Two women called Countess on Good Hope


The 1817 slave register for John Tharp's Good Hope estate lists three children with a mother called Countess: Thetis (b. 1803), January (m) (b. 1808) and Prue (b. 1814). Later returns for the estate added three more daughters: Charlotte (b. 12th of February 1819),* Bess (b. 1822) and Melly (b. 1825). 

There were two women on the estate called Countess. One was born in Africa in about 1777 and one in Jamaica in 1802. The older Countess could have given birth to any or all of these children between the ages of 26 and 48. The younger Countess was 12 when Prue was born, and is unlikely to be her mother, but she could have given birth to Charlotte, Bess and Melly between the ages of 17 and 23. The dotted divider in the family tree indicates that the older Countess was almost certainly the mother of the three older children, but that either woman could have given birth to the three youngest.


Going down a generation, the 1823 return records the death of Thetis's son Jupiter at the age of one. Since dates weren't provided, his short life could have occurred at any point in the period covered by the return (1820-1823).


* The 1820 return of 'increases' and 'decreases' is the only one that provides dates.


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