Presentation Type
Poster
Demography of the Women of the British Floridas (1763-1784)
Abstract
The women who lived in the British Floridas between 1763 and 1784 are not well known to historians of eighteenth-century colonial America. Were most of the adult women single or married? Did women belong to one specific religious denomination more than others? Were there more female slaves or female slave owners? Could any of the women read and/or write? This study will demonstrate the ways in which a demographic profile of women from the combined populations British East Florida and British West Florida can help scholars construct an ethnography of the colonial population. Using demographic techniques to analyze primary source documents, such as land grants and death certificates, this poster will identify and categorize women based on their education, age, nationality, religion, and ethnicity. The ethnographic profile constructed as a part of this analysis can help scholars to realize that women in the British Floridas witnessed important documents, but with an ‘X’ instead of their signature. Women bought and sold slaves, and were bought and sold as slaves. Females inherited from other members of the community, and were granted land. However, their surnames did not always match the surnames of the men with which they were associated. This study will use a 500 person sample size in an attempt to determine generalizations about a demographic cross-section of British East Florida and British West Florida’s population in order to quantifiably show the lives of the women therein. These women deserve to be as well documented as their male counterparts.
Categories
Humanities
Research Type
Research Assistant
Mentor Information
Deborah Bauer
Demography of the Women of the British Floridas (1763-1784)
The women who lived in the British Floridas between 1763 and 1784 are not well known to historians of eighteenth-century colonial America. Were most of the adult women single or married? Did women belong to one specific religious denomination more than others? Were there more female slaves or female slave owners? Could any of the women read and/or write? This study will demonstrate the ways in which a demographic profile of women from the combined populations British East Florida and British West Florida can help scholars construct an ethnography of the colonial population. Using demographic techniques to analyze primary source documents, such as land grants and death certificates, this poster will identify and categorize women based on their education, age, nationality, religion, and ethnicity. The ethnographic profile constructed as a part of this analysis can help scholars to realize that women in the British Floridas witnessed important documents, but with an ‘X’ instead of their signature. Women bought and sold slaves, and were bought and sold as slaves. Females inherited from other members of the community, and were granted land. However, their surnames did not always match the surnames of the men with which they were associated. This study will use a 500 person sample size in an attempt to determine generalizations about a demographic cross-section of British East Florida and British West Florida’s population in order to quantifiably show the lives of the women therein. These women deserve to be as well documented as their male counterparts.
