1802-03-01 Term Indenture / Promise to Manumit: Thomas Titus
- Identifier
- NJS-EVE-00484
- Source
-
Will of Gerardus Beekman, South Brunswick, NJ
-
Will of Gerardus Beekman, South Brunswick, NJ, August 18, 1814.
- Event Description
-
A young Black man named Thomas Titus and his enslaver, Gerardus Beekman, made an agreement that Beekman would manumit Titus after 15 years of service. The term of the agreement began on March 1, 1802, and was supposed to end on March 1, 1817. Titus was about 17 years old when the agreement was made.
It is uncertain whether a written contract was signed in 1802; the original term agreement has not been found. However, Beekman mentioned this agreement in his last will and testament, which he wrote in 1814. Recording the promise in his will would ensure that Beekman's heirs would have to honor the agreement in case Beekman died before Titus's term was finished in 1817. This offered a level of legal protection for Titus to ensure that the promise would be carried out.
Beekman was still alive in 1817 when Titus's term ended, and Beekman would go on to make good on his promise and file manumission papers for Titus in Middlesex County in 1818. Beekman and Titus lived in South Brunswick. - Event Type
- Term Indenture
- Promise to Manumit
- Date
- March 1, 1802 – March 1, 1817
- Date Certainty
- Inferred
- Location of Event
- South Brunswick
- Following Event
- 1814-08-18 Will (of Gerardus Beekman): Thomas Titus, Charlotte Titus
- 1818-04-13 Manumission: Thomas Titus
- Primary Participants
-
Thomas Titus (ca. 1785-1849)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01080
Role: Indentured Person
Age: 17
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Gerardus Beekman (1736-1822)
Verbatim description from source:
"negro man Thomas" - Additional Participants
-
Gerardus Beekman (1736-1822)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00282
Role: Enslaver, Grantor - Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker