Am I Related to Robert Smalls?


Many people mistakenly believe they are descendents
of or related to Robert Smalls.

He had no siblings.
There is no evidence that he had illegitimate children.
Smalls was quite a common name.

1870 South Carolina Census Results

Some early reports refer to him as Robert Small.
Eventually he was referred to as Robert Smalls.

SMALLS

There were 5 other Robert Smalls in this census:

Location Year of birth

James Island, Charleston 1830
Bamberg, Barnwell 1831
Christ Church, Charleston 1852
Saint Helena, Beaufort 1855
Bamberg, Barnwell 1869

In 1870 there were 412 people with the surname Smalls.
_____________________________________

SMALL

There were well over 2000 people in the state with the surname Small.

There are two pages of people listed in Beaufort County
with the surname Small.

In 1870 there were 28 men named Robert Small in South Carolina:
3 in Beaufort County, 10 in Charleston.

____________________________________

Extract of Robert Smalls’ testimony on slave names
to the American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission

Q. Are the slaves permitted to have two names?

A. I do not know that there is any law about it. They are accustomed to have two names – a Christian name and sometimes the name of their owner.

Q. Did the masters care what names the slave was called by?

A. No, sir; they cared little about it; some of them liked to have their negroes called after them.

Q. If you ask a colored man his name he will always give his Christian name, and if you ask his other name he will always hesitate about giving it – what is the cause of that?

A. Well, they are apt to go by the one name and when the white folks speak of them they say, “John, that belongs to Mr. So and So,” and they hardly ever use their title. They choose a name for themselves. A father may be named Smalls and his son Bennett. Before their masters they do not speak of their titles at all.

______________________________________

Robert Smalls’ Descendents

Robert and Hannah Smalls’ first son, Robert, Jr., died in childhood.

Smalls’ daughter Sarah married and had no children.

Smalls’ daughter, Elizabeth Lydia, married Samuel Jones Bampfield.

They had nine surviving children whose last name was Bampfield.

The Bampfield daughters assumed their husbands’ last names.

No Bampfield descendents are named Smalls.
________________________________

When Robert and Hannah married,
she had two daughters, Clara and Charlotte, by another father or fathers.

Descendents of these girls are not named Smalls.
_________________________________

Smalls and his second wife, Annie Wigg, had a son named William Robert.

William had one son, Robert Smalls, who had one daughter.
Her name is not Smalls.

William also had one daughter, Ann, who assumed her husband’s name.

Her two children are not named Smalls.
___________________________________

There are no living descendents named Smalls.

All descendents are documented by the family.
________________________________

We’re sorry if these verified facts disappoint you.

Before the last few years genealogical research was an even more time-consuming and tedious task than it now is. With no way to verify lineage, our ancestors sometimes made assumptions which were passed down as truth.

Even if you’re not Smalls’ descendent, you have reason to be proud of him and of your own ancestors. We encourage you to do genealogical research on your family so you can discover their stories!