Six women called Nancy on Good Hope

In the 1817 slave register and later returns from John Tharp's Good Hope estate, 5 individuals are listed with a mother called Nancy: Kent (b. 1780), Mimba (b. 1805), Susannah (b. 1810), Catolina (1816-1820) and Sammy (b. 1825). In addition, the mother of Elizabeth Shellwid (b. 1818), who was described as Quadroon, and John Irving (b. 1829), who was described as Mulatto, was named as Nancy Bailey, the mother of Spim (m) (b. 15th of March 1819) was Nancy Grey, the mother of Robert (b. 29th of January 1819) was Nancy (Little) and the mother of Maria Shellard (1821-1824), who was described as Quadroon, was Nancy Bartlett. 

There were six women or girls called Nancy on the estate:

1. Nancy (1753-1820), who was born in Africa. She would have been 27 when Kent was born and 52 when Mimba was. Although it's feasible that she could have had Mimba at that age, it seems more likely that Kent was her only surviving child.

2. Nancy Grey (1790-1820), whose mother was Betty . Nancy Grey could have had Mimba when she was 15 years old, and is a possible mother for Susannah, Catolina, Spim and Robert, but she died before Sammy was born. I originally transcribed the name of Spim's mother as Nancy Guy, but Nancy Grey is also a possible reading. For that reason, I have included Spim in his mother's family tree in the post called 'Five women called Betty on Good Hope'. Some of these other children may have been his siblings.

3. Nancy (b. 1800), whose mother was Louisa (see 'Louisa of Good Hope'). She would have been 16 when Catolina was born and could have been the mother of any or all of the younger children.

4. Nancy Bailley (b. 1801), whose mother was Bessy. This Nancy was described as Mulatto and named as the mother of Elizabeth Shellwid and John Irving. In addition, because of the colour descriptions, she is the only possible mother for Maria Shellard. In this light, it seems likely that Shellwid (as shown) is mistranscribed on Ancestry. I have included these three children in Nancy Bailley's mother's family tree (see 'Bessy of Good Hope').

5. Nancy (b. 1806), whose mother was Catherine (see 'Three women and a baby called Catherine on Good Hope'). This Nancy would have been 13 when Spim and Robert were born. She can't be definitively discounted as their mother, but births at such a young age seem to have been rare. She could certainly have given birth to Sammy when she was 19 and  to John Irving when she was 23.

6. Nancy (b. 1814), whose mother was Rose (see 'Four women called Rose on Good Hope'). She is unlikely to have given birth to Sammy when she was only 11 and wasn't the mother of John Irving. For that reason, I have excluded the youngest Nancy from this family tree.

Going down a generation, Mimba (b. 1805) was named as the mother of a girl called Quashire (b. 1825) in the return of 1826.

Unfortunately, it isn't possible to determine which Nancy was the mother of which of the remaining children on the basis of these records. Other records and DNA evidence may be more helpful.



Going down a generation, Susan Smith was named as the mother of James Smith, who was a year old when his birth was recorded in 1832. There were no other adult women called Susan or Susannah on Good Hope at this time, so it's possible that Susan Smith was Susannah b. 1810. 

More about Good Hope

More about sources






Why have I posted this family tree?     

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bessy of Lansquinet

Image
The 1817 slave register for John Tharp's Lansquinet plantation includes three individuals with a mother named Bessy: Quashiba (1791-1825), Damsel (b. 1799) and Isaac (b. 1803). The 1826 return records the birth and death of Phama Neilson (f), whose mother was also called Bessy. Four women called Bessy were listed as being on Lansquinet in 1817: 1. Bessy Cook (b. 1744) (see ' Bessy Cook of Lansquinet ') 2. Bessy (b. 1764) 3. Bessy Smart (b. 1789), who was described as  Mulatto and whose mother's name was Phillis (see ' Three women called Phillis on Lansquinet ' )  4. Bessy (b. 1800), whose mother was Rosalinda. Because of her age, this Bessy  could only have been the mother of Phama Neilson. Since none of other other women could have been (the first two were too old and Bessy Smart could not have had a daughter described as Negro), Phama is included in the family tree in ' Rosalinda of Lansquinet '. Assuming the age estimates are accurate, Bessy Cook woul
Read more

Memorial and index to the family trees of people enslaved on John Tharp's estates in Jamaica

How to find what you're looking for, and what it means when you've found it To avoid endless scrolling, use ctrl-s to search  Abba 1788-1821 Covey Abba b. 1801 Covey Abba b. 1808 Chippenham Park Pen. d. of Beneba b. 1777, who was b. in Africa Abbreba b. 1770 Covey Abel b. 1799 Covey Abraham or Henry Philips, b. 1783 Covey Abraham b. 1795 Covey Abraham b. 1811 Chippenham Park Pen   Abram see Abraham Adam 1750-1826  Chippenham Park Pen . b. in Africa  Adam b. 1775 Covey Adam b. 1776  Chippenham Park Pen . b. in Africa Adam b. 1805 Covey Adam Reid b. 1814 Covey Adam b. 1815 Chippenham Park Pen Affen b. 17 Aug. 1817 Top Hill Pen Agnes 1769-1826 Covey Agnes 1771-24th Feb 1820  Chippenham Park Pen . b. in Africa Agnes b. 1805 Covey Agnes 1808-1832 Chippenham Park Pen   Alex b. 1768  Chippenham Park Pen . b. in Africa Alex Campbell b. 1818 Covey Alexander Williams b. 1785 Covey Alexander Shackleton or Natty b. 1786 Covey Alexander McFarlane or Allick 1794-1832 Covey. s. of Maria n.d.
Read more

Introducing the Mysterious Grandmother

Image
She was actually my mum's grandmother, and her name was Christine Cambridge. The mystery is that she never knew who her parents were. Naturally, she told stories, but her grandchildren took them with a pinch of salt.  The problem was that Christine wasn't particularly nice. When her husband died, she made her children promise they wouldn't get married and leave her. When they inevitably did, they had to make it up to her by giving her money every week. None of them realised the others were too -- Christine was living in (relative) luxury while they were struggling to make ends meet.  To the end of her life, my Nanna used to keep tins and packets of food in her bedroom (which, ok, is weird). She started doing it when she came out of hospital after a serious operation and was recuperating upstairs. Her mother-in-law, Christine, would come round 'to help', and instead help herself to anything she fancied from the kitchen. The pattern in these stories is that Christine
Read more