New Jersey Slavery Records · 1800, Phebe Merrill, Manumission

1800, Phebe Merrill, Manumission

Item

Title: 1800, Phebe Merrill, Manumission
Identifier: NJS-EVE-00067
Event Description: Phebe Merrill was manumitted by Hugh Davids of Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey. The certificate of manumission was signed by the Overseers of the Poor of Woodbridge (Richard Wright, Ezekiel Ayers) and Justices of the Peace for Middlesex County (Henry Marsh, Ichabod Potter) on May 10, 1800. The document stated that Phebe Merrill 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. Phebe Merrill's exact age was not recorded in the document. This manumission was recorded by the Middlesex County Clerk almost 3 years later in the spring of 1803.
Event Type: Legal: Manumission registration
Action Status: Completed
Date: 10 May 1800
Location: Woodbridge, NJ
Primary Participant: Phebe Merrill
Primary Participant Description (verbatim): slave named Phebe Merrill
Sex: Female
Age: Adult; 21 to 40
Freedom Status: Transition
Enslaver of Primary Event Participant: Hugh Davids
Officiator: Richard Wright; Ezekiel Ayers
Judge: Henry Marsh; Ichabod Potter
Source: Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 43; Manumission of Phebe Merrill (certificate dated 1800-05-10), recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 43. 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