Doug, coloring is only a part of it.  "Yellow" generally referred to a lighter skin tone, usually a result of mixed blood.  Mulattoes were usually described as "yellow," or sometimes "high yellow."

Holly Hodges
Amherst County, Virginia


 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Douglas Burnett <[log in to unmask]>
To: VA-HIST <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue, Feb 17, 2015 5:19 pm
Subject: [VA-HIST] Language in 1808 Va Will


I am catching up on transcribing some wills and have run across this
language for the first time:

"3rdly I give to my son *Thomas *one negro boy by the name of

*Henry* (a black boy) to him and his heirs or assigns forever

4thly I give to my son *Charles Washington *one negro boy by the

name of *Henry * (a yellow boy) to him and his heirs or assigns

forever"

Does anyone understand the differentiation between the "black boy" and the
"yellow boy"?

Am I trying to read to much into this and it is in fact just a physical
description of the coloring?


-- 
Douglas Burnett
Satellite Beach
FL
As a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the
National Genealogical Society (NGS), the Florida State Genealogical
Society(FSGS) and the Virginia Genealogical  Society(VGS), I support and
adhere to the APG's Code of Ethics.

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