18. My mother then told me my fathers name was John Barnett, a white man, and I took up the name Barnett., My mothers name was Jane and she was called Jane Nunn because she belonged to the Nunns. Born in Union County, South Carolina, he was sold to his last enslaver in 1858 and then brought to Mississippi. They called me OCK. Both comments and pings are currently closed. This was done more because it was the logical thing to do and the easiest way to be identified than it was through affection for the master. Please share, in the comments below, examplesyou have come across of the surnames of enslaved people, especially if it was different from their last slaveholder. "While African-American genealogical research in many ways is like all genealogical research, the era of slavery makes the task especially challenging. He decided that he didnt want to be known as Cap Sherrod and that he would vote and marry under his choice of names. Or, the Slaves were given numbers or classical Greek names. The surname issue really presents huge challenges for those of us doign this research, but you soulnd as though you are making headway.
Lists Of Most Common Bajan (Barbados) Last Names - Blogger Jackson: This name is a patronymic of Jack. The slave schedules of 1860 Arkansas do not give the names of the slaves. -Unknown, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city;)"
Index by slave owner's name | Surname unknown or illegible Entre la construccin de la memoria y la ficcin histrica", "From Africa to India: Music of the Sidis and the Indian Ocean Diaspora (review)", "Mark and Phillis Executions, Burned at the Stake and Gibbeted in Puritan Massachusetts", "Letter from Paul Revere to Jeremy Belknap, circa 1798", "Re: Nancy Titsworth-1800-Livin - Genealogy.com", Association of Muslim Social Scientists & International Institute of Islamic Thought 2008, "Creolizing Natural Liberty: Transnational Obligation in the Thought of Ottobah Cugoano", "Madison and the White House, Through the Memoir of a Slave", "Black Slaves, Indian Masters: Slavery, Emancipation, and Citizenship in the Native American South, by Barbara Krauthamer (2013) Not Even Past", "Timeline of Missouri's African American History", "So Tom e Prncipe recorda o Rei Amador", "Black Christian Republicans: Delegates to the 1847 Liberian Constitutional Convention", "A Slave's Service in the Confederate Army", "Slavery and French Cuisine in Jefferson's Working White House", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_slaves&oldid=1140857860, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 03:19. Emphasizes the giving and repeated use of names as a performative act of domination. It means 'clerk' or 'secretary'. But there was also the detective Nero Wolfe, hero of many mystery stories. No, I dont know to whom she belonged before she was brought from Virginia to Kentucky. For example, I know of one Louisiana family whose surname of Poulard evolved from a ancestor of the Poular nation(aka Fulani). With mythological names rising, the handsome son of Zeus and god of medicine, music, and poetry among many other things might offer an interesting, if high-pressure, option. Names of prominent slaveholderse.g.
63 Italian Last Names That Are *Chef's Kiss* Bellissimo! - Scary Mommy He identified father, mother and siblings in a Freedmans bank deposit in 1873, when he was already in New York City. Manifests - Alphabetical by Slave Names Return to Slave Manifests main page Click on each Slave name to view information on that voyage. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. Fortunately, the French and Latin were excellent record keepers and the Catholics were obsessed with knowing the kinship of everyone. As a result, many slaves used the surnames of their owners wifes family. European, Javanese and African and Indentured Servitude in First Contact and Early Colonization of Brazil, France and its Empire in the Indian Ocean, France and the British Isles from 1640 to 1789, George Montagu Dunk, Second Earl of Halifax, Green Atlantic: the Irish in the Atlantic World, Histories and Historiographies of the Atlantic World, Impact of the French Revolution on the Caribbean, The, Indentured Servitude in the Atlantic World, Indian, Internal Slave Migrations in the Americas, Interracial Marriage in the Atlantic World, Liverpool in The Atlantic World 1500-1833, Maritime Atlantic in the Age of Revolutions, The, Marriage and Family in the Atlantic World, Material Culture of Slavery in the British Atlantic, Money and Banking in the Atlantic Economy, Napolon Bonaparte and the Atlantic World, Nation and Empire in Northern Atlantic History, Native American Histories in North America, Native Americans and the American Revolution, People of African Descent in Early Modern Europe, Pets and Domesticated Animals in the Atlantic World. Kaplan, Justin, and Anne Bernays. Baby Name Generator. Wonderful to