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Research in Other Countries => Europe => Topic started by: Candolim_Imp on Thursday 07 April 05 21:31 BST (UK)
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My partner's family has 2, maybe 3, different merchant seamen who arrived in Liverpool between about 1870 & 1956... and I've reached a brick wall in my research.
Liverpool record office have advised me that they hold few records for the merchant navy, and it would require travel down south to obtain the records... which isn't really a viable option at this time (in terms of mobility and finances).
The most recent individual is the most sought after... my partner's father, Morris Small, who settled here before 1956 from Barbados. All we know is that HIS father was called Brandforde Small (or Branford/Brandford etc). Brandforde was also a Merchant Seaman, and apparently did the West Indies-American routes. We believe that the family were from St Michael's area of Barbados, and that Morris had a sister who ran a Rum shack on the beach.... as you can see, very little to go on!
We have no age or parents for Brandforde. I have read that the Barbadian authorities will issue certificates quite cheaply, but I find it hard to believe that they would run a Seach on Brandforde Small, birthdate, parents & birthplace unknown... even the spelling is vague.
The next most wanted Seaman is Henry Williams, married in Liverpool 1915, from Sierra Leone.... age, parents, exact birthplace unknown. Family anecdotes claim that he also had a connection to Liberia... possibly holding dual nationality.
The third West Indian sailor isn't positively identified, so no point in detailing him.
Does anyone have any useful advice about tracing these men, particularly any resources I can access from home or Liverpool libraries/museums etc?
We plan to visit Barbados next February, and desperately want to research the family as much as possible before we go, so that we can visit any places of family interest, and spend any research time on the information that can ONLY be accessed in person in Barbados, rather than waste time doing things we might achieve beforehand.
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hi Candolim Imp,
what i can tell you is that there are 2 HENRY WILLIAMS that married in 1915 @ Liverpool
AMJ 1915 Henry B Williams & Mary A Kelly L'pool 8b 47
JAS 1915 Henry Williams & Catherine Colebourne L'pool 8b 53
hope this proves to be of some help
Good luck Sharren :-* :-*
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Hi,
I'm not sure if you have found this website before but it has records from various ethnic groups that moved to the UK.
http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/roots/default.htm
Hope you find something. I was able to pick up on Jewish families in my tree by searching with surname only.
Sue
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Sharren,
Yes... he is the Henry who married Catherine Colebourn. I have that marriage and have viewed the original registers. The Colebourn's are a nightmare in themselves, but have managed to trace them at least back to 1891... and probably to the 1700's... The problem is Henry Williams himself. He died many years ago, before my partner's birth, and very few people remember much about his life details... possibly he was one of these people who didn't talk about his life much.
Although he was my partner's grandfather, he was much older than one might expect, as my partner's mother was such a late child (born about 30 years after their marriage).
I do have a little on Henry... he was a fireman on the ships, and according to his marriage entry he was 23 in 1915. His father was John Williams, a carpenter.
There are some Williams details on IGI which could be this family, but I have no means of establishing proof at present.
Our reading up on Sierra Leone has explained early confusion about why a native African would have a name like Williams, but this is because of Sierra Leone being a place of repatriation for former slaves and their descendants, primarily from British colonies.... so Henry Williams family will also have been on the plantations.
I did find an interesting advert from an American newspaper in wanted ads for lost relatives, 1865-1867:
SAMUEL WILLIAMS of Nashville, TN - Looking for SYLVIA WILLIAMS, my mother, formerly belonged to JAMES MAXWELL of Augusta, Georgia. Before him, she was owned by DR. DeGARR. I formerly belonged to JAMES MAXWELL. My father is HENRY WILLIAMS, now in Liberia.
This would bear out the Liberia connection, and it's quite possible that our Henry Williams was named after his grandfather. I also found some Liberian census returns for the same period, and found a couple of possible Henry Williams'... but it's all conjecture.
