You guessed it. I had always heard that slaves took their owners last name when they were freed. But he looked at several studies and found different results. If I remember correctly, on average only about 15% took their owner's name. I had not heard the reason you listed. My thought was that if your owner was cruel, you would not want to be reminded of it all the time by your name. My son extrapolated further and wondered if that meant that only 15% of the slaves had kind owners. Edward Ball says in "Slaves in the Family" he was told by the Balls that they never beat their slaves. In his research, he found that discipline was the job of the overseer, so the overseer beat the slaves, not the owner. The one time where he did find where a Ball beat a slave, seemed to be to protect her from a harsher beating by the overseer. I suppose the definition of 'kind owner' was relative to the times and best left to those who were slaves. Oldnail@aol.com wrote: > > I would love to know what the 'real data' was that "contradicted some > 'common knowledge' about slaves and the source of their last names" if you recall > it. Sounds very interesting... I have always heard that some took the name of > the family they worked for and some at freedom changed their names for fear > of being brought back and enslaved again. > > > > In a message dated 1/15/2006 12:20:39 PM Eastern Standard Time, ray@atc.edu > writes: > > Tony Burroughs is an excellent researcher and speaker. I heard him > at a SC Genealogy Society annual meeting and he gave research tips > that were good for black or white. Also he presented real data that > contradicted some "common knowledge" about slaves and the source of > their last names. > > Ray > > >>From: Oldnail@aol.com >>Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 22:30:19 EST >>To: SCROOTS-L@rootsweb.com >> >>I saw this in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. Sounds fascinating. > > > >>Spread the word. > > >> >>January 09, 2006 >> Genealogy on PBS > > >> >>The U.S. Public Broadcasting System television network is airing a four > > part > >>series on African American genealogy for Black History Month (February). > > It > >> is called "African American Lives" and is hosted by Henry Louis Gates. >>Renowned genealogy expert Tony Burroughs will appear in three of the four > > episodes. > >> >>The first two hours will air Wednesday February 1st and the second two > > hours > >>will air on Wednesday, February 8th. However, PBS stations in different >> cities frequently air programs on different days and different times > > from what the > >> network announces. Check your local listings at >>_http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules_ (http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules) for > > details. > >>More information can be found on the PBS website: >> _http://www.pbs.org/previews/africanamericanlives_ > > (http://www.pbs.org/previews/africanamericanlives) > >> >> >>Posted by Dick Eastman on January 09, 2006 | _Permalink_ >> > > (http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2006/01/genealogy_on_pb.html) > > > > > > ==== SCROOTS Mailing List ==== > SCRoots Forum > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~scroots/ > > ============================== > Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. > New content added every business day. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx > >