Claudia Bautista,Santa Monica, Calif. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. The Genealogy Source Table Collection includes 10 blank, editable source tables for death certificates, city directories, obituaries and funeral programs. Copyright 2023 Facing History & Ourselves. I have done quite a bit of genealogy for my own family, and it was difficult enough, but what you are doing, is incredible work. On the U.S. Federal census that year, Wesley's birthplace was recorded as Alabama, the same as his father, and his mother's birthplace was South Carolina . While Smith remains the most common U.S. surname, for the first time, two Hispanic namesGarcia and Rodriguezmade the top 10. I belonged to him until emancipation. Cora: We first fell in love with this short baby girl's name from Downton Abbey, but Cora was already popular in the 1800s, meaning 'maiden' or 'good'. Join my mailing list below to receive my posts and get a free PDF with some of my favorite tips! The box for father states unknown in law. Her marriage record states her name is Sarah Charlotte Gale, her father being John Sinclair Gale! I dont know what became of his parents. Whereas names withAfrican, classical, or other unique origins were popular during enslavement, --- often continuingfrom one generation to the next and creating a distinctive nomenclature unlike that of southern whites -- free black peopleoften used more traditionally Anglicized versions of their first names. Nameberry is a registered trademark of Nameberry, LLC. Although it is not widely known, some African Americans used surnames before they were emancipated. My great great grandfather in Mississippi took the surname of the previous SC enslaver, whose widow sold him away. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Both are excellent researchers and historians. Flora, the name of the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, who enjoyed eternal youth, is one of the gently old-fashioned girls' flower names we think is due for a comebackalongside cousins Cora and Dora. College Advanced AA Gen. Class, November 2012, Robyn, Aaron, Karen, Katherine and Michael, October 2014, African-American Family History Conference, February 2015, African-American Genealogy Group Conference, October 2016, Central Maryland AAHGS, with Alice Harris, September 2015, Howard Comm. 41. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one" There are many factors to consider in determining what surnames African Americans used. They cut it off from OCTAVIA. Most did not want to use their former owners surname, even through about 20% did use the slave owners name. I belonged to him until emancipation. i have no way to confirm this. 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. Im jealous;) The common names there (Marie, Louise, etc) would test anyones genealogical skills, so I take my hat off to you. . . Unique Surnames to Grenada. You can use the links below to view more common surnames. Register now! The result was the birth of mulatto, quadroon, or mustee (mestee) children. . Thanks for commenting and continued luck in your research, . My father once told me his grandfather ran away from the Carrington place and changed his name to Williams. 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. -Unknown, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city;)" They ran away, fought back, feigned illness, destroyed tools, and clung to their families. Currently, the most popular Black last name in America is Williams, with a total count of 774,920 people who have the surname. I am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. I have been unable to trace several of his siblings and now wonder if it might be because others did not take that name. Former slaves also interchanged surnames on census records. Join my mailing list below to learn about upcoming webinars. Names from the Bible were another common practice, for given and surnames. This causes many researchers to wrongly conclude that enslaved people did not have surnames until after emancipation, which was not the case. -Kendall Hailey, "If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all the generations of your ancestors. Brief, but stimulating and thoughtful for students coming new to the subject. A. Thomas mother, younger brothers and sisters remained with the Black family. They are part of Records of the U.S. Customs Service . Gerald, however, is a Germanic name meaning ruler) 2. Students consider what it means to be free by learning about the choices and aspirations of freedpeople immediately after Emancipation. 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. Others were more promiscuous. I was called by that name all the time I was with the Morrows. Instead a wide variety of surnames came about that would be the family name for future generations. Surnames. 1412 S. Spoede Rd., St. Louis, MO 63131-2557. please contact the History and Genealogy Department. Most Popular Names. Kindest regards, 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. 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 love how you have documented the history of your own surname. 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. 