Jeff Lash's characterization of his ancestor Thomas Grant as a "slave" made me think. Grant's situation was that of a Royalist prisoner taken by the Parliamentary forces which won the civil war in England. Many of these prisoners forcibly exiled to the colonies as servants -- but I thought as "bondservants," meaning that their servitude was finite, as opposed to a slave, whose servitude was lifelong. When the few surviving Pequots, for instance, were enslaved at the end of the Pequot War, "slavery" was the literal word used by the authorities who determined on this course of action. But as I recall, Jeffrey mentioned that Thomas Grant gained his freedom. Would appreciate any thoughts or additional evidence or references on the proper language and differentiation here. I'll draw the attention of new listreaders to a previous thread or two we've had on the slaveholders in the Brooks families of New England. You'll find the little we discussed in the list archive. If you're new, or we haven't personally corresponded, and you have a Brooks ancestor who was a slaveholder, I'd like to know about it -- I track them. Thanks, Chris Christopher Brooks, List Administrator: ==================================== BROOKS-NE (Brooks Families of New England), HAPGOOD, and MERRIAM lists at RootsWeb. ==================================== [email protected]

Thanks for the information of this subject, Chris........... This is fascinating !! Best to all, Sharon in CA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Brooks" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 2:13 PM Subject: [B-NE] Bondservants/Slaves in the Brooks families > Jeff Lash's characterization of his ancestor Thomas Grant as a "slave" made > me think. Grant's situation was that of a Royalist prisoner taken by the > Parliamentary forces which won the civil war in England. Many of these > prisoners forcibly exiled to the colonies as servants -- but I thought as > "bondservants," meaning that their servitude was finite, as opposed to a > slave, whose servitude was lifelong. When the few surviving Pequots, for > instance, were enslaved at the end of the Pequot War, "slavery" was the > literal word used by the authorities who determined on this course of > action. But as I recall, Jeffrey mentioned that Thomas Grant gained his > freedom. > > Would appreciate any thoughts or additional evidence or references on the > proper language and differentiation here. > > I'll draw the attention of new listreaders to a previous thread or two > we've had on the slaveholders in the Brooks families of New England. You'll > find the little we discussed in the list archive. If you're new, or we > haven't personally corresponded, and you have a Brooks ancestor who was a > slaveholder, I'd like to know about it -- I track them. > > Thanks, > > Chris > > Christopher Brooks, List Administrator: > ==================================== > BROOKS-NE (Brooks Families of New England), > HAPGOOD, and MERRIAM lists at RootsWeb. > ==================================== > [email protected] > > ______________________________