Posts Tagged ‘Samuel Blow’

Slave Owner’s Family Bible Documents Slave Births During the 1700s

Monday, October 26th, 2009
Blow Family Bible

Blow Family Bible

Slave owners kept detailed records of their slaves’ births, and deaths, and purchases; although many of them have not survived.  They often recorded these events in their family bibles along with information on their own families.

The 1715 Blow family bible records the births of slaves owned by the Blows of Sussex, and Southampton counties in Virginia.  Nineteen births of four mothers are recorded from 1737 to 1763 spanning three generations.  This is a goldmine of information for African American research.  Descendants of these slaves can be found searching other records in the Blow Family Papers in the Swem Library in Virginia.