Ancestors from the Caribbean

This is a follow-on guide to Researching Immigrant Ancestry and relates specifically to sources that may help you with research in the Caribbean.

Hopefully family members will have told you where your ancestors came from and when and why they moved to Britain.

It is useful to know why because certain groups of people have records associated with them.

Some people of Caribbean descent will have come to Britain with their employers, some for business and some will have served in the armed forces and been discharged in Britain.

The vast majority came to Britain after the Second World War.

If you still have family living in the Caribbean, they may provide all sorts of interesting and useful information.

Ethnicity

Most Caribbean people are descended from Africans who were enslaved and bought to work on the plantations between 1640 and 1807.

The British slave trade was abolished in 1807, but the enslaved peoples were not emancipated until 1834. Even then most were apprenticed for a further four years.

There are also a significant proportion of Caribbean people descended from British colonies in Asia, who were bought there as indentured labourers following abolition.

A number of people are of European descent, particularly British (some of whom were transported) and there are small numbers descended from indigenous Amerindians.

Surnames

The trail of surnames can be rather complicated for a number of reasons.

Many children were born outside wedlock and so baptised in their mother's name. 

Men and women may have had children with several different partners.

Children may have been baptised in their mother's name, then later adopted their father's name or that of another man whom their mother went on to marry.

Enslaved people did not have legal surnames until emancipation. Records show however, that some did use surnames prior to this event.

Upon emancipation, people either chose their own surname or were given a surname by a church or state official.

It is popularly believed that the surname of their most recent owner was taken. Although this did happen, research shows that this was not always the case.

People also took the surnames of their father, mother, a respected local person or friend, even a famous person.

Some slaves had multiple forenames in order to differentiate people of the same name, so often one of these was taken as their new surname.

You can contact other people carrying out names research via the Caribbean Surname Index (opens new window).

The FamilySearch (opens new window) website is a good starting place for research.

It has many civil registration registers and church records, as well as probate records and military records from the Caribbean.

Civil registration

Registration of births, marriages and deaths began on different islands at different times. You can find a table listing the start dates at the Moving Here (opens new window) website.

It also contains a list of contact details for registry offices, archives and libraries throughout the Caribbean, but please be aware that this is an archived site and is no longer being updated.

Church records

Prior to civil registration, church records will be your main source.

Both Anglican and Nonconformist church records should be looked at, as well as Catholic records in those countries which have a Catholic history.

Marriage registers generally recorded place of residence after 1825.

As this was prior to emancipation this can be crucial to establishing if your ancestor was enslaved and, if so, where they were put to work.

Baptism records may record the slave owner's name, which again is crucial to finding more records which might add to your family history.

Enslaved people were not generally baptised, legally married or buried in consecrated ground before the late 18th century.

Therefore, it is unlikely you will find out more about your ancestors from church records if they were of African descent, unless they had been freed or had bought their freedom.

Slave registers

These registers were compiled between c1812 and 1834 and the information they contain varies across the former colonies.

However, they were updated every three years or so, making them very useful in establishing who was born, who died and who was moved in between updates.

They are arranged by parish and, typically, they record:

• The slave's name and age
• Their owner
• Any movement or change of ownership
• Grants of freedom
• Whether born in Africa or the Caribbean

Some contain additional details, including:

• Family relationships
• Colour (as an indicator of the degree of racial mix)
• Country of origin
• Tribal markings or tattoos
• Other remarks

Some of these registers are held in local archives in the Caribbean, but some were transferred to England and are held at The National Archives (TNA) (opens new window).

These registers can also be viewed online at Ancestry (opens new window). This is a subscription website, but can be viewed free of charge at the Norfolk Record Office (NRO), the Norfolk Heritage Centre (NHC) and King's Lynn Borough Archives.

Slave Compensation Commission

Following the abolition of slavery, the commission was set up to value slaves and compensate their owners.

Information on individual slaves is mostly limited to name, age and work, but occasionally there is additional information, such as a mother and child being valued together.

These records are held by TNA.

