APG-L Archives

From: "Douglas/Ungaro" <>
Subject: [APG] Madagascar, New Orleans, Mo/Ky slave trade?
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 23:11:55 +0300
References: <000201c2a3fe$bc9d6ed0$8522fd0c@yourze8cxvr8tt> <007101c2a418$42761340$34fffcd8@dns1> <002e01c2a46f$e44b2410$0000a398@Mic>

Dear Mic,

Thank you for sharing those prompt and informative replies. Gives
me something to start with.

I guess I will need to find more evidence of other people enslaved in
the US and nearby who were from Madagascar, and/or data on ships
bringing people from Madagascar, or people arriving from elsewhere
who originated in Madagascar.

Actually, Madagascar is off Africa's Southeast coast, not the west.
The closest land is the country of Mozambique.

Unrelated to this current Madagascar research, I grew up in Baton
Rouge, La - and as a matter of fact have been searching for the name
origin of the city's "Scotlandville" section - though some say it was
the name of a plantation - if so, I'd love to get that history.

(Luckily) I speak French and am familiar with Madagascar as Republique
Malgasche.

I also will look for the New Orleans/Nouvelle Orleans to MO/KY possibility.

Perhaps someone on the list would be interested in an exchange of sharing
data with me in return for my translation (French or Spanish) of a record.

Another fact I have for Priscilla (Yancy) Miller is that she had an older
son named WILLIAM THOMAS, also listed in the family in the 1880
Leavenworth KS census enumeration; with Priscilla ("keeping house")
and Edward Miller - listed as a laborer, I think; and Edward and Priscilla's
3 much younger children: Viola, Jane and Alex - I know I have Viola and
Jane named correctly. Viola was my Greatgrandmother who lived till 1968.

William Thomas, his Mother Priscilla, and Edward Miller all are noted as
born in Missouri, and all 3 born there before slavery was ended.

Marian Douglas
PO Box 14899
Nairobi, Kenya

----------
From: "Mic Barnette" <>
To: "Douglas/Ungaro"
<>; <>
Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2002
[APG] Madagascar and Africa to USA slave trade


> Hi Marian:
>
> I just reread your note where you say your former slave lady was age 30 in
> 1880. It is not likely she would have been the one born in Africa. It is
> possible one of her parents, but, more likely her grandparents or even
> further back ancestors may have come from Madagascar.
>
> As you stated in your note, the slave trade in the US ended in 1808. It
did
> not end in other countries until sometimes much later. You also said
there
> was contraband slave entries after 1808.. This is true but they were
usually
> smaller, clandestine landings. There are numerous court cases where some
of
> these landings were caught and persecuted.
>
> The 1880 census, as you know, has a place of birth for parents. You might
> see if you can find her parents alive in 1880 or 1870 if they lived that
> long and see what they say about the birthplaces of their parents in 1880.
>
> My previous email stated there was a connection for slave trading with the
> French and Spanish in the Port of New Orleans. New Orleans was owned by
> France and then by Spain until 1803 when the Americans took over as a
result
> of the Louisiana Purchase. There was always trade, including slave trade,
> from New Orleans up river to Missouri and Kentucky. The possibility of New
> Orleans being your port of entry is possibly as great or greater (with a
> suspected Madagascar connection) than with an American East Coast entry
> point.
>
> MIC
>
> Visit Our Online Bookstore at http://barnettesbooks.com
> Read Mic's Columns at http://www.geocities.com/barnette_geo
> Read Galveston 1900 Hurricane http://www.rootsweb.com/~barnette

===============================
Hi Marian:

Sometime about 1985 I wrote an article which was published in the NGS
Quarterly, William Marshall of Baton Rouge and some of his Mulatto
Descendants (or somthing like that). You might wish to read it.

William Marshall died in 1803 in Baton Rouge, LA. In his Will he freed his
nego woman Peggy, her daughter Isabella and her unborn child, assuming the
child was born a Mulatto. The Will also left some money and cattle to the
children. The unborn child was born a Mulatto and died shortly afterward.
Peggy, the mother, inherited the money and cattle of the deceased child.