have first hand account that help shine light on the attitudes of our ancestors. ", "If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all the generations of your ancestors. EDHASA, 2006, 359 pages, (. An enslaved child sold away from their parents at a young age to the Deep South would probably have a different sense of naming than enslaved children who were able to grow up in the presence of their parents and extended family. At her death when Thomas was ten, he was sold to Solomon Cobbs who lived nearby. Another slave named Bill who attended the sheep became Bill Shepherd. As a newspaper that publishes in the spirit of the Black Press, the Black Voice News has given voice to the voiceless and shined a light on systemic inequities and disparities since 1972. ", "Call it a clan, call it a network, all it a tribe, call it a family. Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. A. I was first called by that name in the family of Col. Morrow in whose service I was in Louisville, Ky., just after the war. The most common origin for surnames is that enslaved people initially used the surname of either their mother or their father, if they knew what those names were. Throughout the colonial period, as many as one-fifth of the enslaved people in North Carolina retained African names; Quash, Cuffee, Mingo, Sambo, Mustapha, and Sukey were among the most common recorded. The first published African-American poet & author Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa. I worked for him as nurse for his children, and my full and correct name was OCTAVIA, but the family could not "catch on" to that long name and called me "LOTTIE" for short. 20 August 2022, 1-3:30 pm [PAST EVENT], Eastern Standard Time: Join me for a two-hour lecture and workshop on Using Deed Records. In more than thirty years of researching my ancestors and hundreds of others enslaved on one of Americas largest plantations, slaves owned by mid-sized planters and small farmers, reviewing thousands of documents I have come across various situations that might give others clues on what to look for. An accessible introduction to the field. Minerva is the long-neglected name of the Roman goddess of wisdom and invention, the arts and martial strength, one of the. Some of the most common or popular last names in the 1800s included Robinson, Clark, and Smith. Because I like to let formerly enslaved people speak for themselves, here are several examples of freedmen and women discussing their surnames. Q. Ones occupation also set the naming method, such as Sheperd, Cooper, or Smith. I belonged to him until emancipation. -Kendall Hailey, "If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all the generations of your ancestors. This event is $12. Search 31 million family names. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. African Americans were known by these surnames in the slave community and often recorded by slave owners on plantation documents. It was after emancipation on that I went back to work for Col. Morrow and where I got the name Lottie, as already explained. I am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. Through a video-based activity, students examine Americas struggle for a stronger democracy during Reconstruction and today. Gerald, however, is a Germanic name meaning ruler) 2. The table below shows the most common last names with statistics on the heritage and ancestry of those with the surname. Enslaved peoplethemselves sometimes chose names denoting weather conditions at the time of their child's birth or some distinctive feature of his or her appearance.
Surname origins reveal a complex history of slavery in The Bahamas I just cannot imagine (thankfully) the idea of my name being changed with every new owner, with not having any idea of what my parents surnames were, of having a white father but not being able to have a father/child relationship with himand all the other myriad of circumstances that enslaved people faced. "Albumen print of enslaved women and their children near Alexandria, Virginia." Q. Examples include: Francois, Jean, Pierre, and Leon for men; and Manon, Delphine, Marie Louise, Celeste, and Eugenie for women. Robyn. No, I dont know to whom she belonged before she was brought from Virginia to Kentucky. Spanish areas had male Slave names as Francisco, Pedro, and Antonio; and for females: Maria, Isabella, and Juana. Feel free to contact me directly if you have more questions or need some assistance. After emancipation, they all used the Terry surname because their families had been with the white Terry family for generations. I dont know what became of his parents. There was often a fluidity to the surnames that enslaved people had. Robyn. Enslaved people remained legally nameless from the time of their capture until their purchase by American enslavers. Thanks for commenting and continued luck in your research, Q.
