Slavery

[Alastair]

In this video I'm actually trying to compare how people were treated in Scotland against how the slave owners in America treated their slaves. I am thus trying to find a factual account of a Scottish slave owner in America so I can do some comparisons. And so this video is to open up this discussion.

You can watch the video at

And if anyone can contact me with a resource to help me in this research I'd appreciate it.

Alastair

[LuRose Williams]

Re: Slavery

A very good oration and thank you....In my Geneology searching, I oftentimes run acorss Ochiltrees that have strange first name, I will go further and see their etnicity as Black and Slave...some records would state whether or not they were indentured. A lot of the refugees after Culloden were youngsters and the families sailing to America, one of the parents may have died or both parents...that child would go to another family.Or, a child may need an education, and be taken by a family of means and that would indicated Indenture until age 18 or schooling ended...

For the most part, the Patron of the plantation did well by his slaves. They all had housing, comfort, food, would have their right of religion. After the slaves were freed by law, they did not know what to do..some of them would have been three genrerations at one plantation. That was most of all their lives. I have several Scot ancestors that held slaves, simply because, the Indian Wars kept the plantation away protecting the neighborhoods, so the slaves would take care of all the crops..the southerners had no machines as the northern did, meaning all cotton and tobacco, etc had to be hand gathered...the slaves knew if they did their work properly, the massa would always be there to take care of their needs...

I can reflect back to the old movie of The North and The South, the slave overseer master was very cruel but they were mean because they were power hungry and beating the slaves gave them a high...

According to Lyon in Mourning by Dr. Forbes, the account after Culloden by Alexander Stewart, explains,,the exiled on the Gildart were mostly indentured to the wealty plantation owners of MD and VA...these were the rich men of Scotland that had come here at the 15...The govenors of Md and VA were at the wharf awaiting the slavers to arrive so they could buy or pay their passage of the Rebels of the 45.

I would like to say that our Scot forefathers were good men and good to their slaves...

[Kelly d]

Re: Slavery

Because this topic is very close to my heart, I will furthur my mother's explanation by copying a bit of my own story here at ES.

Alexander Stewart was herded off the Gildart in July of 1747, bound with chains. Stewart was pushed onto the auction block in Wecomica, St Mary’s County, Maryland. Doctor Stewart and his brother William were attending the auction, aware of Alexander being on that slave ship coming from Liverpool England. Doctor Stewart and William were residents of Annapolis and brothers to David of Ballachalun in Montieth, Scotland. The two brothers paid nine pound six shillings sterling to Mr. Benedict Callvert of Annapolis for the purchase of Alexander. He was a slave. Alexander tells of the other 88 Scots sold into slavery that day in “THE LYON IN MOURNING” pages 242-243.

A Doctor David Munro from Scotland sent me this information back in 1996. I thought he had done it to prove who one of our ancestors were but it lit a fire in me to find out why white Scots were actually sold into slavery. The word 'indentured' is attached to many of my Scottish ancestors but never slavery until this accounting above.

[LuRose Williams]

Re: Slavery

http://www.raken.com/american_wealth...gistration.asp

Here is a link to wealthy plantation owners that I snapped from the net...I don't know if anyone would be interested in reading...

[LuRose Williams]

Re: Slavery

A very good oration and thank you....In my Geneology searching, I oftentimes run acorss Ochiltrees that have strange first name, I will go further and see their etnicity as Black and Slave...some records would state whether or not they were indentured. A lot of the refugees after Culloden were youngsters and the families sailing to America, one of the parents may have died or both parents...that child would go to another family.Or, a child may need an education, and be taken by a family of means and that would indicated Indenture until age 18 or schooling ended...

For the most part, the Patron of the plantation did well by his slaves. They all had housing, comfort, food, would have their right of religion. After the slaves were freed by law, they did not know what to do..some of them would have been three genrerations at one plantation. That was most of all their lives. I have several Scot ancestors that held slaves, simply because, the Indian Wars kept the plantation away protecting the neighborhoods, so the slaves would take care of all the crops..the southerners had no machines as the northern did, meaning all cotton and tobacco, etc had to be hand gathered...the slaves knew if they did their work properly, the massa would always be there to take care of their needs...

I can reflect back to the old movie of The North and The South, the slave overseer master was very cruel but they were mean because they were power hungry and beating the slaves gave them a high...

According to Lyon in Mourning by Dr. Forbes, the account after Culloden by Alexander Stewart, explains,,the exiled on the Gildart were mostly indentured to the wealty plantation owners of MD and VA...these were the rich men of Scotland that had come here at the 15...The govenors of Md and VA were at the wharf awaiting the slavers to arrive so they could buy or pay their passage of the Rebels of the 45.

