CARIBBEAN-L Archives

Archiver > CARIBBEAN > 1999-08 > 0934250293


From: "Bill Prestwidge" <>
Subject: [CARIBBEAN-L] Re: Edwidge
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 18:58:13 -0700


Anthony,

Edwidge is pretty likely to be British, as is my own surname. I have,
however, found over 80 different spellings of that suffix with the
predominant spelling being WICH as in PRESTWICH, or GREENWICH, or NORWICH,
or DULWICH - all properly pronounced WHATEVER-IDGE, no voice given to the W.
The second biggest spelling group is RIDGE, and again, the R has no voice as
well. You will run into lots of people who feel that the W's and R's should
be voiced. You can tell them to go FRUCWK themselves. Again, don't
pronounce the R nor the W. {;-)

More seriously, a wich is generally thought to be "that area over there" and
my surname, PRESTWIDGE (or PRESTWICH), a place name, referred to the place
where all the priests lived - a priest colony.

I can't help you much with what the ED means.

Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: Anthony N Joseph <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, August 09, 1999 1:02 AM
Subject: [CARIBBEAN-L] Researchers from Dominica or with Dominican Interest


> 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
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