Sole Use and Benefit

In today’s world, it is unfathomable that people would think of others as for their “sole use and benefit.” But they did. Over and over again. Take Milly for example. In 1827 she was a slave in South Carolina, owned by the Terry family. When she died, she was held in a trust for Nancy Terry. For Nancy’s “sole use and benefit.” As per the law, Nancy could look at Milly and say, “I own you,” and the law would be on her side.

Not all white people owned slaves, and as it neared 1860, the children and grandchildren of slave owners, grew increasingly opposed to slavery. The Civil War was the beginning of the end of slavery.

Suellen Ocean is the author of the Civil War Era Historic Romance, Black Pansy:

Low Class? Not In My Book

There was a time in history when European atrocities toward the Indians were at an all-time high. The horror stories are similar to those of the Inquisition. So bad are these stories, people do not like to hear them, and few history books go into detail. Even though these cruelties were perpetuated by Spanish, English and French colonists (to name a few) there were those of those ethnicities who were in close contact with the Indians and intermarried. To other Europeans who wore uniforms and fought various battles in America and who were landed gentlemen, having an Indian wife was considered, low class. Today, millions of people of European heritage, brag about having Native ancestry. We cannot go back in time and aid them during their trails of tears, nor can we always find them in our family trees, but that does not lessen our respect or deep emotion toward their memory.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees:

Native American Genealogy… Keeping Up with the Joneses

Nothing can be more frustrating than trying to conduct research on an ancestor who has a common surname like Smith, or Jones. Unless of course your ancestor has the same name as a celebrity who saturates the google searches. Or you’re trying to determine which of your ancestors is the Native American that gave rise to your “Native American ancestry.” Searching for Native ancestry is hard. Many people just give up and those of us who have had the same frustrations, completely understand. Let me give you one bit of encouragement: Jones is a common Native American and Alaska Native name.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees:

In 1854 South Carolina, Rebecca’s Marriage Was Miserable and Terrifying

Rebecca’s husband Walter was a bad man. Even the jury said so. They found him an accessory to the murder of a slave named Peter, who came to his death by violence. Rebecca sought the court’s approval to live apart from Walter. He is “abusive… cruel… and has made her life a constant scene of misery and distress.” And if Rebecca believed that Walter murdered Peter, it must have terrified her that her husband charged her with “having illicit intercourse with different white men in the neighborhood” and “also with his own slaves.” Rebecca alerted the court that Walter was in hiding and had plans to flee the state, taking his property with him.

Suellen Ocean is the author of the Civil War Era Historic Romance, Black Pansy:

Living Among the Indians

Many of us can only speculate how a family line of British surnames, has Native American oral history. It is very frustrating. History shows that in the 1700s, when the Hudson Bay Company concluded that Montreal was fiercely competing with them, the HBC sent traders to winter with the Indians. The Indians must have been very friendly, and we know the fur trade was lucrative for Europeans. These situations, (living in the woods, in the winter, with the Indians) give us more opportunity to speculate. There were lots of marriages between the Europeans and Natives and lots of births out of wedlock. Finding them is never easy.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees:

“Barren… Inefficient and Troublesome”

When Olive was a sixteen-year-old slave, her owners, Thomas and Mary, had her held in trust with someone else for Mary’s benefit later and for the benefit of Mary’s future children. When Mary decided it was time to benefit from her, it appears that Mary found Olive “barren,” “inefficient,” and “troublesome.” The court records show that Olive had a son, so I do not know why they called her barren and find it horrifying. Because Olive was female, they wanted her as a house servant and cook. Word of Olive’s “troublesome” behavior led Mary to petition the court to sell Olive and buy other slaves, especially a female who  “answers their purpose satisfactorily.”

Suellen Ocean is the author of the Civil War Era Historic Romance, Black Pansy:

Why Did the Indians Rescue Him?

In the 1700s, Ezekiel Solomon was held prisoner in Michigan by the British. His name sounds Jewish but that’s another genealogical branch to explore on another day. Ezekiel was rescued by the Ottawa. He had a son who was “Metis” who married a “Metis.” Before you think that he was favored by the Ottawa and that’s why they rescued him, think again. They took him to Quebec where he was ransomed.

America was and always will be a melting pot. Ezekiel Solomon was from Berlin. He had a Native American child who married a Metis whose surname sounds British. Here it is, three-hundred years later, and these people’s descendants can spit in a tube and find out the various ethnic groups that make up their DNA.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees:

Slavery… Charles Loved His Wife. He Fought to Stay

Emily’s mother lived in South Carolina and owned thirty-two slaves. When she died, she left them in her will to her three daughters. Emily inherited a man named Charles and moved to Georgia, taking him with her. Charles was distraught. He had a wife who was owned by someone in South Carolina. Charles, being “very unwilling to be separated from her,” became “discontented” and “unruly” and ran away. Emily, therefore believed that Charles would continue to “give them much trouble if kept by them.” She authorized her trustee to sell Charles for $1,200 and requested the court’s confirmation of the sale. It is not known whether Charles ever saw his wife again.

Suellen Ocean is the author of the Civil War Era Historic Romance, Black Pansy:

One Bushel of Corn and Two Pounds of Fat Per Month

If you worked for Jean Baptiste in the 1700s, your annual pay would be one-hundred pounds of beaver skin. But that is not all. The Wisconsin winters were cold. Calorie consumption was huge, so also included in your salary would have been, one bushel of corn and two pounds of fat. Every month. To obtain the skins, Baptiste took his men into remote Indian land. So remote, the Indians had not seen traders for a very long time. These Natives, the Ojibwa were more self-sufficient. Both French and English traders were active in this area known as La Pointe, Wisconsin.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees:

Not Happily Married in Charleston, South Carolina 1849

Mary Rivers’ husband John was a jealous, delusional man. They’d only been married a month when he threatened her with a knife. On another instance, he insisted that she was having “criminal intercourse” with a slave. Being so angered at his belief in his wife’s infidelities, he went outside for an ax, with which he intended to take her life. It appears that his violent outbursts were fueled by his over-consumption of alcohol. After enduring enough of his fits of rage, she moved out.

After removing herself from the situation, Mary faced other problems. How would she support herself and her child? Mary sought the court’s relief for her husband to, “make suitable and permanent provision” for her. Also requested is the wish for her husband to provide for her “comfortable maintenance.” Court records state that she came into the marriage with five slaves and that her husband owned five slaves. There is no mention of whether Mr. or Mrs. Rivers sought the “comfortable maintenance” of the people they claimed to own.

Suellen Ocean is the author of the Civil War Era Historic Romance, Black Pansy: