Sunday, May 16, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Seasar Olny

Seasar Olny, 1747, Providence, RI
In
Memory of
SEASAR Son
of Ame Olny Negro
Decd Nour. ye 5
1747 Aged 15
years & 10 Months

I have only seen a handful of children's gravestones that name a mother, but no father. All of these are the gravestones of slaves. Slavery often separated enslaved fathers from their children through death, sale, or the inability to establish recognized households and marriages. Perhaps that is what happened to Seasar's father. It is also possible that Seasar's father was a white man (a slaveowner?) and thus unacknowledgeable.

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