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Title
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1818-02-27 Removal: Peter
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Identifier
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NJS-EVE-00201
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Source
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Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 221
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Removal certificate for Peter (1818-02-27) recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 221. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
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Event Description
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A removal certificate authorizing enslaver Nicholas Van Wickle to remove Peter, an enslaved person aged 15, from the State of New Jersey, was issued by the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County on February 27, 1818. The certificate was signed by two judges (Jacob Van Wickle and John Outcalt). The document stated that Peter was examined by the judges and consented to move with Nicholas Van Wickle from Middlesex County, NJ, to Pointe Coupee, Louisiana, there to serve Nicholas Van Wickle and Charles Morgan or either of them (although only Nicholas Van Wickle appeared in court according to the certificate). The document stated that Peter had no parents in the State of New Jersey. The certificate was recorded by the County Clerk (William P. Deare) on May 20, 1818.
Peter was one of the victims of the slave trading ring that revolved around Judge Jacob Van Wickle. Van Wickle and his associates exploited loopholes in New Jersey law in order to enrich themselves through the interstate slave trade. In 1818, Van Wickle falsified many removal certificates, signing the certificates without the consent of the enslaved people named in the documents, and then putting enslaved New Jerseyans on ships bound for Louisiana.
The details listed in the removal certificates issued by Jacob Van Wickle in 1818 are questionable. The dates of the supposed court appearances, the recorded ages, and the family circumstances of the enslaved individuals listed in the documents might have been falsified. Particularly in the case of enslaved children, Van Wickle was known to add years to their ages, and he also may have falsely recorded that children did not have parents in New Jersey. This was done to circumvent the New Jersey law that required parental consent before enslaved minors could be taken out of the state.
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Event Type
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Legal: Removal registration
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Date
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27 February 1818
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Date Certainty
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Questionable
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County (Modern)
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Middlesex
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County (Historical)
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Middlesex
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Participant Details
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DETAILS FOR PRIMARY PARTICIPANTS:
*** Peter (b. 1803) ***
Role: Relocated Person
Age: 15
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Nicholas Van Wickle (1796-1865)
- Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
Verbatim description from source:
"Male slave named Peter aged fifteen years"
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DETAILS FOR OTHER PARTICIPANTS:
Jacob Van Wickle (1770-1854)
Role: Judge
John Outcalt (1770-1853)
Role: Judge
William Philips Deare (d. 1826)
Role: County Clerk
Nicholas Van Wickle (1796-1865)
Role: Enslaver (obtained removal certificate in New Jersey)
Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
Role: Enslaver (prospective enslaver in Louisiana)
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Record Contributor
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Jesse Bayker
