damita - thank you for your post. julie thames howell, jax, fla Damita Drayton Green wrote: > All, > > There are many reasons why slaves may have chosen the names they did. > Examples can be cited that cover all of the aforementioned situations, like: > > * formerly enslaved took surname of last or prior slaveowning family > * formerly enslaved took surname of own choosing > * formerly enslaved were known by surnames within the enslaved community > * and on, and on > > Some sources you may want to consult: > > Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925 > by Herbert George Gutman, Paperback - 664 pages (August 1977) > Random House (Paper); ISBN: 0394724518 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.52 x 9.18 > x 6.12 > > One that pertains to the Civil War vets of the 104th US Colored Troops, some > members who joined from the Sumter District & Williamsburg District areas: > > 104th Infantry Regiment, USCT - Colored Civil War Soldiers from South > Carolina > by J. Raymond Gourdin, Paperback - 242 pages (1997) > Heritage Books, Inc; ISBN:078840718X > > To cite some examples of why the formerly enslaved changed their names from > Gourdin's book, as cited in the Civil War Pension files: > > "...went by the name of Fortune Bailey before and after the Civil War, but > after the war I took my father's name of Ladson and have gone by that name > ever since." p. 107 > > "I got the name Richardson from my master, but after the War...I took my > father's name of Sinkler..." p. 188 > > "My father was Peter Bennett, and he belonged to Washington Coakley." "My > maiden name was Roxana Bennett. I was never known by any other name than > Bennett before mariage, then Coakley and Wright after my marriage to the > soldier." pg 47 > > >From the above, I hope that you see it is difficult to make generalizations > as to how or why the formerly enslaved took the names they did. Do not also > forget that many people, black and white, changed their surnames numerous > times for various reasons. > > Hope this helps, > Damita Drayton Green > dldgreen@erols.com > > Researching LOGAN*MITCHELL*NELSON*OLIVER*SINKLER*WILDER and so many more in > Clarendon & Sumter Counties. > > ==== SCSUMTER Mailing List ==== > Rootsweb has a search engine available for its mailing lists. > If you don't know which list you'd like to search, check out the list > of lists hosted by RootsWeb at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~maillist/ > You can search the message archives of the SCSumter list at: > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl