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1817, Phillis, Removal
Item
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Title
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1817, Phillis, Removal
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Identifier
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NJS-EVE-00195
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Event Description
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In 1817, Staats Van Deursen (Treasurer of Queen's College, later Rutgers Univesity) sold Phillis to a man named Jacob Klady, a New Jersey landholder who was getting ready to move to Ouachita Parish in Louisiana to establish a cotton plantation. Klady took Phillis to Louisiana with him. Phillis was aged 22 at this time.
On September 23, 1817, Staats Van Deursen brought Phillis to the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County to obtain a removal certificate authorizing Jacob Klady to take Phillis to Louisiana where she would serve Klady as her new enslaver. The certificate was signed by two judges (Thomas Hance and John Fitz Randolph). The document stated that Phillis was examined by the judges and consented to move with Jacob Klady to Louisiana. The certificate was recorded by the County Clerk (William P. Deare) on October 8, 1817.
A complete transcript of the removal certificate follows:
"Phillis }
State of New Jersey }
Middlesex County }
On the 23rd day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen Phillis the negro slave of Staats Van Deursen of the city of New Brunswick, in the county and State aforesaid, aged twenty two years was privately examined before us Thomas Hance and John F. Randolph two of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in and for said County of Middlesex, and on her examination did state and acknowledge to us that she was twenty two years old and that she was perfectly willing to leave the service of her present master and to remove with Jacob Klady to the State of Louisiana and that she would rather go with and serve the said Jacob Klady than continue with her present master. All of which we do hereby certify. In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands the day and year above written. -
Thos. Hance
John F. Randolph. -
Received October 8th, 1817 recorded
by Wm. P. Deare CLK"
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Primary Participant Description (verbatim)
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Phillis the negro slave
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aged twenty two years
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Age
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22
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Date
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23 September 1817
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Source
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Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 208
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Removal certificate for Phillis (1817-09-23) recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 208. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.