Robert Belt

I came from Maryland,—I was in slavery about twenty-five years. I had heard that there was a notion of selling me. There was a mystery about it—some saying that I was born free. A white man told me that he thought I would be sold, as there was a dispute. In about one month after, I came away. In one place where I was concealed, I saw people from the neighborhood hunting for me. I travelled more than a hundred miles on foot, and suffered a great deal by getting sore feet, and from cold and want of food.

I got work soon after my arrival here, which was quite recent: since I have been here, I have prospered well. My calculation is, to own a house and a piece of land by and by.

I feel much better satisfied for myself since I have been free, than when I was a slave: but I feel grieved to think that my friends are in slavery. I wish they could come out here. My wife came on with me from an adjoining farm.