Twelve Years a Slave
said county of Washington, as deponent believes, and was married Dec.
25th, 1828, in Fort Edward aforesaid, and his said wife and three
children--two daughters and one son--are now living in Glens Falls,
Warren county, New-York, and that the said Solomon Northup always
resided in said county of Washington, and its immediate vicinity,
until about 1841, since which time deponent has not seen him, but
deponent has been credibly informed, and as he verily believes truly,
the said Solomon is now wrongfully held as a slave in the State of
Louisiana. And deponent further says that Anne Northup, named in
the said memorial, is entitled to credit, and deponent believes the
statements contained in her said memorial are true.
(Signed,) JOSIAH HAND.
Subscribed and sworn before me this
19th day of November, 1852,
CHARLES HUGHES, Justice Peace.
* * * * *
STATE OF NEW-YORK:
Washington county, ss:
Timothy Eddy, of Fort Edward, in said county, being duly sworn, says
he is now over--years old, and has been a resident of said town more
than--years last past, and that he was well acquainted with Solomon
Northup, named in the annexed memorial of Anne Northup, and with his
father, Mintus Northup, who was a negro,--the wife of said Mintus
was a mulatto woman; that said Mintus Northup and his said wife and
family, two sons, Joseph and Solomon, resided in said town of Fort
Edward for several years before the year 1828, and said Mintus died
in said town A. D. 1829, as deponent believes. And deponent further
says that he was a Justice of the Peace in said town in the year 1828,
and as such Justice of the Peace, he, on the 25th day of Dec'r, 1828,
joined the said Solomon Northup in marriage with Anne Hampton, who is
the same person who has subscribed the annexed memorial. And deponent
expressly says, that said Solomon was a free citizen of the State of
New-York, and always lived in said State, until about the year A. D.
1840, since which time deponent has not seen him, but has recently
been informed, and as deponent believes truly, that said Solomon
Northup is wrongfully held in slavery in or near Marksville, in the
parish of Avoyelles, in the State of Louisiana. And deponent further
says, that said Mintus Northup was nearly sixty years old at the time
of his death, and was, for more than thirty years next prior to his
death, a free citizen of the State of New-York.
And this deponent further says, that Anne Northup, the wife of
said Solomon Northup, is of good character and reputation, and her
statements, as contained in the memorial hereto annexed, are entitled
to full credit.
(Signed,) TIMOTHY EDDY.
Subscribed and sworn before me this
19th day of November, 1852,
TIM'Y STOUGHTON, Justice.
* * * * *
STATE OF NEW-YORK:
Washington County, ss:
Henry B. Northup, of the village of Sandy Hill, in said county, being
duly sworn, says, that he is forty-seven years old, and has always
lived in said county; that he knew Mintus Northup, named in the
annexed memorial, from deponent's earliest recollection until the
time of his death, which occurred at Fort Edward, in said county, in
1829; that deponent knew the children of said Mintus, viz, Solomon
and Joseph; that they were both born in the county of Washington
aforesaid, as deponent believes; that deponent was well acquainted
with said Solomon, who is the same person named in the annexed
memorial of Anne Northup, from his childhood; and that said Solomon
always resided in said county of Washington and the adjoining counties
until about the year 1841; that said Solomon could read and write;
that said Solomon and his mother and father were free citizens of the
State of New-York; that sometime about the year 1841 this deponent
received a letter from said Solomon, post-marked New-Orleans, stating
that while on business at Washington city, he had been kidnapped, and
his free papers taken from him, and he was then on board a vessel,
in irons, and was claimed as a slave, and that he did not know his
destination, which the deponent believes to be true, and he urged
this deponent to assist in procuring his restoration to freedom; that
deponent has lost or mislaid said letter, and cannot find it; that
deponent has since endeavored to find where said Solomon was, but
could get no farther trace of him until Sept. last, when this deponent
ascertained by a letter purporting to have been written by the
direction of said Solomon, that said Solomon was held and claimed as
a slave in or near Marksville, in the parish of Avoyelles, Louisiana,
and that this deponent verily believes that such information is true,
and that said Solomon is now wrongfully held in slavery at Marksville
aforesaid.
(Signed,) HENRY B. NORTHUP.
Subscribed and sworn to before me
this 20th day of November, 1852,
CHARLES HUGHES, J. P.
* * * * *
STATE OF NEW-YORK:
Washington County, ss
Nicholas C. Northup, of the village of Sandy Hill, in said county,
being duly sworn, doth depose and say, that he is now fifty-eight
years of age, and has known Solomon Northup, mentioned in the annexed
memorial of Ann Northup, ever since he was born. And this deponent
saith that said Solomon is now about forty-five years old, and was
born in the county of Washington aforesaid, or in the county of
Essex, in said State, and always resided in the State of New-York
until about the year 1841, since which time deponent has not seen him
or known where he was, until a few weeks since, deponent was informed,
and believes truly, that said Solomon was held in slavery in the State
of Louisiana. Deponent further says, that said Solomon was married
in the town of Fort Edward, in said county, about twenty-four years
ago, and that his wife and two daughters and one son now reside in the
village of Glens Falls, county of Warren, in said State of New-York.
