1814-04-22 Manumission: Patty

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Identifier
NJS-EVE-00558
Source
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 328
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 339

Manumission of Patty (certificate dated 1814-04-22, deed dated 1814-04-22), recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 328-339. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
Event Description
Patty, aged 39, was manumitted by John Croes D.D., of North Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey. (The Reverend John Croes was the rector of Christ Church in New Brunswick at this time and would be elected first Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey the following year.) At age 39, Patty was on the brink of aging out of the possibility of manumission. New Jersey law held that enslaved persons aged 40 and above were too old to earn a livelihood on their own and were at a high risk of becoming paupers; thus the law held that they should be supported by the enslaver in their old age and could not be manumitted and sent away from the household where they had toiled for decades.

The certificate of manumission for Patty was signed by the Overseer of the Poor of North Brunswick (Moses Guest) and Justices of the Peace for Middlesex County (Thomas Hance and Asa Runyon) on April 22, 1814. The document stated that Patty was examined in court and met the eligibility requirements for manumission in New Jersey, i.e. the person was 21 to 40 years old and was "sound in mind and not under any bodily incapacity" of obtaining a livelihood. The deed of manumission was signed on April 22, 1814, by John Croes. These documents were recorded by the Middlesex County Clerk (William P. Deare) four and a half years later on October 6, 1820.
Event Type
Manumission
Date
April 22, 1814
Location of Event
North Brunswick
Primary Participants

Patty (b. 1775)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01435
Role: Manumitted Person
Age: 39
Status: Transition
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- John Croes (1762-1832)
Verbatim description from source:
"female slave named Patty"
Additional Participants

Thomas Hance
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00227
Role: Judge

Asa Runyon
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00034
Role: Judge

Moses Guest
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00226
Role: Overseer of the Poor

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

John Croes (1762-1832)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00331
Role: Enslaver, Manumitter
Record Contributor
Isaac Guzmán
Jesse Bayker
Resource class
Event