1818-05-22 Removal Registration: Peter

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-00251
Source
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 259

Removal certificate for Peter (1818-05-22) recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 259. 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 Samuel Gordon to remove Peter, an enslaved boy aged 17, from the State of New Jersey was issued by the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County on May 22, 1818. The certificate was signed by two judges (Jacob Van Wickle and John Outcalt).

The document stated that Samuel Gordon brought "his male servant Peter aged seventeen years" before the judges and that Peter was examined by the judges and consented to move to Pointe Coupee, Louisiana, there to serve Charles Morgan and Nicholas Van Wickle or either of them "for and during the Term of Eleven years from the first day of May next." The terminology used in the certificate suggests that Peter was treated as an indentured servant, or a so-called slave for a term of 28 years, under the gradual abolition rules of a neighboring state (the laws of New York and Pennsylvania both stipulated that male children of enslaved mothers were eligible for emancipation at age 28).

The certificate was recorded by the County Clerk (William P. Deare) on June 15, 1818. When making a copy of the certificate into his bound volume, the County Clerk also appended this notation at the bottom of the record, suggesting that the original document had been altered: "The name Nicholas Van Wickle is erased before the name Samuel Gordon."

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.
Event Type
Removal Registration
Keywords
Removal signed by Judge Jacob Van Wickle
Removal of unaccompanied minor without parental consent
Removal of person eligible for gradual emancipation
Date
May 22, 1818
Date Certainty
Questionable
Location of Event
South River
Morganza, Louisiana
Primary Participants

Peter (b. ca. 1801)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00699
Role: Relocated Person
Age: 17
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Samuel Gordon
- Charles Morgan (1775-1848)
- Nicholas Van Wickle (1796-1865)
Verbatim description from source:
"male servant Peter aged seventeen years"
Additional Participants

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

Samuel Gordon
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00481
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
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
Resource class
Event