Robyn. Q. You can read the introductory maps for a high-level guided explanation, view the timeline and chronology of . Nonetheless, this is a situation where two brothers selected different surnames. The names they gave their children provide a valuable, if limited, index of that process over time. Use the form below to get in touch with me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. My Vimeo ON Demand video page lists six videos you can choose from to watch for 3 months ($15 each): -Finding the Last Slaveowner: Guidance and Case Studies, -Cluster Research: Using Groups of People to Find Your People, -Using Deed Records to Uncover Your Family, -Putting it All Together: Making Sense of All the Research You've Done and, -More Than Just a Name: Incorporating Social and Community History Into Your Research. Abara: Originating from the Igbo group of West Africa, Abara means 'spirit'. Some of them developed a long-term relationship with one of the female slaves. I was only three years old when she died. 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. Wesley is one of a group of W-starting surname names reminiscent of the Old West that are making a comeback -- though it's not as well used as it was in the 1970s, when he ranked as high as Number 66. 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. that lists the slaves along with their surnames. My fathers name was John Crosby and he lived in the town of Geneva, Alabama, I had two brothers and one sister. One thing I envy about the Catholic church is the baptisms available for even the enslaved people there. Since those are the countries from which many of America's original settlers came, it's hardly surprising. By the late 19th century, England was home to about 300 surnames with traceable genealogy. Where did you get the maiden name of Smith from? Hello Another common practice was to select a surname that fit the personality of an individual, such as Hardy or Rambler. Well, I got to thinking about all us slaves that was going to take the name Fitzpatrick. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Lori Wilson Picks Up Baton to Remove Slavery Language From Californias Constitution, New Assembly Bill Would Ban Use of Police Canines for Arrests, Crowd Control, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. You can find many more examples of the above in my post, The Mind of the Slaveowner. The surname Williams occurs roughly 550 times per 100,000 people in the U.S. You can find explanations for each of the table columns below, or use the following links to view more last names for different ancestries. Former slaves also interchanged surnames on census records. Thank you for your comment, 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. But the meanings of names certainly evolved over time, and some have argued that the principles according to which an individual name was given (e.g., after a relative or ancestor) are at least as important as its apparent meaning and type. Also, the government seemed to be in a almighty hurry to have us get names. 17. Students examine the factors that led many northerners to turn against federal policies passed during the Reconstruction era that protected freedpeople. Copyright 2006 by the University of North Carolina Press. An accessible introduction to the field. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. Letter to Armistead Burt of September 1, 1831, sfn error: no target: CITEREFCalhoun1837 (. There are a wide array of sources that provide us with slave surnames, from the slave narratives and interviews, to freedmans bank cards, runaway ads and Southern Claims Commission records. However, many African Americans faced a problem when they applied for their pensions. If searching for a slave owner with the same surname of your ancestor fails, check marriage records for the slave owners. BRATHWAITE - This name was derived from a geographic location in the north of England. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one", "Friends are God's apologies for relations. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Former slaves often used surnames names of historical figures such as Washington, Jefferson or Jackson. This event is $25. Middle Tennessee, where tobacco, cattle, and grain became the favored crops, held the . Ones occupation also set the naming method, such as Sheperd, Cooper, or Smith. Enslaved people often transferred such names to later generations in modified form or relied on African naming traditions, such as "day names" or names reflecting the order of birth among siblings. The difficulties include using records that provide no surnames, the constant sale and breakup of families, and the lack of identification of fathers. Bernacki: Teatr; Mamontowicz-ojek: Szkoa Tyzenhauza s. 53, 54, 70, 86-89, 92; Wierzbicka: Sze studiw; Muzyka 1969 nr 2 (J. Prosnak). Geographic names were common, as were the names of ships or distant ports for enslaved peopleborn in places such as Wilmington or New