1822, Miller, Manumission · On These Grounds

Title: 1822, Miller, Manumission
Description: Miller was manumitted by Abraham Schuyler Neilson of North Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey.

The certificate of manumission was signed by the Overseer of the Poor of North Brunswick (Abraham Van Arsdalen) and Justices of the Peace for Middlesex County (Nicholas Booraem Jr. and James Dunham) on May 18, 1822. The certificate identified the enslaver as "Abrm. S. Neilson of the firm James H. Neilson of the Township
of North Brunswick." The document stated that Miller was examined in court and met the eligibility requirements for manumission in New Jersey, i.e. the person was 21 to 40 years old and was "sound in mind and not under any bodily incapacity" of obtaining a livelihood. Miller's exact age was not recorded in the document.

The original certificate was preserved in Neilson Family Papers, held at Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries. A copy of this document was recorded by the Middlesex County Clerk (William P. Deare) on May 18, 1822, in his Book of Manumissions on p. 359.

The transcript of the original certificate follows:

"State of New Jersey
Middlesex County to wit, We do hereby certify that
On this eighteenth day of May in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred & twenty two, Abrm. S.
Neilson of the firm James H. 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 male slave named Miller, 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 North Brunswick

Nicholas Booraem Jr. }
James Dunham } Justices of the peace"
Identifier: NJS-EVE-00562
Event Type: https://www.onthesegrounds.org/s/OTG/item/494
Action Status: https://www.onthesegrounds.org/s/OTG/item/546
Date: May 18, 1822
Source: Manumission of Miller (certificate dated 1822-05-18), recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 359. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
Primary Participant: Miller
Primary Participant Description: male slave named Miller
Freedom Status: https://www.onthesegrounds.org/s/OTG/item/555
Enslaver: Abraham Schuyler Neilson (1792-1861)
Age: Adult; 21 to 40
Author: William Philips Deare (d. 1826)
Officiator: Abraham Van Arsdalen (d. ca 1825)
Source Resource: https://records.njslavery.org/api/items/3518
Source Site: https://records.njslavery.org/s/doc/page/home
Sex: Male
Contributor: Isaac Guzmán; Jesse Bayker

Item sets: Rutgers-Aggregation; Aggregation