The Cowenhoven Project

Enslaved by the Cowenhoven Family

New York & New Jersey | 1736-1840

A digital humanities project documenting the lives of people enslaved by the Van Kouwenhoven-Conover Family

These 247 records represent individuals -- each a person with a name, a family, a life -- whose existence is documented only through the legal and administrative records of those who enslaved them.

Cowenhoven Project Research Overview

247

Documented Individuals

identified to date

100+

Years of Records

1736 - 1840

Documented Enslavers

Cowenhoven / Conover family

Counties

3 in New York / 5 in New Jersey

Individuals by Decade

All 247 individuals carry datable events; peak documentation falls in the 1800s-1810s, reflecting the abolition-era record-keeping that followed New York's Gradual Emancipation Act of 1799 and New Jersey's Act of 1804.

How We Know These People

Type of historical record documenting each individual; some appear in multiple records (247 records, 247 individuals)

Sex, As Recorded

All 247 individuals have sex recorded in source documents

Male

51.4%

127

Female

48.6%

120

Ages at Time of Record

Age recorded for 125 of 247 individuals

Under 14

Children

Adult (14-39)

Adults

40 & Over

Older

Age was rarely recorded; most age data appears in birth and manumission records.

Top Enslavers by Record Count

Records attributed to specific identified enslavers (the project has documented 36 distinct enslavers across the Van Kouwenhoven-Conover family).

Geographic Reach

Enslaved people documented across 8 counties in New York and New Jersey

New York / 3 counties

Kings (Brooklyn / New Utrecht / Flatlands) / New York (Manhattan) / Albany

171

New Jersey / 5 counties

Monmouth (Freehold / Middletown / Manalapan) / Middlesex (West Windsor / South Amboy) / Somerset (Franklin / Montgomery) / Bergen / Hunterdon

Resistance & Flight

7 individuals documented as having run away or been pursued

Jeffery Johnson (1777), Cain (1781), Anthony (1794), Harry (1801), Maria Philips (1827), Peter (1838), and Frank (1825) who was captured and imprisoned, a reminder that many self-emancipation efforts were unsuccessful and could have dire consequences.

Abolition Context

1799 -- New York Gradual Emancipation Act
1804 -- New Jersey Act for Gradual Abolition
1827 -- Full abolition in New York
1865 -- 13th Amendment, U.S. abolition

Primary Source Types

These individuals are documented through a range of official records -- each record a fragment of a life otherwise lost to history

Monmouth County Birth Records Town of Brooklyn Manumission Records Town of New Utrecht Manumission Records NY Court of General Sessions Files (1704-1844) NJ Supreme Court Case Files (1704-1844) Probate Records & Wills 1790 US Federal Census, Kings County NY NJ Slavery Records Database NY Family Papers (CBH, NYHS, NYPL, NYSA, NYCMA) NJ Family Papers (MCHA, NJSA, RUSC) Middlesex County Birth Records Somerset County Manumission Records Monmouth County Manumission Records Dutch Reformed Church Records Newspaper Notices