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Thank you for the article , good info . Am sure some of my Jay and
Coffey lines came over as convict /slave .just so little proof.. Dixie
Jay
On Friday 26/12/2014 at 2:14 pm, Timothy Stowell via wrote:
> In my tree and the tree of many of the Coffeys descended from the
> immigrant
> who came to the Isle of Wight, Virginia, in the 1600s, listed as an
> indentured servant may have in fact been a white slave:
>
> IRISH: THE FORGOTTEN WHITE SLAVES
>
> They came as slaves: human cargo transported on British ships bound
> for the
> Americas. They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included
> men,
> women, and even the youngest of children.
>
> Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished
> in
> the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by
> their
> hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment.
> Some
> were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the
> marketplace as
> a warning to other captives.
>
> We don’t really need to go through all of the gory details, do we?
> We know
> all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade.
>
> But are we talking about African slavery? King James VI and Charles I
> also
> led a continued effort to enslave the Irish. Britain’s Oliver
> Cromwell
> furthered this practice of dehumanizing one’s next door neighbour.
>
> The Irish slave trade began when James VI sold 30,000 Irish prisoners
> as
> slaves to the New World. His Proclamation of 1625 required Irish
> political
> prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West
> Indies.
>
> By the mid 1600s, the Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and
> Montserrat. At that time, 70% of the total population of Montserrat
> were
> Irish slaves.
>
> Ireland quickly became the biggest source of human livestock for
> English
> merchants. The majority of the early slaves to the New World were
> actually
> white.
>
> From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and
> another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland’s population fell from
> about
> 1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade.
>
> Families were ripped apart as the British did not allow Irish dads to
> take
> their wives and children with them across the Atlantic. This led to a
> helpless population of homeless women and children. Britain’s
> solution was
> to auction them off as well.
>
> During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10
> and 14
> were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies,
> Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women
> and
> children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia.
>
> Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to
> the
> highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be
> taken
> to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.
>
> Many people today will avoid calling the Irish slaves what they truly
> were:
> Slaves. They’ll come up with terms like “Indentured Servants” to
> describe
> what occurred to the Irish. However, in most cases from the 17th and
> 18th
> centuries, Irish slaves were nothing more than human cattle.
>
> As an example, the African slave trade was just beginning during this
> same
> period. It is well recorded that African slaves, not tainted with the
> stain
> of the hated Catholic theology and more expensive to purchase, were
> often
> treated far better than their Irish counterparts.
>
> African slaves were very expensive during the late 1600s (£50
> Sterling).
> Irish slaves came cheap (no more than £5 Sterling). If a planter
> whipped,
> branded or beat an Irish slave to death, it was never a crime. A death
> was
> a monetary setback, but far cheaper than killing a more expensive
> African.
>
> The English masters quickly began breeding the Irish women for both
> their
> own personal pleasure and for greater profit. Children of slaves were
> themselves slaves, which increased the size of the master’s free
> workforce.
>
> Even if an Irish woman somehow obtained her freedom, her kids would
> remain
> slaves of her master. Thus, Irish mothers, even with this new found
> emancipation, would seldom abandon their children and would remain in
> servitude.
>
> In time, the English thought of a better way to use these women to
> increase
> their market share: The settlers began to breed Irish women and girls
> (many
> as young as 12) with African men to produce slaves with a distinct
> complexion. These new “mulatto” slaves brought a higher price than
> Irish
> livestock and, likewise, enabled the settlers to save money rather
> than
> purchase new African slaves.
>
> This practice of interbreeding Irish females with African men went on
> for
> several decades and was so widespread that, in 1681, legislation was
> passed
> “forbidding the practice of mating Irish slave women to African
> slave men
> for the purpose of producing slaves for sale.” In short, it was
> stopped
> only because it interfered with the profits of a large slave transport
> company.
>
> England continued to ship tens of thousands of Irish slaves for more
> than a
> century. Records state that, after the 1798 Irish Rebellion, thousands
> of
> Irish slaves were sold to both America and Australia. There were
> horrible
> abuses of both African and Irish captives. One British ship even
> dumped
> 1,302 slaves into the Atlantic Ocean so that the crew would have
> plenty of
> food to eat.
>
> There is little question the Irish experienced the horrors of slavery
> as
> much (if not more, in the 17th Century) as the Africans did. There is
> also
> little question that those brown, tanned faces you witness in your
> travels
> to the West Indies are very likely a combination of African and Irish
> ancestry.
>
> In 1839, Britain finally decided on it’s own to end its
> participation in
> Satan’s highway to hell and stopped transporting slaves. While their
> decision did not stop pirates from doing what they desired, the new
> law
> slowly concluded this chapter of Irish misery.
>
> But, if anyone, black or white, believes that slavery was only an
> African
> experience, then they’ve got it completely wrong. Irish slavery is a
> subject worth remembering, not erasing from our memories.
>
> But, why is it so seldom discussed? Do the memories of hundreds of
> thousands of Irish victims not merit more than a mention from an
> unknown
> writer?
