journal, June 4th, 1810
Some sort of improved version of these thoughts may eventually appear on www.freedomseekers.org but I thought they would be good to share here, first. Jordan calls out to us.
Jordan – we see you! He was a child of 14. And if he had “a lie ready to answer every question,” we can know he was nimble and clever. We can be sure that the child had lived a hard life without any investigation, but the clues provided in this advertisement leave little room for doubt. He had a large and noticeable scar on his left cheek and had tried to run only a week previously. His courage in running again, this time with a “strop of iron riveted round each ankle,” tells us he was desperate, terrified and resolute. He would have known the chances of running while weighted down with irons were almost nil. Let us imagine, too, the difficulty he would have had standing, much less running. And we can reasonably infer from the circumstances and tone of this advertisement that he was likely suffering from other physical ailments. We can suspect he was whipped and beaten from his earlier attempt only a week previous. His wounds would still have been fresh and painful. But that didn’t stop him from running. Indeed, perhaps that pain was what enabled him to accomplish the unthinkable:….to just move at all in a frantic and panicked attempt to escape his body or his situation entirely.
Was Jordan a charismatic, endearing, or friendly lad with family and friends in the area? His enslaver seems to think that poor Jordan might well be able to persuade someone to take pity on him, someone with the tools and skills to remove those irons. This suggests that the enslaver might have vaguely been aware that his reputation as a brutal man might not have endeared him to his neighbors, Black and white. It suggests, too, that the enslaver knows the pathetic sight of young Jordan might well be sufficient to change hearts – even a person not generally inclined to put himself in the way of trouble by assisting a fugitive might well be stunned into helping a manacled child. Jesse F. Jones may have known that brutalizing children wasn’t a good look, and it might inspire an “evil disposed person” to intervene. Jones would need to ensure that Jordan’s character was thoroughly assassinated and implicitly to justify his violence.
Can we speculate carefully that there might have been other underlying reasons why this relationship between the captive child and the enslaver had become so particularly ugly? Jordan was of a fair complexion, a “yellow” and “mulatto” child. Might he even have been a son of Jones? Or the grandchild of other white men in the environs? If so, it is evident that no such connection was recognized or earned him any mercy. And perhaps it earned him extra cruelty.
Finally, the idea that he might have a “free pass” is worth lingering on. For a grown person to obtain a pass is more common than for a young one. Few enslavers, even the most self-styled munificent ones, would entrust a child with a pass to leave the confines of their assigned plantation labor camp. Had Jordan been entrusted with one before? Moreover, the fact that the enslaver notes that “it is supposed” that Jordan has one indicates, too, that a larger and more fraught story is behind this advertisement. If Jordan were illiterate, as he almost certainly would have been, where would this pass have come from, and whom does Jesse F. Jones suppose it came from?
We cannot know the answers to many of these questions, but we can see a remarkable child of courage. And we can see the depraved self-justifying cruelty driving this monstrous injustice. So, what may have happened to these two individuals? Well, as a white man, the trail of Jesse F. Jones is easier to follow. The US Census shows what appears to be him in the 1800 census, with only a wife and no enslaved people (alternatively, a similar record for Jesse Jones of Halifax indicates a man who lived with three other free white people).[1] But regardless of which entry had been his in 1800, by a decade later, his fortunes rose, and it seems like he invested in human trafficking and exploitation. By 1810, the Census indicates his household had four enslaved people.[2] By 1830, the census suggests he led a household of 21 people, including his white wife and children and 14 enslaved folks.[3]
Thus, back in 1810, when young Jordan would have run, his flight would have been easily noticed and a significant loss for Jesse F. Jones. After all, it would have represented a fourth of his investment in human beings…and perhaps an especially great loss considering that the promise of the power of a growing teen boy would have been considerable.
So, was Jordan recaptured? Sadly, he may have been. If Jordan were 14 in 1810, he would have been roughly 34 in 1830. According to census documents, during that year, Jesse F. Jones reports enslaving an unnamed Black man between the ages of 24 and 35 – and it may well have been an older version of young Jordan.[4]
These speculations are a bit hazy, to be sure. Census records can be misleading. And we only have a short paragraph to go on. But Jordan’s courage shines forth. And we can all hope that this clever, determined boy survived to find some happiness or freedom in his life.
Footnotes
[1] These two census records may be of the same Jesse F. Jones, listed twice. In the first instance, he is listed as living with his wife, and in the second, he is listed as living with three other white people. No enslaved people are listed in either document. See Jesse F. Jones in the 1800 U.S. Census: Hallifax, Halifax, North Carolina; Series: M32; Roll: 30; Page: 322; Image: 324; Family History Library Film: 337906; 1800 U.S. Census: Hallifax, Halifax, North Carolina; Series: M32; Roll: 30; Page: 322; Image: 324; Family History Library Film: 337906
[2] See Jesse F. Jones in the 1810 U. S. Census: Martin, North Carolina; Roll: 41; Page: 427; Image: Ncm252_41-0008; FHL Roll: 0337914
[3] See Jesse F. Jones in the 1830 U. S. Census: Hamilton, Martin, North Carolina; Series: M19; Roll: 122; Page: 403; Family History Library Film: 0018088
[4] Ibid
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To Cite:
Ashton, Susanna. "Jordan, age 14" The Runaway Chronicles. Squarespace. 09/30/2024. https://susannaashton.com/the-runaway-chronicles/-18-jordan-age-14
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