[CARIBBEAN] Slave Names & Naming in Barbados
Ernest M. Wiltshire
an excellent book.
I have found nothing in that article to indicate any kind of prohibition on the use of names of whites in the colony such as Christel indicates occurred in the Dutch colonies. A few interesting quotations:
" How slaves adopted or were assigned surnames is another issue. Writing in the early nineteenth century about the growth of the freedman population (free blacks & mulattoes) in Barbados, J,W. Orderson, a white creole, reported that most slaves who purchased
their freedom were already baptized; when they were manumitted, they added "to their Christian name that of their owner's family". Illustrations of Orderson's observations can be found in the Newton plantation records. Several manumitted or about to be
manumitted slaves seem to have adopted the names of Newton owners, though the records are unclear as to whether these names were legally recognized or informally acknowledged by plantation authorities. For example, Dolly refers to herself as Dolly Newton in an
1807 letter to Thomas Lane, who , with his brother John, owned Newton & Seawell, requesting that her manumission be executed."
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"The adoption of surnames increased toward the end of the slave period and accelerated after emancipation, when the ex-slaves required surnames for such legal purposes as land titles, marriages and death certificates. Ex-slaves took the Anglo-European names
available on the island, including those of slaveowners, plantation overseers, or other whites."
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"..evidence from the United States and Jamaica indicates that slave surnames may have been matronyms, although at Worthy Park in Jamaica in the decade before emancipation a shift occurred and children were "normally" given their father's adopted surname, in
line with English custom". Using the mother's surname is also common in the modern West Indies when the parents are unmarried. This practice may have been partially influenced by West African matrilineal traditions and naming patterns that emphasized descent".
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"Although the evidence for slavenaming practices is often ambiguous and superficial ... our data indicate that Barbadian slaves played a larger role in naming themselves and their children than has been supposed by scholars of Caribbean slavery. For much of the
slave period, slaves probably named their children or had some influence on the names by which their children are identified in the documentary sources; the child's parents, particularly the mother, probably exercised the largest role in naming, although
grandparents may also have had some input".
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Ernest M. Wiltshire / Friends of the Barbados Archives
38 Inglewood Place, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1Y 4C7
Tel & Fax: 613-729-0982 e-mail: mur...@synapse.net
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Kathryn
Examples of no surname upon baptism:
Judy Ann & John Cambridge baptized 14 Feb. 1813 Owner Nathaniel Forte
Henry Peter baptized 24 Oct. 1813 owner Samuel Forte
But have taken owners surname later on:
John Cambridge Forte & Mary Elizabeth Padmore married 25 Jan 1838.
Judy Ann Forte & James Thomas Burrows 26 Feb. 1841.
Henry Peter Forte & Lucy Ann Grimes married 1840.
Baptized with no surname:
David baptized 22 May 1814 owner Mrs. Mary Clarke
Christopher baptized 13 Dec 1815 owner Samuel St.Hill
Samuel Providence baptized 29th Dec 1833 slave on Harmony Hall.
They later took other surnames, not owners:
David Forte & Mary Elizabeth Padmore married 13th June 1835.
Christopher Forte & Jane Ann married 16th Nov. 1833 both belonging to
Fisher Pond Plantation.
Samuel Providence Forte & Jane Frances married 1st Aug. 1839.
Take owners surname upon baptism/burial:
James Sandiford abt 23yrs a colored slave of Lydia Sandiford baptized
18
April 1819.
Cecilia Forte mulatto infant of Nathaniel Forte Esq.. baptized 13th June
1824.
Is this his child?
her marriage:Cecilia Forte & Samuel Padmore married 18 Sept 1845.
Mary Jane & Cheeseman mulatto slaves of James Alkins baptized 14 May
1821.
Cheeseman Alkins burial 15 May 1821.
Mary Alkins burial 17 May 1821.
James Gittens apprenticed labourer to Thomas Lovell & Elizabeth Alkins
apprenticed laborer to Sarah Alkins married 9th May 1835.
Here is an interesting example:
This day was by me duly baptized born 10th Oct. 1816 Jane Ann daughter
of
James Curtis Esq. by a negro woman belonging to him.
Jane Ann later married Christopher Forte (above). But her Curtis surname
does
not appear on marriage. Christopher & Jane Ann had children over a
25year
span. When later children were born we find her surname as Springer.
(David
Forte child of Christopher Forte & Jane Ann Springer baptized 2nd Feb.
1856). I have other information that this Jane Ann is one and the same.
Why
take Springer surname at such a late stage? Why not Curtis?
Other entries:
Mehetabel Roberts born 4th Dec 1818 daughter of Mary Agnes Roberts by
Joshua Daniel Howard an illegitimate child baptized 18 Feb. 1819.
William & Elizabeth Swan alias Kelly illegitimate children of Joanna
Swan by
James Kelly baptized 29 March 1819.
Joseph son of Elizabeth Lamming baptized 4 Aug. 1852.
Harriot daughter of Mercy baptized 23rd May 1830.(Free Colored).
Henry Reynolds Gibson son of Mary Jane Gibson profession of father
Postman.
Thomas baptized 29th March 1839(Adult baptism).
William Padmore baptized 29th March 1839(Adult baptism).
James aged 12years a free colored man who takes the name of Dial
baptized 8
Nov. 1801.
In this example a mother has her children baptized in the father's name
after his
death:
Maria baptism 13 Dec 1815 free woman of color.
Margaret Ann, Maria, Agnes Ann Hollingsworth mestive children of Thomas
Hollingsworth Esq.. (dec'd) Mother-Maria (Free Mulatto above) baptized
13
Dec 1815.
I get a kick out of entries like these (ok mom, I guess you did not
participate in
the event).
Thomas Bowles Alkins baptized 1785 son of John Alkins.
Julian Christopher Motley baptized 1879 son of James Thomas Motley.
I find many examples of children baptized in mother's name, but at some
point
take father's or another surname. This is a major stumbling block but I
managed
to solve this one. Had following names:Richard Foster Spencer, Francis
Fitzgeorge Spencer & Marion Louisa Spencer. Their marriage documents did
not indicate father. Had no clue who mother was, but did have birth
dates/place.
Could not locate baptisms under Spencer. Looked for christian
names/uncommon. Found they were baptized under Richard Foster Mapp,
Francis Fitzgeorge Mapp and Marion Louisa Mapp. They later took
Spencer
surname, their father?? Found marriage of their mother, but she did not
marry a
Spencer.
Try this one, Eliza marries John Welch have daughter Marion Welch. Eliza
remarries Walcott after Welch's death. Later Marion Welch marries
Spencer,
children all have Walcott as second name. In honor of mother's
step-father not father.
Lester Walcott Spencer not Lester Welch Spencer
I say anything goes.