Parker Sister Kidnapping

. In 1851, the Rachel and Elizabeth Parker were kidnapped from their farms in Nottingham, Maryland where they lived and worked. In mid- December, Elizabeth was taken, bound and gagged and hurried to Baltimore Thomas McCreary and John Merritt. Rachel, Elizabeth's older sister was taken shortly after by the same two men.

Elizabeth worked for a man named Matthew Donnelly and Rachel worked for Joseph Miller. The girls were wrongfully accused of being escaped slaves and were imprisoned for over a year. There were plenty of people who witnessed Rachel's kidnapping, but the court had to judge if she was in fact Rachel Parker or Eliza Crocus, the escaped slave.

Miller called for a search party for Rachel and he filed for kidnapping against McCreary. After filing, he went missing and in 1853 was found dead hanging from a tree. After a year of being in jail, the girls were finally able to tell their story, with many people by their side, as well as others who have never met them and were against them, they went to trial. During this trial McCreary and Merritt were found innocent and the charges against them were dropped. Until they did and fourth and final autopsy on the body of Joseph Miller. It was found that he had ingested a fatal dose of arsenic and would have been unable to hang himself, insinuating, Miller was killed and did not commit suicide. This put a huge lead for the Parker sisters due to the fact that in a prior case, McCreary called Merritt to the stand as a last minute witness and he stated that "Miller was in on this and knew and he killed himself out of guilt". Therefore with the new found evidence, his statement could not be true because the fatal dose of arsenic would have killed him first so he was hung by someone else.

Many newspapers also covered this story. The "Lancaster Examiner and Herald", "The Anti-Slavery Bugle", and "The National Era", all had articles written about Rachel Parker and her plea. Another paper, had some very interesting comments to the governor of Pennsylvania. "The Luzerne Union" had an article written on July 13, 1853. It stated how the details were "maturely" overlooked but could not be accepted. Although in 1853, Rachel and Elizabeth were able to secure their freedom, it had been claimed that Thomas McCreary and John Merritt were not at fault for the kidnaping due to "not knowing" the girls were not the alleged escaped slaves.

In all, Rachel and Elizabeth Parker were two Black slaves who were wrongfully accused of being escaped slaves and were kidnapped by two men. After their trial they secured their freedom but lost so much after a over a year in jail and trials. The men who kidnapped them were sent free.

Hingston, Sandy. “11 Things You Might Not Know About the Parker Sister Kidnappings.” Philadelphia Magazine, Philadelphia Magazine, 22 Apr. 2016, www.phillymag.com/news/2016/04/22/parker-sister-kidnappings/.

Maddox, Lucy. The Parker Sisters: A Border Kidnapping. Temple University Press, 2016. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvrdf2hw. Accessed 20 May 2021.

“The Kidnapping of Elizabeth and Rachel Parker.” Stealing Freedom along the Mason-Dixon Line, mdiggins.com/the-kidnapping-of-elizabeth-and-rachel-parker.html.

“Parker Kidnapping & Rescue Historical Marker.” Historical Marker, 27 Dec. 2020, www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=145796.

12 Jan 1853, 2 - The Lancaster Examiner at Newspapers.com[1504].pdf

13 Jul 1853, 1 - The Luzerne Union at Newspapers.com[1503].pdf

22 Jan 1853, Page 2 - Anti-Slavery Bugle at Newspapers.com[1505].pdf

29 Apr 1852, 1 - The National Era at Newspapers.com[1506].pdf