About Us
St. Vincent & the Grenadines Genealogy Research Web
Soufrière Volcano in northern St. Vincent (painting by Billinghurst & Jukes, 1800)
The Caribbean/West Indies island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is referred to as the “Gem of the Antilles.” Besides the main island of St. Vincent, it includes the Grenadine islands of Bequia, Canouan, Mayreau, Mustique, and more than two dozen other smaller regions. This chain of islands is home to many people who are proud of their Caribbean culture and heritage. It’s capital is Kingstown, often recorded as Kingston in older records.The written history of this island group dates back more than 300 years, and includes ties to Spain, France, Africa, England, Scotland, India, Portugal, Lebanon, Syria, and others. It’s history prior to European discovery is rich with native Amerindian cultures of the Ciboney, the Arawaks and the Caribs.
St. Vincent Map dated 1823 by Lucas
St. Vincent Ancestry Research
The purpose of this website is to provide a resource for information related to the history of St. Vincent and the Grenadines as it pertains to genealogical research. Like many Caribbean/West Indies locations, finding information on your St. Vincent and the Grenadines ancestors is not an easy task, and resources are quite limited.
It is recommended that researchers utilize the resources found in British, Scottish and other archives, along with the many newspaper records that are available in various libraries, before venturing to St. Vincent. The records offices in St. Vincent have few resources available, and while many records do exist on the island, they are poorly organized and not yet cataloged, saved on microfilm or computerized. Unfortunately, the records are scattered in offices around Kingstown, with births, deaths and marriages in one location (the Registry), wills and deeds in another location (the Courthouse), and only a handful of miscellaneous records housed in the Archives. Many record books are in such fragile condition that simply handling them can cause serious damage. To emphasize that fact, we have been told that some records can only be accessed in a special room which requires researchers to wear a respirator!
An original will from St. Vincent dated 1834 and Baptism records from St. Vincent dated 1813
Our Records
Any on-site research at the St. Vincent Archives is all done by hand. The staff does not do research by phone, mail, or email, so you must find a researcher on the island who can visit the various offices in person. Students associated with the branch of the University of the West Indies in Kingstown, have conducted research, as well as local attorneys.Visit our RESEARCH TIPS page for more detailed information, and see Our Archives of online records displayed on the left side of this page for actual transcribed records and record indexes on St. Vincent.You’ll find everything from newspaper records of the late 1700’s to Royal Land Grants, military records, wills, cemetery records, government records, family pages, and more. We have a few original will pages from the Will Books kept at the Courthouse in Kingstown, as well as a few original baptism records from the records books of St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in Kingstown.
PLEASE NOTE:
The St. Vincent & the Grenadines Genealogy Research Web is undergoing a major website redesign. Please bear with us as we make improvements so that this website is easier for our visitors to use. All of our information will be back as soon as the website maintenance is complete, hopefully by the end of February 2007. Our FORUM is not affected by this update, and can be reached here: http://svgancestry.com/forum
If this is your first time visiting this website, you have found the best source for doing genealogy research on ancestors who were from the Caribbean/West Indies island of St. Vincent. On this site you will find records for births, deaths, baptisms, government officials, newspaper records, land and property records, estate and plantation records, and much, much more.
Who Is Responsible For This Website?
This website is the personal project of a genealogical researcher with ancestral ties to the island and is not affiliated with the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. All of the information contained on this website has taken many long hours to compile. There is much historical and genealogical information to be found in public domain resources on people who have lived in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. These sources are often difficult and expensive to locate, but have been well worth our time and money in what we found on our own St. Vincent ancestors. We hope our data also contains information useful to your own St. Vincent genealogy research.
ABOVE PAINTING :Soufriére, from the Wallibou Estate, 1827. (T. & G. Underwood, London.)
You will find the names of thousands of individuals on our pages, and more are added throughout the year. The bulk of our information is in the 1763 to 1875 time frame, with limited information dating from 1875 to the present.
Our work continues as we locate new resources, extract and add the data to this website.
Enjoy your visit!
Suzanne Burnette
Developer & Archivist
SVGancestry.com
PRESS RELEASE
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR (SVGancestry.com) January 23, 2007 – The St. Vincent & the Grenadines Genealogy Research Web has announced its new web address. Formerly located at sv.usaroots.com, the website is now found at svgancestry.com. The niche website debuted in October 2004 offering datasets of records, research tips and historical information for this remote corner of the Caribbean.
