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1814-04-05 Birth: Rebecca Ann
Item
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Title
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1814-04-05 Birth: Rebecca Ann
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Identifier
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NJS-EVE-00186
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Event Description
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Rebecca Ann was born on April 5, 1814, in New Jersey, the daughter of an enslaved woman named Hannah Grene. The birth date is inferred from a court document issued in July 1818 that mentions Rebecca Ann as a "female child named Rebeca Ann aged four years on or about the fifth day of April last past."
It is unclear who was Rebecca Ann's enslaver at the time of her birth in 1814, because by the time Rebecca Ann was 4 years old, she and her mother were enslaved by different men and lived in separate households. By 1818, Rebecca Ann's enslaver was John Smock of Monmouth County, but her mother Hannah Grene's enslaver was George Farmer of Middlesex County. It is possible that Rebecca Ann was born in George Farmer's household and was later sold or otherwise transferred to John Smock.
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Event Type
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Life event: Birth
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Date
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5 April 1814
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Date Certainty
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Inferred
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Participant Details
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DETAILS FOR PRIMARY PARTICIPANTS:
*** Rebecca Ann (b. 1814) ***
Role: Child
Age category: Infant
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- John Smock
- George Farmer (1761-1818)
Verbatim description from source:
"female child named Rebeca Ann aged four years on or about the fifth day of April last past now belonging to John Smock in the County of Monmouth in New Jersey which said female child was born under the Abolition Act of the Legislature of the State of New Jersey by virtue of which act she the said female child will become free and entitled to freedom at the age of twenty one years"
*** Hannah Grene (b. 1797) ***
Role: Parent
Age: 17
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- George Farmer (1761-1818)
Verbatim description from source:
"female slave named Hannah Grene aged between twenty one and twenty two years...slave for life"
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DETAILS FOR OTHER PARTICIPANTS:
George Farmer (1761-1818)
Role: Enslaver (known enslaver of mother Hannah Grene by 1818, and possible former enslaver of child Rebecca Ann at the time of her birth)
John Smock
Role: Enslaver (known enslaver of child Rebecca Ann by 1818)
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Record Contributor
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Jesse Bayker