I have checked out the Moving Here pages, and, although they contain some interesting information, they haven't led to any positive internet links to either family.
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Candolin-Imp,not sure which records youve checked,was it Merchant Navy seamens records?
Just asking,Goggy
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Imp
Apparently this site has some info you might find interesting
http://www.candoo.com/surnames/caribbean_k.txt
Annie
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Hi
Goggy... sorry I didn't reply sooner... I haven't been able to find any way of accessing merchant seamen's records... they all seem to be held in Southern England, and mobility & finance restrictions make this inaccessible. Sadly, there are no records held in Liverpool, despite the fact that these men lived and worked from here.
I've found this area of research extremely frustrating, especially compared with the marvellous online resources for general genealogical research we have for England & Wales. I don't mind paying for online records, but I can't find any!
Liverpool Annie, many thanks for that link... I've contacted all those researching the same names, at the very least to see if anyone has a little more on the plantations the ancestors came from.
I can positively identify the 3rd West Indian ancestor... Charles Frederick, a west indian sailor born about 1840. He was the natural father of Catherine Lyon (illegitimate) who lived with her mother & stepfather, John Murray, in 1881... just a few doors down from Charles Frederick. John Murray was also a West Indian sailor about the same age as Charles Frederick.
Catherine Lyon married Robert Henry Colebourn, who are the parents of Catherine Colebourn who married Henry Williams of Sierra Leone. Catherine Lyon didn't name Charles on her first marriage record (she gave her grandfather, James Lyon, presumably to hide her illegitimacy)... but when she bigamously married Thomas King in 1914, she did name Charles as her father.
(Robert Colebourn had abandoned her and the kids because she was a drunk, when he returned some years later he found her married to Thomas, so he let things stand and moved in with his daughter)
Anyway, that's an aside...
Anyone know how I can get hold of these sailors' details without going to Kew or wherever they keep them?
Impy
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http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=62599.new;topicseen#new
This is just a quickie - the June challenge is going into Barbados - maybe you could give a few tips :P
Maybe pick up a few tips... ::)
Annie
PS Found this too - don't know if this is what you want.. :P
http://www.gwpda.org/naval/sdata001.htm
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Hello Impy
Do you know that you can hire a researcher to look stuff up at Kew for you?
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/research/paid_research.htm?source=ddmenu_research8
A friend of mine paid £40(cheaper than a trip down plus overnight stay ;D)to an experienced researcher.For that, this chap found all my pals' grandfathers RMLI records and copied and posted them to him.
They also do look ups themselves (at a price) but of course they know where to look and have it done in a fraction of the time it would take us mere mortals ::)
Just a few suggestions there.....good luck.
Carol
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Hi Carol,
I'd prefer not to spend the kind of money a researcher would charge... but it may turn out to be my only option.
One problem is that I'm not sure whether the merchant navy records will contain any useful information. We know Morris' approximate birth, and I think it's likely that his records won't include anything useful.
Perhaps tracking his birth certificate down might be our best course... though when I found an email address for the appropriate department, they didn't reply. There is a postal address online, as well as a phone number, so maybe this is what we should do. Though I'm not sure even that will provide what we need, considering that marriages were so rare amongst slave descendants in Barbados (so Morris' birth certificate might confirm his father's exact name, but if his parents didn't marry, we're stuck for any indication of Brandford's birthdate). There's also the problem of not having any BMD index to search... so how does one find the year of a marriage... if it happened at all?
I have found an interesting pedigree resource file on LDS, though....
We know that Brandford is a common surname in Barbados, which confirms a plantation owner of this name at some stage... and we know that, whether a forename or surname, Brandford/Small must surely be descended from a Brandford.
I found a John (Brandling) Brandford, born 1668 in London, married Jane Croke in England, but died 1741 in Barbados. This looks likely to be the source of the later slaves of this name.
