What’s In A Name?

African American genealogy is a challenge. One of the many brick walls I’ve faced is surnames. Most enslaved individuals were denied an official surname prior to emancipation. To make matters worse, there was not a particular method of choosing a surname once they were freed. Sometimes surnames of former slave holders were chosen. In other cases surnames were assigned to them by government agencies. Members of the same family were often enslaved by different owners and labeled with that enslaver’s surnames. If the husband and wife had been on different plantations, the husband would sometimes assume the last name of his wife. These names were often changed in later years.  

One example of this in my family is the Ferrell/Brumley names. My 2x-great grandmother, her mother, and siblings were owned by James  “Ansel” Ferrell. The family was listed as Ferrells in the 1870 census. My 2x great grandmother kept the name until her marriage to in 1877.  Her mother also kept the Ferrell name until she married in 1876. By 1880, my 2x-great grandmother’s siblings had changed their surname to Bromery or Brumley.  

Another reason for surname confusion is the dialect of the time. The newly emancipated had no education so pronunciation of their last names was difficult and spelling was impossible. The name Limbrick was pronounced and spelled in several different ways: Limbrie, Limerick, Lembrick, Limrick (to name a few). 

My paternal 3x-great grandmother might be my biggest surname challenge. Her first name was Cintha, or Sintha, or Cynthia. Her maiden name was sometimes recorded as “Heirlough” and at other times as “Furlough”. Could it have been a mispronunciation or misspelling of the name “Furlow”? I have found some DNA connections to the Furlow family who orginated in Georgia and Mississippi and later settled in Louisiana.