Why is every mulatto slave in Lincoln. KY listed as a fugitive on the 1850 Slave schedule?

Question

The 1850 census had a column on the slave schedule as "Fugitive from State," meaning was the slave escaped. 

In the 41 pages of the 1850 Lincoln County schedule, Mulattos are listed as "fugitives," with about four exceptions, and those four were listed as such before being crossed off as such. 

And no blacks were listed as such. 

Other forums seem to think this is merely black and white, but It makes me think there was something else going on than just slaves escaping, at least in Lincoln Co, Ky -- perhaps a law, but more likely cultural. 

I have completely unfounded theories but wondering if anyone knows why Mulattos were the fugitives. It seems the county just decided to list them as such.

Maybe the white owners not wanting to admit that blacks would desire freedom, so listed fugitives as mulatto? Or allowed them to "Escape.

Slave Census Page with one slave "unmarked" as fugituve"

Comments

Sometimes I have found seemingly odd Census entries. Perhaps if they handwriting was the same for all, it was the Census-taker's doing, for whatever reason.

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I would wonder if that column was being used for something else after the fact.

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I agree with Kathy. I've seen on other censuses that numbers and/or checkmarks were put on the records that do not seem to have anything to do with the question at the top of the page. Perhaps the county wanted to count the number of mulattos for whatever reason. It would be interesting to know the reason if someone would know.

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That was my impression too. It almost looked like the checks were added as an afterthought, as the count of mulattoes shows up at the bottom. I'd guess they used those marks to help them count. I would find it hard to believe that only mulattoes on the census were ones who fit that column. That would be really Twilight Zone weird.

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However. the sum of the mulattos at the bottom is not what is on that page.  Might be a running count of some sort.  I also believe it's an after the fact counting mechanism and many people make marks when they count...

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One would think if they were mulattos they were the slave owners children and maybe that has some significance.... Just a thought. I'm trying to figure it out myself ... Hardly think they all were fugitives etc

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I had the same question at one point and realized these were tick marks used for some sort of counting. They aren't being marked as fugitive.

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You might find the answer to the question with the influx into all of Kentucky of people and veterans given land grants after the Revolutionary War from parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and other eastern states…specifically Methodists and Quakers.  

Many Methodists, who opposed slavery as did the Quakers, freed many from the 1830’s on. Quakers did help, assist and organize the Underground Railroad for slaves.  (I have a few ancestors with this background.)

Answer 1

Someone asked this on History Hub at NARA, and there are some fascinating answers: https://historyhub.history.gov/thread/8476

Comments

I love the answer given there by Norm Pritchett, because I have read other accounts of underground activity in certain regions of Kentucky, and I am keen to learn more:  "Prior to coming across this, I had long suspected there was an unknown Underground Railroad operation in that county, mainly from scattered  bits of very circumstantial evidence.  When I encountered this unusual pattern in the slave enumeration, I became convinced my hunch was right, though there was still no hard evidence.  At least, not until a just a few years ago when a local citizen stumbled across a family letter from an individual during that period, who I suspected was part of that UGRR operation.  The letter lacked much detail, as I understand, but it did confirm the existence of a previously unknown Underground Railroad operation in the county."

Answer 2

I believe this is something the enumerator took upon himself to do, noting something other than escaped slaves. The first 8 pages of Lincoln County are dated August 5-8 by assistant Marshall Jno W Shelly. No marks are made next to Mullatos at all and he identified one as albino on page 1. (There are a few dots or very small marks on page 2) Then on  the 9th image, August 26, the census for this county was taken over by Assistant Marshall L B Taylor and the check marks begin in ernest. But the handwriting all looks the same and the dates jump all over. Also some pages further in have Shelly's name on them and have markings. I've never notice dates amd page numbers not being consecutive or more than one name before. I'm thinking one of the men must have copied the other's work because it looks like all the same handrwriting. If the pages were loose leaves, they were compiled wrong. I went to the last page, hoping to find a clue about these check marks but no clue.  As a side note, the numbers at the bottom of the page are the number of male and female in that column.

I took a look at the Muhlenberg, Kentucky Slave Schedule for 1860 because someone at History Hub mentioned seeing the same in those county records but the enumerator was doing some kind of numbering, not marks. Mulatto males and females were counted separately. When the number reached 100, the enumerator started over again. See for yourself. This is clearly something the assistant Marshall took upon themselves, perhaps ordered to do so behind the scenes. In that year, there were lines for totals at the bottom and the escaped slave line was blank on every page for that county. 

Given the fact that Kentucky had oulawed importing slaves for some time, had a large slave market, and was known as a breeding state, they might have wanted to know how much breeding was going on by the owner, his sons or the task masters. There was no way provided on the census form to separate the numbers of each, only of male and female in general. Perhaps Taylor was counting but not numbering and reporting that number verbally to someone.

Answer 3

The actual number of "fugitive" slaves in all of Kentucky in 1850 was under 250 and that is for the entire state, so I would doubt that every (or even almost every) mulatto in Lincoln would be a fugitive.