Genetic researchers have proven that most people of slave descendancy have white male ancestry along the way... at some point, possibly at numerous stages, white slavers have introduced their blood-line into the slaves. So it's fairly safe to assume that John Brandford or one of his descendants will have introduced their genes to the Brandford slave community.
This being the case, it means that any ancestry of John Brandford will probably be shared by any slave descendant who comes from a Brandford.... and the pedigree resource file traces John Brandford back to Alexander, Baron of Hilton, born 1185 in Hilton, County Durham (if I've counted correctly 16 generations between the 2 men) The line includes 2 Bowes and one Yorke... which both even have Royal links... so it looks quite likely that my chappy is an aristo.... and he always though I was HIS posh totty!!!
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What I really need is a research buddy in Barbados who has links to Liverpool... so I can do their Liverpool Record Office work, and they can do my searches in Barbados!
Actually, maybe we should set up a research Swap Shop... trading time in record offices, we could post ads for one-off tradeoffs... or establish research buddies for regular stuff... there must be folk in Norfolk who need Liverpool info I could find... cos I really need some research done there on church records which aren't on IGI or the Vital Records CD... I might go & find a suitable place to start a thread on that!
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You know what Impy ???
I wish I had all the answers for you - because your postings are fascinating !
This weekend I promise I will make special time for your sailor problems....
::)
Annie
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Aw ta... LOL... I just go off on a rant and don't know when to stop! one of these days I'm gonna write a book on this lot and try to benefit from my runaway gob....
I've posted the idea of the research Swap Shop on the common room board... I think that idea has some mileage, I'd certainly be happy to trade time with someone... and being in Liverpool probably places me in a better position... which so many people settling here and using the city as a springboard to so many other places around the world.
Impy
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I do that too - one of my lines is in the Channel Islands
and I had a tremendous amount of help !
so I offered help on this side of the pond ....
I have my NARA ID so I can do research in the satellite office here
it worked out well - we were both pleased with the results..............
in fact I was thrilled..................... :-* :-* :-*
Plus now we're friends - how cool is that ?
Annie
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Hi Impy
Do you know about these people...they will perform Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness all around the world.Not sure if they have anyone in Barbados.
But no harm in looking hey?
http://www.raogk.org/listing.htm#international
I have become great friends with a lady in Vancouver,who belongs to this group and who is helping me out with my family history.
All the best
Carol
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This just caught my eye
because of Sierra Leone........
http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/certificate.aspx?casualty=419502
Annie
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Just thought I'd tell you - I haven't forgot - I'm still looking....... :P :P :P
Annie
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www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/and-the-rest-of-the-very-long-link (http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/laws___policy/policy_instructions/table_of_contents/chapter_16_-_seamen/annexes__a_-_e/annex_b_-_special.html)
This is interesting huh?
Annie
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Impy
Hope you're doing OK and your research is picking up steam ::) ::)
Found this site to be interesting - maybe give you some hints and ideas if not constructive help
http://www.bl.uk/collections/orientaloffice.html
Best Regards
Annie
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Impy - where are you??.............
http://www.red-duster.co.uk/
Annie
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Impy !!
http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/merchantnavyintro.html
Annie
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Hello,
Came upon your posting whilst doing a Google search.
There are records in the British National Archive for 2 seamen named Small from Barbados
M W SMALL born 23/11/1932 and R W B SMALL BORN 28/03/1931
If any of these dates ring any bells, post and I will endevour to advise you how to get these records direct from the archive without a visit to Kew.
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Hi Imp
1881 census cd has the merchant navy on northern and misc cd, and scotland. Note online at lds only has england and wales. You are having a fun time trying to find the elusive islanders and I thought mine were difficult. Hope you find a bit more success.
Cheers
John Rowley
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A number of years ago, perhaps 10 or 20, I wrote by snailmail to some place in England to find out if they had a record for an individual who had been a merchant seaman but I didn't know where in the world he had signed on or to what ships. They wrote me back and said they had no record of him. Surely this place must still exist, or is it a service that got cut somewhere along the line? You've got me wondering now if there are additional sources I don't know about, whereas I thought at the time that I'd covered it.