Early African-American Names | Nameberry My surname of SAM originated from Sem or Sam FUSELIER, a free man of color who freed my ancestor,Jean-Louis, out of slavery in 1811. Slaveholders often renamed newly acquired slaves; but self-naming by slaves, which also occurred, is likely to be underreported in the records, which were mainly created by and for slaveholders. In the 1930s, ex-slave Martin Jackson explained why he chose his last name after Emancipation: The master's name was usually adopted by a slave after he was set free. Abel, et al. Interestingly, the five most common American surnames as of 2010 haven't changed that much over time and are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown, and Jones. She was a Murphy.. On the 30 rolls of NARA Microfilm Publication M1895, Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels Filed at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1807-1860 (30 rolls), are reproduced manifests filed with the collector of customs at New Orleans, Louisiana, of slaves transported in coastwise trade to or from New Orleans during the period 1807-1860. You can find many more examples of the above in my post, The Mind of the Slaveowner. Use the form below to get in touch with me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. .
The Complexity of Slave Surnames > Reclaiming Kin There are also a few problems with the original dataset in name transcription such that a small number of first names were transposed with last names. slave rebellions, in the history of the Americas, periodic acts of violent resistance by Black slaves during nearly three centuries of chattel slavery. The association with the infamous Nero, the fiddling Roman emperor, would be unavoidable. This is such a well-written and informative post one that I know will open many eyes to the complexity of slave surnames, as well as many other aspects of the lives of the enslaved.
I am the identical person who served in the said companies under the name of Lewis Smith. I also see that in 1900 she is listed as widow with 1 child living, so you may have luck trying to find out who her child was. In ancient history, Lysander was the name of an esteemed Spartan naval commander and his literary cred comes from one of the two star-struck young men in Shakespeare's. Forenames. One name you find frequently used was Freeman or Freedmen to declare their new freedom.
Tracing Your Roots: Were Slaves' Surnames Like Brands? Here, our list of notable early African American names. I find it interesting that they often used the strange phrase he calls himself in the ads, as if having a given name and a surname was silly: Ran away from the subscriber on the 25th of October, a well set dark mulattoe man named Jem, but calls himself James Ferguson.. -Thich Nhat Hanh, evolve theme by Theme4PressPowered by WordPress, Maryland Genealogical Society Holiday Luncheon, December 2017-2, Washington FHC Annual Conference, May 2011, Baltimore Family History Conference, October 2017-2, International Black Genealogy Summit, September 2016-2, Carroll County Genealogical Society Dinner, June 2018, Baltimore Family History Conference, October 2017, Reginald Lewis Museum, September 2011-2.jpg, Maryland State Archives Family History Festival, October 2014-2, Central Maryland AAHGS Meeting, March 2013, Robyn, Vonda, Andrea and Glenn, NGS Conf., May 2014, Maryland Genealogical Society Holiday Luncheon, December 2017-1, Howard Comm. At your request I have finally made available for viewing past popular webinars! You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Elijah is derived from the Hebrew name Eliyahu, composed of the elements.
120 Most Popular African Last Names Or Surnames - MomJunction The population was more than 16 million and the industrial revolution was under way, which debunks any perception of a broadly colonial society. This old French surname has Germanic origin, and means 'noble'. "Slave revolts in Puerto Rico: conspiracies and uprisings, 17951873"; by: Guillermo A. Baralt; Markus Wiener Publishers; harvnb error: no target: CITEREFAssociation_of_Muslim_Social_ScientistsInternational_Institute_of_Islamic_Thought2008 (, sfnm error: no target: CITEREFSmith2001 (, sfnm error: no target: CITEREFWhite2016 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFBrands2012 (, sfnm error: no target: CITEREFMcFeely1981 (, Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 03:19, sued her master for her freedom on that ground, United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, Diego Pacheco Tllez-Girn Gmez de Sandoval, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, South Carolina's 5th congressional district, List of the last surviving American slaves, Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom, Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, National Museum of African American History and Culture, "What is the divine purpose for sending prophets?
