Title

1802, Thomas Wildes, Manumission

Identifier

NJS-EVE-00062

Event Description

Joseph Hutchinson of East Windsor, Middlesex County, New Jersey, manumitted two enslaved men on April 8, 1802. The names of the men who were manumitted were Samson Jeters and Thomas Wildes.

The certificate of manumission for Thomas Wildeswas signed by the Overseers of the Poor of East Windsor (Joshua Ely, Jonathan Brown) and Justices of the Peace for Middlesex County (Jonathan Combs, Robert Willson) on April 8, 1802. The document stated that Thomas Wildes 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. Thomas Wildes's exact age was not recorded in the document. This manumission was recorded by the Middlesex County Clerk (William P. Deare) on October 18, 1802.

East Windsor was part of Middlesex County at this time, but it would later become part of Mercer County in 1838.

Event Type

Legal: Manumission registration

Action Status

Completed

Date

8 April 1802

Location

East Windsor, NJ

Related Event

1802, Samson Jeters, Manumission

Primary Participant

Thomas Wildes

Primary Participant Description (verbatim)

slave named Thomas Wildes

Sex

Male

Age

Adult

21 to 40

Freedom Status

Transition

Enslaver of Primary Event Participant

Joseph Hutchinson

Officiator

Joshua Ely

Jonathan Brown

Judge

Jonathan Combs

Robert Willson

Source

Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 38

Manumission of Thomas Wildes (certificate dated 1802-04-08), recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 38. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.

Author

William Philips Deare (d. 1826)

Record Contributor

Isaac Guzmán

Jesse Bayker