ENSLAVEMENT AND SERVITUDE

Historic Rock Ford shares stories and information about every aspect of Edward Hand’s life, including his enslavement of human beings. The John J. Snyder Jr. Gallery, our house tours and programming include an acknowledgment of this history. We strive to recognize and shed light on the forced and unpaid labor of the enslaved as they helped to create and build Lancaster’s material culture, traditions, and economic success. We seek to honor and commemorate their lives through the history we share. 

Rock Ford recognizes the profound immorality and horror of slavery, both in its historical context, described in the research that follows, and in every place and form in which it continues to exist in today’s world.  

On March 1st, 1780, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed the “Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery,” one of the first of its kind in America to address the growing anti-slavery sentiment. Considered a compromise, it was ultimately ineffectual in that very few enslaved people were given their freedom. Among other things, it required owners to register their enslaved individuals. This documentation on a person’s ownership status was intended to halt the importation of enslaved persons into the state, gradually reducing the enslaved population. Children born after March 1st, would no longer be considered enslaved for life, but instead, their freedom would finally be attained after their 28th birthday. Registry was to be done annually, and failure to do so, would result in the manumission of the enslaved person.   

In compliance with the newly passed law, Edward Hand registered three persons as enslaved in his household. The Slave Register for 1780, names: Sue, 30 years, slave during life; Bob, 14 years, and Bet, “mulatto,” 12 years. In 1780, the Hand family resided in the Borough of Lancaster, and would not move to Historic Rock Ford until about 1794. It is unlikely these three people ever lived at Historic Rock Ford, because the last of these individuals to be identified as an enslaved person, was “one negro girl, value, 25” in 1786. 

Edward Hand was taxed for “one bound servant” in both 1788 and 1793. This person may have been a person of African descent or an indentured person of European descent. 

In 1800 and 1801, Edward Hand was taxed for a “negro, 30 years old” and a “slave, value 200,” respectively. This likely references a person named Frank, whose emancipation was documented in a newspaper ad in 1802.

General information regarding Eighteenth Century slavery in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania can be found in “Completing the Picture.”