I would like to say that our Scot forefathers were good men and good to their slaves...

As an afterthought, when our ggrandfather died, his will had one statement...:: He had been in the service of Capt MacClanachan of Britain in the war, and now at death he has been released from the indenture to Capt. MacClanachan. Of course, I have no way of proving the circumstances..I will continue to search.

[Rick]

Re: Slavery

Thanks Alastair, a worthy but complex line of inquiry. My first observation is that a comparison between slaves and clansmen may not be entirely appropriate inasmuch as slaves were at the material time considered as chattel property, like livestock, and not as human beings. Although the poor clansmen were indeed oft' oppressed, I don't believe their fundamental humanity was ever at issue. Thus, the better comparison might be how the Clan chiefs treated their horses and cattle as against how the American plantation owners treated their slave labour force.

As to how Scots viewed slaves and slavery, I found Neil Oliver's "History of Scotland" presentation of the famous Joseph Knight vs. John Wedderburn court case fascinating. Although this issue developed in Jamaica, there would have been little difference to practice in the U.S. at the time and the record shows the enlightened Wedderburn as oppressively paternalistic rather than wilfully or indifferently cruel. The series also discusses the tension between human values and economic imperatives that slavery represented at that time, as well as the role of Jacobite escapees like Wedderburn promoting the practice. The YouTube reproduction of the video series starts at

and continues in the next clips.

You could also probably find a good deal of information by reading President Andrew Jackson's views on slavery. His parents came from Scotland and he is widely referred to in the context of America's double-think on this part of its history.

It's a huge question you've taken on, and I wish you well. Thanks!

[miolchu]

Re: Slavery

Actually, if you read up on the history of Scotland in the timeframe of the Jacobite wars. A great many Scots were enslaved and transported to caribbean sugar plantations or to the American colonies. This was way beyond repression of rebellious highland clans or exploiting clansmen by greedy factors.

[Kelly d]

Re: Slavery

In many of my references which were left in the States in storage, the white indentured were sometimes called 'white trash' by other whites as well as blacks in the South.

I do know each slave was given food, clothing and medical care by their owner. Most were not allowed to be married while they served their indenture out. The indenture females who fell pregnant out of marriage were taken to court.

Here is an example of one of my ancestors:

Jeremiah Howell (son of Nancy Howell) was born ABT 17732934, and died 1824 in Lewis County, West Virginia2935. He married Mary Ann Warner on 1793 in Pendleton County, West Virginia2936, daughter of John Warner and Ann Walker.

Notes for Jeremiah Howell:
1787 Pendleton County, Virginia formed from Rockingham County.

June 23,1788 Rockingham County, Virginia court minute book states, "Ordered that Jeremiah Howell, a base born [illegitimate] child of Ann [Nancy] Johnson, late Howell, be bound to William Cowell by the Overseers of the Poor."

Rockingham came from Orange County which parent county was Chester PA.

Jeremiah and Mary's son John who married Annie Wilson died a pauper but Annie Wilson Howell left a legacy for her children. Therefore they had to have been separated for years. This is the Wilsons from Col. Ben Wilson who was the Ancestor of Woodrow Wilson.

Captain Stephen Ruddell (Riddle) from John Riddle who served in General Forbes Army was given large tracts of land from his military service in which he gave his children and sold to other settlers who went to Kentucky. He did have indentured whom was recorded in the Rockingham and Pendleton County court records. They were given 150 acres each upon release.

[1938 Observer]

Re: Slavery

Irish slaves in the Caribbean
James F. Cavanaugh - Clann Chief Herald


There are a great many K/Cavanaughs in North America who trace their ancestry back to a Charles Cavanaugh, who arrived in Virginia, with a brother or cousin named Philemon Cavanagh (Felim or Phelim), on or about 1700. Their descendants most often spell their name with a C, although a variety of both C and K spellings are found, even within the same immediate family. They were originally concentrated in the Southeastern United States, particularly Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, but now spread to everywhere. Although long standing family traditions trace Charles and Philemon of 1700 arrival back to Colonel Charles Cavanaugh of Carrickduff and Clonmullen, (the son of Sir Morgan Cavanagh, the son of Donnal Spanaigh Cavanagh), a recorded link still evades researchers.

