March 7, 1832, Acts 56th G.A. 2nd sitting, p.107-108.
WHEREAS it has been represented to this legislature, that Sharp Halsey, a colored man, of the township of Chatham, in the county of Morris, was formerly the slave of Joseph Halsey, late of the county of Morris aforesaid, and that the said Joseph Halsey, about the year one thousand eight hundred and three, manumitted the said Sharp Halsey, by an instrument of writing which was not recorded, and which has since been lost : AND WHEREAS it has been further represented that since the year one thousand eight hundred and three, the said Sharp Halsey has been considered a free man, has made contracts on his own account and for his own benefit; and about the year one thousand eight hundred and five, purchased from Grover Young and wife, by two separate deeds of conveyance, a certain tract of land in the township of Hanover, in the said county of Morris, containing about thirteen acres and thirty-five hundredths of an acre, which he afterwards sold and conveyed to one Jonathan Cutler, of the said county of Morris, by deed dated on or about the twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, and recorded in the Morris county register of deeds, in book B2 folio 221, &c. and has since purchased a valuable real estate in the township of Chatham aforesaid, on which he now resides: AND WHEREAS, doubts have arisen since the loss of the said instrument of manumission, and the difficulty of proving the contents thereof respecting the competency of the said Sharp Halsey to hold and dispose of property, real or personal, and the said Sharp Halsey having by petition prayed that the said conveyance may be confirmed, and that he may be declared by law entitled to all the rights and privileges of a free colored man of this state, and it being reasonable, that the prayer of the said petition should be granted--Therefore,
SEC. 1. BE IT ENACTED by the Council and General Assembly of this State, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the several deeds of conveyance from Grover Young and wife to Sharp Halsey, a colored man of the county of Morris, for a tract of land in the township of Hanover, in the said county of Morris, containing about thirteen acres and thirty-five hundredths of an acre, and the deed for the same land from the said Sharp Halsey to Jonathan Cutler, dated on or about the twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, and recorded in the clerk's office of the county of Morris, in book B2 of deeds, folio 221, &c. and the several deeds of conveyance to the said Sharp Halsey, for the land now owned and occupied by him in the township of Chatham, in the said county of Morris, be deemed, taken and considered as valid, effectual and operative, as if the said Sharp Halsey had been born free, or had been, previous to the time of the execution and delivery of the said several deeds, duly and regularly manumitted, according the laws of this state.
SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That the said Sharp Halsey be, and he is hereby dec;ared to be entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities of a free colored man of this state; may hold estates, real and personal, in his own right, and convey and dispose of the same by deed, will or otherwise.
SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That unless the said Sharp Halsey shall, within three months from the passing of this act, make and file in the clerk's office of the county of Morris, such bond, with good and sufficient security, as shall be approved by the clerk of said county, with condition that the said Sharp Halsey shall, in no event, become chargeable upon the heirs or estate of the aforesaid Joseph Halsey, that then this act shall be void.
Passed March 7, 1832.