Know all men by these presents that I Nicholas Ridgely of Dover in the county of Kent and State of Delaware Esquire, for Divers good Causes and Consideration Me thereunto moveing do from and after the fourteenth day of March which will be in the year of our Lord one & thousand eight hundred and twenty three, manumit and set free my negro Male Slave named Ralph ( he the said Ralph according to the Bill of Sale made to me on the fourteenth day of March in the year one thousand Eight Hundred and one by his then Master, and according to the account given me at the same time by his mother being then on the Said fourteenth day of March in the year last aforesaid being & about six years old from all Mannor of Slavery: and from and after the said Fourteenth day of March which will be in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty three I discharge him the said Ralph from Me my Executors and Administrators and assigns and from all persons Claiming by from or under me. It being my intention and the Intention of this present Deed of Manumission that he the said Ralph Shall be free at Liberty on the & fifteenth day of March in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty three and not before on which day and year last aforesaid he will be near about twenty eight years old. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Kent County, this Twentieth Day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifteen. Nicholas Ridgely {seal}

Signed sealed and delivered in the presence of William Warner

The Erasures in the 11. 12. 13th & 22d. lines were made before this deed was executed

Kent county Sst. Be it Remembered that on this Twentieth day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifteen  Nicholas Ridgely the Manumittor named in the above Deed of Manumission and party thereto appeared before Me William Warner one of the Justices of the court of Common Pleas of the State of Delaware and acknowledged to the above Deed of Manumission to be his Act and Deed and desired it might be recorded as such. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand  the Day and Year aforesaid. William Warner J.

A true copy recorded and compared with the original this 20th day ofDecember Anno Domini 1815. Attest John W. Many Recorder

Delaware, U.S., Land Records, 1677-1947, Kent County, Roll 792, Image 457, Book Q, Volume 2, Page 93, Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61025/images/31303_221879-00456?pId=2443121

Transcribed 17 May 2025 by Nancy Maliwesky