“My Reputed Children”: Legacies of Enslavement in Atlantic-Island Wills

In the colonial Caribbean, European fathers of children born to African (enslaved or freed) island mothers might choose to acknowledge 'their' children through processes of recognition 'by repute' - evidenced through being named in baptismal records, the use of the paternal family name and, in particular, recognition in wills. Being accepted as 'a reputed child' carried crucial socio-economic benefits, and not infrequently resulted in children being taken to Britain for education and/or re-settlement. This paper focuses on the use of a father's last testament to provide for and control a legacy for his 'reputed children'. It draws attention to the use of children to provide heirs for fathers lacking legitimate ones, exemplifying processes of assimilation which not only asserted the primacy of paternal lineage but also required the erasure of maternal heritage. This paper reflects on the implications of the supressed/forgotten metropolitan legacy of paternal recognition 'by repute', and argues the importance of recovering a maternal (and island) inheritance.