And this deponent swears positively that said Solomon Northup is a
citizen of said State of New-York, and was born free, and from his
earliest infancy lived and resided in the counties of Washington,
Essex, Warren and Saratoga, in the State of New-York, and that his
said wife and children have never resided out of said counties since
the time said Solomon was married; that deponent knew the father of
said Solomon Northup; that said father was a negro, named Mintus
Northup, and died in the town of Fort Edward, in the county of
Washington, State of New-York, on the 22d day of November, A. D. 1829,
and was buried in the grave-yard in Sandy Hill aforesaid; that for
more than thirty years before his death he lived in the counties of
Essex, Washington and Rensselaer and State of New-York, and left a
wife and two sons, Joseph and the said Solomon, him surviving; that
the mother of said Solomon was a mulatto woman, and is now dead, and
died, as deponent believes, in Oswego county, New-York, within five or
six years past. And this deponent further states, that the mother of
the said Solomon Northup was not a slave at the time of the birth of
said Solomon Northup, and has not been a slave at any time within the
last fifty years.
(Signed,) N. C. NORTHUP.
Subscribed and sworn before me this 19th day
of November, 1852.
CHARLES HUGHES, Justice Peace.
* * * * *
STATE OF NEW-YORK:
Washington County, ss.
Orville Clark, of the village of Sandy Hill, in the county of
Washington, State of New-York, being duly sworn, doth depose and
say--that he, this deponent, is over fifty years of age; that in
the years 1810 and 1811, or most of the time of those years, this
deponent resided at Sandy Hill, aforesaid, and at Glens Falls; that
this deponent then knew Mintus Northup, a black or colored man; he
was then a free man, as this deponent believes and always understood;
that the wife of said Mintus Northup, and mother of Solomon, was a
free woman; that from the year 1818 until the time of the death of
said Mintus Northup, about the year 1829, this deponent was very well
acquainted with the said Mintus Northup; that he was a respectable man
in the community in which he resided, and was a free man, so taken
and esteemed by all his acquaintances; that this deponent has also
been and was acquainted with his son Solomon Northup, from the said
year 1818 until he left this part of the country, about the year 1840
or 1841; that he married Anne Hampton, daughter of William Hampton,
a near neighbor of this deponent; that the said Anne, wife of said
Solomon, is now living and resides in this vicinity; that the said
Mintus Northup and William Hampton were both reputed and esteemed
in this community as respectable men. And this deponent saith that
the said Mintus Northup and his family, and the said William Hampton
and his family, from the earliest recollection and acquaintance of
this deponent with him (as far back as 1810,) were always reputed,
esteemed, and taken to be, and this deponent believes, truly so,
free citizens of the State of New-York. This deponent knows the said
William Hampton, under the laws of this State, was entitled to vote
at our elections, and he believes the said Mintus Northup also was
entitled as a free citizen with the property qualification. And this
deponent further saith, that the said Solomon Northup, son of said
Mintus, and husband of said Anne Hampton, when he left this State,
was at the time thereof a free citizen of the State of New-York. And
this deponent further saith, that said Anne Hampton, wife of Solomon
Northup, is a respectable woman, of good character, and I would
believe her statements, and do believe the facts set forth in her
memorial to his excellency, the Governor, in relation to her said
husband, are true.
(Signed,) ORVILLE CLARK.
Sworn before me, November
19th, 1852.
U. G. PARIS, Justice of the Peace.
* * * * *
STATE OF NEW-YORK:
Washington County, ss.
Benjamin Ferris, of the village of Sandy Hill, in said county, being
duly sworn, doth depose and say--that he is now fifty-seven years old,
and has resided in said village forty-five years; that he was well
acquainted with Mintus Northup, named in the annexed memorial of Anne
Northup, from the year 1816 to the time of his death, which occurred
at Fort Edward, in the fall of 1829; that he knew the children of the
said Mintus, namely, Joseph Northup and Solomon Northup, and that the
said Solomon is the same person named in said memorial; that said
Mintus resided in the said county of Washington to the time of his
death, and was, during all that time, a free citizen of the said State
of New-York, as deponent verily believes; that said memorialist, Anne
Northup, is a woman of good character, and the statement contained in
her memorial is entitled to credit.
(Signed) BENJAMIN FERRIS.
Sworn before me, November
19th, 1852.
U. G. PARIS, Justice of the Peace.
* * * * *
STATE OF NEW-YORK:
Executive Chamber, Albany, Nov. 30, 1852.
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a correct copy of certain
proofs filed in the Executive Department, upon which I have appointed
Henry B. Northup an Agent of this State, to take proper proceedings in
behalf of Solomon Northup, there in mentioned.
(Signed,) WASHINGTON HUNT.
By the Governor.
J. F. R., Private Secretary.
* * * * *
STATE OF NEW-YORK:
Executive Department.
WASHINGTON HUNT, _Governor of the State of New-York,