Who called you by that name and where was it done? Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one", "Friends are God's apologies for relations. She served that family for a long time, perhaps more clues to her past lie in his family roots. The Genealogy Source Table Collection includes 10 blank, editable source tables for death certificates, city directories, obituaries and funeral programs. How lucky you were to find that Freedmans Bank document! Slavery. 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. A 2nd great grandmother for example was baptised Sarah Charlotte Chase; her mother is recorded as being Ann Lewis Chase. -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." Distinctively Black names were thought to have risen from the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, which promoted the use of names with connections to Africa. You can read the introductory maps for a high-level guided explanation, view the timeline and chronology of . It means 'bought land'. I presume no death certificate for her survives? The table below shows the most common last names with statistics on the heritage and ancestry of those with the surname. Got.the name.Auber.. Hi Roxana, Q. 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. In small communities when slaves were sold, they were often bought by someone in the area. A. Lottie Smith was my name and what they called me before I met Phillip and was married to him. Bailey, Word Stories Surrounding African American Slavery. So far Ive found no one who can give me any information about how these people assumed the Culbert surname. Women tended to have two names, and slaves often just had one. This financial assistance was available to all Civil War veterans and their families. How did you ever come by the name of "Mollie"? I have been a researcher, writer, lecturer and teacher for over twenty years. Forenames. Special slave censuses were kept in the early 1800s. 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. When I was born my mother was known as Phillis Smith and I took the name of Smith too. In 1801, the British government took the first census for Great Britain and Ireland. In freedom, Jean-Louis was known as Louis SEM or Louis FUSELIER until finally using SAM. Nat Turner's Rebellion One of the most famous slave revolts in American history came in 1831 when Nat Turner led a bloody uprising in Southampton County, Virginia. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. Phillis Wheatley (May 8, 1753 - December 5, 1784) Source = Wikimedia. The result was the birth of mulatto, quadroon, or mustee (mestee) children. If we consider the diverse circumstances that the tragedy of slavery created, we can understand the reasons why. Extensive records of slaveholding over several generations exist for a number of North Carolina plantations, most notably the Skinner and Hayes plantations in Chowan County; Pettigrew plantations in Tyrrell, Washington, and Wake Counties; Bennehan-Cameron plantation in Orange County; Hargrove plantation in Granville County; Arrington plantations in Nash and Edgecombe Counties; Avery plantation in Burke County; and Lenoir plantation in Caldwell County. Also largely unrecorded are the alternative names the enslaved used among themselves, sometimes called country names or basket names; they may also, according to African practice, have had multiple names over a lifetime. This phenomena makes research very complicated when you dont know the mothers surname. Thank you for your comment, Robyn N. Smith, [insert post title], Reclaiming Kin (https://reclaimingkin.com: accessed [insert date you read the post]), [insert the date the post was written]. You already know the rich historical terrain of FPOC in Louisiana, what terrific grounds for family research. Abara: Originating from the Igbo group of West Africa, Abara means 'spirit'. There are issues, too, about how to interpret the recorded names, which have been classified in different ways depending on researchers interests. Names. 1760-1810 Persons declared to be "white by law" or "free" (part 1), (part 2) at Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library. One frequently occurring name is Rolle. This lively Old Testament nature name (belonging to one of the three beautiful daughters of Job) may be missing from the current US Top 1000 list, but it ranks highly here on Nameberry making it one to watch! Names from the Bible were another common practice, for given and surnames. 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. 7. One of the largest sources are the Civil War pension records of the almost 200,000 black men who served in the US Army and Navy. Each is present in your body. Free black slave holders could be found at one time or . 2. Mining the Census: Are You Finding Every Clue? 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272, Finding Aids for the National Archives at Atlanta, National Archives Catalog (National Archives Identifier 2767350). Also included here are common names among slaves, many of which were classical and had ties to the Bible or mythology, such as Keziah and Venus. My maiden surname is Williams. 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 In these cases, unless the name change had been passed down in the family by oral history, it would be impossible to trace the family back any further. And again, as a white Southerner whose ancesters were NOT slaveowners, your blog is helping me to understand the real and horrible legacy of the peculiar institution. There are many factors to consider in determining what surnames African Americans used. 