Anna Maria Weems was an American woman known for escaping slavery by disguising herself as a male carriage driver and escaping to Canada, where her family was settled with other slave fugitives.
Early life and pre-escape
Anna Maria Weems was born in Maryland in 1840 to John, a freeman, and Arabella Talbot Weems, an enslaved woman. As a result of her mother being enslaved, Weems and her siblings were automatically considered to be the slaves of Adam Robb, who owned Arabella. Robb died when Weems was about seven years old and his slaves were divided between his two daughters, Jane Robb Beall, and Catherine Robb Harding. Upon learning that the family was to be separated, Weems's parents worked closely with abolitionists to create the Weems Ransom Fund to purchase their freedom, but were only able to do so for Arabella and one of Weems's siblings before Weems was sold to Caroline and Charles M. Price. Weems had three brothers that were also sold, but to another plantation owner. The Prices were made several offers for the now fifteen-year-old Weems, one of which was for $700, but continuously refused, making it necessary for Weems to escape if she wanted to join her family.
Escape
In order to escape Weems sought assistance from lawyer J. Bigelow, who had helped with the earlier purchase of freedom for Arabella and one of her children. Escape was difficult, as the Prices made Weems sleep beside them at night in an attempt to hinder any attempts to flee to freedom. Weems planned her escape for two years, eventually making her escape on Thanksgiving of 1855. Aware that notices about her escape would likely be looking for a woman, Bigelow organized an plan where Weems would be disguised as "Mr. Joe Wright", a male carriage driver, to offset her description that was placed on her wanted ad. She would then pick up her "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, William 'Mr H.' Still, from the White House, where he had business, and travel with him to his house in Philadelphia. After arriving in Philadelphia, Still then took her to New York where she stayed with Reverend A. N. Freeman and his family, who would then take Weems to Canada via coach, where her aunt and uncle had built a life with other slave fugitives. Her parents would later make their way to Canada as well, where they were reunited with Weems after seven years of separation.
There is little information about Anna's post-slavery life, other than her escape to Buxton, Canada where her aunt and uncle had escaped to as slaves. Eventually her mother and sibling made their way there too. The last sign of Anna is from 1863. She had signed a baptism record as the baby's godmother. The date of her death is unknown. There is no tombstone or known descendants.
Significance
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. He also argues that this case also "suggests that a number of aspects of the underground railroad remain worthy of investigation" such as the international and interracial cooperation between abolitionists and that this would help historians understand why all persons involved continued to help regardless of the potential consequences of being caught.
