140+ Victorian Baby Names | Names from the 1800s | Peanut There has been disagreement about whether it was slaveholders or the enslaved who gave the recorded names. . Thanks for all you to do keeps us all so enlightened! "The past is not dead. The result was the birth of mulatto, quadroon, or mustee (mestee) children. 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. One thing I envy about the Catholic church is the baptisms available for even the enslaved people there. All children of a female slave were automatically slaves, considered as belonging to the owner of the mother. This causes many researchers to wrongly conclude that enslaved people did not have surnames until after emancipation, which was not the case. See footnotes for source information. These people are referred to as slaves, or as enslaved people. 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 ", "If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you might as well make it dance! Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Thomas Black Cobbs was owned by a small slave owner Catherine Black. Are you thinking this woman Eliza Ellis was married to Wash Ellis? Names. He was sold to my master William Orr and he always went by the name Edward Orr after that.. My fathers name was John Crosby and he lived in the town of Geneva, Alabama, I had two brothers and one sister. Here, three different former slaves discuss their names and the changes they underwent after Emancipation. Gerald, however, is a Germanic name meaning ruler) 2. The Language of Names. Each is present in your body. The resources Im getting from my colleagues through Facing History have been just invaluable. Many of these were names of heroesbut not Lincoln. For him, this meant claiming his new identity as a freedman and a citizen. 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. 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. 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. 100 Victorian Last Names With Meanings And History | Kidadl The second hour is hands-on, and I want you to bring the deeds you've found along with your questions. My great grandfather Wilson Percival was born in South Carolina and I believe he took his surname from last slave owners family. Best of luck to you in your research, I have been unable to trace several of his siblings and now wonder if it might be because others did not take that name. I am generally called Cap Sherrod but I was married under Cap Ross and have voted under the name Ross, A good many people call me Cap Sherrod because I belonged to Sherrod but I calls myself Cap Ross.. There are so many examples of every kind of scenario, and I think it just speaks to the variety of experiences our ancestors had. She was the great patroness-goddess of the city of Athens. Your insight is always welcome and I am glad you shared these posts for other readers to see. I would appreciate any constructive comments on this question, which can be posted to me via my website address above. Im very familiar with the work of Gwendolyn Hall and Elizabeth Shown Mills. The campaign in Britain to abolish slavery began in the 1760s, supported by both black and white abolitionists. Copyright 2006 by the University of North Carolina Press. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, more biblical names were given to enslavedchildren, a reflection of the widespread attempts to Christianize enslaved communities. Q. I love how you have documented the history of your own surname. - Jane Howard, "Friends are God's apologies for relations." You can read the introductory maps for a high-level guided explanation, view the timeline and chronology of . Students learn about the violent responses to the transformation of US democracy that occurred as a result of Radical Reconstruction. I love that your example shows two brothers, who came to different conclusions about their surnames. Therefore, a few of the most common first names of the time such as Mary (rank 815) and Sarah (1010) will appear in the list and surnames which correspond to personal names (e.g. But I tell you, trying to document that all those names refer to the same person is hard, hard work! 5. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. 2023 Nameberry.com.Nameberry is a registered trademark of Nameberry, LLC. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on When I was born my mother was known as Phillis Smith and I took the name of Smith too. The following documents are excerpts from government records in which Dick Barnett and Mollie (Smith) Russell explain when and why they changed their names. The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Familys Journey to Freedom is proudly powered by WordPress Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! These require Microsoft Word and a Windows platform. Join my mailing list below to receive my posts and get a free PDF with some of my favorite tips! John Lewis was born in 1831; in 1844 he and several family members were given to George A. Washington of Wessyngton. 