Slave Name Roll: Littleton Mapp – Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia

Slave Name Roll:  Littleton Mapp – Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia

I’ve always thought about the slaves as I read my ancestors wills; how will they be found by their descendants? Now with the creation of “Slave Name Roll Project” by Schalene Jennings Dagutis of Tangled Roots and Trees   we will be able to, hopefully, reunite the slave names with their descendants searching for them. I know what I have gone through in searching for my ancestors, but it’s twice as hard for anyone looking for slave ancestors.

The ball began rolling first with Cathy Meder-Dempsey with her posts for Black History Month – it rolled along to Schalene Jennings Dagutis (see above) who organized the Slave Name Roll Project on her blog. And I can’t forget to mention True A. Lewis’s quote on the slave project – “It’s  Honorable to do…You’re  RELEASING their Names and their Souls for their Descendants to hopefully find them one day. Every time this Happens they are Rejoicing. They have been in a book or what have you for so long… True A. Lewis.

I am  happy to be giving something back to my fellow genealogists. By all working together – we can make it work and preserve our history – no matter who our ancestors were.  I am proud to be a contributor to this project!

Littleton Mapp, my fifth great grandfather, was born 1737 in Northampton County, Virginia and died 15 December 1804 in Hancock County, Georgia. His will was prepared on 20 January 1803 and proved on 15 December 1804.

This story is not about Littleton Mapp – it is about what was in his will. What he left behind to children – his possessions. And yes, he left slaves designated as such possessions to his descendants.

I was born and raised in the South and I’m proud to be a Southerner. But unfortunately, no matter what my ancestors did to your ancestors, it doesn’t make me the same person. If we could go back in time and talk to them – what would they say? I’m sure there were bad and good slave holders, but I can’t begin to imagine the pain they lived through with the separation of their families and having no control of where they lived and with whom.

I have researched my family for over twenty years and have been able to do so through land records, census, family stories and wills – my fellow African-American genealogists have not had it so easy. But being a genealogist, we are all on the same page and working toward the same goal – to find our ancestors.

Littlton Mapp Will: Proved 15 December 1804 – Hancock, Co., Georgia

It was Littleton’s second wife, Mary (Foster) who was named in his will – along with several slaves he designated to her and his children.

Littleton’s route to end up in Greene and Hancock County came by way of Granville County, North Carolina, where he lived in 1774/75 and Spartanburg,  South Carolina where he served in the militia, in 1782. It was from Spartanburg Co., S.C.  that he moved to Greene Co. in 1792, and in 1793, Hancock County was created and his land put into it, causing him to then live in Hancock County.

It was first in Greene County where Littleton purchased 300 acres; his will designated it as a plantation – but what did he grow there – as twenty slaves were listed in his will. My curiosity is peeked as to why so many were needed in the running of this plantation; I will do more research to determine what was grown on this plantation and maybe more information on the slaves will be found.

To his wife, Mary, he left this plantation along with Negroes, James, Jill, Dick, Bristol, Will, Tawny, Jack, (bought from estate of William Mapp, his son – deceased), Randal, Tom, Ransom, Lucy, Jinny, Big James, Hannah, Violet, Fanny, Lillie, Tamer, Sarah and Doll. So it seems, if they were all left to her, this plantation was still operable and running at the time of his death.

After her death, or remarriage, the property was to be disposed as follows:

To son James, the Mapp land and three Negroes, Tom, Jack and Doll. James also received a feather bed, corner cupboard, walnut oval table, 6 chairs, chest, looking glass, saddle and bridal and a foal… It seems James was the favorite to receive all these prized possessions.

If son James died without lawful issue, then the plantation was to be given to son Jeremiah along with the balance of his portion to be equally divided among his sons and daughters.

To his daughter Nancy Mapp, Negroes Jack and Sarah, a bed, and a colt named Mark. If she died without issue, they were to be divided among the rest of his children.

To his beloved daughter Elizabeth Smith a Negro girl Fanny.

To his daughter Polly Smith a Negro named Bristol.

To daughter Susannah Asten, a Negro girl Young Tamer.

To daughter Sarah Jackson, a Negro woman Violet.

After the death or remarriage of his wife Mary, Negroes not already willed, were to be equally divided among his son’s John, Littleton and Robert Howson Mapp with stock.

Littleton Mapp’s will is recorded in the Hancock County courthouse; land was originally bought in Greene County, but moved into Hancock when it was formed.

William Mapp, Littleton Mapp’s son, died single with no issue; his will gave to the care of his father and brother Howsin Mapp $2000 – in hands of Julius Alford and Robertus Love. (were they lawyers handling a sale?) When Negroes are sold, money to be distributed among my brothers and sisters; my brother Howsan to have $50 for his trouble. To my loving brother Jeremiah a Negro named Sam for ten years and then to be set free.

William never married – a bill of sale was found to an Isaac Bush of Edgefield County, South Carolina for a Negro girl named jenny.

William Mapp’s inventory (10 September 1799) of slaves were – Negroes Hannah and child Patt, Sybba and child Cornelius, George, Jack, Sophia, Isaac, and Sambo for ten years.  Receipts were returned by Robert H. Mapp, executor 6 November 1809.

Mary Polly Mapp (daughter) born circa 1759, Northampton Co., Va, married circa 1777, Granville Co., N.C. to John Smith. They also moved to Greene Co, with her father as John Smith bought land on Shoulderbone Creek and bought Negroes from Charles Burk in 1796. He bought Molinda and Siller.

In 1790 William Mapp (son) of Hancock Co, Ga. bought Negroes from John Smith of Greene Co., Ga., Rebecca, Febe and Sarah, 17.

Elizabeth Mapp (daughter) born circa 1757/65, married Reuben Smith, circa 1775 in Granville co., N.C.; another daughter, who was already married, and moved along with the parents.  From the will of husband Reuben Smith, his will of 1833 designates that his eight children are to keep the Negroes given them. To wife Elizabeth Mapp Smith, I give her the land we now live and Negroes, Humphra, Elijah, George, Caroline, Rhoda, and her children, a wheel carriage, a gig, two good carriages, horses, livestock, household and kitchen furniture.

Samuel Mapp, born Northampton Co, VA. circa 1698, d. 1744 (uncle of Littleton Mapp) Samuel made a will on 22 September 1743 at Northampton Co, VA. To my son Robins (under age 18) my 150 acre plantation, but if none of my sons have issue then to Littleton Mapp, son of my brother Howson Mapp. To son Robins Negro man Daniel and Negro woman Pegg and her child Rachel. To my son John and daughter Esther and the child my wife goes with Negro Peter and Phillis when Esther is age 18. (I had a hard time deciphering this sentence, so wrote it as it was) To loving wife (no name) Negro man Leverpool.

This was my contribution in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors Challenge 2015: Week 9 – Close to Home. A challenge she began in 2014 – to write once a week about a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, a research problem — any that focuses on that one ancestor. I completed Amy’s challenge in its entirety last year, but this year I continue on a monthly level.

Amy Johnson Crow

For more information on the Mapp family – please check out my story I wrote for the 52 Ancestor 52 Week 2014 challenge.