FAMILY HISTORY OF JAMAICA

WEST INDIES

"OUT OF MANY, ONE PEOPLE"

Yuh deh yah! (You are right here).

Welcome to my Hobby Page. My hobby is FAMILY HISTORY of Jamaica, West Indies (sorry not Jamaica, New York). Maps, sources of genealogy, emblems, my tiny tafel and some fun places to visit are included. I hope this page will be of interest to those who are just getting started on their Jamaican ancestry, as well as those who have pursued this pastime for a while. Madeleine Mitchell's Hobby HomePage

Lignum Vitae or Wood of Life Lignum Vitae Tree

National Flower of Jamaica

My Books

Jamaican Genealogy: Source of the Month

Maps of Jamaica

Important Dates in Jamaican History

Emblems and Things of Jamaica

Join the Caribbean List and Jamaica List to contact other researchers

Send your surnames to the West Indian Surname List

My TinyTafel and About me

Links to other Jamaican Genealogy on the Web

Useful Genealogy Sources on the Web

Some Fun Places to Visit on the Web about Jamaica

My Sister Nora Crook's Work Page. Click on Faculty Profile.

Records Researcher in Jamaica

Codes for Jamaican Civil Registration Districts

Site Map

Since 1996 You are visitor number

Last Updated March 2015. ©Madeleine Mitchell
Comments, corrections and contributions welcome. e-mail to: mitchel1-at-bellsouth.net.
The icon used on this page is the lignum vitae flower.

This page was created with HOTDOG PRO and edited with the Coffee Cup, The HTML Editor

