Sally (researching Cumberland County) wrote:
>What does BS between last and first name mean on the 1820 census?  For
example -- Robinson, BS, John?
>The very next line reads Ross, free Negroe, David, if that provides some
clue.


Sally, it's good that you're looking for context into which this entry might
fit. I called up the 1820 census at Ancestry. In the whole 25-page return,
that "BS." appears three times. 

It does indeed appear "between last and first name" on this return. However,
this return is not the original. The census marshal has taken the original
pages (which would have been, more or less, in neighborhood order) and
copied all the entries over again into alpha order, surname first. The
latter shuffle displaced not only the surname, but also the appendages
normally placed after the surname. (e.g., Jeffery Robertson, Jr.," became
"Robertson Jr. Jeffery").  Correspondingly, "Robinson, BS. John" should have
originally been written John Robinson, B.S.

When appendages such as this (B.S., F.R., S.T.) appear after names on
Virginia censuses and tax rolls, they usually represent a mechanism to
distinguish between individuals of the same name. B.S. might be Bull Slough.
F.R. might be Fluvanna River. S.T. might be Son of Thomas. Or the initialism
could represent the name of the individual's plantation.

In this case, the three entries found for BS on those 25 pages all appear in
situations in which there are two entries for men of the same name.

Stamped p. 129
[consecutive entries]
Hobson, BS, Samuel
Hobson, Samuel

Stamped p. 134
[17 entries intervene between these]
Robinson BS, Field
Robinson S.M. Field

Stamped p. 135
[1 entry intervenes]
Robinson John
Robinson, BS, John

Since you well know Cumberland County, let me ask: Were there watercourses
or other prominent landmarks that would be abbreviated "BS" and "SM"?  If
"BS" were restricted to only to John and Field Robinson, that might suggest
the possibility that it could the name of a family plantation. However, the
use of BS for Samuel Hobson would not fit that theory, unless he were, say,
a joint heir to Robinson property. 

Elizabeth

------------------------------------------------------

Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
Advanced Research Methodology & Evidence Analysis
Samford University Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research

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