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1801, Sharper Roberson, Manumission
Item
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Title
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1801, Sharper Roberson, Manumission
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Identifier
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NJS-EVE-00058
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Event Description
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The Freeman family of Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey, manumitted two enslaved people on November 30, 1802. Sylvia Bloomfield was manumitted by Israel Freeman. Sharper Roberson (or Robertson), aged 38, was manumitted by Rheuben Freeman at the same time.
The certificate of manumission for Sharper Roberson was signed by the Overseers of the Poor of Woodbridge (Ezekiel Ayers, George Harrison) and Justices of the Peace for Middlesex County (James Bonney, Ichabod Potter) on November 30, 1801. The document stated that Sharper Roberson was examined in court and met the eligibility requirements for manumission in New Jersey, i.e. the person was 21 to 40 years old and was "sound in mind and not under any bodily incapacity" of obtaining a livelihood. This manumission certificate was recorded by the Middlesex County Clerk (William P. Deare) on June 10, 1802.
A decade later, on April 29, 1811, the Middlesex County Clerk also recorded a copy of the original deed of manumission, which had been signed by Reuben Freeman on November 30, 1801, in the presence of Ichabod Potter and Matthias Freeman.
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Date
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30 November 1801
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Primary Participant Description (verbatim)
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slave named Sharper Roberson
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slave named Sharper Robertson
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Age
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Adult
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38
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Record Contributor
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Isaac Guzmán
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Jesse Bayker
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 34
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 100