Important Dates in the History of Jamaica

NATURAL DISASTERS AND EVENTS IN JAMAICA

Compiled 21 September,1988 by Madeleine E. Mitchell. Amended August 2, 2006

  1. 1494 3 May Columbus landed in Jamaica
  2. 1655 10 May British Capture Jamaica from Spanish
  3. 1662 Oct Population 3,653 Whites, 552 Blacks, total 4,205
  4. 1663 Year Jews started settling in Jamaica under British
  5. 1664 Jun Four hundred planters came from Barbados
  6. 1664 Jul Sir Thomas Modyford came with 200 planters
  7. 1670 Year There were 70 Sugar Works in Jamaica
  8. 1673 Year Population 7,768 Whites, 9504 Negros, total 17,272
  9. 1675 1 Sep 1100 Surinam Settlers Arrived (to St Elizabeth)
  10. 1678 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, Caused by prolongation of martial law
  11. 1684 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, first serious one
  12. 1686 Year Jamaica, Rebellion,sanguinary, at Chapelton, Clarendon
  13. 1690 Year Slave Rebellion, Chapelton, Clarendon
  14. 1691 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, many White people murdered
  15. 1692 7 Jun Earthquake, destroyed Port Royal
  16. 1693 Jun Kingston was laid out
  17. 1702 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, eastern districts
  18. 1704 9 Jan Fire destroyed Port Royal
  19. 1711 Jun Hurricane, Westmoreland, Property destroyed
  20. 1712 28 Aug Hurricane, All Island
  21. 1712 28 Aug Earthquake
  22. 1714 29 Aug Hurricane
  23. 1717 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, repeated attempts, causing great alarm
  24. 1722 28 Aug Free School founded at Walton, St Ann
  25. 1722 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, Musquito Indians introduced to quell it
  26. 1722 28 Aug Hurricane, All Island and Earthquake
  27. 1726 22 Oct Storm
  28. 1728 Jun Coffee introduced in Jamaiaca from French West Indies by Sir Nicholas Lawes at Temple Hall, St Andrew.
  29. 1729 Year Wolmers Free School Established
  30. 1734 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, the Black town Nanny taken
  31. 1738 1 Mar Jamaica, Rebellion, under Cudjoe
  32. 1738 Year Mannings School, Savanna-La-Mar founded
  33. 1739 Year There were 429 Sugar Works in Jamaica
  34. 1739 Jun Jamaica, Rebellion, under Quaco, in Trelawney
  35. 1740 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, speedily subdued
  36. 1744 20 Oct Earthquake & Hurricane, Sav-La-Mar destroyed, Kingston & Port Royal badly damaged
  37. 1745 Year Jamaica, conspiracy to assassinate the Whites
  38. 1746 Year Slave Insurrection
  39. 1751 2 Sep Storm
  40. 1754 7 Dec Moravian Mission Founded
  41. 1755 Year Kingston became the capitol
  42. 1758 Year Spanish Town restored as capitol
  43. 1758 Year Jamaica, Rebellion in Trelawney
  44. 1760 Easter Mon Jamaica, Rebellion, under Tackey; Port Maria,60 Whites, 400 Blacks killed
  45. 1764 Year Population 166,454 (146,454 Slaves)
  46. 1765 Year Jamaica, Rebellion,Coromantees the insurgents
  47. 1766 Year Jamaica, Rebellion in Westmoreland
  48. 1766 Year Hurricane, Western End of the Island
  49. 1768 Year There were 651 Sugar Works in Jamaica
  50. 1768 Oct Drought to May 1770
  51. 1769 Year Jamaica, conspiracy discovered in Kingston
  52. 1771 Year Jamaica, conspiracy; assembly of 500 surprised by the militia
  53. 1773 2 Oct Hurricane
  54. 1775 Year Population 209,617 (12,737 Whites, 4,093 Free Coloured, 192,787 Slaves)
  55. 1777 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, followed by thirty executions
  56. 1780 3 Oct Hurricane, Sav-La-Mar destroyed, Westemoreland devasted
  57. 1781 1 Aug Hurricane, 120 vessels wrecked in Kingston
  58. 1782 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, St Mary's under Three-fingered Jack
  59. 1784 10 Jul Hurricane
  60. 1784 30 Jul Hurricane
  61. 1785 27 Aug Hurricane
  62. 1785 Year Population 30,000 Whites,10,000 Free coloured, 250,000 Slaves
  63. 1786 20 Oct Drought, Hurricane, 15,000 lives lost
  64. 1789 19 Jan Dr Thomas Coke Methodist Missionary arrived in Jamaica
  65. 1793 Year 2nd Maroon War
  66. 1794 Feb Breadfruit brought from Tahiti to Jamaica
  67. 1795 Jul Jamaica, Rebellion, Trelawney Maroons
  68. 1795 2 Aug Martial Law, Montego Bay destroyed by fire
  69. 1796 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, Maroon War; 600 transported to Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone
  70. 1798 Year Jamaica, Rebellion,under Cuffee; Trelawney great distruction of rebels
  71. 1803 Year Jamaica, conspiracy to murder the Whites discovered
  72. 1804 Year Two Hurricanes
  73. 1807 Year Population 319,351
  74. 1808 27 May Jamaica, Muntiny of Black Troops, 2nd WIR, Fort Augusta
  75. 1808 Year Jamaica,conspiracy of a very serious character
  76. 1809 Mar Jamaica, conspiracy against the Whites in Kingston
  77. 1812 12-4 Oct Hurricane
  78. 1812 11 Nov Earthquake
  79. 1814 23 Feb Baptist Mission Founded
  80. 1815 13 Jul Fire in Port Royal
  81. 1815 18-9 Oct Hurricane
  82. 1816 Year Methodist Conference started
  83. 1818 20 Nov Hurricane
  84. 1818 Oct Hurricane
  85. 1819 Year Methodists in the Island - 6,540
  86. 1822 Year Severe Drought
  87. 1824 Year Presbyterian Church Founded
  88. 1824 Year Jamaica, insurrection; Portland, St Georges and St Mary
  89. 1824 Year Episcopal See Established
  90. 1830 Year Hurricane
  91. 1831 28 Dec Slave uprising in St James, Trelawney, Hanover, Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, Manchester
  92. 1832 Year Jamaica, Rebellion; 200 killed in the field; about 500 executed
  93. 1832 7 Aug Hurricane
  94. 1834 1 Aug Slavery Abolished
  95. 1834 13 Sep First issue of The Daily Gleaner Newspaper
  96. 1835 Year John Wilson Davis laid out a Race Track at Drax Hall, St Ann
  97. 1838 1 Aug Apprenticeship abolished
  98. 1839 Year Drought
  99. 1840 Year Drought
  100. 1841 Spring Drought
  101. 1841 Year Riot in Kingston
  102. 1844 Year Census 377,433
  103. 1844 5 Oct Hurricane Western Parishes
  104. 1845 21 Nov Jamaica Railway established
  105. 1845 Year 253 East Indians came to be indentured on sugar estates
  106. 1850 Jun Asiatic Cholera epidemic, 32,000 died
  107. 1854 Year 472 Chinese came to Jamaica from Panama
  108. 1865 11 Oct Morant Bay Rebellion
  109. 1871 Year Population 506,154
  110. 1874 Nov Hurricane
  111. 1879 8 Oct Hurricane
  112. 1880 18-9 Aug Hurricane, Damaged Kingston
  113. 1881 Year Population 580,804
  114. 1882 11 Dec Fire, Kingston
  115. 1887 Year Outbreak of Small Pox to 1888
  116. 1889 Year Population 639,491
  117. 1903 11 Aug Hurricane, North Eastern, Jamaica
  118. 1907 14 Jan Earthquake, Destroyed Kingston/Port Royal, Loss 2.0 million pounds
  119. 1912 17-8Nov Hurricane, Western Parishes
  120. 1915 12-13 Aug Hurricane
  121. 1915 25-6 Sep Storm
  122. 1916 15 Aug Hurricane, All Jamaica
  123. 1916 16 Aug Hurricane, All Jamaica
  124. 1917 May Women won the right to vote
  125. 1917 23 Sep Hurricane
  126. 1933 14 Aug Flood in Kingston/St Andrew
  127. 1933 15 Aug Flood in Kingston/St Andrew
  128. 1939 1 Apr Telephone connected in Jamaica
  129. 1944 20 Aug Disastrous Hurricane
  130. 1951 17 Aug Hurricane Charlie, Kingston/Port Royal/Morant Bay damaged
  131. 1957 1 Mar Earthquake, 8 on Richter Scale, epicenter Hanover, StJames
  132. 1962 6 Aug Independence from Britain
  133. 1963 5 Oct Hurricane Flora
  134. 1963 6 Oct Hurricane Flora
  135. 1963 7 Oct Hurricane Flora
  136. 1988 12 Sep Hurricane Gilbert, winds 120 mph, entire South Coast, 80% Houses damaged or destroyed
  137. 1994 12 Nov Hurricane Gordon
  138. 2001 6-8 Oct Hurricane Iris
  139. 2002 27 Sep Hurricane Lili
  140. 2004 11 Aug Hurricane Charley
  141. 2004 11 Sep Hurricane Ivan
  142. 2006 25 Feb First woman Prime Minister elected Hon. Portia Simpson Miller

