Anna Maria Weems (circa 1840 to circa 1863) was an enslaved African American woman in Rockville, Maryland, who escaped by posing as a young Black livery man and carriage driver, assisted by the Underground Railroad, in September 1855. She later settled in Canada with other members of her family who had also escaped from slavery.
Weems traveled under the alias "Joe Wright" and, later, "Ellen Capron." The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it increasingly difficult for escaped slaves (freedom seekers) to remain in free states, as by law, anyone with knowledge of their whereabouts was compelled to turn them in to authorities and assist slave-catchers in hunting them down and returning them to their former masters.
Once Weems arrived in Philadelphia, William Still (1819-1902) sent her on to New York, and from there, she traveled to Canada, crossing on the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, the main route taken by many freedom seekers from the United States to Canada.
Weems is not the only woman to have escaped slavery disguised as a man. The most famous such fugitive is Ellen Craft (1826 to 1891), who, with her husband William Craft (1824 to 1900), escaped from Georgia in 1848 with Ellen posing as a Southern gentleman and William as 'his' slave. In 1854, Clarissa Davis (later known as Mary D. Armstead) escaped from Virginia posing as a man and, hidden in a box onboard a boat, arrived safely at the Philadelphia home of William Still.
Weems' story is not as well-known as Ellen and William Craft's Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, or, in some circles, as Davis's escape, but it highlights the lengths to which enslaved persons went to win their freedom.
Early Life
Anna Maria was born circa 1840 to a free father and an enslaved mother who was owned by one Adam Robb of Montgomery County, Maryland. John and Arabella Talbot Weems had six sons and four daughters, all born into slavery except the youngest, Mary, who was born after Arabella had been freed; all the others were the property of Robb because their mother was enslaved. When Robb died in 1847, his slaves were passed down to his daughters.
One of the daughters, Catherine Robb Harding, struggling with debt, sold the Weemses to slave traders who separated the family. Anna Maria and her sister Catherine were sold to one Charles M. Price. The Weems family's situation came to the attention of the abolitionist William L. Chaplin (1796-1871), an agent of the Underground Railroad, who helped two sisters escape to the North. With financial assistance from abolitionists in England, Chaplin and others established the Weems Family Ransom Fund to free the rest of the family and reunite them in Canada.
Escape
Abolitionist and lawyer Jacob Bigelow of Washington, D.C., negotiated with the various owners of the Weemses to buy their freedom, but Charles Price would not sell Anna Maria. Recognizing that the Underground Railroad was attempting to free her, and that she might easily escape with their help, Price forced her to sleep in the master bedroom with him and his wife every night for two years.
After exhausting all legal means of freeing Anna Maria, Bigelow and William Still arranged to have Dr. Ellwood Harvey travel to Washington, D.C., and, at the same time, they sent word to Anna Maria that she would need to get herself from Rockville, Maryland, to Washington on 23 September 1855. Weems escaped from the Price house, traveled the 15 miles to Washington, and was taken in by Bigelow, who hid her in his house for six weeks until Dr. Harvey arrived in the city.
Bigelow, with Weems dressed as a carriage driver, met Harvey in front of the White House. Weems was introduced to Harvey as "Joe Wright" and quickly mounted the carriage and took the reins. Although there was nothing suspicious about a White man with a Black carriage driver, the pair were stopped on at least two occasions because Price had posted a reward of $500.00 for the capture and return of Weems (around $17,000.00 today), and there were many interested in claiming it.
Weems had been instructed by Bigelow, and then by Dr. Harvey, on how to "act like a boy" and successfully passed as "Joe Wright" when Harvey stopped for the night at the home of old friends of his, who were slaveholders, in Maryland. On 22 November 1855, the pair arrived at William Still's home in Philadelphia, and Weems was free. Still recorded the event in The Underground Railroad Records (1872), an excerpt of which appears below.
As noted, because the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 meant any freedom seeker in a free state could legally be captured and returned to slavery, Weems' freedom was by no means secure, and she was sent on to New York, and, from there, to Canada where she was reunited with her family in December 1855. There are no records relating what happened to her after she was enrolled at the Buxton Mission in Ontario, Canada. She is supposed to have lived until at least 1863, but this date is uncertain.
Text
The following is taken from William Still's The Underground Railroad Records, republished by Modern Library, New York, 2019. The narrative begins with Dr. Harvey deciding to spend the night with his old friends in Maryland before going on toward Pennsylvania. The excerpt concludes with Still's notes on Weems when she arrived as "Joe Wright" on Thanksgiving Day 1855.
In reflecting upon the matter, it occurred to the doctor, that in earlier days, he had been quite intimately acquainted with a farmer and his family (who were slaveholders), in Maryland, and that he would about reach their house at the end of the first day's journey. He concluded that he could do no better than to renew his acquaintance with his old friends on this occasion.
After a very successful day's travel, night came on, and the doctor was safely at the farmer's door with his carriage and waiter boy; the doctor was readily recognized by the farmer and his family, who seemed glad to see him; indeed, they made quite a "fuss" over him. As a matter of strategy, the doctor made quite a "fuss" over them in return; nevertheless, he did not fail to assume airs of importance, which were calculated to lead them to think that he had grown older and wiser than when they knew him in his younger days.
In casually referring to the manner of his traveling, he alluded to the fact that he was not very well, and as it had been a considerable length of time since he had been through that part of the country, he thought that the drive would do him good, and especially the sight of old familiar places and people. The farmer and his family felt themselves exceedingly honored by the visit from the distinguished doctor and manifested a marked willingness to spare no pains to render his night's lodging in every way comfortable.
