1818-10-21 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-00275
Source
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 292

Removal certificate for Peter (1818-10-21) recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 292. 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 Peter, an enslaved person aged 14, from the State of New Jersey was issued by the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County on October 21, 1818. The certificate was signed by two judges (Jacob Van Wickle and John Smith). The document stated that Peter was examined by the judges and consented to move to New Iberia, Louisiana, there to serve Lewis Compton and William Stone "for life as a slave." The document also stated that Peter had no parents in living, and parental consent was not obtained. The certificate was recorded by the County Clerk (William P. Deare) on December 29, 1818.

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.

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 with the aim of circumventing the rules that required parental consent before enslaved minors could be taken out of the state.

This particular certificate contains a number of inconsistencies, calling Peter a "female slave" and mixing up pronouns, noting that Lewis Compton brought before the court "his female slave named Peter aged fourteen years, and the said Peter being by us examined separate and apart from her said master declared that he was willing, and that he freely consented to remove and go out of this State to New Iberia in the State of Louisiana."
Event Type
Removal Registration
Keywords
Removal signed by Judge Jacob Van Wickle
Removal of unaccompanied minor without parental consent
Date
October 21, 1818
Date Certainty
Questionable
Location of Event
Middlesex County
New Iberia, Louisiana
Primary Participants

Peter (b. ca. 1804)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00723
Role: Relocated Person
Age: 14
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Lewis Abrams
- William Stone
Additional Participants

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

John Smith {Judge of Common Pleas}
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00635
Role: Judge

William Philips Deare (d. 1826)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00008
Role: County Clerk

Lewis Compton
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00480
Role: Enslaver
Comment: obtained removal certificate in New Jersey

William Stone
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00489
Role: Enslaver
Comment: prospective enslaver in Louisiana
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
Resource class
Event