Black Birth Book of Monmouth County, New Jersey

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Black Birth Book of Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1804-1848. Printed by the Office of the Monmouth County Clerk, Freehold, New Jersey in 1989.

This is a book of births of enslaved children born between 1804-1848. The male children were to be free at age 25 and the female children at age 22, due to an act of legislation. Most of the children, and most of the parents who were recorded, are identified by first name only.

The original, hand-written entries copied to the book were from the slaveholders reporting to the government. The form was along the lines of “I, name of slaveholder, of town name, certify that a boy/girl was born on date of mother’s name and named name.” Some entries have a bit more information.

The book has seven sections:

1. Entries in order recorded in the original manuscript book,
2. List of parents' first names sorted alphabetically,
3. List of children's first names sorted alphabetically,
4. List of slaveholder's names sorted alphabetically,
5. List of children's surnames sorted alphabetically,
6. List of parents' surnames sorted alphabetically,
7. List of slaveholder's occupations with surnames.

Only section one is transcribed here. There are sixteen pages in section one.

The Forward to this volume indicates that similar, original Black Birth registers exist[ed] for Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, and Bergen counties in New Jersey. It is not stated if any had been reproduced in print.

Entries in original order (fields reordered from book)