Category Archives: Immigration and Emigration

Immigration to Jamaica. Emigration from Jamaica

Jamaica Family Research

JamaicaFamilySearch.com is an online genealogy resource library that targets persons researching their Jamaican family history. The site contains information on Jamaican residents primarily born before 1920. Some of the site’s contents is free to the public but for full access to all resources you need to pay a reasonable fee for membership(US$8/month,US$20/3month and US$75/year). To subscribe to the site navigate to here: https://www.keysecure.com/jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Subscribe/subscribe.htm

The site is updated regularly with Particia’s finds as well as user contributions. Below you will find a list of type of documents and transcriptions found on the website. The list is divided into pages that are free to public access and those pages reserved for members only. These lists are updated regularly.

Free Pages

  1. Jamaica Almanacs - Almanacs contained a list of the proprietors and properties. Almanacs also listed official and other persons on the island in the Civil and Military Lists.
  2. 1878 Directory of Jamaica – The Directory is a book that lists name, full address, occupation, and place of employment, for people from all walks of life in Jamaica.
  3. Manumissions of slaves 1820-1825 - Manumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves.
  4. Private Acts of the Jamaican Assembly 1760-1810
  5. History of the Parish of Trelawny by Daniel Ogilvie
  6. Index to Monumental Insciptions of the British West Indies by J. H. Lawrence-Archer
  7. Handbooks of Jamaica - extracts
  8. Various editions of the Royal Gazette publication
  9. “Stirring Incidents in the life of a British Soldier,” being stationed in Jamaica, and his view of the Morant Bay Rebellion.
  10. Pages from the 1910 Directory: Transportation and Advertisements
  11. The “Jamaica Witness“
  12. History of the Moravian missions in Jamaica
  13. Who’s Who, Feurtado’s “Personages”, Caribbeana and other book and newspaper excerpts
  14. Excerpts from Jamaican Parish Registers and Wills
  15. Excerpts from Parish Registers
  16. British censuses – excerpts
  17. Documents at the Public Records Office, England – excerpts
  18. Photographs and drawings of early Jamaica, and modern Jamaica. Maps

 

Member Pages

  1. Lists of proprietors and properties 1811-1845
  2. Civil and Military Lists 1751 – 1870
  3. Voters’ List 1860
  4. Who’s Who 1861
  5. 1891 Business Directory
  6. 1910 Business and residential Directory
  7. Church of England (Anglican ), Civil Registration, Wills, Dissenter Marriages Registers 1680-1930
  8. Jewish births, marriages, deaths - 1680-1930
  9. Official and Other Personages of Jamaica 1655 to 1790
  10.  A newspaper report on the Morant Bay Rebellion.
  11. Louis C. Malabre’s manuscripts records of the St. Domingue refugee families in Jamaica, and their descendants. See families and documents
  12. Colonial Office Correspondences
  13. Pedigrees of Burke and Bouke Families in Ireland for 100o
  14. Introduction to Burke Pedigrees
  15. Diary of Philip Livingston, 1782-1783
  16. Diaries of James and Ann Taylor 1797-1800
  17. British Regiments stationed in Jamaica 1702 to 1962
  18. Maps of Jamaica 1702-1845

Tips on searching the website:

 

If you have the surname of you ancestors then you should use the site index: http://jamaicanfamilysearch.com/cgi-bin/search_form.cgi?BUILDINDEX=y

 

 

Jamaicans with East Indian Ancestors

After the abolition of slavery in 1838 the sugar plantations and other estates suffered a decline in productivity due to a shortage of labourers. To combat the depressed sugar industry market, Britain decided to emigrate a very large amount of Indian indentured labourers to the sugar producing colonies. A transcript of the Act pertaining to the this arrangement can be found here: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/india/docs/coolie_act.htm.

Between the years 1845 and 1917, over 36,412 Indians were taken to Jamaica as indentured workers.

