On April 3, 1815, Levi Fuller of Peru, New York, placed a newspaper advertisement seeking the capture and return of a bound servant boy named Wait Perry. According to the notice, Wait was about 17 years old, of light complexion, and approximately five feet nine or ten inches tall. He had fled from Fuller on March 20, 1815.
Fuller offered a token reward of just one cent for Wait’s return—explicitly stating that no expenses or additional charges would be paid. The ad appeared in multiple issues of the Plattsburgh Republican throughout the spring and summer of 1815, including April 8–22, May 3–10, and July 8.
No further advertisements concerning Wait Perry have been found in the digitized archives of the New York State Historic Newspapers website, leaving his ultimate fate unknown. His brief appearance in the historical record, however, underscores the lived realities of bound servitude in early 19th-century northern New York and the lengths to which young people sought freedom from those who claimed authority over them.