1838-10-15 Manumission: Smith Ham, Jane Ham, George Ham, freed by Jacob Ham

Identifier
NJS-EVE-01835
Source
Manumission deed for Smith Ham, Jane Ham, and George Ham, manumitted by Jacob Ham, a free man of color

Manumission deed for Smith Ham, Jane Ham, and George Ham, manumitted by Jacob Ham, a free man of color, October 15, 1838. Archival location: Burlington County Historical Society. Nelson B. Gaskill Collection (MSS 181). File 8.
Event Description
On October 15, 1838, a black man named Jacob Ham executed a deed of manumission in Camden, Gloucester County (now in Camden County), New Jersey. The deed indicated that Jacob Ham was the legal owner of three people named Smith Ham, Jane Ham, and George Ham, and he intended to set them free. These people were, in all likelihood, Jacob's family members whom he purchased in order to set them free. Their ages were not listed in the manumission deed. The exact relationship between Jacob and Smith, Jane, and George is uncertain. However, tracing the family through census records in subsequent decades leads to the conclusion that Smith Ham, Jane Ham, and George Ham were probably Jacob Ham's children, and that the children had been born into slavery in the South.

Note that this manumission deed contains several blank areas where the ages of the three manumitted persons were supposed to appear; these areas were not filled in before the deed was signed. The ages of the children can be inferred from later census records. Smith would have been about 8 years old at this time, Jane about 6, and George about 1.

Jacob Ham signed this deed by his X mark, and two witnesses placed their signatures on the document. The deed includes two wax seals, which were covered up with small diamond-shaped slips of paper sometime after the document was created (possibly by a collector or archivist who came in contact with the document much later). Page 2 contains an unexecuted acknowledgment block, i.e., a block of text that a Judge of Common Pleas would ordinarily sign to certify that Jacob Ham signed and acknowledged the manumission deed in front of the judge. In this document, the acknowledgment block was not signed by a judge, meaning that this copy of the deed was not certified.

Whether this document was ever officially filed with the County Clerk in Gloucester County is uncertain. A copy of it has not been found among Gloucester County records. The original deed is held at the Burlington County Historical Society, and it appears to have been in private hands for about a hundred years before it was donated to the archival institution by Nelson B. Gaskill, a prominent white lawyer and federal official with roots in South Jersey.

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Transcript of the source document:

"[page 1]

State of New Jersey }
Gloucester County } ss.

[wax seal]

To all whom these presents shall come
Greeting :—
It is hereby made known, that on this
fifteenth day of October in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and thirty eight, I, Jacob Ham of the township
of Camden in Said County of Gloucester, (Coloured
man) have liberated, manumitted and set free my
three negro slaves, called Smith Ham, who is about
_____ Jane Ham, who is about
_____ and George Ham, who is about
_____ and I do hereby liberate,
manumit and set free, my said Negro slaves, and
discharge them and every of them from all service or
demand of service, or Slavery, to be hereafter made
either by me or any other person claiming by from
or under me.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the day & year aforesaid

Sealed & Delivered }
in presence of }
A. Browning }
P. J. Gray }

his
Jacob X Ham
mark

[wax seal]

[page 2]

State of New Jersey } to wit:—
Gloucester County, }

Be it remembered, that on this
_____ day of _____ in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and thirty eight, before me _____
one of the Judges of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas of the
County of Gloucester, personally appeared Jacob Ham, (a coloured
man) who is I am satisfied, the grantor mentioned in the
within deed of Manumission, and the Contents thereof being by
me first made known unto him, he did thereupon acknowledge
that he signed sealed and delivered the same
as his voluntary act and deed.

[page 3 blank]

[page 4 (verso)]
V.
Deed of Manumission
Jacob Ham
to
Smith Ham, Jane Ham
& George Ham"
Event Type
Manumission
Date
October 15, 1838
Location of Event
Camden
Primary Participants

Smith Ham (b. ca. 1830)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-04754
Role: Manumitted Person
Age: 8
Status: Transition
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Jacob Ham {born circa 1805 or after}
Verbatim description from source:
"negro ... called Smith Ham"

Jane Ham Johnson (b. ca. 1832)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-04756
Role: Manumitted Person
Age: 6
Status: Transition
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Jacob Ham {born circa 1805 or after}
Verbatim description from source:
"negro ... Jane Ham"

George Ham (b. ca. 1837)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-04757
Role: Manumitted Person
Age: 1
Status: Transition
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Jacob Ham {born circa 1805 or after}
Verbatim description from source:
"negro ... Jane Ham"
Additional Participants

Jacob Ham {born circa 1805 or after}
Person identifier: NJS-PER-04753
Role: Manumitter
Comment: legal owner and manumitter of his own family members

A. Browning
Person identifier: NJS-PER-04758
Role: Witness

P. J. Gray
Person identifier: NJS-PER-04759
Role: Witness
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
Resource class
Event