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1818-10-15 Removal: Phebe
Item
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Title
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1818-10-15 Removal: Phebe
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Identifier
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NJS-EVE-00273
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Source
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Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 290
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Removal certificate for Phebe (1818-10-15) recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 290. 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 Lewis Compton to remove Phebe, an enslaved woman aged 21, from the State of New Jersey was issued by the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County on October 15, 1818. The certificate was signed by two judges (Jacob Van Wickle and John Smith). The document stated that Phebe was examined by the judges and consented to move to Palmira, Mississippi, there to serve Allen Reynolds as a slave for life. The certificate was recorded by the County Clerk (William P. Deare) on December 29, 1818.
Phebe 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.
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Event Type
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Legal: Removal registration
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Date
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15 October 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:
*** Phebe (b. 1797) ***
Role: Relocated Person
Age: 21
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Lewis Compton
- Allen Reynolds
Verbatim description from source:
"female slave named Phebe aged twenty one years"
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DETAILS FOR OTHER PARTICIPANTS:
Jacob Van Wickle (1770-1854)
Role: Judge
John Smith [Judge of Common Pleas]
Role: Judge
William Philips Deare (d. 1826)
Role: County Clerk
Lewis Compton
Role: Enslaver (obtained removal certificate in New Jersey)
Allen Reynolds
Role: Enslaver (prospective enslaver in Mississippi)
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Record Contributor
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Jesse Bayker