Author Topic: Looking for people whose families were involved in slavery  (Read 3082 times)

Offline Mike in Cumbria

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Re: Looking for people whose families were involved in slavery
« Reply #18 on: Saturday 27 March 21 19:21 GMT (UK) »
One thread, and already the two biggest bits of nonsense ever spouted about slavery are being aired. You see these two tropes being repeated ad nauseum on extremist pages, so it's sad to see them here on Rootschat.

1. No, slavery was never a good outcome for Africans. Guy talks about the fact that many slaves were prisoners of war, captured by rival tribes and sold on (somehow "sparing their lives"). What he didn't mention was that these wars were a direct result of the slave trade itself, with Europeans bringing firearms to the continent, arming favoured tribes and ensuring a regular supply of prisoners.

2. "But what about all the Cornish people enslaved by the Barbary pirates". Sure, this happened, and must have been awful for those individuals. Trying to draw a parallel with the industrial enslavement of millions of Africans, shipping them off to the other side of the world and, in the process, wrecking the economy of an entire continent and creating an  underclass in another continent is plain silly. Can anyone point to any lasting effects of enslavement of these famously unlucky Cornish fishermen that persists to this day? I doubt it.  It still gets trotted out in any discussion of African enslavement though.

Mike

Offline Josephine

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Re: Looking for people whose families were involved in slavery
« Reply #19 on: Saturday 27 March 21 19:40 GMT (UK) »
I really want to speak to other people whose families were involved in slavery as slave-owners/slave-traders, to discuss their feelings towards their ancestors and their sense of identity today...

I'd be really grateful if anyone would be willing to talk about their family history, and tell me a little about their thoughts and feelings.

I haven't found any relatives who had slaves, so I can't help you, but this sounds like an interesting project and I wish you success. I've seen genealogy programs in which people have been made aware of an ancestor or some other distant relative who had slaves, and it seems like it can be a lot to take in, especially if there have been no hints about it in family stories.

Even so, I hope that such a revelation wouldn't harm a person's sense of identity, because we can only be responsible for our own actions.

Regards,
Josephine
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Offline Ruskie

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Re: Looking for people whose families were involved in slavery
« Reply #20 on: Sunday 28 March 21 03:26 BST (UK) »
I read a lot of threads on rootschat, but don’t recall any which mention ancestors involved in the slave trade. (That doesn’t mean there’s aren’t any of course  :) )

If you are looking for general information rather than specific personal examples from rootschatters, there is a lot to be found on the internet. I think most relate to American’s experiences, and include recollections of descendants of slave owners meeting with descendants of slaves. I know you are looking for British examples, but there may be some in amongst the American ones.  :)

Offline Mowsehowse

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Re: Looking for people whose families were involved in slavery
« Reply #21 on: Sunday 28 March 21 11:59 BST (UK) »
No personal involvement, sorry GRL, but 3 things to ponder.....

1) There is a fascinating book I have read:
"BARRACOON - The story of the last slave."
By Zora Neale Hurston.
ISBN: 978-0-00-829766-4

It doesn't seem to me that it was necessarily a better life Mr E.

2) History shows an extensive white slave trade, with Europeans kidnapped and carted of to Africa, of which many people know nothing. I suggest it deserves a mention in the project.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_slave_trade

The book by Sally Magnusson : "The Sealwoman's Gift" offers an interesting perspective, from Iceland to Algiers.

3) Lastly, Iluleah made a comment about the vast wealth accumulated via slavery in ports such as Liverpool, which reminded me of a photo I took during a brief stay there a couple of years ago. 
See here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=slavery+%2B+Liverpool+bank&client=firefox-b-d&sxsrf=ALeKk03dYaMUdZF4CCoQGmMWwAqDRxkTcw:1616929084421&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjwn9Cd6tLvAhWOilwKHZbGCmAQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1366&bih=626#imgrc=gInx455fiXxnSM
 
BORCHARDT in Poland/Germany, BOSKOWITZ in Czechoslovakia, Hungary + Austria, BUSS in Baden, Germany + Switzerland, FEKETE in Hungary + Austria, GOTTHILF in Hammerstein + Berlin, GUBLER, GYSI, LABHARDT & RYCHNER in Switzerland, KONIG & KRONER in Germany, PLACZEK, WUNSCH & SILBERBERG in Poland.

