Somerset County Register of Black Children and Manumissions, Book B · New Jersey Slavery Records

Research Tips

You can browse the book by page number. If you are searching for a specific name, consult the index page images and then look up the page number referenced in the index. Review the Somerset County research guide for more information about these records.

Identifier

NJS-SRC-01734

Source Type

Civil Document

Freedom or Emancipation Certificate

Author

Somerset County Clerk

Location Created

Somerset County

Date

1823 – 1850

Description

The Register of Black Children and Manumissions, Book B, is a bound manuscript volume of 19th-century records maintained by the Somerset County Clerk's Office. The clerk's office used the book to record birth certificates of Black children and manumissions of Black adults. This volume is a continuation of the records contained in Book A. Book A covers 1804 to 1823, and Book B covers 1823 to about 1850.

The last birth certificate in Book B is for a child who was born in 1849 (recorded by the clerk in 1850). After 1850, the book went unused for 12 years until the clerk recorded a copy of an old manumission certificate for Samuel (by Paul Vandervoort) in 1862; the actual manumission did not take place in 1862, but rather in 1833. This is the last record on page 316.

There is an alphabetical index of enslavers' names at the front of the volume, but the first page of the index (the "A" page) is missing. All other index pages remain intact, although there are no names recorded for the letters I, O, X, or Y. Following the index, the volume contains pages 1 to 316. The page numbers were handwritten by the clerk at the top of each page, with some irregularities. Page number 168 occurs twice. Page 258 is followed by a page with no number written at the top and then followed by another page with the number 258 again.

For the purpose of archival preservation, in 2006 the original bookbinding was removed, and the individual pages were placed in mylar sleeves and compiled in an archival binder with the label "Manumission and Register of Blacks" on the spine.

Pages from this volume were scanned by the New Jersey Slavery Records team working on-site at the Somerset County Clerk's Office in the summer of 2024. Our team is now in the process of reviewing these documents and adding names to our database. Most of the names and events described in these records have not been added to our database yet, but the scanned images are available for browsing. If you are searching for a specific name, consult the index page images and then look up the page number referenced in the index (but keep in mind that the index page recording "A" names is missing).

Language

English

Format

Bound manuscript volume