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. Even that feels like something. In French-speaking Louisiana, Slave names reflected the dominant language and thus were generally different from those in the English colonies. But the Slaves generally had two namesthe one given by the slave owner (e.g. Can you steer me in the right direction? The battle was long and hard-fought, with pro-slavery campaigners arguing that the slave trade was important for the British economy and claiming that enslaved Africans were happy and well-treated. Q. Geographic names were common, as were the names of ships or distant ports for enslaved peopleborn in places such as Wilmington or New Bern. See flier for more details. I was bornthe child of Phillis Houston, slave of Sol Smith. If a surname was needed, the slave owners family name might be used. Now, that parents surname could very well be the surname of the most recent slaveholder or an earlier slaveholder. College, Advanced AA Gen. Class, September 2009, Alice, Robyn and Lajoye, CM AAHGS, September 2017, Robyn and Andrea, NGS Conference, May 2014. Smith.). ", "Families are like fudge; mostly sweet with a few nuts. 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. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Join my mailing list below to receive my posts and get a free PDF with some of my favorite tips! Smithsonian Institution. this page. Rodriguez (Rodriguez is Spanish for the son of Rodrigo. Ho Joanne, My Louisiana Creole ancestors who were free persons of color and former slaves practiced a unique naming tradition I think comes from Latin cultures. I truly believe they used surnames of each of their former owners for some of their childrens middle names. They cut it off from OCTAVIA. And please do share posts that interest you. Many Welsh surnames follow this pattern, with Jones (from 'John's son) being the most common. ", "If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all the generations of your ancestors. All children of a female slave were automatically slaves, considered as belonging to the owner of the mother. They identified 21 distinctly Black male names, among them biblical classics such as Abraham and Moses, and word names including Freeman and Prince. No superior alternative has yet been found." Robyn, youve done it again! It helps me to understand the complexity of surname variation I have found in researching the ancestral patterns of an African-American cemetery in my local area. 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. 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. In 1836, William Turbeville died leaving an estate with several slaves who were brothers: Turner, Nelson, Simon, Jordan, and Jacob. 19. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. that lists the slaves along with their surnames. Other common surnames included Jones, Matthews, Sinclair, and Bennett, Price, and Gray.. Analyzing Creole names, especially those of African origin, demands a combination of historical and linguistic expertise that has not yet been systematically applied to slave names. This financial assistance was available to all Civil War veterans and their families. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher. The origins of this last name date back to the pre-medieval period. . I was called by that name all the time I was with the Morrows. Ninety percent of them were African-American, a far higher black percentage than for any other common name. Karen Halttunen, Murder Most Foul, p. 175. Samuel had only two slaves: the man that could be Wilson and a 42-year-old woman. Robyn, Unraveling the origins of FPOC and slaves in Francophone Louisiana takes some thinking outside the fact, meticulous research ,familiarity with the local culture, history and a bit of serendipity on your side. They were all sold to different owners: Connell, Rose, Johnson, and Hughes respectively. 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. I belonged to him until emancipation. An 's' at the end of a personal name also meant 'son of', for example Richards, Stevens, Williams and so on. 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. Q. 13 March 2022, 1-2:30pm [PAST EVENT], Eastern Standard Time: Cant find some of your ancestors in the census? Through a video-based activity, students examine Americas struggle for a stronger democracy during Reconstruction and today. Baptiste Meaning: derived from the name Bautista; the Spanish form of Baptist Origin: Spanish 3. 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. Hi Susan, After emancipation, he moved back with his mother, brothers and sisters and used the Cobbs surname. Instead a wide variety of surnames came about that would be the family name for future generations. Most common last names names: 1-1000 | 1001-2000 | 2001-3000 | 3001-4000 | 4001-5000 Even worse, during this period, many African Americanssome using surnames for the very first timechanged their surnames once or even several times. A Wessyngton slave named Bill who was the plantations blacksmith was known as Billy the Smith during slavery. Numerous historical sources confirm that enslaved people had surnames that they used among themselves and in many cases were known by their slaveholder. After I had returned to Louisville from Danville, My sister, Lizzie White, got to calling me Mollie, and it was with her that the name started. Elijah is derived from the Hebrew name Eliyahu, composed of the elements. A. Mr. Thomas Jefferson of Louisville, bought me when I was three years of age from Mr. Dearing. 