In checking some old emails, I came across this interesting information from Sharon Johnson (no relation) > Roy: Here is the source of my statement about the 32 blacks. I received a > CD from the University of Virginia's library with the census. The census > is more a listing of numbers of houses animals, and people without names. > Talk to you later. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Reference Desk" <refdesk@lva.lib.va.us> > To: <smmjohnson@cowisp.net> > Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 2:45 PM > Subject: ANSWER - JOHNSON - RE: First Jamestown Blacks > > >> Dear Mrs. Johnson, >> >> I've checked several sources, but don't see any reference made directly >> to the names of the first Blacks transported to Jamestown in 1619. One >> source does list the first names of 12 Africans mentioned in the 1624 >> census and 8 mentioned in the 1625 muster. This information can be found >> on p. 36 in A Study of the Africans and African Americans on Jamestown >> Island and at Green Spring 1619-1803 by Martha W. McCartney (2003). >> >> There's also an interesting article in the Magazine of Virginia Genealogy >> (vol. 33, no. 3, summer 1995, pp. 155-170) by William Thorndike entitled: >> "The Virginia Census of 1619." This article asserts that there were 32 >> Africans in Jamestown in March 1619, which was 5 months before the >> Flemish ship arrived in August 1619 with supposedly the first 20 Africans >> to arrive in Jamestown. >> >> Another article on this topic which I haven't looked at, but that may >> prove useful, is >> "Twenty Negroes to Jamestown in 1619?" by Wesley Frank Craven (Virginia >> Quarterly Review 1971, vol. 47, no. 3, p. 416-420.) >> >> I hope these sources are helpful to you. Please contact us if we can be >> of further assistance. >> >> >> Lisa Wehrmann >> Reference Librarian