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. Names of prominent slaveholderse.g. Mary Deborah Petite, "1836 Facts about the Alamo and the Texas War for Independence". The Voice of the Black Community in California, Last Updated on October 14, 2010 by Paulette Brown-Hinds. Popular Last Names in the 1920s Gatsby Flapper Girl I am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. It means 'clerk' or 'secretary'. In fact, the previous enslaver widow sold most of the slaves. Genealogy becomes so much more than just names and dates, it really feels like a true passion indeed. 1. She was a Murphy.. American Slave Owners - geni family tree Surnames for African-Americans - Former Slaves These require Microsoft Word and a Windows platform. Thank you for your comment, A. 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. For personal use and not for further distribution. Elijah is derived from the Hebrew name Eliyahu, composed of the elements. He identified father, mother and siblings in a Freedmans bank deposit in 1873, when he was already in New York City. However, research byLisa D. Cook and colleagueshas revealed evidence of racialized names from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nameberry is a registered trademark of Nameberry, LLC. Here, our list of notable early African American names. Ref. Abel, et al. Danish West Indies, Denmark, Records of Enslaved People, 1672-1917 Major types on which most would agree are European place and literary names, European personal names in hypocoristic (pet or diminutive) form, biblical and classical names, and names of African origin. It had always been passed down in the family that Thomas has been owned by the Blacks. Derived from the word anull that is the Catalan language dominantly used in southern France, Anouilh means 'slow worm'. Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno might inspire some parents. Popular last names in the 1800's? - Answers Picked by several celebrities (a couple of times even for a girl), adding up to an enthusiastically recommended choice. I have been a researcher, writer, and lecturer for over twenty-five years. Common African American Last Names | GenealogyBank They reflect an acculturation process by which generations of enslaved people, increasingly removed from the direct influence of their first enslaved African ancestors, adopted the conventions of their enslavers, eventually creating a culture and value system all their own. Phillis Wheatley (May 8, 1753 - December 5, 1784) Source = Wikimedia. 1. Delva You are the continuation of each of these people." . 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. The 2000 U.S. Census counted 163,036 people with the surname Washington. They were all sold to different owners: Connell, Rose, Johnson, and Hughes respectively. Thanks for writing this post! Letter to James Edward Calhoun, August 27, 1831. My Louisiana Creole ancestors who were free persons of color and former slaves practiced a unique naming tradition I think comes from Latin cultures. Chery Meaning: derived from the Latin Cariacus, which means "land belonging to Cariu"; darling Origin: French 5. It is from this myth that the plant genus, Phoebe is the Latin variation of the Greek name Phoibe, which derived from. Login Forgot . Renate, Herbert G. Gutman, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925 (1976). Join my mailing list below to learn about upcoming webinars. PDF Lists of Slave owners with names of slaves 781 How did you ever come by the name of "Mollie"? Peneus saved Daphne from Apollos romantic obsessions by transforming her into a laurel tree. George Duncan Ludlow (1734-1808), colonial lawyer. Slave rebellions | History, Examples, & Facts | Britannica Slavery is a social-economic system under which people are enslaved: deprived of personal freedom and forced to perform labor or services without compensation. Surnames - Historic UK Rather than being derived from the supernatural world, European given names were a mere handle or tag. New surnames were created from a local regions name such as Smithfield the name taken might be Smith or Field. 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. CLICK HERE TO SAVE YOUR SEAT! No, I dont know to whom she belonged before she was brought from Virginia to Kentucky. The last U.S.census slave schedules were enumerated by County in 1860 and included 393,975 named persons holding 3,950,546 unnamed slaves, or an average of about ten slaves per holder. Just from the detail in your first comment, I knew there was a good chance you were already familiar with those authors. Although it is not widely known, some African Americans used surnames before they were emancipated. The names that were brought together to form "Geffery" were "Gaufrid" (territory-peace), "Godafrid" (god-peace), and "Galfridus" (song-peace). I truly believe they used surnames of each of their former owners for some of their childrens middle names. 26 September 2021 [PAST EVENT]: Acclaimed genealogist Melvin Collier and I will be presenting an all-new 2-hour lecture titled More Than Just Names: Incorporating Social and Community History Into Your Research from 1:00-3:30 EST (please note it is Eastern Standard Time). There are 15 tables, blank and editable for you to populate, as well as samples of using each. I did not even check the 1850 slave schedule. By the late 19th century, England was home to about 300 surnames with traceable genealogy. U.S. Slavery: Timeline, Figures & Abolition - HISTORY 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.