Lydia, daughter of Col. Benadam Gallup

Carnival of African-American Genealogy: Restore My Name

As a native New Englander, I knew that my family must have owned slaves. As I search for information about my ancestors, I make note of any records of them owning slaves in the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Several family cemeteries have gravestones of those slaves buried right alongside the rest of my family members. I am pleased to tell you that those graves are as nicely tended as all the others.

Finding the gravestone of Col. Benadam GALLUP, my DAR Revolutionary War ancestor and 6th great grandfather, was an exciting event in my genealogical journey. He is buried with his wife in the private Gallup Burying Ground in Groton/Ledyard, CT. My husband took an excellent photograph of me with his gravestone and it hangs in my office. Benadam was the father of eleven children. His oldest child also named Benadam is my direct line ancestor.

As I began to gather vital records for this line, I came upon a surprise in the Barbour Index of Vital Records. Gallup family members are carefully recorded as they were prominent members of the community. This clip from that index held at Ancestry.com, shows the recording of a child named Lydia born 27 Oct 1788 and recorded in Book 1, page 177 of the town records. It clearly states "had negro girl".

Col. Benadam Gallup who was born in 1716 would have been 72 years old on that date! He died in 1800, one year after his wife. Is this child, Lydia, his daughter, or did he submit the birth of a child of one of his slaves so she would be recorded? We may never know.

[Ancestry.com. Connecticut Town Death Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002.] Used here for teaching purposes under fair-use copyright. I am an educator.