49° THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



males of sixteen and upward, including heads of families; free white 

 males under sixteen; free white females who are heads of families; all 

 other free persons; and slaves. In the lists of names, the free negroes 

 and mulattoes are always distinguished from white persons. There- 

 fore in studying this census it is a simple matter to ascertain the num- 

 ber of free negro slaveholders reported and the number of their slaves. 



In this census we find that there were in Maryland in 1790 forty- 

 eight free negro slaveholders, owning one hundred and forty-three 

 slaves. It is probable that the number of slaves was somewhat larger, 

 since in several instances the figures in the slave column are illegible in 

 the original manuscripts of the census; in the printed volume these 

 illegible figures are marked as such by a star; when a star is found in 

 a column set apart for slaves, this must mean that there was at least 

 one slave held by the person whose name is opposite the star; we have 

 in such cases counted one slave. In passing, it is curious to note that 

 in this first census we find in Charles County, Md., in 1790, one Eleanor 

 Linkin, mulatto, had in her household three free persons and two slaves ; 

 if this Eleanor were not dated 1790, or some other early year, she would 

 certainly have been thought one of the many namesakes of the great 

 emancipator. 



The " List of the Taxpayers of the City of Charleston, S. C, 1860," 

 names one hundred and thirty-two colored people who paid taxes on 

 three hundred and ninety slaves in Charleston. In this class were 

 included eleven Indian families who had consorted with the negroes. 

 In or near Charleston " free colored people," as they were there known, 

 were generally of mixed blood, sometimes of Caucasian and African 

 and sometimes of Caucasian and Indian. They obtained slaves by 

 inheritance, by gift and by purchase. Some of these slaveholders were 

 children of rich planters; they were not considered illegitimate or 

 slaves, but as children and were educated and bore the name of the 

 father. Upon the death of the father, these children would come into 

 possession of his estate, including slaves. 



There was a rich planter in Charleston named Fowler who took a 

 woman of African descent and established her in his home. It is not 

 recorded whether or not he married her, but be had no other family. 

 There was a daughter born, who was called Isabella; the planter in- 

 sisted that she should be known as Miss Fowler. She grew to woman- 

 hood and was married to Eichard De Reef, a young man of Caucasian 

 Indian blood. Her father gave her a wedding gift of a plantation and 

 enough slaves to work it. At emancipation Mrs. De Reef had forty 

 slaves liberated. In Charleston in 1846 there was a free woman of 

 color whose father had been her master and who manumitted all of his 

 children. She bought a slave for several hundreds of dollars; she was 

 satisfied with her bargain and in a short time they were married. 



