Two or three women called Mary on Chippenham Park Pen


Some of these family trees aren't neat, and I'm always including the uncertainties rather than pretending the evidence is clearer than it is. This is one example where it isn't possible to determine relationships with any degree of confidence.

The 1817 slave register for John Tharp's Chippenham Park Pen lists five children with a mother called Mary: Agnes (1808-1832), Abram (b. 1811), Titus (b. 1812), Warwick (b. 1815) and Camilla (b. 1817). The 1832 return of 'increases' and 'decreases' adds a sixth child: Charles,  who was born to Mary Scarlett in 1832.

The 1817 register lists two women called Mary: Mary C and Mary M, who were both estimated to be 36 years old (b. 1781), and were both born in Africa. C and M may have been abbreviations for the women's last names or ethnicity, but they weren't used in listing the children's mothers, so it isn't possible to know which child belonged to which mother. 

The 1817 register doesn't include anyone called Mary Scarlett, but either of these women could have adopted a last name later in life. Mary C and Mary M would have been 51 when Charles was born, which isn't impossible, but it also isn't impossible that the woman known as Mary Scarlett in 1832 had been listed under an entirely different name in 1817.

The 1826 return records the death of an African-born woman called Mary at the age of 43. Mary C and Mary M would both have been 43 in 1824, which is within the date range covered by that return, but it isn't possible to determine which one of them had died.


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