Also: ROWSE in Brixham, Tenby, Hull & Ramsgate. Strongman, in Falmouth. Champion. Coke. Eame/s. Gibbons. Passmore. Pulsever. Sparkes in Brixham & Ramsgate. Toms in Cornwall. Waymoth. Wyatt.


Online PrawnCocktail

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Re: Looking for people whose families were involved in slavery
« Reply #22 on: Sunday 28 March 21 12:20 BST (UK) »
I read a lot of threads on rootschat, but don’t recall any which mention ancestors involved in the slave trade. (That doesn’t mean there’s aren’t any of course  :) )

Ruskie, I discovered during first lockdown that my 5g grandfather was captain of a slave ship. He only did two runs before his ship must have gone down, as I have my 5g grandmother proving his Will in Nov 1775, and no burial, although he must have been on previous voyages as crew.

He captained a ship called the Nancy, registered in Liverpool, whose owners included Bryan Blundell, the founder of the Liverpool Bluecoat School. He did one trip to Nigeria and Jamaica in 1772 - 1773, and another trip Nigeria - Dominica 1774 - 1775. In total he shipped over 700 slaves in those two voyages.

Not sure what I feel about it. He was trying to feed his own wife and three children. Judging from the lists of ship owners, slavery was embedded in Liverpool, at all levels of society. They clearly saw nothing wrong with it, however shocking that is to us today. So it depends whether we look at this with 21st century eyes, or 18th century. When I put it alongside the privations my coal miner ancestors will have endured down the mines from a very young age, that again depends on what eyes we view it with. Both were shocking, both were wrong as we see it today. Both exploited human beings to the max.

GoldRimmedLamp, I will send you my email address if you want it, but I'm not sure I can tell you any more
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Offline Skoosh

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Re: Looking for people whose families were involved in slavery
« Reply #23 on: Sunday 28 March 21 12:33 BST (UK) »
This thread was about slavery! an interesting blog from the National Library of Scotland on.

https://blog.nls.uk/mapping-slavery/

Bests,
Skoosh.

Offline Vance Mead

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Re: Looking for people whose families were involved in slavery
« Reply #24 on: Sunday 28 March 21 12:44 BST (UK) »
I can't say definitely, but one ancestor was probably a slaveowner in South America. He was George Pontifex, born in 1808 and lived in Georgetown, Demerara, Guyana, starting in about 1830. He had a sugar plantation there, at a time when most of the population of Demerara were slaves.

On edit: From DonM's database:
George Pontifex in British Guiana
11th Jan 1836 | 1 Enslaved | £68 8s 0d
Mead - Herts, Bucks, Essex
Pontifex - Bucks
Goldhurst - London, Middx, Herts
Kellogg/Kelhog - Essex, Cambs

Offline Mowsehowse

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Re: Looking for people whose families were involved in slavery
« Reply #25 on: Sunday 28 March 21 12:45 BST (UK) »
This history of Liverpool has plenty of references to the Slave Trade.
Probably easiest to go to the end and study the index to pick your pages.

https://fitthebill.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/historyofliverpo00willuoft.pdf
BORCHARDT in Poland/Germany, BOSKOWITZ in Czechoslovakia, Hungary + Austria, BUSS in Baden, Germany + Switzerland, FEKETE in Hungary + Austria, GOTTHILF in Hammerstein + Berlin, GUBLER, GYSI, LABHARDT & RYCHNER in Switzerland, KONIG & KRONER in Germany, PLACZEK, WUNSCH & SILBERBERG in Poland.

Also: ROWSE in Brixham, Tenby, Hull & Ramsgate. Strongman, in Falmouth. Champion. Coke. Eame/s. Gibbons. Passmore. Pulsever. Sparkes in Brixham & Ramsgate. Toms in Cornwall. Waymoth. Wyatt.

Offline DonM

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Re: Looking for people whose families were involved in slavery
« Reply #26 on: Sunday 28 March 21 12:54 BST (UK) »
And here is the Caribbean 1763-1833.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs

Don
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