My ancestor John Ashbee, 2X great grandfather, lived at a beautiful farm near Pluckley, Kent. The name of the farm was ‘Pevington’ and on February 17 1813 was the scene of an interesting event. The story unfolds from a newspaper ad John took out after his servant, ‘Joseph Austin’ had ‘run away’!While it’s possible this young man may have been a slave, it is more likely he was an indentured servant. The difference between the two was that an indentured servant had a fixed amount of time to be served. Such was not the case for the slave. Unfortunately, the fate of Joseph Austin is unknown.
