Eleanor White (b. circa 1828 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51384
Maryland State Colonization Society Emigrant to Liberia from Caroline
County, 1832
Biography:
Eleanor is most likely the Sarah Ellenor White listed in the 1832 Free Negro census of Caroline County with her parents, Willoughby and Sarah White. On the census, the Whites, all free born, indicated a desire to emigrate to Liberia and, later that year, departed from Baltimore, Maryland on the Lafayette on December 9, 1832.1, 2 The White family also included Eleanor's five sisters: Mary, Maria, Amy, Catharine, and Hester.3 Although one of the Lafayette’s passenger lists record Eleanor as being a resident of St. Mary’s County, that is likely an error.4 On arriving in Liberia, the family initially settled in Caldwell before moving to Cape Palmas, Liberia in 1834. The following year, Willoughby died suddenly, and his death probably broke up the family as there is no further census record of them living together as a unit. According to historian Richard L. Hall, Eleanor may be the same person as the Eleanor or Ellen Murray, who was recorded living with the William Reynolds family from 1838 through 1843.6, 7, 8
3. Ibid.
5. Hall, Richard L. On Afric’s Shore: A History of Maryland in Liberia, 1834-1857. (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2003), p. 443-444.
6. Ibid, 444.
7. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society, Subscribers Reports Census), 1817-1902, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13247-1, 1838 Census, p 1. p2.
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