"Slavery and Servitude in New Jersey...by Mr. Alfred M. Heston...contains copious notes concerning slaves and redemptioners...the result of original research." -NY Times, May 16, 1903
"Hon. Alfred M. Heston, Comptroller of Atlantic City, who is author of...'Slavery and Servitude in New Jersey'...stated...50,000 convicts deported...to the American Colonies...became slaves for the most part." -The Daily Standard (Red Bank, New Jersey), Nov. 8, 1902
"Slavery and Servitude in New Jersey, by Alfred M. Heston...the fact is brought out that slavery existed in America long before 1619, when Dutch traders came with their cargo of human freight to Jamestown." -The Appeal (St. Paul, Minn.), May 9, 1903
How did White indentured servants of early New Jersey compare to the Black slaves that later replaced them?
In 1903, Alfred Miller Heston (1854-1937) published a short 40 page work that answers this question and more under the title of "Slavery and Servitude in New Jersey."
In introducing his book, Heston writes:
"The first slaves that we hear of in North Carolina were white people, whose masters were Indians; seven whites who had escaped from the massacre at Roanoke in 1711 being enslaved by the Indians. Per contra, the first slaves that we hear of in New Jersey were Indians and their masters were white people. During the first half of the seventeenth century, the Swedes on the Delaware and the Dutch on the Hudson enslaved members of the various tribes thereabout."
Alfred Miller Heston was born in 1854 and died in 1937. Was an editor and newspaper owner in Atlantic City. He became the Comptroller of Atlantic City and authored well regarded historical works on New Jersey.
