common last names for slaves in the 1800s

I found in the Civil War registry, an enslaved man who enrolled in the infantry under the name of Wash Ellis. It can be a difficult path, but just might be reachable. Each name was a clue to her origins. This lifelong quest has helped me to better know my familys past. The campaign in Britain to abolish slavery began in the 1760s, supported by both black and white abolitionists. They were all sold to different owners: Connell, Rose, Johnson, and Hughes respectively. Also, the government seemed to be in a almighty hurry to have us get names. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! 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. No superior alternative has yet been found. Some scholars of slavery have come to view the names and naming of enslaved people as agauge of many aspects oflife and culture during enslavement and of howcustoms changed over time. 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. I want.to.know.where we (who are.descendants.of.freed.people.who.got sent.back.to Sierra Leone.from.maybe Nova Scotia.) Women tended to have two names, and slaves often just had one. I truly believe they used surnames of each of their former owners for some of their childrens middle names. 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. Just from the detail in your first comment, I knew there was a good chance you were already familiar with those authors. The Voice of the Black Community in California, Last Updated on October 14, 2010 by Paulette Brown-Hinds. Join me as I present this NEW webinar that covers why we miss our ancestors in these records and presents numerous strategies to assist in finding every clue in census records. 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. Slavery. With your explanations in mind, I will go back over a couple of family groups and re-assess the surname ambiguousness I have in my notes. "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? I belonged to him until emancipation. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Rank. -Unknown, "If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you might as well make it dance!" Im jealous;) The common names there (Marie, Louise, etc) would test anyones genealogical skills, so I take my hat off to you. Spencer is a name that has everything: it's both distinguished sounding and accessible, dignified but Spencer Tracy-like friendly. Seating is limited. On all subsequent census records, he is listed as John Lewis. Besides the Morrows, whom else did you live with in Louisville? U.S. Slavery: Timeline, Figures & Abolition - HISTORY Daniel Odgen, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts In The Greek and Roman Worlds, p. 119, Laurence Vidal, Los Amantes de Granada, Ed. This article is from the Encyclopedia of North Carolina edited by William S. Powell. Hi Rodney, Join my mailing list below to learn about upcoming webinars. In small communities where census takers and county officials knew African Americans personally and their previous owners, they often recorded the former slaves with the surnames of their last owners. Chery Meaning: derived from the Latin Cariacus, which means "land belonging to Cariu"; darling Origin: French 5. American slave owners or slaveholders were owners of slaves in the United States which typically worked either as agriculture laborers or house servants. All of them are alive in this moment. A brief history of black names, from Perlie to Latasha - The Conversation Slave Names and Naming in the Anglophone Atlantic . You already know the rich historical terrain of FPOC in Louisiana, what terrific grounds for family research. 140+ Victorian Baby Names | Names from the 1800s | Peanut James: (M) (Latin origin) means "heel" or "supplanter". Proving their identity as former soldiers often revealed some of the most detailed explanations for former slaves choice of surnames. -Elbert Hubbard, "Families are like fudge; mostly sweet with a few nuts." Derived from the word anull that is the Catalan language dominantly used in southern France, Anouilh means 'slow worm'. My maternal grandmother was an Auber. 17. One thing we should keep in mind is that the practice of referring to enslaved people by a given name only was a part of the attempt of the system of slavery to dehumanize them..to other them. This potential brother had been sold to a local and remained there in SC. Both comments and pings are currently closed. i have no way to confirm this. A. It comes from the same Greek root as 'ambrosia', the food of the gods, said to confer immortality. All rights reserved. I was only three years old when she died. 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 For more details, see the flier here, and you can purchase them here. 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. Copyright 2023 Facing History & Ourselves. 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. Wheatley was traded into slavery at the age of 7 or 8 and imported to North America. 6. Col. Joshua John Ward of Georgetown, South Carolina: 1,130 Known as "King of the Rice Planters," Ward had 1,130 enslaved Blacks on the Brookgreen plantation in South Carolina. In Greek mythology, Athena is the name of the daughter of Zeus who was the goddess of wisdom, warfare, handicrafts, mathematics, and courage, among others. Injurious Names: Naming, Disavowal, and Recuperation in Contexts of Slavery and Emancipation. In The Anthropology of Names and Naming. 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. 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. Another slave named Bill who attended the sheep became Bill Shepherd. 