1822-02-19 Manumission: Hannah Allen · New Jersey Slavery Records

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Identifier

NJS-EVE-00601

Source

Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 354

Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 355

Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 356

Manumission of Hannah Allen (certificate dated 1822-02-19, deed dated 1822-02-19), recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 354-356. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.

Event Description

Hannah Allen was manumitted by her mother (herself a formerly enslaved Black woman) Sarah Ball of North Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey. The manumission registration took place on February 19, 1822. Hannah Allen was an adult at this time, but her exact age was not recorded in the manumission documents.

This is one of two manumissions recorded in Middlesex County where the enslaver performing the manumission is a Black person (see also the manumission of George Wiles by Benjamin James). The documents related to Hannah Allen's manumission explain that Hannah had been born into slavery; that is, her mother Sarah Ball was enslaved at the time of Hannah's birth. Sometime after giving birth to Hannah, Sarah Ball gained freedom and then purchased Hannah from her former enslaver (whose name is not noted in these documents). The documents also state that Hannah was married to a free man of color named John Allen, and thus Allen was Hannah's married name.

Two documents for Hannah Allen appear in the Middlesex County Book of Manumissions. First, the certificate of manumission was signed by the Overseer of the Poor of North Brunswick (Abraham Van Arsdalen) and two Justices of the Peace for Middlesex County (Nicholas Booraem Jr. and James Dunham) on February 19, 1822. This document stated that Hannah Allen 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.

Second, the deed of manumission was executed by Sarah Ball on the same day, February 19, 1822. Sarah Ball signed the document by her mark, i.e. placing an X on the page above her name (which was the form of signing used by persons who could not write their name).

The following is the transcript of the deed of manumission as it appears on page 355 of the Middlesex County Book of Manumissions:

"Manumission Hannah /

Know all men by these presents that I Sarah Ball of the township of North Brunswick in the County of Middlesex for sundry good causes & considerations me thereunto moving have liberated, manumitted & set free my daughter Hannah, the wife of John Allen, a free colored man and therefore usually called Hannah Allen, who was born a slave, and has long since become my property by purchase; which said Hannah is sound in mind and not under any bodily incapacity of obtaining a support, and also is not under the age of twenty one years, nor above the age of forty years, as appears by the certificate of the Overseer of the Poor for the said Township of North Brunswick and two of the Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex aforesaid, filed in the Clerks office for the said county.

And I do hereby liberate manumit and set free the said Hannah Allen so that she may enjoy all the rights privileges & immunities of a free person according to the true intent and meaning of the Act of the Legislature in that case made and provided. -- In Witness whereof I the said Sarah Ball have hereunto set my hand & affixed my seal this nineteenth day of February in the year of one thousand eight hundred and twenty two. --

Sarah X Ball
her mark

Signed sealed & delivered in the presence of }
Geo. F.O. Hauts. Littleton Kirkpatrick }"

The deed was notarized by Chief Justice of New Jersey Andrew Kirkpatrick on same day when it was signed, February 19, 1822. Both the deed and the related certificate were received and recorded by the Middlesex County Clerk (William P. Deare) on April 23, 1822.

Event Type

Manumission

Date

February 19, 1822

Location of Event

North Brunswick

Primary Participants

Hannah Allen
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01357
Role: Manumitted Person
Age category: Adult
Status: Transition
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Sarah Ball
Verbatim description from source:
"slave named Hannah"

Additional Participants

Nicholas Booraem Jr. (1786-1869)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00332
Role: Judge

James Dunham
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00340
Role: Judge

Abraham Van Arsdalen (d. ca. 1825)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00276
Role: Overseer of the Poor

George F. O. Hants
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01744
Role: Witness

Littleton Kirkpatrick
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01779
Role: Witness

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

Sarah Ball
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00416
Role: Enslaver, Manumitter

Record Contributor

Isaac Guzmán

Jesse Bayker