"very apt to speak one side of the truth": New-England Runaways, 1774-1777

This is the concluding volume in Mr. Boyle's four-volume series of colonial New England runaways, as identified in contemporary newspaper ads. The majority of the persons identified here are runaway servants and slaves, as well as apprentices, military deserters, horse thieves, counterfeiters, burglars, jail breakers, and murderers. This work also contains ads for runaways who did not originate in New England but who had connections there. In compiling this work, Mr. Boyle examined more than 30 newspapers from New England to Maryland, including The Vermont Journal, The Boston News-Letter, The Boston Post-Boy, The Boston Gazette, The Connecticut Courant, The Connecticut Gazette, The Norwich Packet, The Massachusetts Spy, The New Hampshire Gazette, The Pennsylvania Gazette, The New York Gazette, and The Maryland Gazette. Each ad gives a number of details about the runaway and his/her master, including names and aliases of the runaway, physical description, personality quirks if any, location in New England (including the future states of Vermont and Maine), and where to contact the advertiser. In all, this volume contains about 1,200 ads and names over 2,000 persons with connections to Revolutionary War New England.