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Well, still hunting for these merchant seamen.... though that listing above by seaweed does seem to be my partner's dad, Maurice Woodsley Small... the 1932 seems to be a close match to his birth... I'm waiting for my partner to see if he can varify the birthdate, then I might order a copy of the record (digital copies available at £6.50).
Loo, the National Archives website experience is like wading through mud looking for a lost penny!!
I ran a search for Small AND Barbados with no other search criteria and it said there were no matches. Then I searched with the code BT which cover the seamen's records, and the 2 that Seaweed found came up!!
Some records, especially those around WW1, have been destroyed, so it depends when your chap served.
We leave for Barbados in 6 weeks, and I've got nowhere with this research... I wanted to go armed with some info so we could track down more records and the places they lived.
By the way... since this message... I did find royal ancestry for this family... not through slave owners but through his only British line... one of the maternal lines comes from Scotland and is directly descended from Robert the Broce and Roberts Stuart II & III of Scotland... which makes him 19th cousin to Prince Charles.
Off to fruitlessly search some more......
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My chap is WW2, at the end of the war, 1944 I think; he was born in 1929 and joined under-age onto some unknown merchant ship in Halifax, Canada and went to England and back a few times. I don't know for sure that it was British registry, but it was an allied vessel. Eventually it was hit, on the edge of Canadian waters, but he was rescued.
Are you suggesting that I might be wise to do my own searching, then? I don't think it was the National Archives that I wrote to at that time, but I suppose it might have been; it was some published address that was supposed to be the right place at the time. I would still like to know the answer; never did find it, and it would actually be worth significant money to him in government allowances (he's still living) if I could find the evidence. All I know is that the ship starts with C.
That's quite a heritage you've found there, even if your questions aren't all answered! It will be a wonderful time of year to visit the Caribbean! Have fun! Unfortunately a lot of Caribbean libraries are in less than ideal condition and the paper not well preserved, and in a salty damp climate often without air conditioning, but I do hope you will be successful. I have been in a few of them, just because I like libraries and find it gives a good insight into a place, but was not doing genealogy.
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It might be worth checking out the National Archives website for your chap. The code for the seaman's papers is BT 372... put that into the appropriate boxes and in the keyword search put the surname and country of birth if not in the UK (otherwise they use town/city names).... not sure whether he would be in the British records, though... Maurice lived in the UK as an adult, though joined up in Barbados... but I think his discharge info is there because he became a UK resident.
I got Maurice's marriage certificate today... Maurice Woodsley Small, able seaman in the merchant service, residing on the S.S. "Tribesman", Brunswick Dock, Liverpool. Son of Branforde Rollins Small, Butler in private service. Maurice was 22 at marriage in October 1955, so the birthdate of November 1932 would be right.
The spelling of Branforde is probably wrong... though whether Maurice's father misspelled it or just Maurice, I don't know... this is the same spelling as Mike's birth certificate (he inherited it as a middle name), but "Brandford" is a surname in Barbados. Mike was always told that his grandfather was a merchant sailor, too... so perhaps he took up bultering when he'd tired of the sea... Mike thinks Brandford was in his 70's or 80's when he last had contact with his father in the 1970's, so it's possible that Brandford was old enough to have retired from merchant service by then.... we're working on the assumption that Brandford was born about 1900, if not before, so it is possible that he served in the merchant fleet in WW1.
Think I'll buy that seaman's pouch now
tara for now
Impy
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Congratulations!
I'll give it a try. My understanding is that the records of all merchant mariners who sailed is kept by the country where the boat was registered, not their country of residence or origin - if the records still exist, which in many cases they do not.