Bern. The brothers were sold when they were very young and remained with their last owners nearly thirty years. I am researching the surname Culbert worldwide, and the data can be found at: culbert.one-name.net There are a growing number of African Americans with this surname, which I believe originates in Scotland. Instead a wide variety of surnames came about that would be the family name for future generations. And this example from another pension file shows how even the given name of this enslaved woman was held under little regard: Testimony of Mollie Russell (widow of Phillip Fry), September 19, 1911: Q. Is this the same woman Eliza I see living with Thomas Crenshaw in 1880 and 1900? When Wessyngtons owner George A. Washington married Margaret Lewis in 1849 her father gave the couple twenty-nine slaves. So just a few things to be aware of when researching any African-American ancestors. While Smith remains the most common U.S. surname, for the first time, two Hispanic namesGarcia and Rodriguezmade the top 10. A favorite of British novelists including Evelyn Waugh and P. G. Wodehouse, Ambrose has an air of blooming well-being and upper-class erudition. Along with records from churches,manumission societies, enslavers, and estate settlements, these documents provide a vast pool of data from which to trace patterns and trends from the colonial period through emancipation. You can read about this in the following two posts on my blog. My Louisiana Creole ancestors who were free persons of color and former slaves practiced a unique naming tradition I think comes from Latin cultures. College, Advanced AA Gen. Class, September 2009, Alice, Robyn and Lajoye, CM AAHGS, September 2017, Robyn and Andrea, NGS Conference, May 2014. In 1850, Ward. No, I don't know to whom she belonged before she was brought from Virginia to Kentucky. Runaway ads illustrate how many slaveholders knew the surnames of their slaves. Political Participation in the Nineteenth Century Atlantic Portugal and Brazile in the Age of Revolutions, Poverty in the Early Modern English Atlantic, Reconstruction, Democracy, and United States Imperialism, Settlement and Region in British America, 1607-1763, Slavery in British and American Literature, Slavery in Dutch America and the West Indies, Slavery in North America, The Growth and Decline of. In fact, it's not even past. Kindest regards, Thanks for adding your very experienced voice to the conversation. Unfortunately, I am not knowledgeable enough about African and Caribbean research in the areas you name. The name James has been a popular Victorian male names in the 1800s. Abebe: The genesis of this Ethiopian name is Amharic, and it means 'flower' or 'blossom'. Thanks for this very thoughtful article. Baptiste Meaning: derived from the name Bautista; the Spanish form of Baptist Origin: Spanish 3. These cookies do not store any personal information. Here are an even dozen, pretty much forgotten slanglike words or sayings from the 19th century, rediscovered while delving in the archives and with added guidance from James Maitman's 1891 . It is these single names that have been most often studied. Many of the former slaves and some free people of color took the first name of their father, mother and sometimes former slaveowner as their last. how the surnames former slaves had were connected to their experiences in slavery. Expand or collapse the "in this article" section, Slave Names and Naming in the Anglophone Atlantic, Slave Names on Emancipation and after Slavery, Expand or collapse the "related articles" section, Expand or collapse the "forthcoming articles" section, African Retailers and Small Artisans in the Atlantic World, Alexander von Humboldt and Transatlantic Studies, Atlantic New Orleans: 18th and 19th Centuries, Black Atlantic in the Age of Revolutions, The, Chinese Indentured Servitude in the Atlantic World, Cities and Urbanization in Portuguese America, Colonial Governance in the Atlantic World, Comparative Indigenous History of the Americas, Criminal Transportation in the Atlantic World, Domestic Production and Consumption in the Atlantic World, Economy and Consumption in the Atlantic World. I especially recommend Mother, Thy Name is Mystery! Ebba: One of the more unique girl names from the 1800s. It was after emancipation on that I went back to work for Col. Morrow and where I got the name "Lottie," as already explained. A. -George Burns, "Where does the family start? And my goodness, how kind of you to suggest a TED talk, maybe one of these days;) Genealogys pull is what initially pulled me into studying slavery, and also introduced me to the new understanding that historians are uncovering. Rodriguez (Rodriguez is Spanish for the son of Rodrigo. Once the slaves were freed they found they did need another name besides a given name. