1819-12-13 Manumission: Cato

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Identifier
NJS-EVE-00638
Source
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 321
Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 322

Manumission of Cato (certificate dated 1819-12-13, deed dated 1819-12-13), recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 320-322. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
Event Description
Cato, aged 30, was manumitted by Abraham Van Arsdalen and William P. Deare, acting as executors for the estate of Elijah Hunt, deceased. Before his death, Elijah Hunt promised to manumit Cato in September 1819 (at the expiration of a 9-year term of service that began in September 1810).

The manumission deed, signed by the executors on December 13, 1819, states: "Elijah Hunt late of the Township of North Brunswick in the County of Middlesex New Jersey dec'd, did in his lifetime by writing under his hand & seal covenant & bind himself on the 11th Sept. 1810 to manumit and set free his Negro Slave Cato in nine years from the date thereof, which term hath now expired," and thus the executors "in pursuance of the said covenant manumit and set free the said Negro Slave Cato aged about thirty years from slavery and servitude."

The executors brought Cato to court to complete the process and obtain a certificate of manumission. The certificate of manumission was signed by the Overseer of the Poor of North Brunswick (who happened to be Abraham Van Arsdalen, one of the executors of Elijah Hunt's estate) and Justices of the Peace for Middlesex County (Thomas Hance and Nicholas Booraem Jr.) on December 13, 1819. The document stated that Cato 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 and the certificate were recorded by the Middlesex County Clerk (William P. Deare, who was also one of the executors named in the documents) on December 24, 1819.
Event Type
Manumission
Keywords
Estate (deceased enslaver)
Date
December 13, 1819
Location of Event
North Brunswick
Preceding Event
1810-09-11 Term Indenture / Promise to Manumit: Cato
Primary Participants

Cato (b. 1789)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01430
Role: Manumitted Person
Age: 30
Status: Transition
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Elijah Hunt (1781-1818)
Verbatim description from source:
"Cato slave of said dec'd"
Additional Participants

Elijah Hunt (1781-1818)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00210
Role: Enslaver, Deceased

William Philips Deare (d. 1826)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00008
Role: Executor or Administrator
Comment: also County Clerk who recorded the document in the record book

Abraham Van Arsdalen (d. ca. 1825)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00276
Role: Executor or Administrator
Comment: also Overseer of the Poor who certified that Cato was fit for manumission

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

Nicholas Booraem Jr. (1786-1869)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00332
Role: Judge
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
Resource class
Event