William Highley, the runaway convict

The following article appeared in The Maryland Gazette on the 21st and 28th June 1764.

Given that this was written in 1764, and that William's age was given as about 40 and that he had been in the country for about 4 years, we can say he was born in about 1724 and had sailed from Liverpool in about 1760, and was aged about 36.

It has not been possible so far to find out anything about William before he left England but we know more about his life after he was transported to the British Colonies.

William's service was bought by John Frederick Augustus Priggs of Prince George's County, Maryland but after 4 years William ran away and despite Priggs's newspaper adverts was not apprehended. 

There are records of a William Highley and his family in Virginia from 1765 onwards and since there are no other men of the same name living in the colonies at this time, this is likely to be the runaway convict from England. William married and five of his children lived to be adults. Along with his three sons William worked in the iron industry. 

William died in the 1790s. His descendants have since formed one of the main collection of Highley families in the United States today.