Dale,
It's not necessarily a myth. I also don't think that it was as high as 90%
that former slaves took a different surname. From my own research, I can
give you quite a few examples where they did use their slaveowners surname,
with just as many cases where they didn't. In many cases a slave took more
than one surname before finally deciding which ones they were going to keep
and you can find them listed in various records under either of those names.
Some slaves also may have taken the surname of a previous slaveowner, or one
that they were particularly fond of for one reason or another. And then
there slaves who already had surnames while enslaved, and they kept those
names after being emancipated.
Deloris Williams
----- Original Message -----
From: "D M Crawford" <dalemcrawford(a)comcast.net>
To: <carter(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 6:17 PM
Subject: Re: [CARTER] Just a thought
It is a myth that most slaves took the names of their former owners.
90%
of
slaves took another name. See Elsdon, American Names.
Dale M Crawford