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These are the discharge papers 1913-1972 I've been looking at. There are also ships' manifests etc, and presumably these would have crew lists, but of course you'd need to know the ship, as the national archives site don't appear to list the crew names in their index.
Interestingly, my partner's discharge papers are also in the index, though he was discharged after 1972... so I'm a bit confused about what event has to fall into the 1913-1972 period to qualify for inclusion.
I believe some of the discharge papers are missing from around WW1.
I bought a digital copy of Maurice's papers today.... was a little strange for Mike to see the photo of his dad taken so many years after he last saw him... though I could definitely see a family resemblance.
On the papers they gice a different birthdate to his index date, 26th Nov 1932, which fits closer to Mike's Mum's memory of the date (she was one day out).
To be hoonest, these discharge papers don't hold a great deal of unknown data... just name, birthdate & place, address, next of kin, national insurance number and a photo... but if searching for an older record, this information could be much more useful, particularly address, which could lead to further info from the census... not to mention a photo which would be great if it was someone who was around before living memory. I'm not sure when they started to include photos, but I know my gg grandfather's UK residency permit included one int he late 19thC (he was a Danish sailor who settled here but retained his Danish nationality)... so it's possible they were attaching photos to Merchant sailors' papers quite early on.
I think we may be leaving it a little late to order a birth certificate by post from Barbados now, but with it being a small island, processing may by quite quick, so I think we may just wait til we get there and order it int he first day or 2, I think they may be able to process the same day with his exact birthdate and full name. That way we could have time to buy the parents' marriage certificate, too... which could give us the names of the previous generation and hopefully then we'll be able to find them in IGI, which is fairly complete for Barbados, but doesn't cover the period of Branforde's birth... it should contain Branforde's parents, though.
We also have other West Indian sailors in Mike's line, inparticular his great grandmother, Catherine Lyon's, father, Charles Frederick, born about 1825. He and Margaret Lyon didn't marry, but family stories tell of Nin, an Irish "grandmother", who we think was Charles Frederick's wife, Ann, born in Ireland. The Frederick family lived a few houses down from his illegitimate daughter, Catherine Lyon and her mother, Margaret, and stepfather, John Murray, a Barbadian sailor born about 1845. I can only find these men in the 1881 census... they may not have arrived before then. According to Margaret Murray/Lyon's marital status in 1891, John was still alive then, but clearly on board ship... she seems to be a widow after that. I can find no definite record of Charles Frederick... so I can't say with certainty which Caribbean island he came from, but Barbados had the largest number of immigrant sailors in the UK of all the islands... so I believe they were likely Barbadian.
Lastly, there's Thomas King, who Catherine Lyon bigamously married in 1914 after her husband, Robert Henry Colebourn "did a bunk" for a few years. Thomas was West Indian, born about 1875.... again, very likely Barbadian.
I would love to piece together more info about all of them, but of course Thomas King & John Murray aren't blood relatives... and with little time (and lots of Caribbean sun to absorb), there's a limit to how much I could hope to achieve in Barbados, especially having so little information on the earlier men.
Impy
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Impy,seem's that you have a few lead's to work with,quite a web of useless+frustrating info!
However,having gone thru' a similar process I have found that your own locality may have some information lying about waiting for you to find it.
My background,childhood is all 'Scouse,Merchant Navy service included.During my time there there were enclave's of a dozen nationalitie's in different area's.Liverpool 8 was then where those of African descent were mostly to be found,as was Cornhill,a M.N signing on or,registry/employment office.I guess that doesn't exist now?
Mike call's you his Posh Totty,I think you are more of a real smart Judy!Not a derogatory title,but stemming from the fact that St Jude is the Patron Saint of Liverpool,hence more attention should be paid to the Beatle's "Hey Jude",to whom one pray's for lost causes and the 'Pool has seen a few.
Not very informative I know,just intended as 'heart balm',dont give up,enjoy your trip,and take a walk along the Sugar Wharf,ask about the people (hundred's) tyhat loaded Banana's,stalk by stalk carried on thier head's,you will lerna bit about Fore bears that isnt put into history book's.