Punishment was severe. If a plantation
owner beat an Irish slave to death, the
only penalty was the value of the slaves
financial loss.
Read on http://www.kavanaghfamily.com/articl...0030618jfc.htm

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Although many Caribbean islands were settled, it took labor to provide the sugar on which the islands' trade would develop. Slave labor was available, but it did not become widely used until later. Instead, indentured servants would come to the island, and when their term of service was up, they would be granted land.

Indentured Service
White servants came to the Caribbean before most of the African slaves, but they did not always arrive in numbers large enough to serve the needs of the sugar crop. Still, not all indentured servants were obtained legally. Some were "barbadosed," which is much like the modern phrase: being "shanghaied," and were kidnapped and brought to the Caribbean.

Each year indentured servants would arrive. Barbados, the first colony to capitalize in sugar, received many:
Much more http://caribbean-guide.info/past.and...sugar.slavery/

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White Slavery and Indentured Servitude in the Age of Imperialism, Part 1
History; Posted on: 2007-04-19 22:07:54 [ Printer friendly / Instant flyer ]

EXCLUSIVE TO WESTERN VOICES WORLD NEWS

Part One: Irish Slaves in the West Indies

Revisionism (n.): The radical deconstruction of established historical narratives by way of objective inquiry, which asserts a need for the re-contextualization of assumed ‘truth’.

Introduction

The aftermath of the recent devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina upon the predominantly Black city of New Orleans, Louisiana, followed by accusations of gross incompetence on the part of government agencies to adequately cope with it, has only further pried open the ever-widening floodgate of racial animosity which has long teemed beneath the surface of the American body politic. A recent speech delivered by Kamau Kambon, a prominent radical Black nationalist, which was aired live on a special program on C-SPAN entitled "Black Media Forum on Image of Black Americans in Mainstream Media" on October 14, 2005 provided a voice for this growing contempt for White America which has become commonplace within segments of the Black community and the radical Left. To the shock of many ordinary viewers, he explicitly called for the total extermination of all Whites as the only solution to the socio-economic problems faced by many Blacks. Although clearly an extremist among many of his peers, the basic historical notions and accompanying “perpetual victim-hood” narrative used by Kambon to justify this sentiment have actually become strongly rooted in popular culture and thus taken for granted over the last few generations.


More http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=396

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These are just a few references of many......I just used the Google search term....... 'white slaves in Caribbean'

[Kelly d]

Re: Slavery

Gordon,

Everything I have read about the poor Irish it really will make one tremble with fury. After the mass migration from the potato famine, many Irish families had make shift metal boxes to live outside the huge steel companies in Pennsylvania. They had absolutely nothing and barely earned enough to feed their families cabbage soup. During the Mexican American war, the Irish were sent into the swamps of Louisiana before the troops would go in.

[LuRose Williams]

Re: Slavery

I will refrain from posting pros and cons of the slavery issue. Alistair only asked :::
How were the exiled Scots treated by their Master.....This can be in any country the Scots were shipped to after the Clearances..He is only making a comparison.

[Alastair]

Re: Slavery

Actually it was more how Scottish slave owners treated their slaves. And that's any slaves be they black or white. I wanted to compare that with how Scots were treated at home in Scotland in roughly the same time period. What I hoped to find was some factual account or book of a Scottish slave owner and how he ran his plantation and how he treated his slaves in the process of running the plantation.

Alastair

[1938 Observer]

Re: Slavery

Actually it was more how Scottish slave owners treated their slaves. And that's any slaves be they black or white. I wanted to compare that with how Scots were treated at home in Scotland in roughly the same time period. What I hoped to find was some factual account or book of a Scottish slave owner and how he ran his plantation and how he treated his slaves in the process of running the plantation.

Alastair

This may be a start to the quest,??? [I'm still searching for more references].

************************************

A nation’s shame: leading historian says sorry for failing to confront Scots’ role in slave trade


Herald,Scotland. Published on 21 Mar 2010

The nation’s leading historian has apologised for failing to focus on the shameful connections between Scotland and the slave trade, and accused the country of collectively shying away from facing up its own involvement with slavery for too long.

Professor Tom Devine made the “mea culpa” and spoke out about Scotland’s connections to slavery in the final lecture of his 40-year career at Edinburgh University
His controversial thesis, Did Slavery Make Scotland Great?, suggested Scotland has focused too much on its own “colonisation” by England during the Highland Clearances and confronts the role of Scots in one of the darkest episodes of world history
Professor Devine argued that there was a close relationship between the Scottish economic transformation of the 18th century and slave plantations that were owned and run by Scottish masters
His lecturer was made at a conference entitled “The transatlantic slave trade and plantation slavery in the Americas: Exploring Scottish connections”, jointly organised by Professor Frank Cogliano of Edinburgh University and Professor Simon Newman of Glasgow University, and attended by a cadre of internationally renowned historians.

