Find Ancestors

thanks for the message Tom - always best to answer on here rather than by message

Ann X

Sorry I forgot the Jamaican newspaper "The Daily Gleaner" is full of fascinating stuff and is online. Goes back to 1834.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/

(scroll down to bottom of page for archives)

www.familysearch.com - free Mormon site has good coverage of Jamaica

Well it all depends on who and when and where you are looking.

I have quite a few in Barbados and Jamaica and in the W.I. generally tho' they were mostly planters, sugar barons and chancers. The Europeans tended to be the impecunious younger sons of those who thought of themselves as the gentry. One of mine even had a hospital in Jamaica named after him. You can find these people on Family Search (aka IGI), British Library, some US archives etc. and sometimes on the UK and US census.

A lot of those who worked in the plantations were given European names which endure to this day. As these names were often the same as those of the planters and there was a lot of carrying on and some mixed marriages it is nigh on impossible to trace a tree without additional documentary source and/or knowledge of the family you are researching.

OTOH it is very interesting.

The voyage records of the Fyfee banana boats can be quite useful and it may surprise some that both Brits and Africans used the boats.

The state of Jamaica keeps excellent archives though not a lot is on line as yet. If you haven't the time for a trip there ( why not it's a great place! ) then they are quite helpful by post. Try here in the first instance:

Jamaica Archives, Spanish Town, Jamaica, tel: (876) 984-2581, official website
http://jard.gov.jm/index.php
The Registrar General, Vital Records Information, Twickenham Park, Spanish Town, Jamaica, tel: (876) 984-3041
www.rgd.gov.jm,

There are often extensive records for the plantations, who lived there, who worked there etc. All very politically incorrect of course. An episode of WDYTYA covered it about a year ago.

Further back there is quite a lot of history about individual people, the good the bad and the ugly involved in the iron triangle (Bristol - West Africa - Caribbean ) in the National Archives, Bristol & Liverpool archives.

If you want any more help free to pm me as there issues here which get some people very hot under the collar.

good luck and cool runnings

Hope this helps.

Jamaican Genealogy: Where do I begin?


http://jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples/begin.htm

Regards Vera































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Hi All

I would like some information on finding Jamaican ancestors

where is the best place to search when one has very little info to go on!

Thank you for any help

Tom