Despite the relative scarcity of the Buggy name I have increasingly found it in many parts of the world. Along with the US state of Georgia, one of the more surprising places is in the names of slaves in Jamaica and Mauritius. Slaves were usually given names that reflected who owned them or the type of work that they were forced to do.
The entries for Jamaica and Mauritius below are taken from the Slave Registers of the former British Colonial Dependencies 1812-1834.[1] In 1819 the Office for the Registry of Colonial Slaves was established in London. Copies of slave registers had to be sent to the office with registration usually carried out every three years.[2] They continued until 1834 when slavery was abolished in most of the British Empire.
Jamaica
Name Gender Born Owner Nationality Buggy Hamilton Male abt 1772 Mary Hamilton Not listed Buggy Allen Male abt 1784 John Blyth African Buggy Male abt 1787 Not listed African Buggy alias Mary Steele Female abt 1815 John Thompson Creole Santibas Buggy Female abt 1818 Bernard Martin Creole
Mauritius
Mauritius is an island in the Indian Ocean and was originally settled by the Dutch. They abandoned the island in the early 18th century and it was taken over by the French, followed by the British in the early 19th century. Slaves were brought to Mauritius to work the sugar plantations on the island and mostly came from countries on the eastern coast of Africa.[3]
Name Gender Born Owner Phaeton Buggy Male abt 1787 William Aiken/Lasauche & Amp Co.
1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule[4]
Separate slave schedules were carried out during the 1850 and 1860 US Federal Censuses. Seven individuals are listed in this schedule from 1860. All are from the state of Georgia.
Name Age Gender Born Occupation Caddy Buggy 65 Female abt 1805 Erwin Buggy 30 Male abt 1840 Farm Labourer Lizzie Buggy 25 Female abt 1845 Keeping House Ella Buggy 13 Female abt 1857 Nurse Clifford Buggy 10 Male abt 1860 Richard Buggy 8 Male abt 1862 Allice Buggy 8mts Female abt 1869
[1] Ancestry.com. Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Office of Registry of Colonial Slaves and Slave Compensation Commission: Records; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication T71); Records created and inherited by HM Treasury; The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England.
[2]
http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Office_for_Registry_of_Colonial_Slaves
Accessed 23 August 2010.
[3]
http://www.mauritiuspost.mu/museum/fdc/other.php?id=55
Accessed 23 August 2010
[4] Ancestry.com. 1860 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1860. M653, 1,438 rolls.