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. The poster on each page *provides the link to the handout* for that lecture, so be sure to copy it. All children of a female slave were automatically slaves, considered as belonging to the owner of the mother. Drawing on extensive archival records, this digital memorial allows analysis of the ships, traders, and captives in the Atlantic slave trade. I focused on surnames but many of these books also discuss first names. Abel, et al. Where did you get the maiden name of Smith from? Bernard Meaning: brave warrior Origin: French 4. ", "No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished? Finding State Laws About Slaves and Free Blacks, More Suggestions for White Slaveholder Descendants, http://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2009/09/calvin-r-yarborough-where-it-all-began.html, http://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2013/11/many-rivers-to-cross-my-priscilla.html, https://www.historicpathways.com/articles.html, http://whitneyplantation.com/the-louisiana-slave-database.html. He was a planter with 20,000 acres of land in East Florida and was at the forefront of slavery in The . Born in Union County, South Carolina, he was sold to his last enslaver in 1858 and then brought to Mississippi. It means 'bought land'. The, For descendants, I would add the substantial emotional impact of seeing an ancestor's name attached to a dollar value, or being valued in a list with silverware and cattle. 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. . In my research so far, I have found very little evidence of white Culbert slaveholders only three cases so far. On all subsequent census records, he is listed as John Lewis. Many enslaved people were allowed to keep their original African names or names assigned them elsewhere (as reflected by the frequency of Spanish and Portuguese names among the first generation of enslaved people in the Carolinas.) Explore the most common surnames in England. Login Forgot . My great great grandfather in Mississippi took the surname of the previous SC enslaver, whose widow sold him away. Garcia (The Spanish form of Gerald, Garcia would be the son of Gerald. This financial assistance was available to all Civil War veterans and their families. Our headquarters are located at: 89 South Street, Suite 401, Boston, MA 02111. I was called by that name all the time I was with the Morrows. Have you visited the Whitney Plantation yet? When I was born my mother was known as Phillis Smith and I took the name of Smith too. And please do share posts that interest you. I am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. Many names, whether African derived or English, refer to birth circumstances, including both the ubiquitous day-names, which derive from the West African Akan-Twi language group, and others such as birth order and time of birth (e.g., day of the week, month, or season). Slavery's reach is still with us, and part of the gift of doing African-American genealogy, "The past is not dead. 2023 The Voice of the Black Community in California. They established and held on to their own cultural traditions in the small spaces that slavery afforded them. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Q. Many took the surname of famous or celebrated people; such as Lincoln, Grant, and Washington was very popular. The idea was for the children to enter the inhumane system of slavery protected by a sense of Selfhood and history. No superior alternative has yet been found." 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. How lucky you were to find that Freedmans Bank document! . i did a simple search of the 1860 slave schedule using the name Culbert and came up with slaveholders in MS,VA,NC,AL,GA and SC holding 17 enslaved people. There are so many examples of every kind of scenario, and I think it just speaks to the variety of experiences our ancestors had. The surname issue really presents huge challenges for those of us doign this research, but you soulnd as though you are making headway. Slave Names Below are some best cute and catchy slave names: Infirm Mite Lunn Amanda Walter Garner Hannah Delia Bastard Inferior Weevil George O'Hanlon Jordan John Owen Rachel Fetid Spider Betty Nathan York John Wright Wicked Whelp Thornton Dick Field Robert Dick William Hunter William Sam Kiner Augustus Dick a/k/a Richard Ferguson Foul Beast 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. After emancipation, he moved back with his mother, brothers and sisters and used the Cobbs surname. . A. For more information about the records covered in this index,please contact the History and Genealogy Department. Brutus) and a private name (e.g. Its knowledge that I think most Americans (not even just white Americans) dont have and it is endlessly fascinating and sobering both at the same time. After emancipation, he became William Smith. I found in the Civil War registry, an enslaved man who enrolled in the infantry under the name of Wash Ellis. Gradually, to show contempt for Slaves, the captors used Buck and Wench for naming the genders till they became trade terms, like Filly and Shoat.Contempt for the male was removing his honorific attachment to fatherhood and manhood by being addressed as Boy. Once the vigorous years of his prime were passed, he was allowed to assume the title of Uncle. Females were called Gal, girl, or the name of some animal. 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. Thank you for commenting, and continued luck to you in your research. I made up my mind I'd find me a different one. Slavery existed in the United States from its founding in 1776 and became the main . At her death when Thomas was ten, he was sold to Solomon Cobbs who lived nearby. Slaves are identified by given name under their masters. Peneus saved Daphne from Apollos romantic obsessions by transforming her into a laurel tree. After emancipation, he became William Smith. Edmon S. Conner Recalls About His Career", "Law and the Cultural Production of Race and Racialized Systems of Oppression", "Runaway Slaves and Servants in Colonial Virginia", Slavery in the Courtroom: An Annotated Bibliography of American Cases, "Soldier of Furtune: John Smith before Jamestown", "YSTUMLLYN, JOHN ('Jack Black') (d. 1786), gardener and land steward | Dictionary of Welsh Biography", "Strong, Jonathan (c. 17471773), de facto freed slave", "Juan Francisco Manzano | Slave Narratives | The MoAD Salon | MoAD - Museum of the African Diaspora", "Relatos sobre la India Juliana. The given name Athena was derived from the city name Athens, which is of uncertain origins. These people are referred to as slaves, or as enslaved people. Spencer is a name that has everything: it's both distinguished sounding and accessible, dignified but Spencer Tracy-like friendly. ", "If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all the generations of your ancestors. All rights reserved. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 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. My mothers name was Octavia Smith and it was from her that I got it but where the name came from to her I never knew. For descendants, I would add the substantial emotional impact of seeing an ancestor's name attached to a dollar value, or being valued in a list with silverware and cattle. 13 March 2022, 1-2:30pm [PAST EVENT], Eastern Standard Time: Cant find some of your ancestors in the census? CAs Push to Restore Voting Rights to System-Impacted Individuals Still in Custody, Eli Lilly to Cap Out-of-Pocket Insulin Costs, Asm. 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. 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. Famous name bearers: many King Louis of France, Sandra Bullock's son and actor Louis Partridge. 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. His slaveholder was named David Humphries. I have been a researcher, writer, lecturer and teacher for over twenty years. Email:genealogy@slcl.org Remember me. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! This lifelong quest has helped me to better know my familys past. If you can identify your ancestor's master, this source will prove of tremendous value to your research. 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. Enslaved people remained legally nameless from the time of their capture until their purchase by American enslavers. No, I dont know to whom she belonged before she was brought from Virginia to Kentucky. -Winston Churchill, "The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never ever introduce yourself to had life not done it for you." Q. 44. That alone can make if difficult to research an African- American family during those years. I love to hear from my readers. They did so either to take on a surname for the first time, or to replace a name or surname given to them by a former master. Daniel Odgen, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts In The Greek and Roman Worlds, p. 119, Laurence Vidal, Los Amantes de Granada, Ed. Location the owner of ones ancestor is crucial for an African American genealogist to trace his family before 1870. Some of these examples come from the wonderful book, Voices of Emancipation: I served [in the War] as Henry Lock, the Lock being my old Massas name but since the War I have taken name of Rollie., [Edward] was owned by Drury Stovall and went by the name of Edward Stovall. If the former slave had been befriended or assisted in getting established after the Civil War, they might have taken that persons name. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), born into slavery in Maryland and escaped to the Northeast in 1838, where he became an internationally renowned abolitionist writer, speaker, and diplomat. Recognizable patterns of change in names and naming practices are evident from the mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century and on through the 1860s. "More than half of the surnames are derived from the Christian or fore-name of the father," [1] and based on a total of 3,253,800 people, nearly 18 in every 100 persons was known by one of these fifty surnames. Many of the graves are unmarked or the markers have been damaged, but many descendents still live around here, so we hope to identify as many of the possible graves as we can. common last names in the 1800s Patronymic surnames such as Jansen/Janssen, Hansen, and Petersen are the most common names in the far north (Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein). Phone: 314-994-3300, Hours & Locations Comments/Suggestions314-994-3300, Copyright 2023. Forenames. