Swasey family of Belize British Honduras

[Skoyen89]

Hi

I am trying to find more information on the Swasey family of British Honduras.  I have three individuals as a starting point:

Salome Celia Therses Swasey b. 27 Nov 1928 in Honduras and married 2 Sept 1950 in Belize to John William O'Keefe, a British soldier.  She died in 1992 in Birmingham.  (John William O'Keefe was born ca. 1921 in Dublin and last information I have is that he was in the Plymouth area in 1953)

Louis EG Swasey - Salome's father and a mason in 1950.  I have found a medal card for Louis Swasey who served in WWI but that is all.

Marie Swasey: a witness on the marriage certificate

Any help on these, or on routes to research families in Belize/British Honduras much appreciated.

[PaulineJ]

where did the 1950 marriage take place?

[barryd]

 

"in British Honduras and married 2 Sept 1950 in Belize, British Honduras"



and let us not forget British West Hartlepool

[PaulineJ]

Belize isn't enough to narrow it down to a city/town/general district.

[whiteout7]

Unless those records mean they were married in Belize city, British Honduras where the surname seems to be common?

 
Swasey, Louis Corps: British West Indies Regiment Regiment No 5342 - the medal card might tell you his first theatre of battle. That first theatre of battle could be quite interesting as the service records were destroyed in the Blitz.

http://westindiacommittee.org/caribbeansgreatwar/map/africa/topics/british-honduras/

http://livelb.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/a-global-view/north-america/british-honduras/

[whiteout7]

Louis Everth Gladstone Swasey: Home and Income allowed Belize 1938.

So Belize seems to be a specific place in British Honduras much like San Pedro, British Honduras

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00011470/00004/53?search=swasey

Josiah Swasey, Magnes Emmanuel Swasey, Isacc Swasey, Charles Auguster Swasey and James Allan Swasey held properties at Stann Creek district where a branch of the Monkey river was called the Swasey in 1938!

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00011470/00004/93?search=swasey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangriga Dangriga, formerly known as Stann Creek Town, is a town in southern Belize, located on the ... Dangriga was settled before 1832 by Garinagu (Black Caribs, as they were known to the British) from Honduras. ((This family was probably a mixture of bloodlines, as Belize had French, English and Spanish influences too))

NB Honduras and British Honduras are not the same place.

[whiteout7]

This could be John William O'Keefe's death registration?

Freebmd
Deaths Sep 1970 
O'KEEFE    John William    23De1919    Brighton    5h   229

Brighton is near Plymouth (sort of?)

There are two females born with the surname O'Keefe and mothers maiden name Swasey on free bmd too have you got them? Could still be alive

There was a Rosalie Swasey that married in Belize in 1953 to a British Soldier
"British Armed Forces And Overseas Banns And Marriages" she could also be a relative.

https://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/528687/trailblazing-women-of-belize.html

[Skoyen89]

Many thanks for the response and the information.

The Swasey information is useful and gives the full name of the father.  there is a record on Ancestry of a Louis Swasey travelling from Belize to Baltimore, USA arriving there 11 march 1956 so that may be the same person.  However the record is in the Worldwide collection and I only have the Uk subscription so I will have to investigate 'Pay as you go' to access this.   

The medal card does not show where (or if he served overseas) altho he had the BWM and Victory medals so he may have had to have served overseas to get both.

I wonder where the British Honduras birth, death, marriages records are kept?

The post by Whiteout7 on the O'Keefe angle is interesting.  There is another John O'Keefe who has a death in June 1982 b.  26 March 1920.  The death was in Merthyr Tydfil 27/402.  If he was aged 29 in Sept 1950 (from the marriage cert) this DOB is nearer.

The Rosalie Swasey link is interesting....I will try to find that marriage record.

Again thanks!
 

[whiteout7]

"Belize has a Archive and Record Services, formerly the National Archives, it is in Belmopan it has a lot of records that can be helpful in genealogical research -- old census records, old newspapers, government tax records, death, birth and marriage records, etc but to access any of the records, which are a mishmash of paper, microfilm, microfiche, video and other media, you'll have to go to Belmopan. Not all records are available to the general public."

So perhaps you have to go to British Honduras to find all this

There is also a Cecil Swasey on Familysearch born in 1904 in British Honduras in Belize city, who goes to America via Scotland in 1943 his job is an orderly.  WW2 connection perhaps?