Enslaved individuals appear in Franklin’s ratables as property; this poster anchors the local documentary record.

Enslaved individuals were listed as property in tax ratables and other records. “Jill” represents a locally documented enslaved woman in Franklin-area records and anchors the reality that enslaved lives were recorded in fragments, often without full names or family details.

This page is an essential Franklin anchor: it shows slavery in Franklin Township in the documentary record, not as an abstract concept.

Ratables and probate inventories often list enslaved people alongside livestock and household goods. That is the point. The documents reveal how the law treated human beings as property.

Even when the record preserves only a first name or a category, it can still be used responsibly in public history to show presence, quantify slavery, and connect households to enslavement.

For Franklin 250, “Jill” functions as an interpretive anchor for the wider roster of named enslaved individuals tied to local families. It also supports your emphasis that names are not footnotes.

When possible, this bucket can be paired with the household’s probate, inventory, or church records to reconstruct fragments of life, while clearly stating what cannot be proven.

Some old records listed enslaved people like property. “Jill” reminds us that real people lived here, even when records did not treat them fairly.

Misconception: Slavery was only a southern story. Reality: NJ records show enslaved people listed in towns like Franklin.

Directly anchored to Franklin-area ratables and local recordkeeping.

Search Tags: Franklin Records | Enslaved People | Ratables | Documentary Proof | Somerset County | Local Black History

New Jersey State Archives (context): https://www.nj.gov/state/archives/

NJ State Library – Genealogy & local history resources (context): https://www.njstatelib.org/research_library/new_jersey_resources/