![]() ![]() Her gravestone bears the inscription: “In Memory of Judith, relict of Thomas Blew and Mother of Moses Blew died Aug. Judith Blew is buried in Stoutsburg Cemetery outside Hopewell, New Jersey. Judith Blew lived over 50 years as a widow in Stoutsburg, near what is today the border of Mercer and Somerset Counties, just east of Hopewell, New Jersey. Thomas Blue died prior to 1805, as Judith Blew is listed in the 1805 Montgomery Township tax list as a widow. They had one son named Moses (who was born in about 1787 while his father and probably his mother were still enslaved). He was the husband of Judith Blew (also spelled “Blaw” or “Blue”), who had also likely been enslaved by Michael Blew and was born in about 1763. Whereas before 1788 he is referred to as “Tom Negrow,” after 1788 he is referred to (with some variation) as “Tom Negrow of Blew” or “Tom Blue.” It is unclear if he took his former owner’s surname by his own choice. Thomas Blue’s freedom corresponds with a change in how he is referred to in county tax records after 1788. During that time, the executors of Michael Blew’s estate paid 10 pounds to free Thomas Blue from slavery in 1788. Instead, tax records reveal that Thomas Blue had possession of 210 acres of land from Michael Blew’s estate from about 1786 until 1793, when Daniel Blew (one of Michael Blew’s sons) took possession of that plot of land. Since two of Michael Blew’s sons were below the age of 21 when their father died, they could not take charge of the land they stood to inherit through their father’s will. ![]() Thomas Blue is listed in those records with the name “Tom” and he is described as being “negro.” Michael Blew died in 1786 and his estate inventory lists a “Negro man named Tom” with the value of 50 pounds. County tax and estate records reveal that he was enslaved to a Blawenburg, Somerset County, farmer of Dutch descent named Michael Blew from before 1779 until Blew’s death in 1786. Little information is known about Thomas Blue’s early life. ![]() He was one of a handful of men of color who voted in that election. In October 1801, Thomas Blue, a formerly enslaved man of African descent, voted in an election held in Montgomery Township, Somerset County. ![]()
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