After the Civil War, many couples who had married as slaves and who desired to stay together, legalized their unions by getting married. As a result, marriage became one of the very first civil rights that [newly free] African-Americans [were] able to exercise. [1]
I strongly believe this was the case for my 3x great-grandparents, Osborn and Sallie Routt! According to the 1870 Census (the very first census to document African-Americans who had been slaves before and during the Civil War), they were listed as a family with three children ranging in ages 7, 5, and 9 months. Their oldest child, Jefferson Routt who was 7 years old at the time, was born during slavery about 1863. So today for Wedding Wednesday, I celebrate the official marriage of Osborn and Sallie Routt, which took place, 9 July 1871!
Marriage Certificate of Osborne & Sally Routte, 1871
[Abstraction]
The State of Texas, to wit: Washington County, S.-S.
To all who shall see these Presents, Greeting:
Know We, THAT ANY PERSON LEGALLY AUTHORIZED TO SOLEMNIZE THE RITES OF MATRIMONY IS HEREBY LICENSED TO
JOIN IN MARRIAGE AS HUSBAND AND WIFE, Osborne RoutteandSally Routte and for so doing, this shall be your authority.
In Testimony Whereof, I, J. J. Stockbridge, Clerk of the District
Court here unto subscribe my name, and affix the seal of said Court, this 8th day ofJuly1871 J.J. Stockbridge, C. D. C. W. C.
By _____________, Deputy
The State of Texas, to wit: Washington County, S. S.
This certifies that I joined in Marriage a Husband and Wife Osborn Route and Sally Route on the 9th day of July 1871.
Elder Butler
—–
Because marriage records vary from state to state and often contain several dates (a license date, a wedding date, a return date, and a filing date), I want to remind researchers to double check these records carefully and make sure to record the correct wedding date on their family group sheets and pedigree charts. At first, I had Osborn’s and Sallie’s marriage date as 8 July 1871 in my notes. But upon careful inspection of this certified marriage license, I now know that was the date they applied for the license. Their actual wedding date was 9 July 1871!
Source Citation:
1. Hunter, T. (2010, February 11). Slave Marriages, Families Were Often Shattered By Auction Block [Interview by M. Martin, Transcript]. In New Discoveries in Black History. NPR.
2. Washington County Marriage Volume 3: 488, County Clerk’s Office, Brenham, Texas.
Surname Saturday is one of the popular “Daily Blogging Series” going on at GeneaBloggers.com! This series is intended to give genealogy bloggers a chance to discuss a surname and mention its origin, its geographical location(s), and how it fits into their family research. So I’ve joined the foray and plan to share information regularly about the surnames I’m researching in hopes that others who are researching those surnames will connect with me!
ORIGIN
With regards to origin, in Ancestry.com’s THE ROUTT NAME IN HISTORY, Routt is English and “probably a topographic name for someone who lived by a patch of rough ground.” According to the 1920 US Federal Census, majority of the Routt immigrants that came to America were from England.
One of the challenges I’ve faced with my Routt research has been with the various spelling of the surname (Rault, Roatt, Rout, Routt, Routte, Route, Roult, Rowte, Rote) in birth, census, death, and marriage records. I believe the reason why there are so many variations of this surname is due to my ancestors, who were slaves, not being able to read or write. Therefore, they could not tell the person recording their information how to accurately and consistently spell their name all the time. So if the person recording their information wasn’t familiar with how the surname was spelled, or wasn’t a good speller in general, then variations of the surname was bound to happen. But from what I have been able to glean from records, most of my ancestors spelled Routt with two t’s at the end — which was the same way their slave owner, William Routt, spelled his name.
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION(S)
Routt immigrants came to the United States from the Eastern region of England (Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire). Once in the US, by the 1840’s there were Routt households in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina. By the 1920 census, a majority of Routt households resided in Kentucky, Texas, and Ohio. With farming being the principal occupation among most Routt immigrants, and with the rise of plantation agriculture in colonial America, many Routt immigrants owned slaves and operated medium to large plantations.
In an email I received from Genealogist, Virginia Hill in 1998 who shared information from ALL OUR YESTERDAYS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHAPPELL HILL compiled by Mr. & Mrs. Nath Winfield (very knowledgeable local historians), cotton merchants observed that certain Texas counties — Brazoria, Washington, Ward, and Matagorda – “were superior to regions in the United States for cotton production. Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Carolina then produced an average of 3 bales ‘to the hand’ while the average production of cotton in these Texas counties were seven bales.” I’m sure the prospect of producing seven versus three bales ‘to the hand’ of cotton was what prompted cotton merchant, William Routt, to move to the Washington County Texas area from Huntsville, Alabama bringing with him one of the 1st generation of ancestors on my father’s father side – Osborn & Sallie Routt
MY FIRST GENERATION OF ROUTTS
According to the 1870 United States Federal Census Osborn was 28 yrs old, born about 1842 in the State of Virginia. Sallie was 23 yrs old, born about 1847 in the Alabama.
Children of Osborn & Sallie: Buchanon 10 yrs old, born about 1860 in TX Jefferson Routt 7 yrs old, born about 1863 in TX Mary F Routt 5 yrs old, born about 1865 in TX Louisa Routt 9 months old, born about 1869 in TX
Per the Washington County Marriage Records (Certificate No. 12680, Vol. 3, Pg 488) Osborn and Sallie were joined in marriage as husband and wife on 9 July 1871. Considering the date of their marriage and the birth of their children, one can only conclude that even though the institution of slavery did not officially allow slaves to marry, Osborn and Sallie obviously stayed together. Once slavery ended in Texas, they made their union legal!
Accordingto the 1880 United States Federal Census Osborn is 45 and Sallie is 30, which is a major discrepancy with how old they should be by this time. This also tells me that they literally had no idea as to how old they were, or when they were born (which is not unusual when you consider they could not read or write). But if I believe the 1880 Census information with regards to their ages, then Osborn would have been born around 1835 and Sallie around 1850.
Another change in this census is regarding a young male child stated as “son” – Buchanon, who would be 20 yrs old by this time. He is no longer living with the family. Some possible reasons for him not being enumerated with them are: 1) he is a young adult living and working on his own, 2) he’s married with a family of his own nearby or in another town, county or state, 3) he may have died between 1870-1880 from an illness or accident. 4) he may not be the biological son of Osborn and Sallie; he may be an extended family member to Osborn or Sallie (i.e. brother, nephew, cousin) living with them with 5) even though he was listed under the surname Routt in the 1870 Census, his given surname may not be Routt
But, three more children are now listed with this family: Charlotte Routt 8 yrs old, born about 1872 in TX William Routt 6 yrs old, born about 1874 in TX John Routt 4 yrs old, born about 1876 in TX
So if you have some of my 1st Generation Routts in your family tree, let me hear from you because I’m — Claiming Kin!
Claiming Kin Genealogy 