U.S. Slavery: Timeline, Figures & Abolition - HISTORY (Media Note: If you quote a post, please credit me by name, Robyn N. The private name served as a form of Selfhood Armor (you cant take all of me, White man!); gave them a sense of power over their captors; and provided their children with a sense of heritage and pride. 13 March 2022, 1-2:30pm [PAST EVENT], Eastern Standard Time: Cant find some of your ancestors in the census? 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272, Finding Aids for the National Archives at Atlanta, National Archives Catalog (National Archives Identifier 2767350). Ninety percent of them were African-American, a far higher black percentage than for any other common name. When Wessyngtons owner George A. Washington married Margaret Lewis in 1849 her father gave the couple twenty-nine slaves. Along with Abraham and Prince, other early African American names currently in the US Top 1000 include Alonzo, Athena, Daphne, Elijah, Isaiah, Israel, King, Phoebe, and Titus. Through a video-based activity, students explore how Radical Reconstruction changed the nature of voting rights and democracy in the South. There has been much debate among scholars, historians and genealogists whether enslaved African Americans used the surnames of their last owners, previous owners, or a surname that had no connection to slavery. You can also look up Charleston Manifests by Slave Owner These records are also available through the National Archives Catalog (National Archives Identifier 2767350). Got.the name.Auber.. Hi Roxana, The link was not copied. Daniel Odgen, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts In The Greek and Roman Worlds, p. 119, Laurence Vidal, Los Amantes de Granada, Ed. I am searching for information about a woman named Eliza Ellis, from Versailles KY or that area.
Slave Names and Naming in the Anglophone Atlantic . Alfred "Teen" Blackburn (1842-1951), one of the last living survivors of slavery in the United States who had a clear recollection of it. For personal use and not for further distribution. I think mostly about family separationas a mother now myself, the very idea that my dear child could be sold to who knows where, never to be seen again..just reduces me to tears anytime. Perhaps this caused some Slaves to ask: Am I my new name or am I still my old name?
Most Common African-American Surnames: Origin & Meanings Former slaves also interchanged surnames on census records. This page is currently showing names ranked from 1 to 1000. Robyn. A small number of creoles in Louisiana also acquired surnames derived from ethnic identities in Senegal. 30 January 2022, [PAST EVENT], Eastern Standard Time: Join special guest genealogist Taneya Y. Koonce and I as we present our joint Zoom webinar, Organize Your Genealogy! My maiden surname is Williams. . The result was the birth of mulatto, quadroon, or mustee (mestee) children. And even though slave marriages were not legal, many enslaved people followed the practice of the wife taking her husbands surname: My mother was named Mary Bradley and my father was named Hilliard Bradley. I was bornthe child of Phillis Houston, slave of Sol Smith. . Thomas Black Cobbs was owned by a small slave owner Catherine Black. In my own family history, on my Yarborough side, I believe I have uncovered a pattern that my formerly-enslaved great-grandparents, Calvin and Precilla YARBOROUGH may have used in naming their children. Accueil > > Avr > 18 > Uncategorized > common last names for slaves in the 1800s. Index to "Descriptive Recruitment Lists of Volunteers for the United States Colored Troops for the State of Missouri, 1863-1865" (NARA Microfilm Publication M1894 - 6 rolls) For more information about the records covered in this index, please contact the History and Genealogy Department. Evidence indicates that many enslaved parents named their children after the first generation or so of family members brought to America. Where did you get the maiden name of Smith from? How did you ever come by the name of "Mollie"? After emancipation, he became William Smith. A. The following is a list of historical people who were enslaved at some point during their lives, in alphabetical order by first name. College, Advanced AA Gen Class, September 2011, AAHGS Annual Genealogy Conference, November 2008, Howard Comm. The highest percentage of African names was found among male slaves in the eighteenth century, when . Several names have been added under the letter representing the person's last name.
A brief history of black names, from Perlie to Latasha - The Conversation Another slave named Bill who attended the sheep became Bill Shepherd.
Many of these were names of heroesbut not Lincoln. Cheryll Cody, "'There Was No Absalom on the Ball Plantation': Slave-Naming Practices in the South Carolina Low Country, 1720-1865," American Historical Review 92 (June 1987). Also, the government seemed to be in a almighty hurry to have us get names. The names that were brought together to form "Geffery" were "Gaufrid" (territory-peace), "Godafrid" (god-peace), and "Galfridus" (song-peace). 1. Edited by Gabriele vom Bruck and Barbara Bodenhorn, 178199. In the context of The Bahamas, the surname appears to originate with Denys Rolle, an American Loyalist who re-settled on Exuma, one of the so-called Out Islands of The Bahamas, sometime in the mid-1780s.
