William Whipper

Source: William Still, The Underground Railroad (Philadelphia, PA: Porter & Coats, 1872), 719
  • Title
    • Registration of Bill Whiper
  • Subject
    • Term Slavery; Slave Registrations; Black Abolitionists; Surnames; Mustee
  • Description
    • On 26 July 1804, Stephen Boyd, a farmer from Drumore Twp, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, registered five-month-old William Whipper as his term slave. Boyd claimed Whipper’s mother, a woman named Nance, as his slave for life. He described Whipper as “mulatto or Mustee,” acknowledging that the boy was light-skinned and appeared to have some Native ancestry.

      William Whipper grew up to become a determined abolitionist, a leading advocate of non-violent resistance, and a successful businessman alongside his partner, Stephen Smith, who was also born into term slavery.
  • Biographics
    • Born: 22 February 1804, Drumore Twp, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
    • Died: 9 March 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    • Race: Mixed
    • Sex: Male
    • Status: Term Slave
    • Mother: Nance
  • Source
    • Eshleman, J. B., comp. “Record of the Returns Made in Writing…As Clerk…By Possessors of Negro or Mulatto Children Born After March 1, 1780…John Hubley, clerk, June 7, 1788.” LancasterHistory, call number 326 R294p, p. 29.
  • Publisher
    • A Just and True Return
  • Type
    • Text
  • Language
    • English
  • Identifier
    • LANC1133
  • Transcription
    • July 26,) Stephen Boyd of Drumore Twp., farmer, returns Bill Whiper, a mulatto or Mustee male child, the son of Nance, a female slave;born February 22, 1804.