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. | Name Census It was after emancipation on that I went back to work for Col. Morrow and where I got the name "Lottie," as already explained. They are part of Records of the U.S. Customs Service . See flier for details; cost of this event is $25. "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. 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. 5. -George Burns, "Where does the family start? According to the latest search data available, Italian last names and their meanings are searched for nearly, 40,500 times per month. No, I dont know to whom she belonged before she was brought from Virginia to Kentucky. Each is present in your body. I am the identical person who was named called and known as Dick Lewis Smith before the Civil War and during the Civil War and until I returned home after my military service . I love how you have documented the history of your own surname. Fernsby, (Old English Origin) Derived from the old English words meaning "fern farmstead". Another myth is once African Americans were sold they never saw their families again. See footnotes for source information. However the frequent rebellions by . Some of these individuals probably lived through the Civil War to become named citizens in Ashley County, Arkansas and may have taken the last name of Hollaway/Holaway or Terry/Tery. 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. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! These require Microsoft Word and a Windows platform. This topic interests me greatly and Id like to do more research. In French-speaking Louisiana, Slave names reflected the dominant language and thus were generally different from those in the English colonies. 42. The poster on each page *provides the link to the handout* for that lecture, so be sure to copy it. 782 Lists of Slave owners with names of slaves Tamme, 766 Tom, 766 West, 766 Will, 766 Barker, Nathaniel Harry, 591, 700, 746, 767 Barkley, Barbary Grace, 651 Many Welsh surnames follow this pattern, with Jones (from 'John's son) being the most common. Part of what drives me in this research, I think, is the feeling that I am reclaiming their stories, their names, and their very being, even if what I uncover is just a tiny bit. Surname origins reveal a complex history of slavery in The Bahamas This is due in part to officials imposing surnames on them based on their last owners. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Enslaved women were raped, creating children with white fathers who in most cases did not claim them and even sold them away. 43. An 's' at the end of a personal name also meant 'son of', for example Richards, Stevens, Williams and so on. Another common practice was to select a surname that fit the personality of an individual, such as Hardy or Rambler. A. Mr. Thomas Jefferson of Louisville, bought me when I was three years of age from Mr. Dearing. Perhaps Wash Ellis registered under the name of one of his parents. He was a planter with 20,000 acres of land in East Florida and was at the forefront of slavery in The . 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. It is certainly possible that Wilsons siblings could have been sold away or owned by others. You can read about this in the following two posts on my blog. This meant that army records documented their service with their old names instead of their new ones. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Abebe: The genesis of this Ethiopian name is Amharic, and it means 'flower' or 'blossom'. 1412 S. Spoede Rd., St. Louis, MO 63131-2557. please contact the History and Genealogy Department. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. When they were sold away they remembered their loved ones and they created extended kinship networks. 25 Haitian Last Names That Reflect The Country's Unique Culture And By the late 19th century, England was home to about 300 surnames with traceable genealogy. Gerald, however, is a Germanic name meaning ruler) 2. 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. 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. Thank you. I would also recommend Elizabeth Shown Mills various case studies on enslaved people in Louisiana, which you can find at her website at https://www.historicpathways.com/articles.html. The first published African-American poet & author Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa. By examining periods of violence during the Reconstruction era, students learn about the potential backlash to political and social change. Plus, Jonah comes with a ready-made nursery-decorating motif. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, more biblical names were given to enslavedchildren, a reflection of the widespread attempts to Christianize enslaved communities. Now, that parents surname could very well be the surname of the most recent slaveholder or an earlier slaveholder. PDF Slave Names in Colonial South Carolina - Latin American Studies This unique-sounding French last name means 'bold' or 'daring'. The three databases below provide details of 36,000 trans-Atlantic slave voyages, 10,000 intra-American ventures, names and personal information. Slavery existed in the United States from its founding in 1776 and became the main . I also meant to email you and tell you how I enjoyed your article in the last NGSQ. 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. I hope this post also helps us to think about how the surnames former slaves had were connected to their experiences in slavery. ", "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city;)", "Where does the family start? Black Last Names: 80 Popular & Common African American, African It gives the age and sex of the slave and the number of slaves of each age and sex.

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common last names for slaves in the 1800s