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. She served that family for a long time, perhaps more clues to her past lie in his family roots. He was a planter with 20,000 acres of land in East Florida and was at the forefront of slavery in The . In Greek mythology, Daphne was the nymph daughter of Peneus, a river god. Your insight is always welcome and I am glad you shared these posts for other readers to see. I am awar eof the different naming traditions practiced in that area and I thank you for sharing them here for my readers. Students learn about the period of violence in the South from 1873-1876 and examine its role in influencing elections and ending Republican control of Southern state governments. Testimony of Dick Lewis Barnett, May 17, 1911: I am 65 years of age; my post office address is Okmulgee Okla. Women tended to have two names, and slaves often just had one. I did a post sometime ago about Slavery Studies, where I named some of the top books on the subject. My mother's name was Octavia Smith and it was from her that I got it but where the name came from to her I never knew. Osprey Publishing 2008. Where did you get the maiden name of Smith from? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl. Letter to James Edward Calhoun, August 27, 1831. Edited by Gabriele vom Bruck and Barbara Bodenhorn, 178199. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Wide-ranging survey of naming practices in the (mainly Anglophone) Atlantic world both during and after slavery. You should give a TED talk! They called me "OCK". Students consider how US history books, films, and other works of popular culture have misrepresented the history of the Reconstruction era. I mean, really retro. Please subscribe or login. Testimony of Mollie Russell (widow of Phillip Fry), September 19, 1911: Q. Tell me the name you were called before you met Phillip Fry? I am the identical person who served in the said companies under the name of Lewis Smith. They cut it off from OCTAVIA. In doing slave research in Barbados, I have found one group of enslaved Chase ancestors who were manumitted (freed) and given the last name of the former slave owner. 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. [15] Alice Clifton (c. 1772-unknown), as an enslaved teenager, she was a defendant in an infanticide trial in 1787. 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 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". Elijah is derived from the Hebrew name Eliyahu, composed of the elements. Start your year off with tips and strategies that can help you in the new year & beyond. 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. Such resistance signified continual deep-rooted discontent with the condition of bondage and, in some places, such as the United States, resulted in ever-more-stringent mechanisms for social control and repression in slaveholding areas. Ones occupation also set the naming method, such as Sheperd, Cooper, or Smith. The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Familys Journey to Freedom, A Thank You Letter from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, Plantation Records Key Link to African American Past . 5. It comes from the same Greek root as 'ambrosia', the food of the gods, said to confer immortality. This lifelong quest has helped me to better know my familys past. All of them are alive in this moment. It can be a difficult path, but just might be reachable. 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 For him, this meant claiming his new identity as a freedman and a citizen. 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. Abel, et al. In fact, the previous enslaver widow sold most of the slaves. 2023 The Voice of the Black Community in California. So just a few things to be aware of when researching any African-American ancestors. I have been a researcher, writer, lecturer and teacher for over twenty years. Q. The table below shows the most common last names with statistics on the heritage and ancestry of those with the surname. Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. . Daniel Odgen, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts In The Greek and Roman Worlds, p. 119, Laurence Vidal, Los Amantes de Granada, Ed. Almost every major tome on slavery discusses slave naming practices in some form or fashion. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts South Atlantic Creole Archipelagos Dick Lewis Barnett and Phillip Fry were African American veterans of the Union Army during the Civil War. Thank you. For personal use and not for further distribution. I am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. 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. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. 1. The names that were brought together to form "Geffery" were "Gaufrid" (territory-peace), "Godafrid" (god-peace), and "Galfridus" (song-peace). 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. 42. I would appreciate any constructive comments on this question, which can be posted to me via my website address above. Hi Rodney, By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. 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. He identified father, mother and siblings in a Freedmans bank deposit in 1873, when he was already in New York City. This unique-sounding French last name means 'bold' or 'daring'. Baptiste Meaning: derived from the name Bautista; the Spanish form of Baptist Origin: Spanish 3. I found in the Civil War registry, an enslaved man who enrolled in the infantry under the name of Wash Ellis. However, research byLisa D. Cook and colleagueshas revealed evidence of racialized names from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 3. Nonetheless, this is a situation where two brothers selected different surnames. I love that your example shows two brothers, who came to different conclusions about their surnames. In freedom, Jean-Louis was known as Louis SEM or Louis FUSELIER until finally using SAM. Who called you by that name and where was it done? 