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Position:Home>Genealogy> My last name and slavery?Question: My last name and slavery!? Hello, I'm an african american and my last name is of British origin (according to a search I did), does that mean I have some British ancestry!?
When the slave owners raped their slaves, did they take their last names from the white slave owners!?Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Many of not most slave owners give their own names to the slaves they bought, who may not have had English names already -- which is exactly why much of the African-American community rejects those as "slave names!." The names were also a proprietary thing for the owners!. This had little or nothing to do with whether the owners raped their females and had children with them!. The names were given long before any babies were born!. After emancipation, some slaves kept those names, or took new ones, usually of people famous or important to them -- hence the popularity of Presidential names like Washington, Lincoln, Garfield and Roosevelt among the Africa-American population!.Www@QuestionHome@Com It's very possible that you could have some British ancestry - many African Americans do - but it's not necessarily connected with your surname!. During slavery, most slaves were only known by a first name!. After emancipation, the newly freed slaves adopted surnames of their own choosing!. Many did choose the name of the family who had owned them!. That may seem strange - why would you voluntarily pick the name of someone who had enslaved you!? Well, slaves and their slaveowners had a very close relationship; whether it was a pleasant one or not, the fact is they spent a lot of time together, living and working side by side!. It was almost like an extended family - and many slaves did feel a sense of loyalty to the family that owned them, odd as that may seem to us!. If they were owned by a Smith family, they considered themselves Smiths as well - and used that name after emancipation!. Some slaves actually did use surnames long before emancipation - and not always the name of the family who owned them!. For instance, a man owned by a Jones family may have called himself Tom Mitchell - because his grandfather had been owned by a Mitchell family, and the name had been carried down!. And yes, some slaves who had been fathered by a white slaveowner did opt to use their father's surname, and passed it down to their children!. If you'd like to know for sure how you came to have your last name, it is possible to find out!. Start by tracing your family back, one generation at a time, until you can find your ancestors on the 1870 census!. That's five years after emancipation - and there's a good chance they were living not far from their former slaveowners (many slaves did stay on and work for the same family after they were freed - or at least stayed in the same area)!. Then you can study the names of the white families in that area and see if there are any with your surname - or any who your ancestor seemed to have a relationship with!. When you've narrowed it down to a few families, you can research their records - wills, estate inventories, bills of sale, slave schedules, etc!. - and possibly find the name of your ancestor as a slave!. It takes some work - and a bit of luck - but it's satisfying to uncover the facts about your family history, rather than just wondering!Www@QuestionHome@Com Your question seems to have some strong negative racial emotions attached to it, which is not appropriate here!. And, you are unfairly generalizing and are ignorant!. Not all slave owners were rapists!. Owning slaves was considered socially accepted back then!. As a country, we know better now!. We "grew up" and learned better!.!.!.!.!.learned right from wrong!. Rape was never considered socially acceptable behavior!. In some tribes in Africa, BLACK people STILL mutilate the genitals of young girls!. When will they learn that is not acceptable practice and is cruel and traumatic torture treatment of innocent girls!?Www@QuestionHome@Com Many freed slaves took the names of their owners!. If you want to know your ancestry, you will have to do the research!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Its definatly a possibility!. Do a backround on your family tree!. Or try to!. LOL!. Www@QuestionHome@Com its a good startWww@QuestionHome@Com yeah they did!. The Mzzzzzzzzz's loved them some brown sugar!Www@QuestionHome@Com |