Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)
Catharine White (b. circa 1826 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51342
Maryland State Colonization Society Emigrant to Liberia from Caroline
County, 1832
Biography:
Catharine was born free to Willoughby
and Sarah
White, freeborn blacks of Caroline County.1 In 1832, the
Whites were enumerated on Caroline County's Free Negro Census, where they
indicated a desire to emigrate to Liberia.2 Later that
year, Catharine emigrated from Maryland to Liberia with her parents and
five sisters: Maria,
Mary,
Amy
and Eleanor,
and Hester,
on the ship Lafayette.3 Departing from Baltimore on December
7 or 9, 1832, they arrived in Monrovia, Liberia on February 7, 1833 before
settling in Caldwell, Liberia. In 1834, the family moved to Cape Palmas,
where Willoughby died suddenly in 1835.4 According
to the colony's census, it appears that Catharine lived with her sister,
Mary Polk, from at least 1839 through 1843, possibly because of the turmoil
caused by their father’s death.5, 6, 7 On April 27, 1852, Catharine
married Jonathan W. Cooper, a carpenter.8, 9
1. SPECIAL
COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Manumission
Lists, 1832-1839, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13248-1, Emigrants Line 35-42.
2. SPECIAL
COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Free Negro
Census, Caroline County, 1832, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13255-1, Lines
829-838.
3. SPECIAL
COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Manumission
Lists, 1832-1839, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13248-1, Emigrants Line 35-42.
4. Hall, Richard L. On Afric’s Shore: A History of Maryland in Liberia,
1834-1857. (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2003), p. 444.
5. SPECIAL
COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Subscribers
Reports Census, 1817-1902, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13247-1, 1839 Census.
6. SPECIAL
COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Subscribers
Reports Census, 1817-1902, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13247-1, 1840 Census.
7. SPECIAL
COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Subscribers
Reports Census, 1817-1902, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13247-1, 1843 Census.
8. Hall, p. 444.
9. SPECIAL
COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Subscribers
Reports Census, 1817-1902, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13247-1, 1852 Census,
Lines 737-738.
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Copyright Tuesday, 08-May-2012 10:51:35 EDT Maryland State Archives