Sorry to babble on,hope you feel a bit better!!
Regard's,Goggy. ;)
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It sounds like a book in the making to me!
I saw something on TV not too long ago where someone had searched her slave ancestors right back to the beginning through some archives in Washington DC.; it was fascinating. I don't suppose that would apply to you, but you never know what they might have, if you're really determined to scour every possibility.
(Couldn't find my fella, but thanks for the code number.)
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Candleimp....
I was directed here as I am trying to trace my husbands Caribbean roots - and this is a fascinating thread. You seem to have done so well... I have even less info to go on but you are giving lots of clues here.
My guy was born in Trinidad but never knew his father and until very recently was adamant he didn't want to. His father is also Bajan and came from the St Michaels district. All we know is that his father was called Goldburn Blades and had a nickname of "Boogles" which is after the WI cricketer Morris. We even had a possible address for his current family which was St Michael Trace - though that info was a good 20 years old.
Although I was working in TnT for nearly 3 years we didn;t go across to Barbados (as he didn't want to go) but then we were stuck there for 7 hours on a transfer flight so we did start to look but it was completely impossible without prior knowledge. ("NOW you want to look!" I grumbled to him at the time hehe)
His own surname is White from his mother (parents were not married) and even that is "invented" as his grandfather changed it to that from Ramjani - that line originally coming from Madras India.
Other than that I have nothing which I was looking for something online to start a general search. Other than that, we will have to wait until we go over to TnT middle of next year, get more info and pop over to Barbados. Now that he WANTS to look, we may get somewhere.
Other than that I do know Blades is a very common name in Barbados especially around the St Michael area so any clues as to how to research that would be welcome.
On another note,... I noticed you were talking about a swap shop... well, I live in Norfolk ... what areas in Norfolk did you want looking at?
Lynn
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Hi Jacamar,
Thanks to the kind folk who have contributed, this thread has become quite an interesting discussion about the resources and options available to Caribbean searches... and I'm really pleased if it's given others a few pointers.... though we are still quite stuck with this branch.
With this line, we really had to start at the beginning, getting my partner's parents' marriage certificate to confirm name spellings and Branforde's full name (interestingly, his full name, Branforde Rollins Small is made up of 3 common surnames in Barbados, so I guess that we could be looking at the surnames of 3 of his nearest relatives). I had always planned to get Maurice's birth certificate before we visited, but with having to write or phone to order it, I never got round to it... I'm hoping that with Barbados being relatively small, they may be able to process certificate ordering on a same-day service, or at least quite quickly, so we could get the certificate there and have time to follow up on the information we find in it.
It continuallly strikes me as strange that in all these years of posting requests for information.... no-one has ever come forward with the information about where the Small family originated. I'd have thought that anyone in or from Barbados with this name would know the plantation of their origin... but either it's been lost in the midsts of time, or Barbadian folk are far too busy enjoying the Caribbean sunshine to bother with the internet!
If you haven't already checked, the Ellis Island website is useful if you think your relative sailed into New York at any time in the late 19thC/Early 20thC. This data includes age, occupation, the name & address of their nearest relative in their home country and their final destination....Though it can be a trawl through the info, you can also find descriptions of their physical appearance on the additional pages. (unfortunately, I can't find any Barbadian relatives amongst them, but have found a few of my own relatives who emigrated, including one who arrived on the Mauretania in 1910).
Regarding the Norfolk info... the most pressing search has been resolved... I bought a copy of the register I needed, as it proved MUCH cheaper than a trip to Norwich (luckily Thelton is a tiny parish and fits on one film).... I confirmed the marriage I'd found on IGI and added 4 more children to the family... I also probably found the wife's parents and siblings (though her baptism wasn't there, but there was only the one couple of the name around her birth, and we know she was born there, plus she had the same witnesses at her marriage as the other Rudd folk had at theirs). The husband, Samuel Dady, wasn't born there, but the film also includes a couple of other, even smaller, parishes, hopefully local to Thelton... so maybe I'll hit really lucky and find my missing relative in one of those. Many thanks anyway.
