Research and document your family history, using memory and online resources.
When:
Every Monday 1pm – 3pm
Enrol: 28th September 2009
Start: 5th October 2009
End: 14th December 2009
Where:
Sunnyhill Children’s Centre, Sunnyhill Road, Streatham, London SW16 1UW, Tel. 07815 935 397. Click here for map
What:
~ Access and search microfilmed records
~ Learn to read old script
~ Build a family tree
~ Start a personal family blog to share with children and relatives
~ Write an account of an interesting person or event in your family history (e.g. emigration)
~ Visit to the Family History Centre and behind the scenes tour of the National Archives
Who:
Open to anyone from countries where records are currently available in the UK (please ask at enrolment)
Tutor has successfully traced her own family history back to the 1840s, and is passionate about the subject.
We search the records and compile a list of names, dates and somewhat unreliable ages; possibly an occupation, planter being a common one, which could mean anything from one yam plant inna yard to several hundred acres.
We look with envy to those celebrities on ‘Who Do You Think You Are’, and the colourful facts uncovered. We want the dry facts to leap off the page – we want to know who our ancestors were and how they lived.
Personally, I am yet to discover a prince, rogue, villain or saint. But when my parents visited from Jamaica in June, my dad casually asked my mum: ‘What was the name of your cousin the singer again?’ It turns out he was none other than Jamaica’s very own reggae singer Jacob Miller.
At this stage, there is little I can say about him that isn’t already known – except that he definitely wasn’t born in 1960, as some sources assert. My mother left Jamaica in 1960, and she remembers Jakey as ‘a sweet little boy playing in the yard’.
I am now corresponding with my aunt who grew up with him. She was delighted when I told her I wanted to write about Jakey. As soon as I find out anything interesting, I will share it.
The relevance of this to all you family researchers out there is: when questioning relatives, be persistent and don’t take ‘I don’t remember’ for an answer. Otherwise when you finally hear something interesting and you wonder why they didn’t tell you before, the invariable answer is ‘You never asked’.
Well… soon come turned into a long ting. And what was supposed to be a hiatus of a couple of weeks turned into 18 MONTHS!!
But don’t worry, the blog is back.
And we’re joined by Caribbean Family History Group member, author and historian extraordinaire Ayshah Johnston. Ayshah will be inspiring us all with tips and tales from her own research. Thanks for bring the blog back to life Ayshah!
Over the next 10 days or so we’ll be adding new content, more links and fresh research resources for all of you conducting your Caribbean family history research.
To all those who have bee regularly checking back on the blog and commenting. Thanks for keeping the faith!
So, what have you been doing over the past 18months?
What has your research uncovered?
What skeletons have you dash out the cupboard?
Let us know by leaving a comment.
Welcome to our new visitors. Sorry for the slow updates been snowed under at work. But don’t worry – there’ll soon be posts about the Caribbean Family History Group’s recent visit to the National Archives, the latest developments at the Black Cultural Archives and a DNA special!!!
All will be revealed soon…
In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for posts or want to let us know how you’re your family history research is going drop me a line at kelly@bcaheritage.org.uk with Caribbean Family History in the subject line.
Film: How Britain Reinvented Slavery, BBC, 2005
58min 30sec Dir: Deep Sehgal
You can watch more about the Coolies of the Caribbean in this 2005 BBC documentary, How Britain Reinvented Slavery, which reveals the story of Indian indentured labour in the British Empire. The documentary includes footage of Professor David Dabydeen, whose great-grandfather was an indentured labourer, researching his family history at the National Archives of Guyana.
The first banner of the Caribbean Family History Group blog comes courtesy of my very cantankerous Great-Aunt Sissy (4th from the right) who was born in the parish of St Thomas. I won’t use her full name because Aunty says she doesn’t famous enough without publicity!! This picture was taken at Norman Manley Airport in 1959 just before she boarded the plane to London. The two women wearing hats to her left are her sisters Polly and Val.
Image: Family group, Norman Manley Airport, c.1959
courtesy of Kelly F
Do you have a photography that’s you’d like us to use as a banner? Drop me line at kelly@bcaheritage.org.uk
The story of over half a million of East Indians transported to the Caribbean between 1838 and 1916 is often one that is left untold. The slideshow above has come astounding early photographs of Indians in Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname.
I came across My Jamaican Family a beautifully written and illustrated blog, by Jamaican-Canadian librarian Dorothy Kew, exploring the history of her family in Jamaica. The blog includes fascinating tales of growing up in New Kingston and train trips into the country.
