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Archiver > CARIBBEAN > 1997-07 > 0868264353


From: bobnich
Subject: Re: Berbice, Guyana
Date: Mon, 07 Jul 1997 08:32:33 GMT
References: <33bddd41.302526@jhb-news.iafrica.com>


On Sat, 05 Jul 1997 05:38:25 GMT, (Ash Emery)
wrote:

>I am attempting to trace the Melville family who lived in British
>Guiana (now Guyana) in the period about 1860 to about 1880. John
>Melville was an English merchant and lived in Berbice. (Does anyone
>know if this a town at the coast or upcountry?) John was married to
>Sarah and they both were about 30 years old in 1870. They had several
>children whilst in British Guiana including (John born about 1863),
>Ann de Berenger (born about 1869), Marguerite Matilda (born about
>1871) and Walter (born about 1876). John Melville Snr died about
>1878/79 and the rest of the family were shipped home to England with
>the younger ones packed off to separate orphanages.
>My queries:
>1.Is there any focal point for me to look for the death record
>of John Melville Snr and the cause of death?
>2.Where would I look for the baptism records of the children/are
>there church records held for Berbice?
>3.Was there anything similar to the English Civil Registration
>system operating in the British West Indies in the 1860s/1870s and
>where should I look for records of births and deaths?
>Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice.
>Ash
>
There is an entry for the name Melville in 1873 and 1875 in " The
Colonist" newpaper . By chance I have the exact1873 page - which
reads:

January 25 1873 P2 Col 3
Died
Melville.-On the 16th inst., (drowned) in Leguan Channel, Robert
Alexander Melville, better known as Paddy Melville, aged 63.

There are also 2 other entries, one for 1884 and one for 1896 in
"The Argosy" newspaper, Georgetown under BDMs.

The British Newspaper Library at Colindale, London has the above
papers on microfilm.

Regards
Tikwis
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