Wilma Rudolph's paternal grandfather was named West (or Wesley) Rudolph and was born in 1857. Here he is in the 1870 census.pic.twitter.com/RI1QCQQG1S
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Wilma Rudolph's paternal grandfather was named West (or Wesley) Rudolph and was born in 1857. Here he is in the 1870 census.pic.twitter.com/RI1QCQQG1S
There were only a handful of people with the surname of "Rudolph" in 1860 and J. R. Rudolph (census posted above) is listed on the slave census as holding a 5-year old boy in bondage. That could certainly be West Rudolph as he was born just east of Clarksville.
This is all just partial information since the slave census did not record the names of the enslaved. But it is very likely the paternal grandfather of Wilma Rudolph.pic.twitter.com/blmnP5pY0q
I always admired Jesse Owens, but somehow the story of Wilma Rudolph and her mother traveling to Nashville for polio treatments because Clarksville didn't have a "Black" hospital, has always touched a deeper chord. That she was the world's fastest woman after having polio was WOW
I wonder why so many ex-slaves kept the names of their former masters. Inertia? Easier legally? I know many changed their names to those of presidents. Why so many Washingtons, Jeffersons, Jacksons, Lincolns.
My guess is that they needed last names for legal documentation purposes post-freedom/emancipation and went with what they knew. Also, more than a few were actually related to their slaveowners, because...you know...
Is the 1860 census online? Would love to look up some of my ancestors..
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