Titus Farm, South Brunswick

Titus Farm, South Brunswick
Identifier
NJS-PLC-00087
Place Type
Domicile
Located In
South Brunswick
Description
A historical marker commemorates the farm that belonged to Thomas Titus and his family in the 19th century. The plaque reads:

"The Titus Farm

For 53 years, Thomas Titus and his descendants farmed this plot of land. Once an enslaved person, his remains lie here in an unmarked grave, as if keeping watch over the old farmstead.
Gerardus Beekman, the slave holder, was a member of the prominent Beekman family of New York and New Jersey. In 1814, Beekman penned his final wishes, “I will that my negro man Thomas shall have freedom after serving my heirs, or any man he shall choose, so long as a time to make fifteen years from the first day of March Eighteen Hundred and Two.” Although not yet a free man, Thomas and his wife, Sarah Tenbroeck, purchased a small farm for $50 from Ferdinand Van Dyke, in August 1817. On August 3rd, 1818, the official manumission was written and filed at the county clerk’s office in New Brunswick.

Thomas farmed this land for the next 32 years. Oats, wheat, potatoes and corn were cultivated near an orchard of peach trees.

Thomas and his wife Sarah also raised twelve children, six of whom were born after the family’s manumission. On July 21st 1849, Thomas Titus died of the Plague at 64 years of age."
Locality
South Brunswick
County (Modern)
Middlesex County
State or Province
New Jersey
Country
United States of America
Latitude
40.413023
Longitude
-74.566264
References

Titus Farm. Historical Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=173417.
Image Rights
Image courtesy of the Historical Marker Database, photograph by Don Morfe (https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=173417).
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
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Resource class
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