>
> Or is their story to be the one that their English masters intended:
> To
> completely disappear as if it never happened.
>
> None of the Irish victims ever made it back to their homeland to
> describe
> their ordeal. These are the lost slaves; the ones that time and biased
> history books conveniently forgot.
>
> Tim Stowell
>
> -------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
> COFFEY-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the
> quotes in the subject and the body of the message
In my tree and the tree of many of the Coffeys descended from the immigrant
who came to the Isle of Wight, Virginia, in the 1600s, listed as an
indentured servant may have in fact been a white slave:
IRISH: THE FORGOTTEN WHITE SLAVES
They came as slaves: human cargo transported on British ships bound for the
Americas. They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included men,
women, and even the youngest of children.
Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in
the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their
hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. Some
were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as
a warning to other captives.
We don’t really need to go through all of the gory details, do we? We know
all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade.
But are we talking about African slavery? King James VI and Charles I also
led a continued effort to enslave the Irish. Britain’s Oliver Cromwell
furthered this practice of dehumanizing one’s next door neighbour.
The Irish slave trade began when James VI sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as
slaves to the New World. His Proclamation of 1625 required Irish political
prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies.
By the mid 1600s, the Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and
Montserrat. At that time, 70% of the total population of Montserrat were
Irish slaves.
Ireland quickly became the biggest source of human livestock for English
merchants. The majority of the early slaves to the New World were actually
white.
>From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and
another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland’s population fell from about
1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade.
Families were ripped apart as the British did not allow Irish dads to take
their wives and children with them across the Atlantic. This led to a
helpless population of homeless women and children. Britain’s solution was
to auction them off as well.
During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14
were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies,
Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and
children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia.
Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the
highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken
to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.
Many people today will avoid calling the Irish slaves what they truly were:
Slaves. They’ll come up with terms like “Indentured Servants” to describe
what occurred to the Irish. However, in most cases from the 17th and 18th
centuries, Irish slaves were nothing more than human cattle.
As an example, the African slave trade was just beginning during this same
period. It is well recorded that African slaves, not tainted with the stain
of the hated Catholic theology and more expensive to purchase, were often
treated far better than their Irish counterparts.
African slaves were very expensive during the late 1600s (£50 Sterling).
Irish slaves came cheap (no more than £5 Sterling). If a planter whipped,
branded or beat an Irish slave to death, it was never a crime. A death was
a monetary setback, but far cheaper than killing a more expensive African.
The English masters quickly began breeding the Irish women for both their
own personal pleasure and for greater profit. Children of slaves were
themselves slaves, which increased the size of the master’s free workforce.
Even if an Irish woman somehow obtained her freedom, her kids would remain
slaves of her master. Thus, Irish mothers, even with this new found
emancipation, would seldom abandon their children and would remain in
servitude.
In time, the English thought of a better way to use these women to increase
their market share: The settlers began to breed Irish women and girls (many
as young as 12) with African men to produce slaves with a distinct
complexion. These new “mulatto” slaves brought a higher price than Irish
livestock and, likewise, enabled the settlers to save money rather than
purchase new African slaves.
This practice of interbreeding Irish females with African men went on for
several decades and was so widespread that, in 1681, legislation was passed
“forbidding the practice of mating Irish slave women to African slave men
for the purpose of producing slaves for sale.” In short, it was stopped
only because it interfered with the profits of a large slave transport
company.
England continued to ship tens of thousands of Irish slaves for more than a
century. Records state that, after the 1798 Irish Rebellion, thousands of
Irish slaves were sold to both America and Australia. There were horrible
abuses of both African and Irish captives. One British ship even dumped
1,302 slaves into the Atlantic Ocean so that the crew would have plenty of
food to eat.
There is little question the Irish experienced the horrors of slavery as
much (if not more, in the 17th Century) as the Africans did. There is also
little question that those brown, tanned faces you witness in your travels
to the West Indies are very likely a combination of African and Irish
ancestry.
In 1839, Britain finally decided on it’s own to end its participation in
Satan’s highway to hell and stopped transporting slaves. While their
decision did not stop pirates from doing what they desired, the new law
slowly concluded this chapter of Irish misery.
But, if anyone, black or white, believes that slavery was only an African
experience, then they’ve got it completely wrong. Irish slavery is a
subject worth remembering, not erasing from our memories.
But, why is it so seldom discussed? Do the memories of hundreds of
thousands of Irish victims not merit more than a mention from an unknown
writer?
Or is their story to be the one that their English masters intended: To
completely disappear as if it never happened.
None of the Irish victims ever made it back to their homeland to describe
their ordeal. These are the lost slaves; the ones that time and biased
history books conveniently forgot.
Tim Stowell
I started this page 10 years ago, moving it from location to location to
where it resides this night - sentiments across time and space -
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnhamilt/cards/chrstmas.htm
Most of these came from my mother's Mom, who though born in western North
Carolina was raised in the north Georgia mountains, moving south of Atlanta
after being married in Chattanooga.
May your holidays be filled with goodness, sharing time with family or
remembering times past.
Tim Stowell