Three women called Belinda or Balinda on Good Hope

The 1817 slave register for John Tharp's Good Hope estate lists a 23-year-old man called Donow (b. 1794) whose mother was called Balinda [sic] and one-year-old Margaret Walker, who was described as Mulatto, and whose mother was called Belinda. The 1820 return of 'increases' and 'decreases', the only one that provides dates, records the short life of Belinda's son, who was also described as Mulatto. James Walker was born on the 25th of June 1819 and died eleven days later, on the 6th of July. The 1826 return recorded the death of an eighteenth-month-old girl called Francis [sic], and also listed a living eighteenth-month-old called Bessy. Both girls had a mother called Belinda, and both were described as Negro.

The register includes three women called Balinda:

65-year-old Balinda (b. 1752), born in Africa

50-year-old Balinda (b. 1767), born in Africa. Her death at the age of 56 was recorded in the 1826 return, where her name was spelt Belinda.

20-year-old Balinda (b. 1797), whose mother was Bess Ebo (see 'Bess Ebo of Good Hope'). 



Either of the two older women could have been Donow's mother, being 42 and 27 when he was born.


By the time Margaret Walker was born, these women were 64 and 49, and although the younger of the two could theoretically have been her mother, it's reasonable to assume that the same woman also gave birth to James Walker in 1819. By this time she would have been 52. While this is possible, it seems more likely that their white father would have chosen a younger enslaved woman. For this reason, I have assumed that the youngest Balinda/Belinda was the mother of the three younger children, and this is what the family tree in 'Bess Ebo of Good Hope' shows.



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