*  John J. J. Pleasant’s original surname may have been spelled Pleasants or Pleasance. He is listed as John Pleasant in the 1850, 1860, and 1870 census, with no “s.” In her dictated memoirs, Mary Ellen Pleasant refers to him as John J. Pleasant, again with no “s.” However, in 1870 he registered to vote in California as John James Pleasants. While this may have been a clerical error, it could also indicate that he used both the Pleasant and Pleasants spellings of his surname.