1811-02-01 Birth: Letty

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See the Middlesex County Research Guide for information about related records.
Identifier
NJS-EVE-00764
Source
Middlesex County Births of Enslaved Children, page 81

Middlesex County Births of Enslaved Children, page 81. Archival location: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries. Middlesex County (N.J.). Records, 1688-1929 (MC 784.1). Vol. X.
Event Description
Middlesex County Births of Enslaved Children book contains the following record:

Page: 81
Child: Letty
Mother: Jane
Enslaver signed: Austin D. Blackwell
Location: Mapletown, NJ
Birth date: February 1, 1811
Reported date: November 17, 1830
Clerk: T. S. Van Arsdalen

The record also contains the names and dates of birth for the child’s 5 siblings. Note that this document was submitted by enslaver Austin D. Blackwell in 1830, many years after Jane’s children were born. Although this is not mentioned in this document, Austin was too young to have been Jane’s enslaver at the time when the children were born, and it can therefore be inferred that Austin’s father Thomas Blackwell (the head of the Blackwell household) was Jane’s original enslaver during her childbearing years. It appears that Thomas failed to report the children’s births as the law required, and Austin finally submitted birth records to the Middlesex County Clerk in 1830, five years after his father’s death.

Note that the date “November 8th 1820” that appears in the transcript below is likely an error made either by Austin Blackwell or by the County Clerk, considering that two other dates on the document indicate that it was signed in November 1830 (not 1820), and the document appears in the Clerk’s book on page 81 alongside other records from 1830.

The following is a complete transcript of the document:

"Charles was born September 6th 1809
Letty was born February 1st 1811
Alexander was born May 29th 1812
Sam was born January 20th 1814
Phebe was born June 8th 1815
Sally was born August 10th 1817
all of the same mother Jane

Dated November 8th 1820
Austin D. Blackwell

I do hereby certify that the above names is taken from the family record

Dated Mapleton
November 17th 1830
Austin D. Blackwell

Recd November 22, 1830 & recorded by
T. S. Van Arsdalen Clerk"
Event Type
Birth
Date
February 1, 1811
Location of Event
Mapletown, South Brunswick
Primary Participants

Letty (b. 1811) {daughter of Jane}
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01891
Role: Child
Age category: Infant
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Austin Davis Blackwell (1794-1878)
- Thomas Blackwell (1741-1825)

Jane
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01853
Role: Parent
Age category: Adult
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Austin Davis Blackwell (1794-1878)
- Thomas Blackwell (1741-1825)
Additional Participants

T. S. Van Arsdalen
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00760
Role: County Clerk

Thomas Blackwell (1741-1825)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01233
Role: Enslaver
Comment: enslaver at the time of birth

Austin Davis Blackwell (1794-1878)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01363
Role: Enslaver, Reporter or Certifier
Comment: filed birth certificate years later as new enslaver of the child
Record Contributor
Lindsey Dixon
Jesse Bayker
Resource class
Event