Sarah Gilzean

1793 - ????

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Very likely to be the Sarah Gilzean, mistress of Alexander Gilzean (q.v.) and mother of his five children.

  1. In 1817, Alexander Gilzean registered ownership of Sarah, age 25, "African", along with her sons Thomas age 6 and James age 2. In his 1832 return, Gilzean records the manumission since 1829 of both these sons, along with 3 further mixed-race children, Henrietta Kelly, Alexander and Isabella, but gives no indication of any formal manumission for Sarah.

  2. Alexander returned to Scotland in the mid-1840s, although there is no evidence that Sarah travelled with him (she is not found in the 1851 census for Scotland nor in the statutory deaths after 1855). He died in Aberlour, Banffshire, in February 1848. Among other bequests, Alexander left his Jamaica estate, Dunvegan to "my reputed children" James, Henrietta, and Isabella, share and share alike, their "mother Sarah Gilzean to have the use of part for her lifetime". His son Thomas, "now residing at 50 South Bridge Edinburgh" was left £500. Thomas lived in Edinburgh with his wife and children until his death in 1868.


Sources

T71/867 St Thomas-in-the-Vale claim no. 317.

  1. Ancestry.com, Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834 [database online].

  2. SC26/39/6. See separate entry for Alexander Gilzean for more information on his son Thomas.


Further Information

Name in compensation records
Sarah Gibzean
Children
[With Alexander Gilzean] Thomas (1811-1868), James (1815-), Henrietta Kelly, Alexander, Isabella

Associated Claims (1)

£98 2s 9d
Awardee

Relationships (2)

Other relatives
Notes →
Sarah Gilzean was the mistress of Alexander Gilzean from at least 1811 and the mother of his five...
Other relatives
Notes →
Sarah was the mistress of James's brother Alexander (q.v.) and mother of his five...