This post about using the LDS Family History Centre microfilm ( the Hyde Park Family History Centre in South Kensington would have the same records) and online records of the Jamaican Gleaner Newspaper Archive are particullay useful especially for those interested in research. Well worth a visit.
The Ellis Island Foundation website is useful not only if your Caribbean ancestors migrated to the USA, but also for a general ancestor search. Given how near the two regions are (a mere five days by steamship!) many Caribbean travellers simply visited and returned. And as the Ship’s Manifest records detailed information about each passenger, it’s a great starting point.
Procedure: Enter your ancestor’s name, gender and approx. year of birth. A list of possible matches will (hopefully) appear from which you may select the following: Passenger Record, Ship’s Manifest1, Original Ship’s Manifest2 and Ship Info. You will need to log in, but registering is free. If nothing comes up, try omitting a first name, varying the possible dates and even the spelling of your surname – spellings were pretty random in the past, and mistakes common.
The Ship’s Manifest is particularly useful as it records details such as the passenger’s name, age, marital status, ethnic origin, country of residence and address in the States. Both the Ship’s Manifest and Passenger Record may be viewed for free, or hard copies purchased from the Foundation. As a registered member, any additional information you have about the passenger may be added on the Create an Annotation page, for other users to see.
My Search: I have been trying to find out about my great grandparents. The eldest of their 13 children, Herman Johnston (No. 003) emigrated to the USA in 1914. I typed only his name, and to my amazement his entry was there along with some surprising additional information:
1 Ship’s Manifest fragment
extract courtesy of Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc
2 Original Ship’s Manifest fragment
extract courtesy of Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.
He travelled with five other family members (Nos. 2–7) and stayed with a Mrs. Alalia Joyce of 308 West 119th St., NY. The record shows she is his aunt, and the mother of Adrian and Evelyn Joyce (Nos. 6 & 7). It would appear that Alalia Joyce is my great grandfather’s sister. I do not know who Frances Johnston is (No. 2), but the scribble that looks like ‘dght’ could be daughter, meaning that Alalia is her daughter, therefore she herself would be my great grandfather’s mother. If so, then I have managed to go back one more generation without expecting to!
I definitely recommend this site. It is easy to use and has yielded exciting clues into my ancestry.
Having heard about the centre in South Kensington some time ago at a presentation at the British Museum about tracing your Caribbean roots, I decided to check it out. The attendants there were all friendly and showed me the catalogues of the microfiche records they held. In order to make any real progress one needs certain information about the person/s you are researching. If they are from Jamaica, you need to know both the Parish and the district within the Parish e.g Manchester (Mandeville) or Portland (Moore Town), their actual official name (Jamaicans tend to be known by a different name from which they we registered at birth) and the period within two or three years that you are researching e.g. according to your knowledge they were born between 1924 and 1926. Without these three pieces of information you are searching for a needle in a haystack. Family members may be able to give you some of the relevant information.
You need to realise that Jamaicans in the past (it may be true of other Caribbean countries) may not have always kept accurate records. A death register may suggest that someone was 65 when they died but looking at the marriage certificate it suggests they were 68 when they died. Your grandmmother’s name was Jane White but her real name was Icinda but should could be registered by her middle name which may have been Vernice.They may also have been more than one Jane White in the district.
This all makes researching at the centre potentially frustrating and you may need to go back a few times to get what you want but when you find what you are looking for, it is very exciting. Therefore patience is needed and you need to ensure you have at least 2 hours to spend at the centre on each visit. Ensure you have a little money so if you find a record of a relative and you want to photocopy it, that you can afford to do so.
So don’t get discouraged if things don’t work out first time. Remember “If at first you don’t succeed, try again.”
By Errol A.
More information: **NB: Hyde Park Family History Centre is now know as the London Family History Centre and their new website can be found here www.londonfhc.org
Having heard about the centre in South Kensington some time ago at a presentation at the British Museum about tracing your Caribbean roots, I decided to check it out. The attendants there were all friendly and showed me the catalogues of the microfiche records they held. In order to make any real progress one needs certain information about the person/s you are researching. If they are from Jamaica, you need to know both the Parish and the district within the Parish e.g Manchester (Mandeville) or Portland (Moore Town), their actual official name (Jamaicans tend to be known by a different name from which they we registered at birth) and the period within two or three years that you are researching e.g. according to your knowledge they were born between 1924 and 1926. Without these three pieces of information you are searching for a needle in a haystack. Family members may be able to give you some of the relevant information.
Kelly
Coleyville