Anna Maria Weems

Within a few months, her mother and two of her youngest brothers were manumitted and settled with their father in Washington, D.C. Then freedom for her sister, Catherine, was negotiated.

At age 15, she ran away from her slaveholder in Rockville, Maryland and traveled through Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn, New York before arriving in Dresden, Canada West, British North America.

The journey, made more treacherous due to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, occurred over two months, six weeks of which she was in hiding and most of which she was dressed as a young man.

[8] Rare for an enslaved woman, Arabella married John on March 1, 1829, at the St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Rockville, Maryland.

[7] Over the course of their marriage, John and Arabella Weems had four daughters and six sons: Mary Jane (Stella), Catherine Ann, William Augustus, Thomas Richard (Dick), Charles Adam (Addison), Anna Maria, Joseph, John Lewis, Sylvester, and Mary.

[6][8] Weems and her sister Catherine[6] were sold to Charles M. Price,[5][10] a slave trader in Unity, Maryland.

[6] William Still described Charles Price as having been "given to 'intemperance,' to a very great extent, and gross 'profanity'" and added that his wife, Caroline,[5] "is cross and peevish.

"[2] In 1849 or 1850,[7] abolitionist William L. Chaplin helped their eldest daughter, Mary Jane, and Arabella's sister Annie and her family escape.

[d] Mary Jane went to Geneva, New York, where she was adopted by Henry Highland Garnet, a former slave and an abolitionist.

John, Arabella, and the two boys settled in Washington, D.C.[2][6][7] Their daughter Catherine was freed after paying a $1,000[7] or $1,600 ransom[6] and she accepted a position in Washington, D.C.[7] There was not enough remaining money in the fund for an offer that Price would accept to sell Anna Maria;[6] for years, the Prices rejected any offers by Bigelow to sell Weems, getting up to $700 (equivalent to $22,890 in 2023) at one point.

[10] Bigelow helped plan her escape with William Still, a conductor on the Underground Railroad and from the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee[6][10] and Rev.

[19] At the age of 15, Weems escaped the Price household[h] in Rockville and embarked on a 15-mile journey to Washington, D.C., on September 23, 1855.

[5][10] She was described as "A bright mulatoo, some small freckles on her face; slender person, thick suit of hair, inclined to be sandy".

[6] In his station report for the Underground Railroad, he described Weems: "She is about fifteen years of age, bright mulatto, well grown, smart, and good-looking.

[24] The quality of the education afforded at the school is said to have made it "the most successful black settlement in North America.

Students went on to enter politics, found the Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C., and become teachers, doctors, and missionaries.

[13][27] They were able to reunite with their other children;[11] the remaining two sons, James and Addison, who were enslaved were bought with money from the Weems Family Ransom Fund by August 1858.

[27] Historians such as Stanley Harrold have stated that the importance of gender is significant to the case of Weems, as her disguise is what allowed her escape to be successful.

Photograph of Anna Maria Weems taken in November 1855 when she stayed at the home of Mrs. and Mr. William Still , a noted author of slave escape experiences and conductor on the Underground Railroad , of Philadelphia. [ 1 ]
St. Mary's Catholic Church, Rockville, Maryland. Built in 1817, it was the first brick Catholic church in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Price, Birch & Co. slave pen at Alexandria, Virginia . Taken during the Civil War (1861–1865). Library of Congress .
Newspaper ad by C.M. Price with a notice of a $500 ransom for the apprehension of Ann Maria Weems, The Baltimore Sun , Maryland
Mid 19th century engraving showing the White House at Washington, D.C. as seen from the southwest.
"Underground" routes to Canada, showing the lines of travel of fugitive slaves. Weems traveled from Rockville, Maryland to Washington, D.C. After waiting six weeks to ensure her safety from ransom hunters, she continued on to Brooklyn, New York and from there to Dresden, Ontario, Canada.
A locomotive crossing the Niagara Suspension Bridge over the Niagara River. Weems was safe after she crossed over the Niagara River into Canada. [ 6 ]
Free Black family in front of home in Ontario at one of the Canadian Settlements for former slaves