The acclaimed historian added: “If you look at the telephone directory for Jamaica it’s stuffed full of Scottish names. These are people who have taken their names from their Scottish masters.

“The jewel in the crown in the Caribbean was Jamaica, which was the single richest colony in the British Empire during the 18th century. We know that and we have evidence that the Scots were the dominating force in Jamaica.

“Their owners didn’t want to live in this lethal environment so they were absentees. A lot of young Scots went out there, including one Robert Burns, who was about to go out to a post in Port Antonio in Jamaica in 1786 when he made his money with his poetry.”

Scottish academics have always skirted round the issue of Scottish slavery because it was mainly thought that the nation had not been involved. Professor Devine expressed regret in the lecture that in earlier studies he had also failed to realise the impact slavery had on the nation and omitted references to Scottish slavery in his past work.

Professor Devine apologised for his actions, saying: “There were a couple of references in the index to slavery [The Tobacco Lords: A study of the Tobacco Merchants of Glasgow and their Trading Activities c. 1740-90, which was published in 1975] but none of them raised the issues I’m now trying to raise. So as I said at the lecture in Edinburgh, ‘Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa’ - which means in the Latin tradition, my apologies, my very great apologies.”

His latest research shows thousands of slaves were involved in the trade from Scottish ports such as Greenock, Port Glasgow, Glasgow, Montrose and Leith.

Although not hugely involved in the actual “hands-on” side of the slave trade, Scotland played a considerable role in financing slave economies in North America and the Caribbean.

He said: “We know that there were only 4500 to 5000 slaves traded directly from Scottish ports and that’s from over four million in the British Empire. So the Scots didn’t play a significant role directly in the trading of slaves.

“But the theory I’m advancing is that they did have an enormous role in the plantation economies of North America and the Caribbean, which could not have existed but for slavery.

“There were two million slaves in the British Empire by the 1800s and 80% of them were based in the Caribbean, where sugar plantations were the main industry. Much of Glasgow was built on the money earned by the city’s tobacco barons – such as Lord John Glassford, after whom Glassford Street is named – who were involved in the slave trade.”

In the 19th century, Scots prided themselves that they had not been associated with the trade which they saw as centred on cities such as Bristol, London and Liverpool. They also had huge pride that they were in the vanguard of the anti-slavery movement.

In the 20th century, there was a rise of nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s and Professor Devine believes Scots became more interested in their own past, celebrating being victims of colonisation, and chose to forget their own links with slavery.

Professor Devine said Scotland should be able to admit to its relationship with slavery and accept it. He added: “If we are a mature democracy we should be able to take it on the chin. Every society’s history is light and shade, and a mature democracy faces its past, warts and all.”
http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile...rade-1.1014869

[1938 Observer]

Re: Slavery

Here is an article from "The Barbados Free Press" July 8, 2009

Scottish Sugar Slaves In Barbados vs. African Slave Trade: Do Mr. & Mrs. Bourne Want To Forget or Remember?


The full article is at........

http://barbadosfreepress.wordpress.c...t-or-remember/

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Barbados and Scotland Links 1627-1877

David Dobson
This book by David Dobson tackles the subject of Scottish emigration to the island of Barbados. Drawing upon a wide range of manuscript and published sources originating in Barbados, Scotland, England, the Netherlands and the U.S., the author here identifies about 2,500 Scots or their progeny who made their way to Barbados. Most of these emigrants left Scotland in the 17th and 18th centuries. Since vital records comprise a large number of the sources for this book, the researcher will find that most Scots are identified by name, date/place of birth, baptism, marriage, or death; name of spouse or parents; and sometimes occupation, reason for transportation, ship, religious or political persuasion, miscellaneous pieces of information, and the source.
http://www.genealogical.com/products...1877/9863.html

[1938 Observer]

Re: Slavery

Black History Month, Ayrshire Archives

"To mark Black History Month, Ayrshire Archives began research in October 2003, into the history of Afro-Caribbean people who were in some way linked with Ayrshire during the 18th and 19th centuries.

By focusing on the evidence from the archives we hope to encourage others to come forward with their research on the subject and to inspire future investigations into our multi-cultural past and present."


This site is well worth examining, it contains many reports and letters, also Scottish owned plantations

http://www.ayrshirearchives.org.uk/e...hist/index.htm