🇯🇲 Jamaican Family History - Has anyone researched & if so where did you start please?! 🇯🇲

[JamaicanJamboree]

Good evening everyone,

I would be so grateful if anyone has any tips please on researching a Jamaican family tree. I need to start from the very beginning and order a copy of my Dad’s birth certificate and also my Gran and Grandad’s birth and death certificates but I’m not even sure how I go about this.

Once I’ve achieved this, if anyone has any ideas on my next steps that would be so great.

I was thrilled to find my Dad’s name on a passenger list when he first arrived in the UK but that’s as far as I’ve managed to get so far! I’m very much a newbie!

Thank you!

(I have also copied this thread into the Black MN section too just in case!)

Bumping for you

Caribbean records as a whole are patchy. Ancestry has Jamaica civil registration 1878 to 1930, which may be too early for your Dad but might show your grandparents depending on when they left.

Southwark Council has some general "getting started" advice here: www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/10944/Researching-your-Caribbean-family-history.pdf

As does the BBC but it's more about going further back and exploring links to slavery.

Whoops missed the BBC link

www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/next_steps/genealogy_article_01.shtml

Also there are a lot of us here with Ancestry and other subscriptions so if you're happy to post what you're looking for, someone may be able to help.

Thank you for your responses, apologies for not posting in reply, the thread had dropped off my watch list.

@RaspberryCoulis - Thank you so much, I will look at the links you have posted. I would feel very cheeky asking you to look up on my behalf on your subscription, but my sincere thanks for your great advice and kind offer.

I was amazed to find my gran’s death certificate. Her name was a different spelling to what I thought. It was emotional to find it. I haven’t been able to find either of my grandparent’s birth certificates or my grandad’s death certificate yet. So the search continues, my next step is to complete a search request form on the Jamaica registrar website but I’m not sure how far I’ll get with that because I don’t have the full details they are asking for.

I presume you are talking about Black Jamaican ancestry? Have you done a dna test to find out your genetic make up? Its on offer at the moment. This may give you the key to a more general family history and possible patterns of migration.

You might also find aristocratic ancestry you didn't realise you had.

For example Graham Campbell former SNP MP is related to the Duke of Argyll and used to pop over to their estate to play.

Check if your local library has an Ancestry sub - if they do you can use it from home at the moment. (You normally can only use it in the actual library.)

@ArnoldBee - Yes my heritage is black Jamaican. Slavery will be within my ancestry, our surname is Scottish.
I have thought about a DNA test but I’m a bit nervous about the safety of it in terms of having your DNA held by a private company. Maybe I’m just a bit paranoid.

@womanaf - Thank you, I didn’t know this, this is really helpful.

Have you seen enslaved on iplayer with Samuel L Jackson? I also find David Olusoga on iplayer really informative as well.

I haven’t felt able to watch enslaved, I would find it too upsetting to watch, even the trailers make me emotional. I have seen some of David Olusoga’s documentaries and find him very informative as you say.