On Jan 25, 10:55 pm, "Ernest M. Wiltshire" <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello Cathy: the French West indian islands had an elaborate set of > designations for people of mixed race, three quarters black, half, one > quarter, one eighth, one sixteenth... amazing as it may sound to modern ears > [The English islands had similar but fewer categories: mulatto, mustee, > mustefino being some of the more frequent] > Some of the French words (female): negresse, mulatresse, cabresse, and the > rather odd term "chabine". > So in this case I think that "cabresse" is not a place but a racial > designation for a female who was "negro but relatively clear-skinned". The > male equivalent is apprently "capre". > > Ernest M. Wiltshire > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > > On Behalf Of Cathy A. > Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 10:51 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Miscellaneous Manumissions Grenada 1766 and 1767 > Mormon Family History Film# 1563254 > page 207, entered 19 Sep 1766....Island of Grenada.....in consideration of > faithful service....he manumits the Cabresse wench called Charlotte.... > > I'm not sure about the meaning of Cabresse, but it could be an island not > far from Trinidad. > > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.11/1242 - Release Date: 1/24/2008 > 8:32 PM Thanks Ernest, That's very helpful. I couldn't find the word in my French or Caribbean dictionary and the only thing that Google turned up was the small island of Trinidad. I was familiar with many of the terms used in English but not the French ones. I appreciate your insight. Cathy