Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
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This white person has 51 related events in the database, listed at the bottom of this page.
This person was connected with a notorious slave trading ring in New Jersey. To learn more about the scheme, see our guide to the Van Wickle Slave Trading Ring.
- Identifier
- NJS-PER-00073
- Given Name
- Charles
- Family Name
- Morgan
- Birth Date
- 1775
- Death Date
- 1848
- Sex
- Male
- Biographical Description
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Charles Morgan was a slave trader and owner of a substantial sugar plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. He was originally from South Amboy, New Jersey, the son of Revolutionary War veteran Captain James Morgan Sr. (1734-1784). The area where he grew up later broke off from South Amboy and is now known as Sayreville. He went to Louisiana when he was in his 20s to establish a sugar plantation. By 1809, he had 28 enslaved people on his plantation. He also served as the sheriff of Pointe Coupee Parish.
In 1818, Charles Morgan came to South Amboy with $45,000 that he wanted to invest in an interstate slave trading operation. He knew that he could buy enslaved men, women, and children at cheap prices in New Jersey and sell them for huge profits in Louisiana. He organized an illegal slave trading ring together with his brother-in-law Jacob Van Wickle (the husband of Morgan's sister Sarah) and nephew Nicholas Van Wickle. Jacob Van Wickle exploited his position as Middlesex County Judge of Common Pleas and falsified legal documents to facilitate the shipment of enslaved people from Perth Amboy to Louisiana. The slave trading ring sent over a hundred enslaved people from New Jersey to the Deep South.
Charles Morgan's plantation was known as the Morganza Plantation, and the village of Morganza in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, still carries this name today. By the end of Morgan's life, there were over a hundred enslaved people working on the Morganza plantation. - Keywords
- white person
- enslaver
- Van Wickle and associates
- Enslaver of
- Amey (b. ca. 1796)
- Augustus (b. ca. 1814) {alternatively Charles, son of Hager}
- Betsey (b. ca. 1796)
- Betty (b. ca. 1796)
- Bob
- Boss (b. ca. 1799)
- Charles (b. 1816) {son of Phillis}
- Christeen (b. ca. 1781) {or Christina, mother of Diana and Dorcas}
- Claresse (b. 1795) {or Clarissa, mother of Hercules}
- Claus
- Diana (b. 1817) {daughter of Sarah}
- Diana (b. ca. 1809) {daughter of Christeen}
- Dorcas (b. ca. 1817) {daughter of Christeen}
- Dorcus (b. ca. 1802)
- Elias {son of Phillis}
- Eliza (b. ca. 1799)
- Elminah (b. ca. 1804)
- Florah (b. ca. 1795) {mother of Susan}
- Frank (b. ca. 1797)
- George (b. ca. 1800)
- George (b. ca. 1802)
- Hager (b. ca. 1789) {mother of Augustus, Mary, and Roda}
- Hannah (b. ca. 1802)
- Hannah (b. ca. 1804)
- Harriet Jane (b. 1814) {daughter of Lidiann}
- Harry (b. ca. 1796)
- Harry (b. ca. 1804) {Harrey}
- Henry (b. ca. 1797)
- Hercules (b. 1815) {son of Claresse}
- Hester (b. ca. 1800)
- Jack (b. ca. 1797)
- Jack (b. ca. 1802)
- Jacob (b. 1816)
- James (b. 1802)
- James (b. ca. 1786)
- James (b. ca. 1797)
- Jane (b. ca. 1793)
- Jennett {or Jean}
- John (b. ca. 1814) {son of Jane}
- Joseph (b. 1818) {son of Nancy}
- Juda (b. ca. 1792)
- Leta (b. ca. 1797)
- Lidia (b. ca. 1800)
- Lidiann (b. ca. 1796) {Lidia Ann, mother of Harriet Jane}
- Margaret (b. ca. 1797)
- Margaret Coven
- Mary (b. ca. 1816) {daughter of Hager}
- Mary Davis (b. ca. 1795)
- Moses (b. ca. 1802)
- Nancy (b. ca. 1796)
- Pat (b. ca. 1796) {Patty}
- Peter (b. ca. 1797)
- Peter (b. ca. 1801)
- Peter (b. ca. 1803)
- Phillis (b. ca. 1793)
- Phillis {mother of Elias and Robert}
- Rachel (b. ca. 1796) {or Rachel Ann, mother of Rozenah}
- Robert {son of Phillis}
- Roda (b. ca. 1804) {daughter of Hager}
- Rosanna
- Rozenah (b. 1818) {or Rosina, daughter of Rachel}
- Sam (b. ca. 1786)
- Sam (b. ca. 1802)
- Sam Johnson (b. ca. 1786)
- Samuel (b. 1816) {son of Juda}
- Sarah (b. ca. 1797) {mother of Diana}
- Silvey (b. ca. 1788)
- Simon
- Susan (b. 1817) {daughter of Flora}
- Susan Watt (b. ca. 1783)
- William (b. ca. 1796)
- Child of
- James Morgan Sr. (1734-1784)
- References
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Gigantino, James J., II. "Trading in Jersey Souls: New Jersey and the Interstate Slave Trade." Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 77, no. 3 (2010): 281–302. https://doi.org/10.5325/pennhistory.77.3.0281
Drake, Jarrett. "Off the Record: The Production of Evidence in 19th Century New Jersey." New Jersey Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 1, no. 1 (2015): 104–25. https://doi.org/10.14713/njs.v1i1.16
Pingeon, Frances D. “An Abominable Business: The New Jersey Slave Trade, 1818.” New Jersey History 109, no. 3 (1991): 15–35.
- Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
- Linked Sources
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Mentioned in:
- Manifest for Sloop Thorn (Manifest for Sloop Thorn, May 25, 1818. Box 18: Outward Cargo Manifests April 1814–1821. Collection District of Perth Amboy, Cargo Manifests, 1801-1877 (NAID: 4526669). Record Group 36: Records of the U.S. Customs Service. National Archives at New York City.)
- Kidnapping report and Jacob Van Wickle's rebuttal (Kidnapping report and Jacob Van Wickle's rebuttal, "KIDNAPPING," Centinel of Freedom, June 9, 1818, p. 2-3.)
- Report of human trafficking in South River, New Jersey, implicating Jacob Van Wickle and associates (Report of human trafficking in South River, New Jersey, implicating Jacob Van Wickle and associates, Franklin Gazette, May 22, 1818, p. 2.)
- Seizure of the brig Mary Ann in New Orleans (Trenton Federalist version) (Seizure of the brig Mary Ann in New Orleans (Trenton Federalist version), "From the Newark Messenger," Trenton Federalist, June 29, 1818, p. 3.)
- The Slave Market (report of Jersey Blacks in New Orleans) (The Slave Market (report of Jersey Blacks in New Orleans), "THE SLAVE MARKET," New-Orleans Chronicle, July 14, 1818, p. 2.)
- Kidnapping (report from New Orleans) (Kidnapping (report from New Orleans), "KIDNAPPING.," Trenton Federalist, August 3, 1818, p. 2.)
- Seizure of the brig Mary Ann in New Orleans (Centinel of Freedom version) (Seizure of the brig Mary Ann in New Orleans (Centinel of Freedom version), "Extract of a letter from New-Orleans, dated May 10, 1818.," Centinel of Freedom, June 23, 1818, p. 3.)
- Linked Events
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Additional Participant in:
- 1818-02-10 Removal Registration: Lidiann, Harriet Jane (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-11 Removal Registration: Margaret Coven (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-11 Removal Registration: Simon (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-12 Removal Registration: Sarah, Diana (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-26 Removal Registration: Hager, Augustus, Mary, Roda (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-26 Removal Registration: Florah, Susan (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-26 Removal Registration: Rachel, Rozenah (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-27 Removal Registration: Elminah (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-27 Removal Registration: George (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-27 Removal Registration: Harry (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-27 Removal Registration: Peter (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-27 Removal Registration: Moses (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-27 Removal Registration: James (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-02-27 Removal Registration: Susan Watt (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-03-01 Removal Registration: Sam Johnson (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-03-09 Removal Registration: Pat (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-03-09 Removal Registration: Betty (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-03-09 Removal Registration: Boss (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-03-09 Removal Registration: Lidia (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-03-09 Removal Registration: Christeen, Diana, Dorcas (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-03-09 Removal Registration: Claresse, Hercules (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-03-28 Removal Registration: Leta (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-03-28 Removal Registration: Dorcus (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-03-31 Removal Registration: Margaret (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-22 Removal Registration: Peter (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-22 Removal Registration: Jack (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-22 Removal Registration: Hester (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-22 Removal Registration: Eliza (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-22 Removal Registration: Frank (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-22 Removal Registration: Harry (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-22 Removal Registration: Mary Davis (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-22 Removal Registration: Phillis, Charles (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-22 Removal Registration: Jane, John (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-22 Removal Registration: Silvey, Jacob (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-29 Removal Registration: James (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-29 Removal Registration: William (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-29 Removal Registration: Betsey (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-04-29 Removal Registration: Sam (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-15 Removal Registration: James (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-15 Removal Registration: Amey (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-15 Removal Registration: Henry (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-15 Removal Registration: Juda, Samuel (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-20 Removal Registration: Hannah (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-20 Removal Registration: George (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-20 Removal Registration: Sam (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-21 Removal Registration: Nancy, Joseph (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-22 Removal Registration: Peter (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-23 Removal Registration: Hannah (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-05-23 Removal Registration: Jack (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-06 Criminal action: victims children Augustus, Diana, Diana, Dorcas, Harriet Jane, Hercules, Mary, Rozenah, Susan (slave trafficking case, defendants Charles Morgan and Nicholas Van Wickle) (Role: Defendant)
- 1818-06 Criminal action: victim Claus (slave trafficking case, defendants Charles Morgan, Lewis Compton, and James Edgar) (Role: Enslaver, Defendant)
- Resource class
- Agent