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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.

Coolies of the Guyana

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.

You can find out more about Guyanese family history from the Guyanese Genealogy Yahoo Group and Guyana/British Guiana Genealogical Society.

More Information:
How Britain Reinvented Slavery
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=8146344291595038205
http://bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/coolies.shtml

Guyanese Genealogy Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/guyanese_genealogy/

The Guyana/British Guiana Genealogical Society
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyggbs/index.htm

Banner No.1 – Aunt Sissy

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

East Indians of the Caribbean

Film: Early East Indians of the Caribbean
courtesy of http://www.youtube.com/user/hisdreams

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.

My Jamaican Family – blog

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.

By Kelly F.

Image: Maud Dey Smedmore , Kingston, Jamaica, c.1925
courtesy of http://myjamaicanfamily.blogspot.com

More links:
My Jamaican Family
Hyde Park Family History Centre
Jamaican Gleaner Newspaper Archive

Using the Ellis Island Foundation for tracing Caribbean ancestors

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.

by Aysha J.

 

More information:
Ellis Island

 

Hyde Park Regional Family History Centre

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:
Hyde Park Family History Centre
How to get there