First image column 8 they are supposed to designate for ‘‘Deaf and dumb, blind, insane, or idiotic,’’, in the second image you can see dots in a pattern but no indication what they might mean?
This is all I was able to find on instruction for filling out:
"8. Under heading 8, entitled ‘‘Deaf and dumb, blind, insane, or idiotic,’’ the assistant should ascertain if any of these slaves be deaf and dumb, blind, insane, or idiotic; and if so, insert opposite the name or number of such slave, the term deaf and dumb, blind, insane, or idiotic, as the fact may be. If slaves be found imprisoned convicts, mention the crime in column 8, and the date of conviction before the number in vacant space below the name of the owner. The convict slaves should be numbered with the other slaves of their proper owner."
Well, I think I figured it out. I browsed through several other parishes, and couldn't find anywhere else this was done, so it was likely the recorders own method. I also thought initially it was a shorthand for "blind", "deaf", "insane", etc, but on page 7, an 85 year old slave is listed as "Blind." Then I noticed it was a pattern. Always on line 28, are the letters, MF, and in line 7 beginning with /12 are the numbers 1, 5, 10, 15, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. In line 8 below MF are these dots. At the bottom, the dots are tallied on each side of the box. See: https://imgur.com/a/UfQWz7f. Each page is the same this way regardless of the owner's name. This means then that the whole series of dots and numbers are the recorders own personal way of listing something without having excess pages to do it. They are listing the number of Males and Females per page, and the age category (under one year, 1-5 years old, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-3, etc.) For example, on page 7, in the image I linked, on the right hand side is one dot next to the 8 in line 7. On that page is only one Male who was over 80 years of age, so one dot.
I've done a ton of genealogy and this had me stumped for a bit but it all finally clicked together! Hope it helps!
