CARIBBEAN-L Archives

Archiver > CARIBBEAN > 1996-12 > 0849985322


From: Vaughn W. Royal< >
Subject: Re: Jamaican family
Date: Sat, 07 Dec 1996 19:02:02 GMT
References: <E1xCuM.CFr@nonexistent.com>


On Thu, 5 Dec 1996 00:05:05 GMT, George Bailey
<> wrote:

>I am new to this group and new to genealogy so forgive me if I cover
>ground already trod.
>
>My father imigrated to the US in 1930 and died in 1964. He never talked
>about his family in Jamaica and I wasn't interested, then. This is now
>and I don't know where to start.
>
>His name was Philip Jonathan Bailey and I know that he was from
>Manchester. He had a brother named Spencer. His mother lived in Grove
>Town when she died. I'm not even sure of her name, I heard two names,
>Helen Reid and Marjorie Rhoden. He was a Seventh Day Adventist and I
>believe they sponsored his move to the US. That's all I know except for
>his birthdate. Does anyone know how I can get started? I just discovered
>Madeline Mitchell's web page and I am motivated by her information.
>
>Any help will be appreciated.
>
>
>George Bailey

Step one, George, is to talk to any living relatives, particularly
older ones, to collect all available information about the family.
Take notes or use a tape recorder, if your relatives are confortable
with it. Obtain full names, approximate or exact dates of birth,
marriage and death, places of residence, occupations and anecdotal
information. Ask to see old legal documents, family bibles, wills,
letters, photographs, deeds, passports, immigration documents, etc.
Make copies to keep. Begin to organize your work from the outset. If
you do not have one, there are lots of computer genealogy programs on
the market to assist you at moderate cost or free, as shareware.

After you have collected information from human sources, then you will
want to go to your local LDS Family History Center and look for your
father's birth record among Manchester parish records. With luck,
that will give you his date and place of birth and the identity of his
parents. From there, you will be off and running. There are plenty
of books and other sources of information available on Jamaican
genealogy, along with a number of extremely knowledgeable people who
read this newsgroup and will be happy to help with answers to your
questions.

Vaughn
Vaughn Royal
Alexandria, Virginia, USA


http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vroyal
The West Indies Surname Interests List Web Page

This thread: