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> Does anyone have any information on homosexuality within the slave community during the antebellum period? In the course of my study of the individual black refugees of the War of 1812 who went off with the British, I have come across an account of a relationship between two women. In an affidavit by a witness in a review (in 1828) of Sarah Rawlings’s claim for compensation for lost slaves it was said of Minty "that she had two surnames, Gurry and Caden, that she had a husband by the name of Joe Gurry (the property of Thomas Ireland), that a short time after their marriage they fell out and parted; she then formed an intimacy with a negro woman (the property of David Avis) by the name of Philis Caden; they both joined the Methodist Church and claimed a Sisterhood, and she adopted [Philis’s] name as Miss Minty Caden [and] as such she went to the British in the year 1814". In another file it is stated that Philis was married to a Samuel Hall (the property of David Avis) and had a child. Philis evidently abandoned her husband and child to join up with Minty. Presumably Caden was Philis’s maiden name. In 1998 I posted a query on various lists, and you can see the varied and interesting responses by searching the H-NET archives http://www.h-net.org/logsearch/ You should find three postings of my query plus eight responses, some of which contain references which may be useful in your own search.
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