Slave names

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Dec 11, 2007 3:23 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>
> At 12/11/2007 12:50 PM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
> >He also points out that
> >classical names such as Cato, Hector, and Pompey were also given to
> >mules and cows (as shown in probate records), so irony no doubt played
> >a role.
>
> Now that *is* new to me.  I have not come across any writer on the
> colonial period mentioning that animals were named in probate records.

Well, antebellum if not colonial. Puckett was looking at Mississippi
probate records from 1858.


--Ben Zimmer

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