The first group of East Indians landed at Old Harbour Bay, in 1845. They came from Northern India, 200 men, 28 women under 30 years old and 33 children under 12 years old, 261 people in all. On arrival, the labourers were given one suit of clothing, agricultural tools and cooking utensils. Divided into groups of 20 and 40 they were then sent first by mule cart and later by overcrowded freight trains to plantations in Portland, St. Thomas, St. Mary, Clarendon and Westmoreland. After the indentured period ended in 1917 around two thirds of them remaining on the island.

In 1857, three thousand East Indians migrated from Jamaica to Belize, 382 of which were originally born in India. However, they came here as free East Indians, due to the expiration of their contracts in Jamaica. Therefore, all the East Indians in Belize came from Jamaica.

The Indian Government encouraged indentured labour and recruiting depots were established in Calcutta and Madras although agents were paid significantly less, per recruit, than for a European workers. Most Indians who signed contracts did so in the hope of returning to India with the fruits of their labour, rather than intending to migrate permanently. The Indian Government appointed a Protector of Immigrants in Jamaica, although this office tended to protect the interests of the employers rather than the workers. Although technically the workers had to appear before a magistrate and fully understand their terms and conditions, these were written in English and many workers, signing only with a thumb print, did not comprehend the nature of their service.

 

As men and women travelled significant distances to take ships from Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, it is very difficult to pinpoint where one might have originated.  However, many of the persons that signed up for indentured labour came from the Northwest provinces particularly from the districts Allahabad, Azimfhur, Mirzapore, Beneras, Gahazeepore, Goruckpore, Meerut, Cawnpor, Barielly, Agra, Jansie, and Jounpore. Other possible places of origin are in the province of Bengal (districts: Calcutta, 24-Pergunnahs, Howrah, Nuddea, Burdwan, Moorshedabad, Jessore, Pubua, Rungpore, Cooch Behar, Purneah, Chota, Nagpore, Bankoora, Birbhum, Midnapore, Sonthal, Pergunnahs, Dacca, Mymensingh, Backergunge, Fureedpore), and Bihar (District Shahabad, Patna, Gya, Arrah, Sarun, Tirhoot, Chumparan, Monghyr, Bhagulpore). For more details on where your East Indian ancestors may have originated navigate to http://scnc.ukzn.ac.za/doc/SHIP/places.html . Information related to the caste system can be viewed here: http://scnc.ukzn.ac.za/doc/SHIP/CasteFinal.htm . A guide on tracing ancestors who may have been indentured labourers can be found here: http://scnc.ukzn.ac.za/doc/SHIP/guidelines.html .

At the end of the indentureship contract, many Indians reverted to their ancestral occupations, some became farmers or fishermen, while others returned to the trades – barber, goldsmith and ironsmith. Some became money lenders.

The traditional Indian practice of naming the boys after gods and heroes and the girls after goddesses, rivers, flowers, seasons, moods, or words of great significance have now been completely abandoned. Almost every Indian regardless of his or her religion has anglicized first and second names; the surnames too have been changed except for names such as Maragh and Singh. Due to a likely name change tracing your East Indian ancestors maybe lead to a roadblock but you could get lucky.

Visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/indian-indentured-labour.htm for more details and archived records on the Indentured Labour.

Jamaicans with Chinese Ancestors

Upon the abolition of the slavery  in 1834, sugar plantation owners in Jamaica sought other means to mitigate the labour shortage.The British decided to emigrate a very large amount of Indian indentured labourers during the first half of the 19th century. The immigration of Chinese indentured labour to Jamaica came during the early second half of the 19th century when when some of the Indian laboures returned home upon completion of their period of indenture.

The first large group of 267 Chinese immigrants came from Hong Kong on July 30, 1854 on a ship called Epsom. A few months later another group of Chinese to came from Panama, where they had been recruited to help construct the railroad between Panama City and Colon. They arrived in Jamaica on November 1 and 18, 1854 on ships called the Vampire (195 people) and the Theresa Jane (10 people) respectively. Panamanian authorities sent them to nearby Jamaica solely due to its proximity and in exchange for Jamaican labourers. Many of these Chinese workers were suffered under the under the harsh Panama conditions, and arrived in Jamaica ill. Some died shortly after arrival in Jamaica.

