Orphan Alimony Lists Suriname 1859-1874

Other regions are not included in the lists. In 1874, the responsibility for the care of poor orphans under public guardianship of the government was transferred to the state charity institution Landsgrond Boniface. Three years later, in 1877, the Orphan, Guardianship, and Unmanaged Estates Chamber was dissolved.

Two groups of people in Suriname were not registered in the alimony lists. First, people in slavery were excluded. Within the legal framework of colonial Suriname, enslaved children were not considered orphans, but the property of their owners.

When slavery was abolished in 1863, formerly enslaved children who became orphans were entered in the orphan register. Children born in slavery or whose parents were born in slavery were registered as ‘emancipated’ orphans after 1863. However, during the period of state supervision from 1863 to 1873, these emancipated orphans could not receive state alimony.

Only after this period was state alimony open to all orphaned children. Second, people living outside of the colonial context were not registered either. This included most of the inhabitants of the interior, who lived outside the administrative reach of the colonial state.

The orphan alimony lists can be combined with other registers from the orphan department, such as the general orphan register, in which all orphaned children who stood under the care of the orphan department were registered. This includes poor orphans who received state alimony, but also orphans who did not receive state alimony and who were financially supported by family, friends, or their own resources. The orphan register contains information on the names, gender, birth, parents, caretakers, place of residence, and property of the registered orphans.