One of my main Culbert project objectives is to connect individuals to specific Culbert branches, of which some 50 or so have already been identified. In this research I have noted a growing number of African American Culberts, most of them living in the United States, who I cannot connect to any Culbert branches. I suspect that the ancestors of these Culberts had some sort of relationship to Caucasian Culberts, and thus adopted the Culbert surname.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to find early records concerning African Americans. What follows are some of the early records regarding slaves owned by Culbert and their surname variants. I have chosen to include these Culbert variant surnames because for many of these slaveholders I have found no other information about them other than their U.S. census enumerations, and their surnames may have been different in previous or later records. The individuals’ database IDs and Trees are provided for each slave owner (in parenthesis) should more details on them be of interest.
1820 U.S. Federal Census:
- George Culbert (I11296, Culbert Tree) – lived in Williamson County, tennessee, and owned three slaves, one male < 14, one male > 26, and one female < 26.
1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedule:
- James Culbert (I16740, Culbert Tree) – lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and owned one male black slave, age 15.
- William Culbert, a.k.a. Calbert, Calvert (I7527, Culbert Tree) – lived in Union Parish, Louisiana, and owned one male black slave age 30, and one female black slave, age 15. He was enumerated as William Calvert in the 1860 U.S. census in Whiteville Twp., Jefferson County, Arkansas.
- William Culbret, a.k.a. William Culbert and Cubbrette (I31156, Culbert Tree) – lived in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, and owned one male black slave age 13 and one female black slave age 9.
1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedule:
- Catherine Culbertson (I25071, Culbert Tree) – married to John Culbertson, a.k.a. Culbert (I20394, Culbert Tree) – he who died in 1859. They lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and owned on female black slave age 50.
In John’s 1859 will it states, “My servant Eliza with her issue I give to my wife Catherine Culbert for her use during her lifetime, and after the death of my said wife, I then give my said servant Eliza with her issue to my wife’s daughter Susan E. Bufort, the wife of Gilbert Reid for her sole use forever.” - Mary J. Culbert (I22808, Culbert Tree) – married to William Culbert (I7527, Culbert Tree) – lived in Whiteville Twp., Jefferson County, Arkansas, and owned one female black slave age 20, and one male black slave age 20.
- Thomas Culbert, a.k.a. Calbert (I584, Culbert Tree) – Lived in Scott County, Mississippi, and owned male black slaves age 40, 20, and 1, and female black slaves age 25, 23, 14, 6, 3, and 1.
- William Culbert (Gilbert?) (I19144, Culbert Tree) – lived in Johnson County, Georgia, and owned one female black slave age 28. This may be a duplicate record for the next William Culbert listed.
- William Culbert (I5931, Culbert Tree) – lived in Johnson County, Georgia, and owned one female black slave age 28.
- Thomas Calvert – owner who lived in Chickasaw County, Mississippi.
- Thomas Calvert (I539, Variants Tree) – lived in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, and owned one female black slave age 38. [Not sure how this is different than the other Thomas Calvert. There are 40 slaves and nine houses listed on this page, plus 3 on the next page.]
- John Colbert (I548, Variants Tree) – lived in Fairford, Culpeper County, Virginia, and owned male black slaves age 53, 21, 4, and 1, and female black slaves aged 60 and 18.
- William Colbert (I549, Variants Tree) – lived in Fairford, Culpeper County, and owned male black slaves age 61, 36, 27, 25, 21, 7, 6, 5 (two), 4, 2, and female black slaves age 62, 44, 18, 15, 12, 10, and 6.
- John A. Cuthbert (I551, Variants Tree) – lived in Mobile County, Alabama, and owned 2 one mulatto male slave age 45, and one mulatto female slave age 45, plus 2 slave houses.
In addition to the above enumerations from the 1860 U.S. Census Federal Census, Slave Schedule, I have found the following additional listings, but cannot explain why these are different than from my search of the Slave Schedules:
LARGE SLAVEHOLDERS OF 1860 and AFRICAN AMERICAN SURNAME MATCHES FROM 1870
by Tom Blake, 2001-2005
URL: https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ajac/genealogy/index.htm
- Arkansas, Lafayette Co. – Culberson, S. F., 31 slaves, La Grange, page 12
- 1870 Surname match: (Surname, # in US, in State, in County, born in State, born and living in State, born in State and living in County)
- Culberson, 43, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
- Georgia, Troup Co. – Culberson, J. P., 77 slaves, District 655, page 190
- Culberson, James, 52 slaves, District 655, page 196B
- 1870 Surname match: (Surname, # in US, in State, in County, born in State, born and living in State, born in State and living in County)
- Culberson, 43, 21, 18, 26, 20, 18
- Louisiana, Madison Parish – Culbertson, L. P., 113 slaves, page 111B
- 1870 Surname match: (Surname, # in US, in State, in County, born in State, born and living in State, born in State and living in County)
- Culbertson, 37, 5, 0, 4, 4, 0
It is my hope that through advertising my research here I can come in contact with some of these African American Culberts, who have information about their Culbert ancestry and surname origins. It would benefit all of us if we could come together to share a better understanding of our common history.