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. Label vector designed by Ibrandify - Freepik.com, 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. 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! 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. And you get to tell the story of Jean-Louiss life in slavery and also in freedom. In 1800, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were able to escape their terrible life of enslavement and were able to help other slaves trapped in a world of forced labour and grant them freedom once again due to the Underground Railroads that helped him, his partner Anna Murray Douglas and many other fugitives sneak away from the horrible All of them are alive in this moment. Place names that were disproportionately popular among Black Americans in history include Boston, Jamaica, York, and Africa. This blog is where I share family history methods, resources, tips and advice, with an emphasis on slave research, slavery and its aftermath. 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. The difficulties include using records that provide no surnames, the constant sale and breakup of families, and the lack of identification of fathers. It is certainly possible that Wilsons siblings could have been sold away or owned by others. 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. 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. For example, Roll, Jordan,Roll has an entire chapter called The Naming of Cats, discussing slave names and The Slave Community has a very good chapter called The Slave Family. Two other books I like are Been In The Storm So Long by Leon Litwick (pgs 247-248)and Joining PLaces: Slave Neighborhoods in the Old South by Anthony Kaye. A great and timely article. The link was not copied. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher. Edited by Gabriele vom Bruck and Barbara Bodenhorn, 178-199. I was only three years old when she died. I presume no death certificate for her survives? 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. Also, the government seemed to be in a almighty hurry to have us get names. . Maria Aparecida Schumaher, Erico teixeira Vital Brazil. Q. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on Thank you as always, your posts are so helpful. James: (M) (Latin origin) means "heel" or "supplanter". . Choose the best name for your child. 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). Another interesting fact is that Creole surname use also evolved over time and varied from record to record with the same person. In the 1760s Anglo-American frontiersmen, determined to settle the land, planted slavery firmly within the borders of what would become Tennessee. 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. No, I dont know to whom she belonged before she was brought from Virginia to Kentucky. 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. Hi Pat, common last names for slaves in the 1800s. Several names have been added under the letter representing the person's last name. In many cases this is ignored and children use their fathers name! Accueil > > Avr > 18 > Uncategorized > common last names for slaves in the 1800s. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. She was a Murphy.. Slaves were generally listed with just one name and thus with little to none of the genealogical information recorded for free whites. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. American slave owners or slaveholders were owners of slaves in the United States which typically worked either as agriculture laborers or house servants. Another myth is once African Americans were sold they never saw their families again. Prior to the emancipation of the American slaves in 1863, those African-Americans held in bondage had usually just one or two given names. My father would be 105 if he were alive. Best of luck to you in your research, Benson, Susan. Genealogy becomes so much more than just names and dates, it really feels like a true passion indeed. 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. Here, our list of notable early African American names. Because I like to let formerly enslaved people speak for themselves, here are several examples of freedmen and women discussing their surnames. Garcia (The Spanish form of Gerald, Garcia would be the son of Gerald. Table 7. ", "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? Some of them developed a long-term relationship with one of the female slaves. 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. Rather than being derived from the supernatural world, European given names were a mere handle or tag. It means 'bought land'. See flier here. . 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. "Albumen print of enslaved women and their children near Alexandria, Virginia." 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). This financial assistance was available to all Civil War veterans and their families. I am not able to find any slaveholders in the Versailes area by the name of Ellis. His slaveholder was named David Humphries. Who called you by that name and where was it done? Anouilh. The resources Im getting from my colleagues through Facing History have been just invaluable. Isaiah derives from the Hebrew Yeshayahu, containing the elements. EDHASA, 2006, 359 pages, (. 