CARIBBEAN-L Archives

From: Anthony N Joseph <>
Subject: [CARIBBEAN-L] Researchers from Dominica or with Dominican Interest
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 04:02:25 -0400

Dear Listers:

My name is Anthony JOSEPH from the island of Dominica in the British West
Indies, and I was wondering what is the poulation for researchers from
Dominica or with a Dominican Interest? If you fall into either category,
please inform me, because we may be experiencing some of the same
dilemmas with our research and may be able to assist one another. By way
of background, I was born in Portsmouth, St. John, Dominica (which is to
the north of the island) and have done some level of research on the
following names:

JOSEPH, MATHIEU / MATTHEW, * BARTHELEMY, MAGLOIRE, LAVILLE, and
* TOUSSAINT (* denotes that name is not very common in the North of the
island which is my area of concentration).

I was also wondering if anyone knows where the following surnames
originated:

JOSEPH - Unknown; MATHIEU / MATTHEW - possibly from Guadeloupe (not
sure),
* BARTHELEMY - possibly from Cayenne or Guadeloupe (not sure),
MAGLOIRE - France > Haiti > Guadeloupe / Martinique / Dominica / French
Guiana / Trinidad / St. Lucia / Anguilla, and other Caribbean Islands;
LAVILLE - France > Guadeloupe(?) / Martinique(?) / Dominica, and *
TOUSSAINT - Unknown.

Also one of my Granduncles who worked in Cayenne, French Guiana was
marrued to a lady named Edwidge ________. Does anyone know where Edwidge
may have come from?

Some of my frustrations with researching families in Dominica has to deal
with:
1) The Naming patterns (especially of slaves or descendants of slaves in
Dominica)
2) The lack of documentation which is available on Dominica 3) The
difficulty in obtaining a contact for Cayenne, French Guiana, let alone
obtaining records of migrants who went to work / live in Cayenne.
Dominica had a number of workers who went to Cayenne, some of them did
not return. How does one do any sort of meaningful research in Cayenne?
Who are the authorities to contact? Are there any private commissioned
researchers in Cayenne or French Guiana that one could utilize?

These are some of the issues that I am confronted with and was wondering
how many others researchers from Dominica or elsewhere in the Caribbean
are experiencing similar issues.

Any suggestions, help, tit-bit would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,
Anthony
___________________________________________________________________
Get the Internet just the way you want it.
Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month!
Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tag

This thread:

• [CARIBBEAN-L] Researchers from Dominica or with Dominican Interest by Anthony N Joseph <>