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, more biblical names were given to enslavedchildren, a reflection of the widespread attempts to Christianize enslaved communities. Smith.). Numerous historical sources confirm that enslaved people had surnames that they used among themselves and in many cases were known by their slaveholder. But, my mtdna also said I share ancestry with the Kru people of Liberia and the Mende from Sierra Leonne! Another interesting fact is that Creole surname use also evolved over time and varied from record to record with the same person. I belonged to him until emancipation. Osprey Publishing 2008. Besides the Morrows, whom else did you live with in Louisville? Is this the work of the evil spirits or from my bad karma? Is this my fate!To worsen matters, a given new European label applied only to one aspect of the nature (whereas his/her original name referred to a total identity) of the enslaved and this was an effective way to try to fragment a victims mindset. Thanks for writing this post! Practices undoubtedly varied, and different archival sources may yield different conclusions. Pinckney, Randolph, and Rutledgeappear only incidentally among any list of modern Black peoples names. Gerald, however, is a Germanic name meaning ruler) 2. 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. George Duncan Ludlow (1734-1808), colonial lawyer. Most did not want to use their former owners surname, even through about 20% did use the slave owners name. Like most of the architecture and towns in Italy, they can also tell a story. Five of the slaves were sold to the Washingtons and brought to Wessyngton. I was born in Montgomery County, Ala. the child of Phillis Houston, slave of Sol Smith. Alfred "Teen" Blackburn (1842-1951), one of the last living survivors of slavery in the United States who had a clear recollection of it. That is why you will find a lot of families in Louisiana with surnames like Baptiste, Narcisse, Jean-Louis, Nanette-Louise, Rene, Jacques etc Ive come across very few former slaves and fpoc using the surnames of their former owner. . Private names used in the quarters included Abah, Bilah, Comba, Dibb, Juba, Kauchee, Mima, and Sena. This meant that army records documented their service with their old names instead of their new ones. Eliza Moore (1843 - January 21, 1948) Source = Pinimg. 2. 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. However, a small change to searching on C?lbert, which accounts for the variations in spelling expands that initial list to 877 enslaved people owned by people with those names. 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. American slave owners or slaveholders were owners of slaves in the United States which typically worked either as agriculture laborers or house servants. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. This unique-sounding French last name means 'bold' or 'daring'. The names that were brought together to form "Geffery" were "Gaufrid" (territory-peace), "Godafrid" (god-peace), and "Galfridus" (song-peace). 40. In his pension file, my great great grandmother his widow expressed that he chose his former enslaver surname because his father had been enslaved by them, too. It means 'clerk' or 'secretary'. He stated that he had always been known by his fathers surname Scott, even before he was freed. I belonged to him until emancipation. This is common. Where did you get the maiden name of Smith from? Some of the most common or popular last names in the 1800s included Robinson, Clark, and Smith. They called me OCK. . Kaplan, Justin, and Anne Bernays. Jonah, the name of the Old Testament prophet who was swallowed by the whale, only to emerge unharmed three days later, is increasingly appreciated by parents looking for a biblical name less common than Jacob or Joshua, yet not too obscure. Names from the Bible were another common practice, for given and surnames. 41. .When I got home after the war, I was wearing the name of Lewis Smith, but I found that the negroes after freedom, were taking the names of their father like the white folks. He was a slave owner and, in 1800 as Chief Justice of New Brunswick, he supported slavery in defiance of British practice at the time. 1412 S. Spoede Rd., St. Louis, MO 63131-2557. please contact the History and Genealogy Department. As a result, many slaves used the surnames of their owners wifes family. I have been a researcher, writer, and lecturer for over twenty-five years. Isaiah derives from the Hebrew Yeshayahu, containing the elements.
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