1803-12-03 Manumission: Rose

Identifier
NJS-EVE-01941
Source
Transcriptions of Early County Records of New Jersey: Gloucester County Series Slave Documents

New Jersey Historical Records Survey Project, Division of Professional and Service Projects, Works Progress Administration. Transcriptions of Early County Records of New Jersey: Gloucester County Series Slave Documents. Newark: Historical Records Survey, 1940.
Event Description
The following manumission deed and certificate from Gloucester County were transcribed by the Historical Records Survey Project of the Works Progress Administration. The transcript was originally published in 1940 in the book titled Transcriptions of Early County Records of New Jersey: Gloucester County Series Slave Documents. The transcript is reproduced below as it appeared in that book.

The manumission deed noted that a Black woman named Rose, whose legal owner was Solomon Combs, had been promised freedom under an indenture agreement entered into in 1798. Under the indenture agreement, she would serve a man named John Lawrence for several years and would then be set free. The instructions to manumit Rose were carried out in 1803 by James B. Caldwell, acting under the authority given to him by Solomon Combs in the indenture agreement. It is not entirely clear from the manumission deed whether James B. Caldwell ever employed Rose as a servant in his own household prior to her manumission, or whether he was acting merely as a legal representative to carry out Solomon Combs's instructions that Rose should be set free. These documents were filed in Deptford Township, of which James B. Caldwell and John Lawrence were residents at this time (as confirmed by Deptford tax ratables for 1802). Whether Solomon Combs was a resident of that township is uncertain. Rose was aged 33 at the time of her manumission in 1803.


GLOUCESTER COUNTY DOCUMENT NUMBER: 22

TRANSCRIPT:

To Whom it may Concern - Know ye that I James B. Caldwell by the Authority given me by Solomon Combs in a Certain Indenture Given to John Lawrence on a Negro Woman named Rose bearing date 30th March 1798 In which Indenture sd. Combs hath particularly specified that the sd Rose should be manumitted and set free do hereby Manumit discharge and set free the aforesaid Negro Woman Rose aged about thirty three years being the property of said Solomon Combs - Witness my hand seal the third day of December Eighteen hundred and three -

James B. Caldwell.

Gloucester County to wit, We do hereby Certify that on the third day of December Eighteen hundred and three James B. Caldwell agreeable to an Indenture given to John Lawrence bearing date March 30th 1798 by Solomon Combs on a Certain Negro Woman named Rose in which Indenture sd Combs hath particularly specified that the sd Negro Woman Rose should be manumited and set free Brought before us the subscribers the only acting overseer of the poor of the township of Debtford and two of the Justices of the Peace of the sd County the aforesaid Negro Woman named Rose the Property of sd Solomon Combs, Which sd Rose on View and examination appears to us to be sound in Mind and not under any Bodily incapacity of obtaining a support and also is not under the age of twenty one years nor above the age of forty years - In Witness Whereof we have hereunto set our hands the day & year above written.

Acting overseer of the poor
of the township of Debtford
Biddle Reeves

As Justices of the peace of
the County of Gloucester
Jonathan Harker, J. P.
Jeremiah Wood.


[Verso]

Rose's Manumission
Recorded 6th decem 1803 in the Clerks Office of Gloucester County in Book A.

E Clark Clk
Event Type
Manumission
Date
December 3, 1803
Location of Event
Deptford
Preceding Event
1798-03-30 Term Indenture / Promise to Manumit: Rose
Primary Participants

Rose (b. ca. 1770)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-05363
Role: Manumitted Person
Age: 33
Status: Transition
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Solomon Combs
Verbatim description from source:
"Negro Woman Rose aged about thirty three years"
Additional Participants

Solomon Combs
Person identifier: NJS-PER-05357
Role: Enslaver, UNSPECIFIED ENSLAVER
Comment: primary legal owner of Rose

Elisha Clark
Person identifier: NJS-PER-04438
Role: County Clerk

Biddle Reeves
Person identifier: NJS-PER-05358
Role: Overseer of the Poor

Jonathan Harker
Person identifier: NJS-PER-05359
Role: Judge
Comment: Justice of the Peace for Gloucester County

Jeremiah Wood
Person identifier: NJS-PER-05360
Role: Judge
Comment: Justice of the Peace for Gloucester County

John Lawrence
Person identifier: NJS-PER-05361
Role: Former Enslaver Mentioned
Comment: Rose served him for several years under an indenture agreement

James B. Caldwell
Person identifier: NJS-PER-05362
Role: Manumitter
Comment: filed manumission documents for Rose under authority given him by Solomon Combs
Record Contributor
Kemy Rodriguez
Resource class
Event