New Jersey Slavery Records · 1804, Cuff, Manumission

1804, Cuff, Manumission

Item

Title: 1804, Cuff, Manumission
Identifier: NJS-EVE-00082
Event Description: Cuff was manumitted by Abraham Smalley of Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey. The certificate of manumission was signed by the Overseers of the Poor of Piscataway (Edward Griffith, David Coriell Jr.) and Justices of the Peace for Middlesex County (Samuel F. Randolph, David Dunham) on August 27, 1804. The document stated that Cuff 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. Cuff's exact age was not recorded in the document. This manumission was recorded by the Middlesex County Clerk (William P. Deare) on September 17, 1804.
Event Type: Legal: Manumission registration
Action Status: Completed
Date: 27 August 1804
Location: Piscataway, NJ
Primary Participant: Cuff
Primary Participant Description (verbatim): slave named Cuff
Sex: Male
Age: Adult; 21 to 40
Freedom Status: Transition
Enslaver of Primary Event Participant: Abraham Smalley
Officiator: Edward Griffith; David Coriell Jr.
Judge: Samuel Fitz Randolph (1741-1811); David Dunham (1745-1807)
Source: Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 55; Manumission of Cuff (certificate dated 1804-08-27), recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 55. 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