The Mystery of the Mysterious Grandmother

The 1817 slave register for John Tharp's Lansquinet estate includes thirteen individuals with a mother called Nancy: Sukey (b. 1769), Virgil (b. 1780), Hanover (b. 1791), Aberdeen (b. 1794),* Lucia (b. 1794), William (b. 1795), *  Andrew (b. 1801), *  Jane (b. 1801), * Ann (b. 1802),*  Sally (b. 1805), Patty (b. 1807), Milly (b. 1811) and Mary (b. 1814).  It also lists four individuals with a mother called Nanny: Ben (b. 1779), Billy (b. 1786), Castello (b. 1789) and Coomba (b. 1810). For reasons that may become clear below, it appears that the names Nanny and Nancy were not always kept distinct. The 1817 register lists four women called Nancy and four women called Nanny, which both originated as variants of the name Ann, and which are not always clearly distinct from one another written down. The facts are far from clear, but in the interests of what clarity I can achieve, I'm using letters to distinguish between the records. These letters were not used in the slave lists: - 7

The 1817 slave register for John Tharp's Lansquinet plantation lists three children with a mother called Lucia: Kitty (b. 1808), Hamlet (b. 1810) and Caesar (b. 1815). The 1820 return of 'increases' and 'decreases', the only one that provides dates, add Pompey (b. 31st of December 1817). The register listed two women called Lucia, both described as creole (born in Jamaica): - 30-year-old Lucia (b. 1787), who would have been between 18 and 30 when these children were born and could therefore have been the mother of any or all of them. - 23-year-old Lucia (b. 1794), the daughter of Nancy, who would have been between 14 and 23 when these children were born, and could also have given birth to any or all of them, but is more likely to have given birth to Caesar and Pompey than to the older ones. See ' A confusion of women called Nancy and Nanny on Lansquinet ' for her mother's family. More about sources What are the limitations of the evidence? Isn't this

The 1832 slave list from John Tharp's Lansquinet estate notes the birth of Frances Lyon three years earlier. Frances's mother's name was noted as Mary Halkin, and this illustrates several of the challenges of using the slave lists for genealogical research. 1. Some names, like Mary, were very frequently used 2. Last names didn't yet function as we might assume Not everybody had one Even where parents had them, they didn't necessarily pass on the same last name to their children Children of the same mother didn't necessarily share the same last name Some individuals adopted last names later in life Some individuals used more than one last name  In some contexts last names were used to distinguish between two individuals with the same first name (e.g. Sam, the son of Mary is distinguished from Sam, the son of June. This tells us which Sam is meant, but not which Mary or June, though this would have been obvious to people who knew them) 3. How names were recorded i

Returns from John Tharp's Lansquinet plantation from 1826 and 1832 record the births of four children with a mother called Kitty: 1. John (b. 1825), who was described as Mulatto. His mother was named as Kitty Smith. 2. Joseph (1831-1832) , who was also described as Mulatto and was also the son of Kitty Smith. 3. Mary Downer (1829-1832). She was described as Negro and her mother was named only as Kitty. 4. Amelia Brown (b. 1830). Her mother was named as Kitty Brown, and she was also described as Negro. There were three women on the estate called Kitty whose ages make them possible mothers: A. Kitty (b. 1808), who was the daughter of Lucia (see ' Two women called Lucia on Lansquinet '). She would have been between 17 and 23 when these children were born. B. Kitty (b. 1810), who was the daughter of Rosanna (see ' Rosanna of Lansquinet '). She would have been between 15 and 21 when the children were born. C. Christmas aka Kitty (b. 1811), who was the daughter of Hagar (

The 1817 slave register for John Tharp's Lansquinet plantation lists three individuals with a mother called Rosanna: William (b. 1794), Nightingale aka George (b. 1807) and Kitty (b. 1810). Rosanna was not listed in her own right in the 1817 slave register and may have passed away before that date or been included under a different name. Possible children for Kitty are discussed in ' Three women called Kitty on Lansquinet '. More about sources What are the limitations of the evidence? Isn't this too neat to be convincing? A note about the identity of fathers A note about the ages of mothers A note about descriptions of colour A note on language and tone Why have I posted this family tree?          Want occasional email updates on John Tharp & his family? Want daily updates with family trees of the people he enslaved?

The 1817 slave register for John Tharp's Lansquinet plantation listed four children with a mother called Hagar: Amonetta (b. 1808), Christmas aka Kitty (b. 1811), Susannah (b. 1814) and Jackey (b. 1817). The 1826 return of 'increases' and 'decreases' recorded the addition of Saric (f) (b. 1824). Hagar was estimated to be 38 when the 1817 register was compiled (b. 1779). She was described as creole (born in Jamaica) and Negro (of entirely African ancestry). Possible children for Christmas/Kitty are discussed in ' Three women called Kitty on Lansquinet '. More about sources What are the limitations of the evidence? Isn't this too neat to be convincing? A note about the identity of fathers A note about the ages of mothers A note about descriptions of colour A note on language and tone Why have I posted this family tree?          Want occasional email updates on John Tharp & his family? Want daily updates with family trees of the people he enslaved?