White Marsh was a 2,000 acre Jesuit Plantation on the Patuxent River. Its priests served the surrounding community and the Catholic enslavers not only in Prince George’s County but also Anne Arundel. Its priests maintained baptismal records, detailing the names of children, parents, sponsors and their enslavers. The baptismal records are a critical tool to identify potential kinship connections within the enslaved community. Examining the patterns of sponsorship can reveal significant social and familial relationships within the enslaved community.
The selection of sponsors for baptism was often rooted in kinship or close social ties. Individuals chosen as sponsors frequently belonged to the child’s extended family network, representing aunts, uncles, grandparents, or other close relatives. This practice served not only a religious purpose but also reinforced familial bonds and communal support structures within the challenging context of slavery. By systematically analyzing the family names and given names of sponsors in relation to the baptized children and their parents, we can begin to identify potential kinship links that may not be explicitly stated in other records.
Furthermore, the phenomenon of reciprocal sponsorships, where individuals from one family serve as sponsors for children in another family, and vice versa, can further illuminate the interconnectedness of the enslaved communities. These reciprocal relationships often signify close social bonds and mutual support networks that extended beyond immediate family ties. Tracing these patterns of reciprocal sponsorship can help to map out broader social circles and identify influential families or individuals within the community.
Our analysis involves several key steps:
- Data Extraction: Meticulously extracting data from the White Marsh baptismal records, including the given names and any recorded family names of the baptized individuals, their parents, and their sponsors.
- Pattern Identification: Analyzing the frequency with which specific family names or given names appear as sponsors for children with particular parental names. Repetitive patterns of sponsorship by individuals with the same family name as the child or parents strongly suggest kinship.
- Reciprocity Analysis: Identifying instances where individuals or families serve as sponsors for each other’s children, indicating close social bonds and potential extended family connections.
- Contextualization: Integrating findings from the sponsorship analysis with other documentary evidence, such as census records, compensation lists, and any available probate information, to corroborate potential kinship links and build a more complete picture of family structures within the White Marsh enslaved community.
By carefully examining the sponsorship patterns within the White Marsh baptismal records, this analysis aims to uncover valuable insights into the kinship networks and social fabric of this enslaved community, providing a deeper understanding of how individuals maintained familial and communal ties despite the constraints of slavery
stories of Then 