1818-02-11 Removal Registration: Margaret Coven

Research Tips

To learn about the removal registration system in New Jersey, see What Is a Removal Certificate? You can use the Removal Records Index to review all removal registrations by origin, destination, and other criteria.

This event is related to a notorious slave trading ring in Middlesex County, New Jersey. See our guide to the Van Wickle Slave Trading Ring for more information.
Identifier
NJS-EVE-00228
Source
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 239

Removal certificate for Margaret Coven (1818-02-11) recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 239. 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 woman named Margaret Coven (age unspecified) was issued by the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County on February 11, 1818, authorizing Coven's move to Pointe Coupee, Louisiana. The certificate was signed by two judges (Jacob Van Wickle and John Outcalt) and recorded by the County Clerk (William P. Deare) three months later on May 20, 1818.

This document is unusual. Removal certificates were typically issued for people who were enslaved because their consent was required before their enslavers could take them away from New Jersey to another state. Margaret Coven, however, is listed in the removal certificate as "a free coloured woman." The certificate stated that she "did declare that she was desirous to go with Colonel Charles Morgan of the Parish of Point Coupee in the State of Louisiana and there to serve in the capacity of a servant for the term of ten years." This removal certificate suggests that Coven would be an indentured servant in Louisiana.

This removal certificate is found among the group of documents prepared by Judge Jacob Van Wickle to facilitate the business of his notorious slave trading ring. 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 Black New Jerseyans on ships bound for Louisiana. Charles Morgan was Jacob Van Wickle's brother-in-law.

Relatedly, on February 11, 1818, the same judges issued a removal certificate for Simon, who was also listed as a "freeman" bound for Louisiana where he would serve Charles Morgan as an indentured servant.
Event Type
Removal Registration
Keywords
Removal signed by Judge Jacob Van Wickle
Removal of free person
Date
February 11, 1818
Date Certainty
Questionable
Location of Event
South Amboy
Morganza, Louisiana
Related Event
1818-02-11 Removal Registration: Simon
Primary Participants

Margaret Coven
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00676
Role: Relocated Person
Age category: Adult
Status: Transition
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
Verbatim description from source:
"free coloured woman"
Additional Participants

Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00073
Role: Enslaver
Comment: taking enslaved person to his plantation in Louisiana

Jacob Van Wickle (1770-1854)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00068
Role: Judge

John Outcalt (1770-1853)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00035
Role: Judge

William Philips Deare (d. 1826)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00008
Role: County Clerk
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
Resource class
Event