1728 Johann Adam Matern, of Rosenheim, Upper Alsace. 26 years old. Weaver. A good worker who deserves some negroes. Three pigs.
Thus reads the roll in or around 1728, describing my forebear, the first Matern/Matherne who came to the New World with several hundred Germans as pioneers.
I don’t know why he was considered worthy of owning other human beings. Yet so the record reads.* A few years later, in 1731, Johann has increased his holdings. By then, he acquired 3 sons, 3 negroes and 7 cows.
He got his Negroes. I suppose that’s a sign of success. Just like you and I might be proud to have a new car or a house with no mortgage, Johann was the proud owner of 3 negroes. I hope my readers are not incensed beyond reason. It was a sign of the times.
I am rather proud that he’s described as being a good worker, not so much as a man who owned other people
*THE SETTLEMENT OF THE GERMAN COAST OF LOUISIANA AND THE CREOLES OF GERMAN DESCENT. John Henno Deilor
Gumbo Ya-Ya 
very interesting, thanks Laurie
LikeLike
My pleasure. It’s interesting to know what our ancestors were up to all those years ago, isn’t it?
LikeLike
Your ancestor’s owning of some negroes would have any statue of him summarily dismantled in today’s America. I am assuming no such statue exists, so … no problem.
Interesting that they believed that one deserved some negroes. Deserved?
Good think you did not write that other n-word. You’d be tarred and feathered. You and I know, of course, that negro simply means black in Spanish. No harm, no foul.
LikeLike
There are no Matherne/Matern statues. There’s one landmark left with the family name, a graveyard with no vacancies.
LikeLike