Thank you for the wonderful information Marleen... I have been complaining about how hard it is to trace my common name Whites... (I am looking for James, Johns, Williams, and Henrys... LOL) but when I purchased the book on slave trading that I recently bought it really brought to home for me the searches that these descendents have to make... Those that are tracing their AA ancestors have my complete admiration... I can't even get out of a paper sack with mine.. I can imagine how complicated their search must be... :) I do believe that the internet is a wonderful source in cracking some of these puzzles though and that it twenty or thirty years there will be more information that we will know what to do with.. IF I CAN WAIT THAT LONG!!!!! :) Cindy Mc ----- Original Message ----- From: Marleen Van Horne <msvnhrn@jps.net> To: <WHITE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2000 11:05 AM Subject: Re: [WHITE] AA Research Resources > Cindy, > > I got the book from the library, but I am sure you and purchase it > from Amazon.com, it was published in 1998 and won the National Book > Award. It just happened I picked up the book, then heard two > interviews with Edward Ball on Public Radio, about the book and his > family. Slaves in the Family. > > He has a long discussion of the names people took when they were > freed, almost none of the people took the name Ball, even people who > were Ball descendants. In my own case, when I tried to find people > who had belonged to my Dew and McKee ancestors, I only found two > families with the McKee surname, and at least 7 families composed of > about 32 people had belonged to the McKees. I found a deed that > listed all of William McKee's "property" in 1854, it included all of > his people by name, age and family group, but I was unable to match > them to any of the families I found in the 1870 census. I have found > some Dew families, but I do not have a list to match to. > > I, too, had thought many slaves took their owners surnames, but > apparently this is an urban myth, and in most cases they selected > other names. Ball mentions that slaves usually had only one name. > Only when there were two people on the books with the same given name, > was a second name added. The Balls had two men named Thomas and > differentiated them by calling one Tom Black and the other Tom White. > This probably happened becauese one man had lighter skin than the > other man. "Surnames" like that could be carried into freedom without > a second thought. > > The Ball plantations were on the Cooper River, both branches, in South > Carolina. The Ball family kept copious records, these are on deposit > in several archives in South Carolina--they are listed in the book. > > Here is a quote from the book: > > "In the end, one or two people on each plantation took the name Ball, > while most black families on Ball lands made other choices including > Aiken, Anton, Ash, Bennett, Black, Broughton, Brown, Bryan, Campbell, > Cigar (or Segar), Coaxum, Collins, Dart, Drayton, Easton, Ellington, > Evans, Fayall, Ferguson, Fleming, Ford, Fork, Frost, Gadders, (or > Gethers), Gadsden, Gaillard (Gillard), Gainey, Gamble, Garrett, > Garsing, Gibbes, Gilbert, Gillon, Graham, Green, Guinness, Hamilton, > Harleston, Harris, Hasgill (Haskell), Heyward (Haywood), Horlbeck, > Irving, Jenkins, Johnson (Johnston), Jones, Ladson (Ladsdon), Lance, > Lash, Lawrence (Laurence), London, Lonesome, Lovely, Lucas, Martin, > Matthews, Maxwell, McKnight, Middleton, Miles, Miller, Moultrie, > Nelson, Nesbitt ( Nesbeth), Oliver, Owens, Parker, Pickney, Poyas, > Prichard, Randolf (Randolph), Read, Richardson, Rivers, Roberson > (Robertson), Ribinson, Roper, Royal (Ryall), Scott, Seymour, Shepherd, > Simmons, Simon, Singleton, Stewart, Thompson, Vandross (Vanderhorst), > Wade, Waring, Warren, Washington, Watson, Waylan, White, Wigfall, > Williams, Wilson, and Withers." > > If you are interested in the McKee Deed, it is posted on the Noxubee > County GenConnect Deed Board. It happens that two of William McKee's > granddaughters were the first and second wife of my gg-grandfather, > Willis Chandler White. > > Marleen Van Horne >