I am seeking information on some Virginians whose slaves left them in
January 1814 to join the British during the War of 1812, and I write to ask
for help and advice as to search strategy.

In the hope of this reaching a list-member with specific or local
knowledge, I give some details of who, where and when:

On 23 January 1814, in York County, Virginia:
from the farms of
Captain Henry Howard (and the late Captain Calthorpe Howard)
Robert Shield (and the late Captain Samuel Shield);

the following made their escape to HMS DRAGON, then lying in the
Chesapeake (in brackets, late owners as given in compensation claims;
runaways' surnames as in British lists):

Melchezedek Howard (Henry Howard)
Ned Howard (Calthorpe Howard)
Sam Shield (Samuel Shield or Calthorpe Howard)
Jacob Ray (Robert/Samuel Shield)
Thomas Shield (Robert/SamuelShield)
Charles Shield (Robert/SamuelShield);

in a canoe belonging to:
Thomas Pescud

housed at the farm of:
Mrs Elizabeth Reade.

In May 1821, Henry Howard gave details of birth dates from registers kept
by the late Samuel Shield and the late Mr Hawkins Reade. I presume from the
name of the latter that Mrs Elizabeth Reade may have been connected or
related in some way to the Shields or the Howards or both.

Although these refugees are few among the four thousand of my overall
study, four of them are especially relevant to my particular study of the
Corps of Colonial Marines and their later settlement in Trinidad (in
the 'Company Villages'). Tom and Charles Shield, Melchezedek Howard and
Jacob Ray went off together to the British after planning their escape for
several days (Tom was overheard to say that he would go when and where he
pleased) and became the first sergeants of the Corps when it was formed a
few months later. They were in due course sworn in as senior village
headmen of the Company Villages on the establishment of the new settlements
in southern Trinidad in August 1816, and it is possible that it was Tom
Shields who led the Colonial Marines' resistance to joining the Army in
their negotiations with the British authorities during their interim
stay in Bermuda, and their insistence on the promises that had been held
out to them of land in the colonies.

I should very much like to explore the lives they left and to find if there
are any family records, or other local records apart from the affidavits
filed for the compensation claims, that might illuminate the times and
locality. They left their womenfolk behind - quite unusual among the
general body of refugees - and I hope it might be possible also to follow
up the women's subsequent history.

John Weiss
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