The Dr. being an educated and intelligent gentleman, well posted on other questions besides medicine, could freely talk about farming in all its branches, and "niggers" too, in an emergency, so the evening passed off pleasantly with the Dr. in the parlor, and "Joe" in the kitchen. The Dr., however, had given "Joe" precept upon precept, "here a little, and there a little", as to how he should act in the presence of master white people, or slave colored people, and thus he was prepared to act his part with due exactness.
Before the evening grew late, the Dr., fearing some accident, intimated that he was feeling a "little languid," and therefore thought that he had better "retire." Furthermore, he added, that he was "liable to vertigo" when not quite well and for this reason he must have his boy "Joe" sleep in the room with him. "Simply give him a bed quilt and he will fare well enough in one corner of the room," said the Dr.
The proposal was readily acceded to and carried into effect by the accommodating host. The Dr. was soon in bed, sleeping soundly, and "Joe", in his new coat and pants, wrapped up in the bed quilt in the corner of the room, quite comfortably.
The next morning, the Dr. arose at as early an hour as was prudent for a gentleman of his position and, feeling refreshed, partook of a good breakfast and was read, with his boy "Joe", to prosecute their journey. Face, eyes, hope, and steps were set as flint, Pennsylvania-ward.
What time the following day or night they crossed Mason and Dixon's line is not recorded on the Underground Railroad books but, at four o'clock on Thanksgiving Day, the Dr. safely landed the "fleeing girl of fifteen" at the residence of the writer in Philadelphia. On delivering up his charge, the Dr. simply remarked to the writer's wife, "I wish to leave this young lad with you a short while, and I will call and see further about him." Without further explanation, he stepped into his carriage and hurried away, evidently anxious to report himself to his wife in order to relieve her mind of a great weight of anxiety on his account.
The writer, who happened to be absent from home when the Dr. called, returned soon afterwards. "The Dr. has been here" (he was the family physician), "and left this 'young lad' and said that he would call again and see about him," said Mrs. S. The "young lad" was sitting quite composedly in the dining room with his cap on. The writer turned to him and inquired, "I suppose you are the person that the Dr. went to Washington after, are you not?"
"No," said "Joe."
"Where are you from then?" was the next question.
"From York, sir."
"From York? Why then did the Dr. bring you here?" was the next query, "the Dr. went expressly to Washington after a young girl, who was to be brought away dressed up as a boy, and I took you to be the person."
Without replying, "the lad" arose and walked out of the house. The querist, somewhat mystified, followed him and then, when the two were alone, "the lad" said, "I am the one the Dr. went after." After congratulating her, the writer asked why she had said that she was not from Washington, but from York. She explained that the Dr. had strictly charged her not to own to any person, except the writer, that she was from Washington, but from York. As there were persons present (wife, hired girl, and a fugitive woman), when the questions were put to her, she felt that it would be a violation of her pledge to answer in the affirmative.
Before this examination, neither of the individuals present for a moment entertained the slightest doubt but that she was a "lad", so well had she acted her part in every particular. She was dressed in a new suit, which fitted her quite nicely, and with her unusual amount of common sense, she appeared to be in no respect lacking.
To send off a prize so rare and remarkable, as she was, without affording some of the stockholders and managers of the Road the pleasure of seeing her, was not to be thought of. In addition to the Vigilance Committee, quite a number of persons were invited to see her and were greatly astonished. Indeed, it was difficult to realize that she was not a boy, even after becoming acquainted with the facts in the case. The following is an exact account of this case, as taken from the Underground Railroad records:
THANKSGVING DAY, November 1855:
Arrived, Ann Maria Weems, alias 'Joe Wright,' alias 'Ellen Capron', from Washington, through the aid of Dr. H. She is about fifteen years of age, bright mulatto, well grown, smart, and good-looking. For the last three years, or about that length of time, she has been owned by Charles M. Price, a negro trader, of Rockville, Maryland.
Mr. P. was given to 'intemperance' to a very great extent and gross 'profanity.' He buys and sells many slaves in the course of the year. His wife is cross and peevish. She used to take great pleasure in 'torturing' one 'little slave boy.' He was the son of his master (and was owned by him); this was the chief cause of the mistress' spite.
Ann Maria had always desired her freedom from childhood, and although not thirteen, when first advised to escape, she received the suggestion without hesitation, and ever after that time waited almost daily, for more than two years, the chance to flee. Her friends were, of course, to aid her, and make arrangements for her escape. Her owner, fearing that she might escape, for a long time compelled her to sleep in the chamber with "her master and mistress," indeed she was so kept until about three weeks before she fled.
She left her parents living in Washington. Three of her brothers had been sold South from their parents. Her mother had been purchased for $1,000 and one of her sisters for $1600 for freedom. Before Ann Maria was thirteen years of age, $700 was offered for her by a friend, who desired to procure her freedom, but the offer was promptly refused, as were succeeding ones repeatedly made.
The only chance of procuring her freedom depended upon getting her away on the Underground Railroad. She was neatly attired in male habiliments and in that manner came all the way from Washington. After passing two or three days with her new friends in Philadelphia, she was sent on (in male attire) to Lewis Tappan, of New York, who had likewise been deeply interested in her case from the beginning, and who held himself ready, as was understood, to cash a draft for three hundred dollars to compensate the man who might risk his own liberty in bringing her on from Washington.
After having arrived safely in New York, she found a home and kind friends in the family of the Reverend A. N. Freeman and received quite an ovation characteristic of an Underground Railroad. After having received many tokens of esteem and kindness from the friends of the slave in New York and Brooklyn, she was carefully forwarded on to Canada, to be educated at the Buxton Settlement.