The site promises many new things to come in 2007. It already has thousands of names in its published records, and is preparing to release thousands more with the debut of its subscription database coming in the summer of 2007. The records focus mainly on the island group’s early history, simply because those have been the easiest to locate for the website’s American archivist and developer Suzanne Burnette. “It’s not an easy job because St. Vincent records are hard to come by”, says Burnette. “The island government of St. Vincent is only in the early stages of assessing and organizing what records it holds, and genealogists interested in the island’s records have been waiting far too long as it is.”
Burnette created the website after encountering numerous obstacles in the search for her own St. Vincent ancestry, which dates back to 1763 when the island was first settled by the British. Her most prominent St. Vincent ancestor is the Hon. Harry Alexander, the first president of the island’s legislative council. Burnette says, “I was quite lucky to find a small group of individuals on an internet mailing list who had been tracing their St. Vincent ancestry, and who, in the process had become experts on the island’s history and early inhabitants. By making contact with them, I was able to start putting together the pieces of my ancestral puzzle.”
Part of the problem with research on the island is the fact that many of the records in St. Vincent are in very poor condition due to exposure to the elements. Burnette says, “even if you can travel to the island, you’ll be lucky to find what you’re looking for without a lot of legwork because records are scattered around Kingstown in government offices, churches and the Archives.
We’ve been told by many researchers that they were denied access to records because of their fragile condition. Those which are made available must be searched by hand in records books which are brittle and falling apart, requiring the least amount of handling possible. To make matters worse, she says, “It’s not known if or when any microfilming of the records could be done, or when any data might be entered into a digital format. That kind of work is probably years away since the St. Vincent government has more pressing and important matters, like increasing employment opportunities and tourism revenue.”
Fortunately for genealogy buffs with ancestors from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, many records can be found off the island, mainly in repositories in England, Scotland, the United States and elsewhere in the Caribbean. It’s these resources that Burnette dove into in the search for names and events in St. Vincent history. Newspaper records, microfilm rentals, and extensive research into old manuscripts and books have been the main source of information for the website. The site lists births, deaths, marriages, baptisms, cemeteries, census counts, deeds, wills, estates & properties, government officer appointments, land grants, passenger lists and other records for individuals who have lived in St. Vincent and the Grenadines since its written history began.
“Our goal is to make as many records available as possible because we know how difficult St. Vincent research can be”, says Burnette, “hopefully we can use the resources we have found to share with others who have no way of knowing how to find things off the island.” Burnette says earlier records are easiest to find, and the only real source of information for more recent St. Vincent individuals is newspaper obituaries, but the search continues for other more recent sources.
To assist people in tracing their St. Vincent ancestors, the website offers a forum for query posting (svgancestry.com/forum). The forum is free but requires registration before users can post queries. An RSS feed is also available for website patrons who would like to receive updates on queries added to the forum.
About St. Vincent and the Grenadines Genealogy Research Web
The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Genealogy Research Web was established in the United States in 2004 by American web developer & site archivist Suzanne Burnette. Located on the web at svgancestry.com, the website offers visitors free access to records naming thousands of individuals who have lived in St. Vincent and the Grenadines since it was settled by the British in 1763. A forum is also available for posting queries, which requires registration. Forum patrons can stay in touch with the website forum by subscribing to a free news feed of the forum’s newest postings.
OUR REVIEWS
GENUKI FAMILY HISTORY NEWS
No. 164 - 08 May 2004
“Genealogical research anywhere in the Caribbean can be exceptionally difficult due to records being housed in poor condition, or at worst just not available. St Vincent is no different, and in fact the records available are harder to find even than many Caribbean countries. Therefore a website like this is a gem, explaining where to find records, what records might be there, and where to find records outside of St Vincent. There are also a good number of articles and transcriptions directly on the site, including a list of land grants which is quite fascinating. Well worth a look, and nicely presented this website will be useful to those with ancestors from St Vincent and also to those whose ancestors may well have worked, fought, farmed or lived in St Vincent in the past.”
Rob Thompson-GENUKI FAMILY HISTORY NEWS
OUR WEBSITE CONTRIBUTORS:
Jim Cropper, Cindy Kilgore, Cheryl Hazell, Joan Leggett, Nigel Boos, David Hobson & Jonathan Kirton.
Special THANKS to Karl Eklund for taking the beautiful photographs of the memorials in St. George’s Anglican Cathedral at Kingstown, St. Vincent.
View the memorial photos on Karl’s website by clicking here.