1818-04-29 Removal: Betsey
- Title
- 1818-04-29 Removal: Betsey
- Identifier
- NJS-EVE-00244
- Source
-
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 253
- Removal certificate for Betsey (1818-04-29) recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 253. 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 authorizing enslaver Lewis Compton to remove Betsey, an enslaved woman aged 22, from the State of New Jersey was issued by the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County on April 29, 1818. The certificate was signed by two judges (Jacob Van Wickle and John Outcalt). The document stated that Lewis Compton brought Betsey before the judges and that Betsey was examined by the judges and consented to move 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.
Betsey 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. - Event Type
- Legal: Removal registration
- Keywords
- Removal signed by Judge Jacob Van Wickle
- Date
- 29 April 1818
- Date Certainty
- Questionable
- Primary Participant
- Betsey (b. 1796)
- Additional Participant
- Jacob Van Wickle (1770-1854)
- John Outcalt (1770-1853)
- William Philips Deare (d. 1826)
- Participant Details
-
DETAILS FOR PRIMARY PARTICIPANTS:
*** Betsey (b. 1796) ***
Role: Relocated Person
Age: 22
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Lewis Compton
- Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
- Nicholas Van Wickle (1796-1865)
Verbatim description from source:
"female slave named Betsey aged twenty two"
==========
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
Lewis Compton
Role: Enslaver
Comment: obtained removal certificate in New Jersey
Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
Role: Enslaver
Comment: prospective enslaver in Louisiana
Nicholas Van Wickle (1796-1865)
Role: Enslaver
Comment: prospective enslaver in Louisiana - Browse Records
- Browse: Removal Records Index
- Related Resource
- Lost Souls Memorial Project website
- Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
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