Once free, Peggy asked the Court for permission to purchase her mother out
of the estate. This permission was granted and agreed to by the exexutors.

In an inventory of slaves of the Marshall estate I located the mother. She
was listed as being of the Chamba Nationality. In a cursory effort to
establish where Chamba was I located a town a couple hundred miles inland
on the Ruvuma River in Tanzania called Chamba. The Ruvuma River is on the
South Central coast of Africa. Looking at a modern day African map I see a
port city, Mtwara, just north of the river mouth. This information in my
article was published as a foot note.

I picked up the following information on the Internet. Notice the French in
1776 began trading in slaves with this area of Africa. New Orleans had a
definite French connection even when run by Spain until 1803. It is likely a
French slave trading ship may have brought Peggy's mother to New Orleans.

http://www.map.freegk.com/tanzania/tanzania.php
Most of the known history of Tanganyika before the 19th century concerns the
coastal area, although the interior has a number of important prehistoric
sites, including the Olduvai Gorge. Trading contacts between Arabia and the
East African coast existed by the 1st century AD, and there are indications
of connections with India. The coastal trading centres were mainly Arab
settlements, and relations between the Arabs and their African neighbours
appear to have been fairly friendly. After the arrival of the Portuguese in
the late 15th century, the position of the Arabs was gradually undermined,
but the Portuguese made little attempt to penetrate into the interior. They
lost their foothold north of the Ruvuma River early in the 18th century as a
result of an alliance between the coastal Arabs and the ruler of Muscat on
the Arabian Peninsula. This link remained extremely tenuous, however, until
French interest in the slave trade from the ancient town of Kilwa, on the
Tanganyikan coast, revived the trade in 1776. Attention by the French also
aroused the sultan of Muscat's interest in the economic possibilities of the
East African coast, and a new Omani governor was appointed at Kilwa.

In the United States we think of migration going from the East to the West.
As students of American history books written by Northern historians we
were not brought up to consider the French and Spanish colonies along the
American Gulf Coast. If your slave is saying she came from an area of Africa
that was not a part of the normal British trade routes, it is possible she
was
brought to North America via another way. Meaning, you might study the
French-Spanish-Portugese trading paths of the Carribean and South/Central
America. If your lady is from Madagascar which is off the West coast of
Africa maybe she came in through the port of New Orleans and went up river.

MIC
=====================================
> > From: "Douglas/Ungaro" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2002
> [APG] Madagascar and Africa to USA slave trade
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I've been away from the list for a while. We wish everyone peaceful and
> > pleasant holidays.
> >
> > Does anyone know what progress there's been lately in compiling U.S.
slave
> > & slave trading records w/ information on African places of origin, or
> > origins
> > & dates of ships arriving from Africa, the Caribbean, etc?
> >
> > I have the story of a woman who was enslaved in Missouri, and possibly
KY
> > before, who said she was brought to the USA from MADAGASCAR.
> >
> > Madagascar, the world's 4th largest island, lies off Mozambique on the
> > southeast coast of Africa. It was a major source of people during the
> slave
> > trade.
> >
> > This woman, Priscilla Yancy Miller, her husband Edward Miller and their
> > children are on the 1880 Leavenworth KS census, which lists her born in
> MO.
> >
> > So, was she born in Madagascar or Missouri?
> >
> > I think the 1880 census listed her as being in her 30's, so if she
> recalled
> > that she or an immediate family member was brought to the US from
> > Madagascar, they would have had to be transported into enslavement
> > well after the international slave trade was abolished in 1808. That
law
> > was
> > broken a lot.
> >
> > Information she left says around the time enslavement ended, which would
> > have been 1863, she walked all the way from Missouri into Kansas across
a
> > bridge over the Missouri River. Where might this have been? She may have
> > been travelling from the Moniteau/Cooper counties' area in Central MO.
> >
> > Happy holidays.
> > Marian Douglas

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• [APG] Madagascar, New Orleans, Mo/Ky slave trade? by "Douglas/Ungaro" <>