Other Collections

Other collections which list names of persons and can be useful in tracing family names are

Estate Inventories (1674 –1881) – these are listings of the enrolments of inventories of the estates of deceased property owners.

Current Accounts (1809 – 1957) – accounts pertaining to the operation of deceased persons’  estates,  estates with mortgages and those of  absentee proprietors.

Patents (1661 – 1940) – provide information on  land grants to settlers, official appointments and grants of naturalization to aliens by royal letters patents.  They also include enrolments of credentials of clergy living in the island.

Plats (1661 – 1775)  – contain information on land granted by the Governor to  settlers in different parishes, identifying the person receiving, the surveyor, location and size of land.

Registers of Returns of Slaves (1817 –1832) –  detailed  information  by parish on the number, class and condition of slaves held by each slave owner as required by an Act passed in 1816 “for a more particular return of slaves in this Island and enrolment thereof”.

Manumission of Slaves (1747 – 1838) – records of the slaves who were freed, giving their names, persons who freed them and the cost.

Maps and Plans – these include topographical maps of counties , parishes and constituencies in Jamaica and can assist in identifying locations, including parish names and boundaries which have changed over the years.