Names and Naming, African | Encyclopedia.com Of the 972 names of male Slaves recorded between 1619 and 1799 the leading ones were Jack, Tom, Harry, Sam, Will, Caesar, Dick, John, Robin, Frank, Charles, Joe and Prince. David Nicolle, Graham Turner: Poitiers AD 732: Charles Martel Turns the Islamic Tide. Once the slaves were freed they found they did need another name besides a given name. James: (M) (Latin origin) means "heel" or "supplanter". that lists the slaves along with their surnames. Students explore the legacies of the Reconstruction era today, reflect on the idea of democracy as a continuous process, and consider how they can best participate in the ongoing work of strengthening our democracy.
common last names for slaves in the 1800s They established and held on to their own cultural traditions in the small spaces that slavery afforded them. Brief, but stimulating and thoughtful for students coming new to the subject. Here are some common black last names: Jackson Davis Brown Wilson Harris Lewis Clark Walker Hall Thomas Young Allen King Wright Scott Baker Adams Nelson Carter Mitchell Perez Roberts Turner Phillips Campbell Parker Evans Edwards Green Hall Baker Bell Coleman Crawford James Reyes Most Common Black Last Names
Most Common English Surnames & Meanings - Forebears Slavery is a social-economic system under which people are enslaved: deprived of personal freedom and forced to perform labor or services without compensation. In Greek mythology, Daphne was the nymph daughter of Peneus, a river god. She served that family for a long time, perhaps more clues to her past lie in his family roots. College, Advanced AA Gen. Class, September 2009, Alice, Robyn and Lajoye, CM AAHGS, September 2017, Robyn and Andrea, NGS Conference, May 2014. I make extensive use of tables for organization, analysis and citation in my research, and they have proven very popular with genealogists. If the slaveholder or another free white man was their father, many Creoles did use either is first or last name as a surname. This topic interests me greatly and Id like to do more research. The most common of 603 names of female Slaves were Bet, Mary, Jane, Hanna, Betty, Sarah, Phillis, Nan, Peg, and Sary. It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl. I'll illustrate transcribing deeds, show you how to find your county deed records on FamilySearch, and you will receive my PDF Beginner's Guide to Using Deed Records, a $12 value! Like most of the architecture and towns in Italy, they can also tell a story. You can read about this in the following two posts on my blog. I liked the name better than Octavia, and so I took it with me to Danville, and was never called anything else there than that name. The Voice of the Black Community in California, Last Updated on October 14, 2010 by Paulette Brown-Hinds. They are recorded with the Ashby surname on subsequent documents.
What were common names for slaves in the 1800s? - Kyoto2.org This happened mostly on large plantations where several individuals had the same first names and a surname was used to distinguish them from one another. Another common way of distinguishing people would be 'son of', for example Johnson (son of John), Richardson, Wilson, Harrison etc.
common last names in the 1800s - stmatthewsbc.org Bradley was the last man owned em.
Slavery | Tennessee Encyclopedia Anthropologist Meyer Fortes's observation that the naming practices of any society "epitomize personal experiences, historical happenings, attitudes to life, and cultural ideas and values" holds particularly true for African American enslaved people. Some of them developed a long-term relationship with one of the female slaves. The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Familys Journey to Freedom is proudly powered by WordPress Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). The Missouri Compromisealso referred to as the Compromise of 1820was an agreement between the pro- and anti-slavery factions regulating slavery in the western territories. . Available from https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2014.174.8?destination=/explore/collection/search%3Fedan_q%3Denslaved%26edan_fq%255B0%255D%3Dobject_type%253A%2522Photographs%2522 (accessed May 6, 2022). Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (1974).
140+ Victorian Baby Names | Names from the 1800s | Peanut After the war ended and slavery was abolished, they exercised their freedom by changing their names. Letter to Armistead Burt of September 1, 1831, sfn error: no target: CITEREFCalhoun1837 (. We had to register as someone, so we could be citizens. The names they gave their children provide a valuable, if limited, index of that process over time.
Karen Halttunen, Murder Most Foul, p. 175. There are so many examples of every kind of scenario, and I think it just speaks to the variety of experiences our ancestors had. Just go to my Vimeo page and make your selection. Mining the Census: Are You Finding Every Clue? I love to hear from my readers. Enslaved people suffered constant sale, where children were frequently torn away from parents at young ages and spouses were often separated.