Record of birth of Tom, to an enslaved woman, Bet, on March 28th 1806, in Flatlands, Brooklyn. Reported by slave owner George Lott before Town Clerk William Kouwenhoven, the record was created in response to the New York State law, “An Act for the Gradual Emancipation of Slavery, 1799.” The law specified that children born after July 4th, 1799 were legally free, but not until the age of 28 for male children and 25 for female children. Old Town records, NYC Municipal Archives.
Transcription Note: The text below was transcribed using Handwriting OCR softwareand edited by staff from the NYC Department of Records & Information Services. Corrections and clarifications have been added in brackets.
Transcribed Text: To William Kouwenhoven Town Clerk. We are to Certify that A male Child is Born my female Slave Named Bet on the twenty Eighth day of march 1806 which Child is named Tom witness my hand this 27th day of September 1806 George Lott
Wm [William] Kouwenhoven. Town Clerk