1801-11-30 Manumission: Sharper Roberson

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Identifier
NJS-EVE-00058
Source
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 34
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 100

Manumission of Sharper Roberson (certificate dated 1801-11-30, deed dated 1801-11-30), recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 34 and 100. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
Event Description
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.
Event Type
Manumission
Date
November 30, 1801
Location of Event
Woodbridge
Related Event
1801-11-30 Manumission: Sylvia Bloomfield
Primary Participants

Sharper Roberson (b. 1763)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00453
Role: Manumitted Person
Age: 38
Status: Transition
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Reuben Freeman
Verbatim description from source:
"slave named Sharper Roberson; slave named Sharper Robertson"
Additional Participants

James Bonney
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00046
Role: Judge

Ichabod Potter
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00032
Role: Judge

Ezekiel Ayers
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00028
Role: Overseer of the Poor

George Harrison
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00027
Role: Overseer of the Poor

Matthias Freeman
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00203
Role: Witness

William Philips Deare (d. 1826)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00008
Role: County Clerk

Reuben Freeman
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00053
Role: Enslaver, Manumitter
Record Contributor
Isaac Guzmán
Jesse Bayker
Resource class
Event