A decade later in the 1860s another set of 200+ Chinese arrived from Trinidad and British Guiana.These immigrants were farmers, originally from Guangdong province in South East China and recruited in Hong Kong. Two decades later, in the 1880s, another group of 680 immigrants arrived ­ this time directly from China. They had been recruited as farm labourers. There were 501 men, 105 women, 54 boys and 17 girls who docked in Kingston Harbour in 1884. Upon arrival, they were claimed by the plantation owners who held their contracts and scattered across the island. They were paid very poor wages and many ended their 3 or 5 year indentureship period owing money to their employers. They were required to work seven days a week, sun up to sundown ,doing exactly what the slaves did. After 1885 large-scale immigration of Chinese labourers occurred in an attempt to satisfy the demand for field labour created by the departure of African-Jamaican and East Indian labourers from the plantations. This fourth wave of immigrants totalled close to 700. Some came without contracts and were thus able to choose their occupation, which was generally divided between farming and the retail grocery trade.In 1888, more than 800 additional Chinese arrived. Chinese Indentured workers were sent to estates all over Jamaica, in every parish where there was a sugar plantation or factory. For example, the first arrivals were sent to Duckenfield, Albion, Lyssons and Trinity in St. Thomas, Spring Garden in Portland, Blue Castle in Westmoreland, Lanrummy in St Mary. (“The Shopkeepers”: Ray Chen, page 13-23)

By the mid-1920s the total number of Chinese who emigrated to Jamaica numbered close to 4,000. By 1930, an additional 2,000 Chinese had arrived. Early Chinese migrants, largely male, often entered into common-law unions with the Afro-Jamaican women who worked in their businesses. However, Chinese women rarely married Afro-Jamaican men. Interracial marriage became less common as the number of women of Chinese descent in Jamaica grew. Nevertheless, the 1943 census showed 12,394 Chinese residing in Jamaica; these were divided into three categories by the census, namely “China-born” (2,818), “local-born” (4,061), and “Chinese coloured” (5,515), the latter referring to multiracial people of mixed African and Chinese descent. This made Chinese Jamaicans the second largest Chinese population in the Caribbean. Most Chinese Jamaicans are Hakka and can trace ancestors to these Chinese labourers that came to Jamaica in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. Assimilation has taken place through generations and few Chinese Jamaicans can speak Chinese today; most of them speak English or Jamaican Patois as their first language. The vast majority have anglicized given names, and many have Chinese surnames. Some of the Chinese families that came to Jamaica include Achong, Aleong, Chin, Fung, Hochoy, LaiFook, Lee, Lee Hueng, Lee Lum, Ling, Qui, Lang, She,  Shen, Yang, Deng, Wu, Dai, Luo, Jiang,  Scott, Wong, Chen Li, Zheng, Zeng, Liu, Huang, Zhang, and He. The majority of the Chens in Jamaica came from Guanlan in Dongguan County, China. The Zheng and Zengs came from the Tangli in Dongguan. The Lis are mainly from Shawan in Boa-an while the Hes are from Hengang in Huiyang. The website http://houseofchinn.com provides great detail on the genealogy of Chinese Surnames. The Zhong Hua Hui Guan or better known as the Chinese Benevolent Association is the main organization serving all Chinese in Jamaica.

“Since the 1970s, thousands of Chinese Jamaicans moved abroad as Jamaica’s economy slowed; at first, they went primarily to Canada, which was more open to immigration than the United States, but the U.S. later became a major destination as well. As a result, clusters of Chinese Jamaicans can be found outside of Jamaica as well, in Toronto, New York City, and South Florida. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a new wave of Chinese migration to Jamaica, consisting of Hong Kong and Taiwan entrepreneurs who set up textiles factories on the island targeting the U.S. market, and often brought in migrant workers from China to staff their ventures. see http://jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0055.htm”

