Manumission of Ambo by slaveholder John Neilson, original certificate
Title
Manumission of Ambo by slaveholder John Neilson, original certificate
Description
Slaveholder John Neilson manumitted Ambo on January 16, 1822. This item is the original certificate of manumission signed by the Overseer of the Poor of the Township of North Brunswick (Abraham Van Arsdalen) and two Justices of the Peace for Middlesex County (James Dunham and Nicholas Booraem Jr.). This original was preserved in the Neilson Family Papers. A manuscript copy of this certificate along with a copy of John Neilson's deed of manumission for Ambo can also be found in the Book of Manumissions for Middlesex County on pages 351 and 353.
See our New Jersey Slavery Records database for more information about the Black woman named Ambo Harris and her family and about John Neilson (1745-1833) and the many people that he enslaved.
Date
1822-01-16
Spatial Coverage
Language
English
Relation
New Jersey Slavery Records database: 1822, Ambo Harris, Manumission
New Jersey Slavery Records database: John Neilson (1745-1833)
New Jersey Slavery Records database: Ambo Harris
New Jersey Slavery Records database: 1811, Ambo Harris, Marriage
New Jersey Slavery Records database: Mark Harris Sr. (b. 1791) (Husband of Ambo)
New Jersey Slavery Records database, Ambo's children: Ann Harris (b. 1814), Clara Harris (b. 1812), Eliza Harris (b. 1816), and Mark Harris Jr. (b. 1818)
Text (Transcript)
[outside]
Certificate of the Overseer
of the Poor &
two Justices of the Peace
Middlesex County respecting
my female servant woman
Ambo
Manumitted 16 January 1822
5 years
[inside front]
State of New Jersey
Middlesex County to wit, We do hereby certify that on this sixteenth day of Janry. in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & twenty two, John Neilson of the Township of North Brunswick in the County of Middlesex aforesaid, brought before us, the Overseer of the poor of the said Township of North Brunswick, and two of the Justices of the Peace of the said County of Middlesex, his female slave named Ambo who on view & examination appears to us to be 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. — In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands the day & year above written—
Abrm. Van Arsdalen } Overseer of the poor of the said township of North Brunsk.
James Dunham }
Nichs. Booraem Jr. } Justices of the peace in and for the said County of Middlesex
[inside back]
Received in Middlesex
Clerks office Janry. 16, 1822
Recorded in Book
of Manumissions - folio
351 by
Wm. P. Deare Clk
Certificate of the Overseer
of the Poor &
two Justices of the Peace
Middlesex County respecting
my female servant woman
Ambo
Manumitted 16 January 1822
5 years
[inside front]
State of New Jersey
Middlesex County to wit, We do hereby certify that on this sixteenth day of Janry. in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & twenty two, John Neilson of the Township of North Brunswick in the County of Middlesex aforesaid, brought before us, the Overseer of the poor of the said Township of North Brunswick, and two of the Justices of the Peace of the said County of Middlesex, his female slave named Ambo who on view & examination appears to us to be 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. — In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands the day & year above written—
Abrm. Van Arsdalen } Overseer of the poor of the said township of North Brunsk.
James Dunham }
Nichs. Booraem Jr. } Justices of the peace in and for the said County of Middlesex
[inside back]
Received in Middlesex
Clerks office Janry. 16, 1822
Recorded in Book
of Manumissions - folio
351 by
Wm. P. Deare Clk
Repository
Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries
Archival collection
Neilson Family Papers, 1768-1908 (MC 933)
Archival location
Box 4, Folder 45: J & J Neilson - Papers relating to purchase of slaves
Collection
Citation
North Brunswick (N.J.). Overseer of the Poor and Middlesex County (N.J.). Justice of the Peace, “Manumission of Ambo by slaveholder John Neilson, original certificate,” Scarlet and Black Digital Archive, Rutgers University, accessed April 20, 2024, https://scarletandblack.rutgers.edu/archive/items/show/195.