Two women called Clarissa on Good Hope



The 1817 slave register for the Good Hope estate lists a boy called George (b.1812), who was described as Mulatto) and whose mother was named as Clarissa. His death was recorded in the 1823 return of 'increases' and 'decreases'.

The 1820 return, the only one that gives dates, records the birth of Delia on 1st of April 1820 to a mother called Clarissa.

A woman called Clarissa was listed in the 1817 slave register, with a date of birth of around 1781 and a mother called Castena. Her death was recorded in the 1820 return, on the 5th of March 1819, which means that she couldn't be Delia's mother.

Castena wasn't listed in the 1817 register, though she may have been listed under another name, but her death was recorded in the 1820 return as having occurred on the 14th of April 1819. Her age at death was estimated as 64 (b. 1756), and she was described as creole (born in Jamaica).

Another woman called Clarissa (b. 1795) was purchased with her mother, Venus (1769-1826) in 1823. This followed the purchase of Clarissa's brothers, John (b. 1795) and Lucas (b. 1798) in 1820. John was alone in this family group in being described as Sambo, which suggests that his paternal grandfather was white.

An argument for Clarissa (b. 1795) being the mother of George is that he was not included in the 1817 register. An argument against, is that his purchase was not noted. George's death was recorded in the same register that noted the purchase of Clarissa and Venus, and it seems more likely that the overseers or trustees who completed the lists would have omitted to note the purchase of a little boy who had died than that they would have omitted a living boy from the 1817 list.


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