1760-1810 Persons declared to be "white by law" or "free" (part 1), (part 2) at Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library. 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. 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. Over time, East Tennessee, hilly and dominated by small farms, retained the fewest number of slaves. how the surnames former slaves had were connected to their experiences in slavery. Clark is a common surname of Anglo-Scottish origin. 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. Emphasizes the giving and repeated use of names as a performative act of domination. This is due in part to officials imposing surnames on them based on their last owners. One ancestor was known as Baber Masse, Elizabeth SENET and Elisabeth Leveille in different documents. Garcia is the Spanish variation of the word Gerald that means a pointed weapon, like a spear. That alone can make if difficult to research an African- American family during those years. Slavery existed in the United States from its founding in 1776 and became the main . A valuable and incisive discussion, both theoretically and historically informed, of slave naming in two African societies, the Caribbean, and the American South. Q. Five of the slaves were sold to the Washingtons and brought to Wessyngton. Jackson: This name is a patronymic of Jack. 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. Mining the Census: Are You Finding Every Clue? A. Mr. Thomas Jefferson of Louisville, bought me when I was three years of age from Mr. Dearing. .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. One thing I envy about the Catholic church is the baptisms available for even the enslaved people there. is for you. 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. After emancipation, he moved back with his mother, brothers and sisters and used the Cobbs surname. Kaplan, Justin, and Anne Bernays. The highest percentage of African names was found among male slaves in the eighteenth century, when . Since those are the countries from which many of America's original settlers came, it's hardly surprising. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. I am a farmer. Im very familiar with the work of Gwendolyn Hall and Elizabeth Shown Mills. Chery Meaning: derived from the Latin Cariacus, which means "land belonging to Cariu"; darling Origin: French 5. Many took the surname of famous or celebrated people; such as 'Lincoln', 'Grant', and 'Washington' was very popular. I love to hear from my readers. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. She was the great patroness-goddess of the city of Athens. 6. 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. Former slaves often made up surnames based on their occupations. Ho Joanne, The name James has been a popular Victorian male names in the 1800s. 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. Isaac evolved from the name Yitzchaq, derived from the Hebrew word, Lysander is a distinctive Greek name that could be thought of as a more creative cousin of Alexander. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. College, Advanced AA Gen Class, September 2011, AAHGS Annual Genealogy Conference, November 2008, Howard Comm. -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. When they were sold away they remembered their loved ones and they created extended kinship networks. On Anglican (Church of England) baptisms records the child legally and officially is documented with the surname of the mother if she and the father were not married. After emancipation, they all used the Terry surname because their families had been with the white Terry family for generations. common last names for slaves in the 1800s. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, more biblical names were given to enslavedchildren, a reflection of the widespread attempts to Christianize enslaved communities. 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! 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. I first wrote about this in this 2009 post: http://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2009/09/calvin-r-yarborough-where-it-all-began.html, And,then, more recently in 2013, here: http://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2013/11/many-rivers-to-cross-my-priscilla.html. Wood were recorded as slave. -George Burns, "Where does the family start? Slavery's reach is still with us, and part of the gift of doing African-American genealogy is recovering the stories of those caught in its grasp who could not in their own time leave their own witness.". They established and held on to their own cultural traditions in the small spaces that slavery afforded them. Hi Jann, Ebba: One of the more unique girl names from the 1800s. He stated that he had always been known by his fathers surname Scott, even before he was freed. In 1850, Ward. I would still recommend all of these books, except the first one listed for obvious reasons. 2019 (cited under the Anglophone Caribbean) includes a good general introduction to slave naming. This had a profound impact on the Selfhood of each of the enslaveddisrupting ones presumed Mission in life, as indicated by ones name; shattering the sharing of personal and historical experiences, attitudes, and spirits towards life; and putting in disarray the philosophy of life framework and common sense values by which all Africans lived. 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.
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