Skip to main content
1818-03-13 Removal: Dick
Item
-
Title
-
1818-03-13 Removal: Dick
-
Identifier
-
NJS-EVE-00197
-
Source
-
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 216
-
Removal certificate for Dick (1818-03-13) recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 216. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
-
Event Description
-
A removal certificate for a Black boy named Dick was issued by the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County on March 13, 1818. The certificate was signed by two judges (Benajah Mundy and John Outcalt). The certificate was recorded by the County Clerk (William P. Deare) on March 13, 1818.
According to the removal certificate, Dick was 16 and a half years old and was enslaved by a man named Stephen Mundy, a resident of Piscataway, who planned to move to New York State. The certificate stated that Dick was examined by the judges and consented to move with Stephen Mundy to New York. The judges noted that Dick had the status of a "slave for the term," that his term of service would expire at age 27, and that he had 9 and a half years remaining on his term of service before he would be eligible for emancipation. The judges further noted that Stephen Mundy promised to manumit Dick one year sooner, provided that Dick would serve him obediently for 8 and a half years.
Dick was a minor, and parental consent would normally be required from one of his parents in order to issue a removal certificate. The certificate noted that Dick said "that he has not to the best of his knowledge any parent now living in the State of New Jersey or elsewhere," and thus the parental consent was not obtained for Dick's move.
The certificate does not mention Stephen Mundy's exact destination, but additional historical research has confirmed that Mundy moved to the village of Caneseraga in Allegany County, New York.
Another removal certificate filed in Middlesex County a week later indicates that Stephen Mundy also took a Black boy named Aaron with him to New York. See the related event for Aaron (Identifier NJS-EVE-00198).
-
Event Type
-
Legal: Removal registration
-
Date
-
13 March 1818
-
County (Modern)
-
Middlesex
-
County (Historical)
-
Middlesex
-
Participant Details
-
DETAILS FOR PRIMARY PARTICIPANTS:
*** Dick (b. 1801) ***
Role: Relocated Person
Age: 16
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Stephen Mundy (1790-1880)
Verbatim description from source:
"slave for the term of nine and a half years and until he shall arrive at the age of twenty seven years; of the age of sixteen and a half years"
==========
DETAILS FOR OTHER PARTICIPANTS:
Stephen Mundy (1790-1880)
Role: Enslaver (moving to New York)
Benajah Mundy
Role: Judge
John Outcalt (1770-1853)
Role: Judge
William Philips Deare (d. 1826)
Role: County Clerk
-
Record Contributor
-
Jesse Bayker