1804-11-09 Birth: Rachel

Identifier
NJS-EVE-01348
Source
Somerset County Register of Black Children, Manumissions, and Removals, Book A, Page 6
Somerset County Register of Black Children and Manumissions, Book B, Page 92

Somerset County Register of Black Children, Book A, Page 6. Somerset County Clerk's Office.

Somerset County Register of Black Children and Manumissions, Book B, Page 92. Archival location: Somerset County Clerk's Office. Manumission and Register of Blacks, Book B.
Event Description
Somerset County birth records of enslaved children contain the following record:

Book A, page number: 6
Certificate number: 23
Child: Rachel
Mother: name not listed
Enslaver of mother and child: John Frelinghuysen
Location: Hillsborough
Birth date: 9 Nov 1804
Reported date: 17 Apr 1805
Clerk: Joseph Doty

At the time of this event, John Frelinghuysen was residing at his late father's homestead in Millstone (then part of Hillsborough township), and it can be assumed that Rachel was born there.

An additional certificate for Rachel was recorded by Clerk Isaac Southard in Book B, page 92, on May 15, 1828. At that time, John Frelinghuysen reported the names of four children born in his household between 1804 and 1812. This second document clarifies that Rachel's parents were Jenney and Tom. Rachel's siblings were Jane, George, and Arch. By the time the second document was filed in 1828, Rachel would have been 23 years old and was, presumably, already freed according to the provisions of New Jersey's gradual abolition law.
Event Type
Birth
Date
November 9, 1804
Location of Event
Hillsborough
Millstone (Somerset Court House)
Primary Participants

Rachel (b. 1804)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-03561
Role: Child
Age category: Infant
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- John Frelinghuysen (1776-1833)
Verbatim description from source:
"female Black child Named Rachel / one female born November 9th 1804 named Rachel"

Jenny
Person identifier: NJS-PER-04166
Role: Parent
Age category: Adult
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- John Frelinghuysen (1776-1833)
Verbatim description from source:
"negro woman slave named Jenney"

Tom
Person identifier: NJS-PER-04167
Role: Parent
Age category: Adult
Status: Unknown
Verbatim description from source:
"husband is Tom"
Comment: possibly also enslaved in the Frelinghuysen household, but freedom status is not explicitly stated
Additional Participants

John Frelinghuysen (1776-1833)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02552
Role: Enslaver

Joseph Doty (1794-1811)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-03365
Role: County Clerk
Comment: recorded first document in 1804

Isaac Southard (1783-1850)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-03397
Role: County Clerk
Comment: recorded second document in 1828
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
Resource class
Event