PUBLIC CENTRAL RECORDS

These records are organized into two (2) main groups, based on their office of origin as outlined below:
1. Administrative  (Departments, Ministries and Agencies)
2. Legal (Courts of Law, although some court records are with the records from the Island Record Office)

ADMINISTRATIVE
Most of the official historical records are from two departments – the Island Records Office (IRO) (link) (pp 21 – 23) and the Colonial Secretary’s Office (CSO).
Island Records Office

a. Patents (1661 – 1940) - Volumes/libers of enrolments of lands granted to settlers, official appointments and naturalization granted to aliens/foreigners by royal letters patent. Also included are enrolments of the credentials/qualifications of clergies living in Jamaica in accordance with an Act of 33 Chas. II c XVIII s IX.

b. Plat Books (1661 – 1755) These volumes contain names of persons granted land patents as well as diagrams of the lands.

c. Parish Registers (1666 – 1918) These registers are of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials mainly of the Church of England in Jamaica. They cover sixteen (16) parishes with the earliest date being 1666-1804 for the parish of Clarendon. There are also Registers from the Presbyterian and Baptist churches from 1840 – 1880, but they relate to marriages only. These registers are the original of the Civil Status Records