1818-05-21 Removal Registration: Nancy, Joseph

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-00232
Source
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 243

Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 243. Archival location: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries. Middlesex County (N.J.). Records, 1688-1929 (MC 784.1). Vol. XI.
Event Description
A removal certificate authorizing enslaver David F. Labaw to remove Nancy, an enslaved woman aged 22, together with her infant son, aged 2 days, from the State of New Jersey was issued by the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County on May 21, 1818. The baby's name was not recorded in the certificate. The certificate was signed by two judges (Jacob Van Wickle and John Outcalt). The document stated that David F. Labaw brought Nancy before the judges, and that Nancy was examined by the judges "separate and apart from her said master" and consented to move from Middlesex County, NJ, to Pointe Coupee, Louisiana, "there to serve Colonel Charles Morgan and Nicholas Van Wickle." The certificate was recorded by the County Clerk (William P. Deare) on June 15, 1818.

Nancy 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.
Event Type
Removal Registration
Keywords
Removal signed by Judge Jacob Van Wickle
Removal of mother and child
Removal of person eligible for gradual emancipation
Date
May 21, 1818
Date Certainty
Questionable
Location of Event
South River
Morganza, Louisiana
Primary Participants

Nancy (b. ca. 1796)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00680
Role: Relocated Person
Age: 22
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- David F. Labaw
- Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
- Nicholas Van Wickle (1796-1865)
Verbatim description from source:
"female slave named Nancy aged twenty two years"

Joseph (b. 1818) {son of Nancy}
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00679
Role: Relocated Person
Age category: Infant
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- David F. Labaw
- Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
- Nicholas Van Wickle (1796-1865)
Verbatim description from source:
"male child two days old"
Additional Participants

David F. Labaw
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00478
Role: Enslaver
Comment: obtained removal certificate in New Jersey

Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00073
Role: Enslaver
Comment: prospective enslaver in Louisiana

Nicholas Van Wickle (1796-1865)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00072
Role: Enslaver
Comment: prospective enslaver 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