Mandingo: Another Child Taken Into Slavery
As I continue to go through the records, telling their story, even if it is tiny in nature, is better to be told than to remain silent. This is the case with Teresa Maysonet. I suspect that she did manage to survive slavery as this line has African descendants I’ve seen in years later on the island. Hopefully, she is connected to someone. While I do not descend from many that were forced into slavery, I do translate them to help those who may connect with them.
How scary it must have been that a 10-year-old, who may have been playing outdoors, or potentially getting water, hanging laundry, etc was captured and taken away from her parents, her family, her people, and taken to a foreign place never to see anyone she loved and known. To face the horrible voyage across the seas known as Middle Passage. The claim that only those who committed crimes were enslaved as I’ve seen the ignorant narrative doesn’t fit into the story of a 10 years old girl.
Yet below is the image from the church in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. A girl of no more than 10 years of age, from Guinea and from the nation of Mandingo, being baptized on June 13, 1820. She is listed as being the slave of Joseph Maysonet and also a neighbor of Toa Alta. Extremely disheartening and hopefully someone connects to this little girl.
Teresa Maysonet Baptism record in 1820 |
Thank you for sharing…a moving window into our history. When you mention looking through books are you referring to documents aailable in Family Search? I often dream of actually going to Trujillo Alto and finding a wealth of documents!!!!
Hi Maria, yes, documents in Familysearch. Trujillo Alto does have records in the archives and so does San Juan. Plenty of resources on the island.
Hi, my family has told me that my 2x great grandmother got the name Maysonet from a slave owner. I found one record listing Jose Maysonet (a White man who worked in "agriculture") and I'm assuming he's the same man as the Joseph Maysonet you mentioned. I've hit a dead end when it comes to records on my 2x great grandmother, and Jose Maysonet on Ancestry.com and Family Search. Do you have any more info on Jose/Joseph? Thanks!!
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