1822, Phillis Neilson, Manumission
- Title
- 1822, Phillis Neilson, Manumission
- Description
-
Slaveholder John Neilson manumitted Phillis Neilson on January 16, 1822.
Phillis's exact age was not recorded on the manumission certificate, which noted only that she was not over 40 years old as required by New Jersey's law regulating manumissions. Since we know that Phillis was born before 1787 when she was sold with her mother to John Neilson, we can calculate that Phillis would have been between 35 and 40 years old at the time of the manumission in 1822.
Only Phillis's first name was recorded on the manumission certificate, but other archival documents from the African Association of New Brunswick indicate that she used the last name Neilson (or Nelson) in the 1820s.
The manumission certificate was 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.). The original certificate was preserved in the Neilson Family Papers.
A manuscript copy of the manumission certificate for Phillis, dated January 16, 1822, appears on page 351 in the Book of Manumissions for Middlesex County; a copy of John Neilson's deed of manumission for Phillis, dated January 18, 1822, appears on page 352. The documents were recorded in the book by Middlesex County Clerk William P. Deare on January 16, 1822, and January 21, 1822.
Relatedly, John Neilson also manumitted Ambo Harris on the same day. - Identifier
- NJS-EVE-00019
- Event Type
- Legal: Manumission registration
- Action Status
- Completed
- Date
- January 16, 1822
- Source
- Middlesex County Manumissions and Removals, page 351-352. Middlesex County (N.J.). Records, 1688-1929 (MC 784.1). Vol. XI. Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
- Related Event
- 1822, Ambo Harris, Manumission
- Primary Participant
- Phillis Neilson (b. 1780s)
- Primary Participant Description
- female slave named Phillis
- Freedom Status
- Transition
- Enslaver
-
John Neilson (1745-1833)
- Age
- Adult
- 35 to 40
- Witness
-
James Neilson (1784-1862)
- Officiator
- Abraham Van Arsdalen (d. ca 1825)
- Source Resource
- https://records.njslavery.org/api/items/1610
- Source Site
- https://records.njslavery.org/s/doc/page/home
- Sex
- Female
- Contributor
- Isaac Guzmán
- Jesse Bayker