Cretia and Lucretia of Good Hope


Three girls were listed in the 1817 slave register and later returns for John Tharp's Good Hope estate with the mother's name Cretia: Mary (1815-August the 18th 1818) and twins Ann and Mary (b. December the 29th 1819). Ann and Mary were described as Sambo, indicating that one of their parents was of mixed African and European heritage and the other wholly African. 

For a possible daughter for Ann, see 'Jane Keith of Good Hope'.

No woman of the right age named Cretia was listed on the Good Hope estate , but there were two women of the right age called Lucretia. One (b. 1783) was the daughter of Binah (see 'Binah of Good Hope'). The other was born in 1769 and her mother's name wasn't provided. The older Lucretia would have been 45 when the older Mary was born and 50 when the twins were. The younger Lucretia could also have given birth to all of them. She would have been 32 when the older Mary was born and 36 when the twins were.

However, it is also possible that the woman identified as Cretia was listed under a different name in the 1817 register.

Lucretia was given as the mother's  name for a further twelve children on the estate: Bessy (1781-1822), Sam (b. 1786), Marina (b. 1794), Greenwich (b. 1795), Richard (b. 1798), Phoebe or Phoeba (b. 1799), Faller (b. 1801), Mary Vaughan (b. 1801), James (b. 1802), Jane Cormie (b. 1806), William (b. 1810) and Bessy (24th of July 1819-20th of October 1819).* James was described as Sambo, suggesting that one of his parents was of mixed African and European heritage, while Mary Vaughan, Jane Cormie and the younger Bessy were described as Mulatto, suggesting that their father was white. 

According to the age estimates, the older Lucretia would have been between the ages of 12 and 50 when these children born. It is unlikely that she would have given the same name to two living daughters, but it is possible that she and the older Bessy were mother and daughter, particularly if their age estimates are slightly out.

If the age estimates were accurate, the younger Lucretia could not have been the mother of the older Bessy, Sam or Marina. It isn't impossible that she gave birth to Greenwich at the age of 12,  but it isn't likely. Even at the age of 15, she'd have been a young mother to Richard. The first tree indicates a reasonable level of confidence that the older Lucretia was the mother of at least the four oldest children. The possibility that she was also the mother of some of the younger children is represented in the second tree. 



Going down a generation, possible children for Bessy and Marina are discussed in posts called 'Bessy of Good Hope' and 'Three women called Marina on Good Hope'.

Mary Vaughan was the mother of three children: John (b. 1st of March 1818),* Henry (b. 1821) and Jane (b. 1825). John was described as Quadroon, while Henry and Jane were described as Mulatto, suggesting that  John had a white father, and that Henry and Jane's father did too.

Jane Cormie was the mother of Mary Umpherson (b. 1826), who was described as Quadroon.


* These births and deaths were recorded in the 1820 return of 'increases' and 'decreases', which is the only one that gives dates.


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