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Archiver > CARIBBEAN > 2003-03 > 1047771236


From: "Guy Grannum" <>
Subject: Re: "Surnames" - When did this start???
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 23:33:56 -0000
References: <20030305190357.09304.00000034@mb-mj.aol.com> <005901c2e3bd$7c1bb570$038720d9@StudyRoom>


I have been trying to resolve this question for a number of years and I
haven't come across any studies on surname practices for slaves and
ex-slaves. There seem to be many routes for the taking of surnames - the
usual assumption is that slaves took the name of their owner and I notice
that Dorothy's examples all took their owner's surname but I'm not sure that
this is the usual practice.

I know that not all ex-slaves took surnames after emancipation - I have two
examples of Grannum marriages where the wives did not have surnames at
marriage. One is dated 1837 and the other 1840.

Later this year I intend to start an interim study into slave surname
practices using sources in the Public Record Office - this will obviously
be fairly limited because I don't have access to baptismal or marriage
records, deeds registers or local wills and genealogies will be difficult
(if not impossible) to map. I am still working on the methodology and will
seek advice from the experts nearer the time but the outcomes I hope to show
will be:
- likelihood of a slave taking the name of their owner (last owner, interim
owner or first owner)
- the likelihood of slaves in the same family having the same surname - was
this a maternal or paternal name?
- is there a difference in practices between the Protestant islands (eg
Jamaica because the registers include relationships and baptismal entries)
and the Catholic countries (eg St Lucia and Trinidad where slaves are
arranged in family groups and most seem to have last names which are common
to the group - I assume therefore that these are surnames)
- was there a difference in practice between the USA and the Caribbean - I
hope that there are comparable studies for the USA via the records of the
Freedman's Bureau

Does anyone know if there have been any studies on slave or Caribbean
surnaming practices? There are lots on first name practices but I have not
found anything on surnames.

Has anyone come across any instructions issued to the authorities or the
church on what to do when recording a slave or freeman who did not have a
surname for official purposes eg opening a savings bank account, being
baptised or married, renting property, or signing contracts etc - most of
these instances would be after 1823 when restrictions were relaxed in the
amelioration process?

Guy

----- Original Message -----
From: "Edward Crawford" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2003 8:46 AM
Subject: Re: "Surnames" - When did this start???


> In England, Scotland and Ireland may be different, as far as I know
surnames
> started to be used at the beginning of the 1300s. Other countries are
> different. In Jamaica for instance many if not most slaves did not have
> surnames in the 1820s. (It may be different on other islands.) I
understand,
> though I have not researched the period, that with emancipation in 1834-38
> all ex-slaves took surnames. If you are seeking that link between pre and
> post emancipation period, it is often very, very difficult as I was
> discussing with Jan Bousse at the PRO yesterday.
> Edward Crawford
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "TSmith3116" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2003 12:03 AM
> Subject: "Surnames" - When did this start???
>
>
> > Can anyone tell me when did the practice of using a "surname" became
> legal.
> > This would clear up some issues for me. And if known, what country
> started it
> > initially. From some very "iffy" research it looks like it started in
the
> late
> > 1600s.
> >
> > Thanks
> > Ronnie
> >
> >
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