The National Archives at Kew holds records related to indentureship of Chinese migrant workers. Here are a list of document references that are of interest:

  1. CO 318/222
  2. CO 318/262 – request for Chinese immigration to British Guiana; emigrant surgeons; request for migrants to Jamaica; elations between ‘Creole women’ and Indian and Chinese immigrants; time period for emigration; emigration from China;
  3. CO 318/160 -Various printed papers relating to the emigration of Chinese labourers to the West Indies.
  4. CO 318/259 - Correspondence from Emigration Commissioners relating to the West Indies. Subjects covered are as follows: reference to various migrant ships which sail from Calcutta to British Guiana, Jamaica, and Trinidad, includes statistics of those onboard with proportion of females; condition and treatment of Indian and Chinese immigrants in British Guiana; report on Chinese immigrants at Honduras; reference to immigrant ships Asima, India, St Hilda, and Devonshire, which sailed for British Guiana; includes various information including figures of those onboard, with proportion of females, and cases of ill-treatment and abuse; return of number of immigrants and liberated Africans introduced into the British West India colonies and Mauritius from 1843 to 1856 and from January 1857 to end 1869; also a return of numbers who have returned; despatch from Netherlands consul relating to Chinese emigration from Canton to Surinam; letter from Des Voeux on condition, treatment, and alleged discontent of Indian and Chinese immigrants in British Guiana; proportion of females to males on Indian migrant ships.
  5. CO 318/221 – Correspondence from ‘offices’ (Government departments and other organisations) and from individuals on matters relating to the West Indies and immigration. Correspondents and subjects are as follows:
    mortalities on ships travelling from China to Havana; African migrants to Martinique; Bill relating to Chinese migration; Asian migrants to Martinique; Chinese migration to Havana; information for Netherlands Minister about finances in British West Indies; abuses relating to Chinese emigration; Chinese indentured migration; Chinese immigration; agent in China. 

Scots in Jamaica, 1655-1855

The book Scots in Jamaica, 1655-1855 by David Dobson lists many of the ealy Scottish inhabitants in Jamaica during the 17th and 18th centuries. The author details the settler’s name and occupation, at least one date, and the source. Where available he also provides such particulars as reason for emigration, name of sailing vessel, next of kin, educational institution attended, and so on. Besides a list of sources, the book concludes with an alphabetically arranged list of the ships that took part in the Jamaica transportation.

“Besides the banished Covenanters and imprisoned Jacobites, Jamaica was a major destination for Scottish emigrants throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The first group of Scots emigrants landed in Jamaica in 1700 as refugees from the failed Scots colony of Darien(Darien is the Scots’ name for Panama) on the Isthmus of Panama. Many of the early emigrants were Highlanders from Argyll encouraged by Colonel John Campbell, a survivor of the Darien experience. By the mid-18th century an estimated one-third of the white population of Jamaica was Scottish or of Scots origin. Scotsmen came to view Jamaica as a place where fortunes could be made, and consequently Jamaica attracted planters, merchants, physicians, clergymen, skilled tradesmen, and other professionals. Some settled permanently, while others returned home after acquiring wealth. A number of American Loyalists, notably from the Southern colonies and including Scots, settled in Jamaica after 1783. Jamaica continued to attract Scots immigrants into the following century; even the great poet Robert Burns planned to immigrate to Jamaica but abandoned his plan at the very last minute.” from http://www.genealogical.com

