The terms Octaroon and Quadroon referred to the amounts of African blood...And in Colonial times, Indians, Africans and whites intermarried freely...not only among the indentured servants, but also of free people with each other and with indentured servants... Sometimes slaves took the names of slave owners,but those would have been the first generation imported slaves I'd imagine...then after that their offspring would continue the name or change it..But as I said, there were marriages between Indians and Africans, Indians and whites, and Africans and whites before slavery as we know it happened..So not all european names of slaves were taken from the slave owners... Hope that helps.. B. ----- Original Message ----- From: "ANGELYN CUNNINGHAM" <angelync@msn.com> To: <CHOCTAW-SOUTHEAST-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 8:14 PM Subject: RE: [CHOCTAW-SE] question > Mulatto probably comes from "mulato", Spanish for 'of mixed blood'. > Didn't slaves take the surnames of the family that 'owned' them? Also, let's face it, folks, the male plantation owners had sexual 'relations' with the African women they owned and the offspring of those unions produced children who used their father's surname. There is, however, another explanation. In the 1700s, 'whites' marrying Indians had children who were referred to as, for instance, "quadroon", which meant they had 1/4th degree of Indian blood. > Angelyn > > ------ Original Message ----- > > From: AhSweet1@aol.com > Sent: Thu, Aug 29, 2002 7:49pm > To: <CHOCTAW-SOUTHEAST-L@rootsweb.com> > Subject: Re: [CHOCTAW-SE] question > I have no idea of where 'Mulatto' came from. I was just surprised when I read > the census(1860(I think)) in Mississippi and found neighbors to my > ancestors(Trahern) with the same name but it said they were black. Now some > in Alabama with other ancestor's name(DeLoach) says they are 'M'. > > > ==== CHOCTAW-SOUTHEAST Mailing List ==== > Got a PROBLEM?? Got a GRIPE?? Just wanna' WHINE?? Don't post it to the list. Write to me, the listowner, at CHOCTAW-SOUTHEAST-admin@rootsweb.com > > > ==== CHOCTAW-SOUTHEAST Mailing List ==== > Need more CHOCTAW information?? Try Rusty Lang's website at http://www.choctaw-web.com for censuses, genealogy lessons, articles, etc. > >