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Join the West Indies Newsgroup, Caribbean List and Jamaican List to contact other researchers

AlamandaThrough the hard work of Sally Jones, Kent, England, Vaughn Royal of Alexandria, VA and others, there is a newsgroup for the West Indies: soc.genealogy.west-indies which includes Jamaica and 30+ West Indian islands and countries. If your internet provider carries "newsgroups" you will be able to access this group. If not, it doesn't do any harm to ask the provider to add the newsgroup.

Added in January 1997 The Newsgroup soc.genealogy.west-indies has been archived and is available for searching on the Web. click here.

This newsgroup is now linked with the Caribbean-List, an e-mail list which comes in Digest form or single message form. To subscribe to the Caribbean List, e-mail to CARIBBEAN-L-request@rootsweb.com. Put nothing in the subject line and turn off your signature and other automatic additions, write only 'subscribe', (without quotes), in the body or text area of your message. Currently messages are running 0-4 messages per day, so if you want to receive the output as a digest (ONE long message), address your request to CARIBBEAN-D-request@rootsweb.com

Added in 2003

Jamaica now has a list of its own. To subscribe to the JAMAICA List, e-mail to JAMAICA-L-request@rootsweb.com. Put nothing in the subject line and turn off your signature and other automatic additions, write only 'subscribe' (no Quotes) in the body or text area of your message. Currently messages are running 0-2 messages per day, so if you want to receive the output as a digest (ONE long message), address your request to JAMAICA-D-request@rootsweb.com

The Caribbean List and Jamaica List are also archived at Rootsweb

When the vote was taken, the following was included as the description of the newsgroup:

AlamandaRATIONALE: soc.genealogy.west-indies

There is an established precedence and interest in the study of West Indian ancestored genealogy on the Internet, as well-evidenced by the discussions and queries concerning this topic that regularly appear in cluster groups on commercial online networks, bulletin boards, and in limited discussions in various newsgroups in the "soc." and "alt." hierarchy. However, the discussions and queries tend to be scattered among numerous electronic forums, and researchers are unsure where to post questions and comments concerning the West Indies to reach others who share their interest, often posting in several different places as a result. Presently, there is no place of concentration where such people can register their queries and remarks, and be assured that they will be read by the many who are interested world-wide, rather than by the few who may by chance encounter West Indian genealogical postings in electronic forums which are focused on other parts of the world. The number of nations whose sons and daughters added to the population of the West Indies is extremely numerous: former colonial powers including England, France, Spain and The Netherlands; as well as dozens of countries in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia. Soc.genealogy.west-indies has the potential to serve as the gathering point for researchers interested in the approximately 30 countries which today comprise the West Indies, and to provide a forum for people to share queries and insights regarding the genealogy of the West Indies.

