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Manumission in the colony of Santo Domingo




Despite the very high number of free and highly autonomous peoples living in the colony of Santo Domingo (3 out of 4 people of "color" where free) by 1681  1, there where still folks who where enslaved and how they attained freedom would have been through various forms. Here are some examples.


In the San Francisco de Macoris 1812 Census we see the legal status of folks but only the enslaved are marked as "slaves". In this list the majority of the peoples listed are mulatto/pardo/black(moren@) but this is not marked as only enslaved is marked.




María Dolores Alvarado de 36. Agregados: Juan Rodríguez de 12, Tomás Rodríguez de 7, Felipa Paulino de 20 y Basilio Alvarado de 2. Esclavos: Salvador Ventura de 36, Juan Alvarado de 30, Cecilia Gomes de 26, Felipa Sánchez de 10, Bernardo Sánchez de 6 y María Alvarado de 8.


Here we have 6 enslaved persons listed, each with their ages listed.  Turns out Salvador Ventura and Cecilia Gomes where married even though this is not marked here, They had many children listed in the baptisms.

Born Enslaved
San Francisco de Macoris

Manuel Ventura:  Moreno Esclavo, (Black slave) Born 6 Jan. 1813. and Baptized the 12th of January, legitimate son of Salvador Ventura and Celicia Gomes. Also the godmother is listed as Maria Alvarado who is also listed as a slave of Maria Dolores Alvarado.



 Curious as all "full" blacks in San Francisco de Macoris are listed as Moren@s which usually means "Freed African". This case may be because the priest in charge was not Dominican but clearly Portuguese and in all his baptisms signs as "Diego Coello from Portugal". 

Born Free with no reason listed
San Francisco de Macoris

 Some where born free but don't have an explanation, so unsure if freedom bought or if it was mercy of the slave master. Such as this case of Antonio ventura:

Antonio Ventura: Moreno Libre (Free Black) Born 18 Feb 1817 and baptised 18 march 1817. Legitimate son of Salvador Ventura and Celicia Gomes, his madrina is Doctora Angela Alvarado. In this case the reason for freedom or event is not listed.




Born free with freedom bought by parent
San Francisco de Macoris

Some cases like this one of Balentin Ventura also son of Cecilia Gomes and Salvador Ventura, the mechanism of freedom is listed.

Balentin Ventura: Moreno Libre (Free Black) Born 2 Nov 1818 and baptized 28 Dec 1818 was freed by his father Salvador Ventura for the sum of 12 pesos. Legitimate son of Salvador Ventura and Celicia Gomes. His godparents are listed as Ygnacio Ten and Maria Alvarado.



As mentioned before Maria Alvarado was a slave of Maria Dolores Alvarado, Ygnacio Ten was in 1820 they have a child listed as Moreno Libre. 12 Pesos had to be a substantial amount of money at the time at least a few thousand dollars. 

Also they had a daughter named Hipolita Ventura which I have a marriage of however she married in 1837 at a time when slavery was abolished and race/legal status wasn't listed. She married my 4th great-grand uncle Felipe Bonilla who although his birth is not not listed anywhere he was surely an enslaved person of African descent. 

Freed by the Republic of Haiti + Born Free Marriage
Bayaguana, Monteplata

Here we have a case in 1822 in Bayaguana, Monteplata whereby a person is freed by the state since its 1822 and Jean pierre Boyer abolished slavery marrying a person who was born free before Boyer's arrival. 

Antonio Sanchez freed by the Republic and Maria del Rosario freed during birth: Antonio Sanchez legitimate son of Pedro Ysidro and Felipa Del Castillo ex-slaves of Manuel Sanchez made free by The Republic (Haiti) marrying Maria Del Rosario legitimate daughter of Pablo del Rosario and Ramona Santos both passed away Free Blacks (Morenos libres) since birth. 


There are other forms of manumission during birth such as slave master freeing the Child, or enslaved persons being freed during marriage by their master. I will keep updating this entry with some of these examples. 

1 Turits - Foundations of Depotism Page 30, Footnote 27↩



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