Slave owners' records

Records relating to the plantations and their owners can also include valuable information about enslaved people.

Records may be kept in the local archives or, if the owner lived in or returned to Britain, they may be held in county record offices in the UK. Useful records may include:

• Wills and other probate records
• Personal papers and correspondence
• Business records and accounts
• Inventories and valuations
• Estate papers

Reports of Protectors of Slaves

These began to be taken in 1824. They record details of punishments, conditions and complaints against owners, as well as notes on grants of freedom and marriages.

TNA holds reports from St Lucia, Trinidad and Guyana.

Local archives in the Caribbean may hold reports from other former colonies.

Records of the former Colonial Office are now held by TNA (opens new window) and these can be of great use. They include:

• Original correspondence - this includes: 
  • Accounts of rebellions and invasions
  • Payments for relief following such events
  • Land grants
  • Reports and proceedings from courts
  • Grants of freedom returns
  • Militia lists
  • Inhabitants lists
  • Petitions
  • Testimonials for grants of naturalisation
  • Civil servant applications.
• Registers of correspondence - these are most useful as finding aids for original correspondence.
• Entry books and out letters - volumes of letters sent out by the Colonial Office to governments, officials and individuals between the 17th century and 1926.
• Blue Books - the books record population, education, employment, religion and import and export statistics for each colony. They also hold lists of public employees.
• Sessional papers - these are local government proceedings and include grants of freedom and government appointments.
• Government gazettes - information contained in these varies across the colonies, but some may contain useful information including: 
  • Births, marriages and deaths notices
  • Probate matters
  • Tax lists
  • Voters lists
  • Notices of the arrival and departure of shipping (some with lists of first class passengers)
  • Lists of public servants
  • Lists of applicants for gun, liquor and dog licences
  • Sales and transfers of land and property
  • Grants of naturalisation.
• Acts - These include: 
  • Grants of freedom
  • Grants of land
  • Grants of naturalisation
  • People transported or deported
  • Sales of land for debt recovery
  • Appointments of officials
• Naval Office returns - These record information about ships arriving and departing.

The British Library

The British Library (opens new window) holds an extensive collection of Caribbean newspapers.

These contain details of slave ship arrivals and auctions, details of runaways and lists of the names of slaves for hire.

Other resources

• Probate records - These are held at local archive centres, registry offices or even the courts.
• Military records - The West India Regiment was formed in 1795 and played a significant role in the First World War. Thousands of men from the Caribbean also joined the RAF during the Second World War. Military records are held at TNA (opens new window). Records relating to some servicemen from the Caribbean are found among the military records available through Ancestry (opens new window) and Find My Past (opens new window) (both subscription websites, but available free of charge at NRO, NHC and King's Lynn Borough Archives). 
• Merchant Navy - A great number of Caribbean men joined the merchant navy. A guide to where the Merchant Navy's records are held can be found at the Royal Museums Greenwich (opens new window) website. Some of the records referred to are available through Ancestry and Find My Past.
• Records of the Admiralty (ADM): Navy Board and the Board of Admiralty - Correspondence and medical journals contain some names and personal information about enslaved people, noted during their passage to the Caribbean. These records are held at TNA.
• Maps and plans - Maps of the islands can provide a lot of information about landowners and plantations. Many villages bear the name of the former estate or landowner today. Useful maps can be found in the UK in TNA, the British Library and sometimes county record offices (if the owner lived or died in the UK), as well as in local archives and libraries in the Caribbean.

Books

• G Grannum, Tracing Your West Indian Ancestors (Richmond, 2002)
• G Lane, Tracing Ancestors in Barbados: A Practical Guide (Baltimore, Maryland, 2005)
• M E Mitchell, Jamaican Ancestry: How to Find Out More (Bowie, Maryland, 1998)
• S D Porter, Jamaican Records: A Research Manual (London, 1997)

Websites

• Caribbean Genealogy Research  (opens new window)
• Every Generation Media (opens new window)
• Genealogy (opens new window)
• Moving Here (opens new window)