The presence of Negroes in the compass of Middletown is first made known through the record of 1703 which stated that Robert Heaton and Thomas Stackpole were appointed to fence off a portion of the ground to bury Negroes in.[1241] The first reference to their liberation (other than by death) is the case of Jeremiah Langhorne, who in 1742 freed all of his Negroes, the entire number being about thirty or forty.[1242] Just how frequently such liberations occurred and how generally they were participated in by Friends is not accurately ascertainable from the records, but by the year 1782 just following the stringent abolition act we have the following report: [Sidenote: No slaves held; the children schooled] We have none to charge with buying or holding slaves, and care is taken to give the young ones learning and some care has been taken to encourage them in a religious and virtuous life.[1243] In 1783 a similar report issued from the monthly meeting, stating that a noteworthy care was evident among them for the Negroes, both old and young, but that a more considerable care was necessary to be taken in regard to their education.[1244] [Sidenote: Buckingham] [Sidenote: Negro to be educated and given religious instruction] [Sidenote: No evidence of separate Negro school] In 1759 Buckingham Meeting appointed John Ely and Isaac Pickering to speak with one of their members who had purchased slaves.[1245] This was done because it was a conflict with the discipline. The burden of their advice is that he should bring up the young Negroes in useful learning and Christianity, and later set them free if they desired it. There is nothing further to indicate the nature of the education, and since there is no evidence of a school for them, it was probably in their homes or in connection with the White schools. No other references are found which point to any progress until 1778 when the meeting appointed Thomas Watson and Oliver Paxson to advise and assist the free Negroes in their religious duties and also in regard to their school education.[1246] This appointment was made in accordance with the more stringent regulations which were given out by the quarterly and yearly meetings in 1777.[1247] These regulations requested only that committee be appointed to look into the status of the Negroes and seek to better their conditions, but the one next following, 1779, required those holding slaves to be disowned.[1248] [Sidenote: Slave holding debated in meeting]