Jamaica Shipping Records 1802

MS 11936/427/740793  21 December 1802

These documents are held at London Metropolitan Archives
Contents:
Insured: William Timson senior, Samuel Wright, and William Timson junior, 67 Lower Thames Street, wine and brandy merchants
Other property or occupiers: West India Dock Companys warehouses 2, 4 and 8, Isle of Dogs Blackwall (Robert Aylward, Jamaica); Ship “Hornby” from Tobago; Ship “Peggy” (Sinclair) Tobago; Ship “True Briton” (McDougal); Ship “Ross ” (Bruce, Jamaica); Ship “Falmouth”; Ship “Atlanta”; Ship “Europe” (Willis, Jamaica); Ship “Cheswick” (Pouler, Jamaica); Ship “Hope” (Baker Jamaica); Ship “Rebecca” (Sowden, Jamaica); Ship “Brunswick” (Drysdale); Ship “George” (Clough, Jamaica); Ship “Albion” (Hayman, Jamaica); Ship “Jack Tar” (Busy, Jamaica); Ship “Diana” (Dias, Tobago); Ship George” (Clough); Ship “Royal Edward Jamaica; Ship “Albion” (Meek, Jamaica); Ship “Diadem” (Burrough, Grenada); Ship “Lady Penryn” (Burges, Grenada); “Ship “Alexander” (Cowthorpe, Jamaica); Ship “Brunswick” (Drysdale, Jamaica); Ship “Sheddons” (Jamaica); Ship “Trusty” (Neal); Ship “Argo” (White)

Muster Roll Listing of Ships travelling to Jamaica


Muster Roll Listing of Ships travelling to Jamaica during the 18th century – Slave Trade

The muster roll is a list of all crew signed on for all or part of a voyage, which was used to calculate the money each man should pay to the Sailors’ Hospital Fund (insurance).

Muster roll

Ireland’s Largest Family History Records Database

http://www.rootsireland.ie/ holds Ireland’s largest online database of over 19 million records of family history records including Birth, Death, Marriage and Gravestone records.  The list of databases available for search are as follows:

 

List of databases  
Baptismal/Birth Records 8,912,869
Marriage Records 4,131,815
Burial/Death Records 1,638,169
Census Records 2,731,620
Gravestone Inscriptions 176,974
Griffith’s Valuation 1,140,619
Passenger Lists 227,589

 

RootsIreland.ie provides access to an index of Irish records and digitised versions of the original source material; the website does not contain images of original documents. The website was created by the Irish Family History Foundation (I.F.H.F.). The Irish Family History Foundation has been the coordinating body for a network of county genealogy centres on the island of Ireland for over 25 years. The genealogy centres’ databases include  parish church records of baptisms, marriages and deaths, census returns and gravestone inscriptions. Millions of these records are searchable online as indicated above, providing a unique resource for family historians not available on any other website. New records will be added as the computerization of sources continues in the local genealogy centres.

The vital records from several Irish counties are  searchable online as

shown below:

You can register as a member of the website here https://rootsireland.ie/ifhf/login.php  and get 10 free searches of the index. Once you login you have the ability to search for your ancestors by entering a first name, surname and year if known:Find Irish Ancestors

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Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625-1825. Vol. I results for Jamaica on Ancestry.com

The six volume book “Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625-1825″ is a compilation of names of Scottish emigrants that appeared on ship passenger lists (prior to 1825) where the destination was the Americas.  The source of the infomation was retrieved from various documents in the British archives. The first volume of this book has been digitized and is searchable on Ancestry.com. Many Scot emigration was forced in 18th century. Some of these emigrants eventually settled in Eglish colonies such as Jamaica. An excerpt of the search results for the island of Jamaica is shown below:

 

List of 70 African immigrants who claimed return passage from Jamaica to Sierra Leone, Africa

The National Archives at Kew holds a list of 70 African immigrants who claimed return passage from Jamaica to Sierra Leone, Africa on August 21, 1861 after emancipation. This list is outlined in the document CO137/356/25.

Here is a summary of the details outlined in this document reference: “ Return of 70 African immigrants who claimed return passage to Sierra Leone onboard Clarendon; local government invited all claimants of return passages to come forward. Out of applicants, 109 forfeited return passage for sum of money. Enclosed: report by agent general of immigration, includes list of immigrants onboard [70 names supplied, include: James Cole, John Thomas, Sally Davis, Jonas Thomas, Lucy Thomas, Nancy George, David Jones, Hannah Thomas, William Lambert, William Campbell]. Charles Henry Darling, Governor of Jamaica, Jamaica No.122, Folios 182-191.”

 

Here is an excerpt.