I wish you luck with your Barbadian research, and I hope you'll keep us posted of any progress... which will add to the usefulness of this thread.
Impy
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Thanks for that, Impy!
You struck a chord with saying that no-one had come forward with the names of plantations etc. This is pure Caribbean for you. I was grumbling about similar things to my husband the other day - he can accurately remember a distant cousin's nephew's girlfriend's step-mother within seconds, but has shown co curiosity about his past family at all. "Ahhhh" he said" I know people who are LIVIN' - not dead!"
And I think this is the crux of the matter. People I met in the Caribbean like to know each others racial origins but thats as far as it extends. Many do not actually want to know the past. Indeed many families have re-invented themselves since arriving in the Caribbean. Foe example, when slavery was abolished, workers were needed in the cane fields and after casting around for a solution to this problem, indentured "East Indians" were brought over from Madras and Calcutta in two waves. They were indentured for 5 years after which many returned to India.
To prevent this drain back out of Trinidad, they were offered land to stay, and thus began the basis for the strong business class there. The families were often from very pooor origins in India but reinvented themselves with new names like "Maharajah". Culturally, it would not really be their own interests to dig too deep!
Also, and you may have difficulty believing this, many people do not actually KNOW their origins. It depends on their upbringing and education. Many schools teach American history and have no idea of the Colonial past. The house I shared with others working in my company had a housekeeper of East Indian background, and she had absolutely no idea how her ancestors had got to Trinidad. She knew nothing of slavery etc Generally there is not the interest in genealogy that there is here. Its impossible ot trace anyway - seeing as it is not that uncommon for some men to maintain 2 or 3 seperate families at the same time and generally it is a martiarchal society, so not so much importance is given to marriages and the patenal line, Th eonly thing you can be sure of is the maternal line which works on opposition to the UK way of recording information.
As for you hoping to process your certificate on a same day service - I am sorry but that really cracked me up! For a start, the Caribbean has more public holidays than anywhere else in the world, so you are likely to find yourself affected by one in your stay. Secondly, as they say themselves.."Dere are two speeds hyah... slow an' dead slow!" They will not process this fast for you if you turn up cold. What you need to do is establish contact by email first to the correct place and fidnd the right person to talk to - then they couldn;t be more helpful! The Caribbean is a who you know place - they are NOT natural beaurocrats!!
Lynn
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Well, returned home about 8.30 am this morning... not slept yet, but had to post an update:
The first working day after we arrived, we went to the registration people to order Maurice's birth certificate.... to be honest, it's not too bad... it takes 3 working days to process, but there was a chap ahead of us in the queue who was going home the following day and they went and got it for him there & then (leaving the desk unstaffed for 15 minutes to do so!).. anyway, back to the story.... we were told that we needed his mother's name to get the certificate, and that we were unlikley to find it with just his father... but as it cost 1 bajan dollar (about 33p), we put it in anyway and were told to return for it on the Thursday.
In the meantime, we were advised to put an ad in the paper to see if we could find any living relatives or friends with information, so before we went back to the resgistration offices, we paid a visit to The Nation office. They suggested an ad in the Sunday edition (known as the Sunday Sun) as the circulation is highest for this... so we spent about £60 on an ad on page 4 asking for anyone who knew Maurice Woodsley Small of St Michaels, born 1932, who joined the Harrison Line and settled in Liverpool...son of Brandforde Rollins Small.
We then went to the refistration office and hit the jackpot! They had found the certificate, but his father wasn't named... he was listed as son of Enid Small. This indicated that his father must've been Brandforde Rollins, and Maurice had tagged "Small" on the end to make his birth look more acceptable to English standards (as opposed to Bajan ones, where illegitimacy is the norm). We now didn't know whether he was known as Small or Rollins in his youth (it was possible that, as his mother had died, he may have been known as Rollins and only taken the name Small when required to enlist as a seaman with his birth certificate).
We were aware that the paper ad was now out of date, but we hoped that someone would read between the lines and recognise the likely mistake.
I got up about 7am on Sunday to get a copy of the paper, and by 8am the first phone call came... from a guy called Clyde who had been at sea with Maurice. Before we could return his call, more came through... one from another shipmate, Kammy, and one from a woman who knew Maurice's cousins, providing us with their names and phone numbers. We arranged to meet Kammy on the beach, where they play cricket on Sunday, but he got waylayed, so instead we discovered that one of the cricketers was Mike's uncle, Alphin, who had married Maurice's sister... so now we had a name for Mike's aunt, Leila Small.
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Maurice's cousin, Ian, turned up at the hotel on Sunday evening, and was able to tell us so much about the family, Maurice was known as Woodsley to his family. Enid died when the children were very young, and their father... who had been a butler (but not a sailor) was in the psychiatric hospital (where he remained until his death in the 1990's)... and Maurice and Leila were raised by their aunt Doreen, Ian's mother... so Maurice was like an older brother to Ian. Enid and Doreen's mother was Viola Small, who lived into her 90's. They lived in kings village/Dayrells Rd, St Michael and went to church & school at st Matthias (Ian still lives close to where they grew up)
From the conversations with the various people, it came to light that Mike had a brother in Barbados, and Clyde offered to pass on a message to him... so on Monday evening Mike's brother, Dale, turned up at the hotel and we were joined by Ian. An amazing moment!
The following evening, Ian took us to see Alphin again, and he was able to give us Brandforde Rollins' birth and death dates (1914-1998) and the death date of Leila in 1988. By then we had taken a trip to the Archives, and found a very likely birth record for Viola Small in 1897 at St Matthias to Helen Small. Sadly some other records we hoped to view were not held there or were too deteriorated to be consulted... so we are still wanting Brandforde's birth details... but now we have a birthdate we may be able to get the certificate. Alphin gave us a huge bottle of rum! We then visited Ian's family and stopped to see Dale.
Mike went back to see Dale again the following evening and met some of his children and grandchildren, who seemed suitably gobsmacked by the arrival of a new uncle.
On our last couple of days, we hired a mini moke and toured the island a bit and tracked down the original Small plantation (which was established between 1659 & 1874... as the latter date is of the first map on which they appear). The plantation was in St Philip, near Ragged Point, and we believe we found the original mill tower, now on the land of a large private property (so we nipped up the drive, snapped a few pics and dashed out again)
Yesterday, Ian dropped by the hotel before we left to say goodbye and give us aother huge bottle of rum and Dale met us at the Airport to see us off and we exchanged some photos.
So from having vague (and a little incorrect) details of 2 Bajan Smalls, we now have an array of Smalls to add to the tree, including Mike's grandmother, whose name we didn't have before and the next 2 generations back, we also know that Helen Small had another daughter, whose daughter, Cissy Small, was mother to Norma Joyce Small who in turn had 8 children... some of whose names we have from the St Matthias registers which the church allowed us to view.... we've found the plantation the Small slaves came from........and of course the biggest discovery was the brother Mike never knew!
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Oh Impy!
How terrific for you! - I'm sitting here reading your post - boohooin' !! .......... !
All I can say is you guys deserve this - how wonderful - REAL family!!
Congratulations to you both! - I'm thrilled for you!
Annie :) :)
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Thanks Annie,
I thought you might like to hear how we got on.... it has been quite an emotional week... all the family we met were so lovely and really pleased to welcome us both into the fold..... we will definitely have to schedule regular trips to Barbados in future!!!
Impy