Federal Street Ferry, Camden (Daniel Cooper's Ferry)

Identifier
NJS-PLC-00402
Place Type
Port
Alternate Name
Daniel Cooper's Ferry
Located In
Camden
Description
Federal Street Ferry is a historical site in Camden where captive Africans were sold after disembarking from slave-trading ships. No physical features of the ferry site remain, but a historical plaque was erected in 2019 to mark the site. The historical marker is located near the northwest corner of Federal Street and Delaware Ave.

The historical marker text reads as follows:

"African slavery in New Jersey began with early European settlement. By 1766, circa 800 captive people had been sold here at the Federal Street Ferry and two other nearby ferry landings. In Africa, approximately 24 million captured men, women and children marched to coastal prisons. Only half survived the journey. These 12 million survivors then endured deplorable conditions on the Middle Passage ocean crossings, where an additional 2 million died from disease, malnutrition, dehydration, drowning, suicide and abuse. By 1800, New Jersey's enslaved African population exceeded 12,000. New Jersey was the last Northern state to emancipate, adopting gradual abolition in 1804 and finally ratifying the 13th Amendment on January 23, 1866."

The ferry at the foot of present-day Federal Street was established by Daniel Cooper (d. 1776) in the 1740s. Daniel's family had been in the ferry business since the 1690s. His father, William Cooper, operated the ferry terminal at the foot of present-day Cooper Street, while his father's first cousin, Benjamin Cooper, operated a ferry terminal at Cooper's Poynt. Daniel purchased 100 acres of riverfront property from his father in 1744 and established a new ferry terminal shortly thereafter. In the 1760s, Daniel Cooper's ferry terminal became a major site of slave trading activities for the region.

During the colonial era, the area surrounding the Cooper family's network of ferries was known as Newton Township, and it was officially part of Gloucester County. The waterfront area across from Philadelphia was generally referred to as Cooper's Ferry, but Cooper's Ferry was not incorporated as a distinct municipality. Thus, slavery records for this location may be found among Newton Township and Gloucester County records. The growth of Cooper's Ferry after the Revolution gave rise to the City of Camden, which was incorporated in 1828. Camden County broke off from Gloucester County in 1844. All of the Cooper family's ferries were located within the boundaries of present-day Camden City in Camden County.
Locality
Camden
County (Modern)
Camden County
County (Historical)
Gloucester County
State or Province
New Jersey
Country
United States of America
Related Place
Cooper Street Ferry, Camden
Cooper's Poynt, Camden
Latitude
39.94470735006608
Longitude
-75.1293262783587
References

"Enslaved Africans Sold Here," Camden County Historical Society, https://cchsnj.org/enslaved-africans-sold-here/.

Garry Wheeler Stone, Coopers Ferry During the American Revolution, Report to the American Battlefield Protection Program, the National Park Service, September 28, 2015, https://www.camdennj.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Coopers-Ferry-during-the-American-Revolution-2015.08.17.pdf.

"Enslaved Africans Once Sold Here," Federal Street Ferry location, Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=208367.
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
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