_Names of Slaves_ (Vol. viii., p. 339.).--I can answer the first of
J. F. M.'s Queries in the affirmative; it being common to see in Virginia
slaves, or free people who have been slaves, with names acquired in the
manner suggested: _e. g._ "Philip Washington," better known in Jefferson
county as "Uncle Phil.," formerly a slave of the Washingtons. A large
family, liberated and sent to Cape Palmas, bore the surname of "Davenport,"
from the circumstance that their progenitor had been owned by the
Davenports. In fact, the practice is almost universal. But fancy names are
generally used as first names: _e. g._ John Randolph, Peyton, Jefferson,
Fairfax, Carter, &c. A fine old body-servant of Col. Willis was called
"Burgundy," _shortened_ into "Uncle Gundy." So that "Milton," in the case
mentioned, may have been merely the homage paid to genius by some
enthusiastic admirer of that poet.