{"id":44964,"date":"2016-01-05T00:21:12","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T00:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=44964"},"modified":"2016-01-05T00:28:17","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T00:28:17","slug":"my-ancestors-name-and-race-changed-in-census-records-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=44964","title":{"rendered":"My Ancestor\u2019s Name and Race Changed in Census Records. Why?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Ancestor\u2019s Name and Race Changed in Census Records. Why?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Root<\/a>
\n2016-01-01<\/p>\n

Henry Louis Gates Jr.<\/strong><\/a>, Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. University Professor; Director, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research
\nHarvard University<\/em><\/p>\n

Anna L. Todd<\/strong><\/a>, Researcher
\nNew England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), Boston, Massachusetts<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n1860 U.S. census for Hardy County, Va.<\/a><\/em>
\nU.S. census<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n

Tracing Your Roots: Antebellum<\/a> records raise questions about the racial identity and legal status of West Virginia<\/a> forebears.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Professor Gates:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently discovered that I have an ancestor listed as \u201cmulatto<\/a>\u201d on the 1850 and 1860 census records. Her name is Amelia \u201cMillie\/Milly\u201d A. Moreland, born in 1818 in Virginia<\/a>. She is listed as living with William White Mullin and three children, Richard Winfield Scott Moreland, Anna R.C. Moreland and Mary J.V. Moreland\u2014all children also listed as \u201cmulatto.\u201d By the 1900 census, son Richard changed his surname to Mullin (he was still listed as Moreland\/Mooreland on the 1880 census) and was listed as \u201cwhite.\u201d He is my fourth-great-grandfather. They were located in Hardy County, Va.<\/a> (now in West Virginia<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n

These census records are all I can find. I can\u2019t find anything on Milly except her birth year and place, and I\u2019m not sure if she was free or a slave. Can you help me find out more about her, please? \u2014Amber Simmons<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It just so happens that three sets of Professor Gates\u2019 fourth-great-grandparents (all free Negroes) lived in Hardy County, Va. (now West Virginia), in the 18th and 19th centuries. In fact, many of their descendants continued to live there; in fact, Professor Gates was born in Keyser, W.Va.<\/a>, which is 36 miles from Moorefield<\/a>, Hardy County\u2019s county seat! So he knows this area very, very well, and finds your question especially intriguing because of this personal connection.<\/p>\n

What does a \u201cmulatto<\/a>\u201d designation mean in the census?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with a surprising fact about racial designations and census takers: The status of a person listed in the federal census (black, white or mulatto) was ultimately the personal interpretation of the census taker, based on assumptions made regarding skin color and other aspects of an individual\u2019s appearance, regardless of what the occupant of the home told her or him. Therefore, one can\u2019t necessarily infer parentage, complexion, or much else based on that designation in a census record. However, in this case, it\u2019s an indication that a local person was making a declaration of mixed-race ancestry (either recent or older) in your relative\u2019s family tree…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Ancestor\u2019s Name and Race Changed in Census Records. Why? The Root 2016-01-01 Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. University Professor; Director, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research Harvard University Anna L. Todd, Researcher New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), Boston, Massachusetts 1860 U.S. census for Hardy County, Va. U.S. census Tracing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,33,459,8,20,693],"tags":[22549,22547,22548,2935,3234,3040],"class_list":["post-44964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-census","category-history","category-media-archive","category-usa","category-virginia","tag-amber-simmons","tag-anna-l-todd","tag-anna-todd","tag-henry-louis-gates-jr","tag-the-root","tag-west-virginia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44964"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44966,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44964\/revisions\/44966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}