A FAQ on this topic is planned and a Surname Interest List has been set up. Sally Jones has posted to the newsgroups several pages of source information. They can be retrieved in the archived newsgroup click here.

AlamandaCHARTER: soc.genealogy.west-indies

The focus of soc.genealogy.west-indies is on exchanging information on the genealogy and family history of West Indian ancestored people world-wide. This group is designed to focus on West Indian genealogy, but since the colonisation of many of the West Indian islands had a social and financial impact on the colonising nations, discussion may widen to reflect this aspect.

Discussion is open to anyone with an interest in West Indian genealogy including, but not limited to: people who do live, did live, or may have lived in any of the West Indian Islands; colonists; voluntary immigrants; involuntary immigrants (such as slaves); emigrants and their descendants. Researchers wishing to trace their slave ancestors prior to their arrival in the West Indies will find that soc.genealogy.african is more suited to their postings.

The scope of the group reflects the varied ancestral backgrounds of the inhabitants of the West Indies - often referred to as a "melting pot". The cultural and language differences of the islands, often reflecting their heritage can prove a problem to researchers. The difficulties of researching public records in a part of the world where earthquakes, fire, hurricanes and pests have destroyed many records can be very daunting, but genealogical archives around the world do contain records which will help to build up vivid accounts of the lives of West Indian ancestors. The disseminated nature of the historical and genealogical information requires a high level of mutual co-operation from researchers around the world.

Posts may be in any language, but those seeking replies from a wide spectrum of readers would be well-advised to also post in English.

Postings on offensive or defamatory themes, and any other topics unrelated to genealogy are not welcome.

The additional gateways for this newsgroup have yet to be created. In this instance, the newsgroup will precede the Fidonet and traditional mailserver avenues.

END CHARTER.

Used with permission of Sally Jones, 1996.

The icon used on this page is an Alamanda flower.

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Send your surname list to the West Indian/Caribbean Surname Lists

You can make contact with other researchers who are interested in your surname families through the West Indian Surname Lists. This list was started and was maintained by Vaughn Royal up to 1998. Because Vaughn Royal unfortunately was not able to continue with the West Indian Surname list, a new list was started by Jim Lynch in 1999. It is:

Jim Lynch's Caribbean Surname Index

In addition you can put a query about your surnames on the Query page of the WorldGenWeb Jamaica page:Queries. Queries are also archived on Rootsweb.

The icon used on this page is the hibiscus flower.

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My TinyTafel and About Me

My Tiny Tafel was generated on Roots IV and shows my maternal and paternal lines in 1995

About Me

I was born in Brown's Town, St Ann, Jamaica to K. and C.(nee Levy) Mitchell in 1941. We lived in Reading, St James, Grove Place, Manchester as well as Brown's Town before moving to Half-Way-Tree, Kingston 10 in 1952. My father worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and the first two residences were Agricultural Experiment Stations where he was assigned. I attended St Hilda's Diocesan High School in Brown's Town and St Andrew High School for Girls at Half-Way Tree.

After Cambridge School certificate I went to MacDonald College of McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. This is where my interest in family history started when I had to write a paper on the family in a Sociology class. I went on to do my graduate work in Nutrition at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. And then I went to Pullman, Washington where I was located from 1969 to 2004, except for two sabbatical leaves, one spent in Washington, DC and the other in Boston, MA.

I have an older sister and a younger sister and 4 nephews and 1 niece. My mother lived in Cambridge, England near my eldest sister, the author, Nora Crook, and my younger sister, the nurse, Janet Watson lives in the Boston area. Thank goodness for e-mail, telephones and faxes! My father passed away in England in 1993. My mother came to live with me in Dunnellon, Florida in 2004 and passed away at my home in 2006. Enough of that!

My major family lines come from England, Scotland, Africa and Jewish (London). As well I have some extensions into France (via Haiti) and Ireland. At one time I thought there was a German line, but now I am not so sure. So out of many, one people.

The icon used on this page is the poinciana flower.

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