1809-06-19 Abandonment: 5 Black boys and 1 Black girl

Identifier
NJS-EVE-01012
Source
Overseers of the Poor of Maidenhead seek to bind out 6 abandoned Black children, by Joseph Scudder and Enoch Johnston

Overseers of the Poor of Maidenhead seek to bind out 6 abandoned Black children, by Joseph Scudder and Enoch Johnston, Trenton Federalist, July 10, 1809, p. 4.
Event Description
In June 1809, Overseers of the Poor of Maidenhead, Hunterdon County (present-day Lawrence, Mercer County), published a notice seeking to bind out six Black children, i.e. to place them as indentured servants into white households until age 21 (for girls) or age 25 (for boys). These children were abandoned to the Overseers pursuant to the abandonment provision of New Jersey's gradual abolition law, which allowed enslavers to take 1-year-old infants away from their enslaved mothers and give them up to the Overseers of the Poor to be treated as paupers.

The Overseers announced that any individual who wanted to take a Black child as an indentured servant could come forward and apply to take the child away. The notice listed the age and sex of each child, but did not provide the children's names. The names of the two Overseers of the Poor were listed as Joseph Scudder and Enoch Johnston.

Note that the abbreviation "do." in the source document means "ditto," meaning "the same as above." In other words, the line "1 do. do. 4 do. 1 do." means 1 male child aged 4 years and 1 month.

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Transcript of the source document:

"THE subscribers Overseers of
the poor in the township of Maidenhead, in the county of Hunterdon, doth hereby certify the following to be a true list of the abandoned black children, born since the 4th day of July 1804, in said township. Any person wishing to take any of said children upon the terms prescribed in the act of the Legislature of this state, for that purpose made and provided, will please to apply to the subscribers.

1 male child aged 4 years and 6 months,
1 do. do. 4 do. 1 do.
1 do. do. 3 do. 11 do.
1 do. do. 3 do. 8 do.
1 do. do. 3 do. 10 do.
1 female child aged 4 do. 9 do.

JOSEPH SCUDDER, }
ENOCH JOHNSTON, } Overseers of the poor.
June 19, 1809. 38-4w"
Event Type
Abandonment
Date
June 19, 1809
Location of Event
Lawrence (formerly Maidenhead)
Primary Participants

Black boy born Dec. 1804
Role: Abandoned Person
Age: 4
Status: Enslaved
Verbatim description from source:
"1 male child aged 4 years and 6 months"
Comment: to be bound out until age 25

Black boy born May 1805
Role: Abandoned Person
Age: 4
Status: Enslaved
Verbatim description from source:
"1 male child aged 4 years and 1 month"
Comment: to be bound out until age 25

Black boy born July 1805
Role: Abandoned Person
Age: 3
Status: Enslaved
Verbatim description from source:
"1 male child aged 3 years and 11 months"
Comment: to be bound out until age 25

Black boy born Oct. 1805
Role: Abandoned Person
Age: 3
Status: Enslaved
Verbatim description from source:
"1 male child aged 3 years and 8 months"
Comment: to be bound out until age 25

Black boy born Aug. 1805
Role: Abandoned Person
Age: 3
Status: Enslaved
Verbatim description from source:
"1 male child aged 3 years and 10 months"
Comment: to be bound out until age 25

Black girl born Sept. 1804
Role: Abandoned Person
Age: 3
Status: Enslaved
Verbatim description from source:
"1 female child aged 4 years and 9 months"
Comment: to be bound out until age 21
Additional Participants

Joseph Scudder
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02405
Role: Overseer of the Poor
Comment: Overseer of the Poor of Maidenhead

Enoch Johnston
Person identifier: NJS-PER-02406
Role: Overseer of the Poor
Comment: Overseer of the Poor of Maidenhead
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
Resource class
Event