Ancestors from the Caribbean

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)