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. 1. They called me OCK. Fernsby, (Old English Origin) Derived from the old English words meaning "fern farmstead". 2023 Nameberry.com.Nameberry is a registered trademark of Nameberry, LLC. 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. Several of the other slaves were sold to various slave owners. Another interesting fact is that Creole surname use also evolved over time and varied from record to record with the same person. Benson, Susan. I dont know what became of his parents. They called me OCK. This is due in part to officials imposing surnames on them based on their last owners. . A favorite of British novelists including Evelyn Waugh and P. G. Wodehouse, Ambrose has an air of blooming well-being and upper-class erudition. Slavery is a social-economic system under which people are enslaved: deprived of personal freedom and forced to perform labor or services without compensation. Phone: 314-994-3300, Hours & Locations Comments/Suggestions314-994-3300, Copyright 2023. This old French surname has Germanic origin, and means 'noble'. Join my mailing list below to learn about upcoming webinars. Besides the Morrows, whom else did you live with in Louisville? The quote below, from a Southern Claims Commission file, is one of the most powerful and one of my favorites to use in lectures: I enlisted under Ross because that was my fathers name. The majority of these slaves used the surname Lewis instead of Washington. This suggests most of those African-Americans probably did come about that name from prior slaveholders (since we know they likely werent from Scotland;):) I think you just have to include all the variations of Culbert to see how that could be the case. Thank you for commenting, and continued luck to you in your research. 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. The poster on each page *provides the link to the handout* for that lecture, so be sure to copy it. -Hugh Kingsmill, "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?" Brown: A common last name derived from an ancestor's complexion or the color of their hair. Davis: This name is a patronymic of David. John Lewis was born in 1831; in 1844 he and several family members were given to George A. Washington of Wessyngton. 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. Prior to the emancipation of the American slaves in 1863, those African-Americans held in bondage had usually just one or two given names. 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. Evie (F) (English origin) means "life" or "lively". Drawing on extensive archival records, this digital memorial allows analysis of the ships, traders, and captives in the Atlantic slave trade. Most Popular African Last Names Or Surnames. Slavery was coexistent with the founding in 1670 of the first permanent colony in South Carolina, and early official records occasionally contain the names of slaves.3 An inventory of the estate of Francis Jones in 1693 lists 'a negro man Jack' and 'a negro Woman name Jugg.'4 An inventory of the There are certainly methods you can used to try to verify some of the storyyou can look for Carrington and Williams slaveholders in the area in which your ancestor lived in the 1870 census. This database is a compilation of information on over four thousand slaves from Louisiana who were involved in manumission (the formal emancipation from slavery) between 1719 and 1820. I was called mostly Lewis Smith till after the war, although I was named Dick Lewis Smith After the War, I was wearing the name Lewis Smith, but I found the negroes were taking the names of their fathers, like the white folks. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Pinckney, Randolph, and Rutledgeappear only incidentally among any list of modern Black peoples names. I belonged to him until emancipation. Going back a decade to the 1850 Slave Schedule, both William Wood and Samuel O. Another common practice was to select a surname that fit the personality of an individual, such as Hardy or Rambler. 1754 Excerpts from the Courant for June 22 to 29, 1754 at Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library - contain the names of some "runaway slaves" or indentured servants, and information about them. 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. Accueil > > Avr > 18 > Uncategorized > common last names for slaves in the 1800s. This topic interests me greatly and Id like to do more research. E. Togo Salmon Conference, E. Togo Salmon Conference 1993 Mcmaster University: Goodyear III, Frank H. "Photography changes the way we record and respond to social issues". In the. I took the name of Jackson for the reason that I preferred to go by my fathers name, rather than the name of my last owner.. For example, I know of one Louisiana family whose surname of Poulard evolved from a ancestor of the Poular nation(aka Fulani). They were Nelson Nunn and George Nunn and they may have changed their names to Crosby too because they were my fathers children.. Thanks for all you to do keeps us all so enlightened! She was a Murphy.. One given name the childs family selected and kept secret and one the child was known by given by the slave owner. Robyn. Letter to James Edward Calhoun, August 27, 1831. how the surnames former slaves had were connected to their experiences in slavery. 42. Q. 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).
Former Wwmt News Reporters,
Alexey Ashtaev Leonid,
Chi Chi's Mexican Mudslide Wine Cocktail,
Articles C