I’m afraid that the name Harrington doesn’t ring any bells.

However, I did have a look at the Sugar Refiners & Sugar Bakers database (http://home.clara.net/mawer/sugarhha.html) and came across:

HARRINGTON Sarah – (age 33) Tate’s (35 Parker St) Silvertown 1901 1901 census RG13/ 1578/ 41

I don’t know if she might have any connection to your Harringtons. One of my St Vincent MacDonalds went to work for Tates, at Silvertown, at about the same time.

Regards

Mike

Have you seen: http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?St,Vincent::wiseman::1566.html

I also think that I saw the name Wiseman amongst the regimental histories displayed at Gun Hill, Barbados.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Mike

Did you know that all of the wealthy estate owners of the island were all from Scotland, then some moved to T&T.

I just spoke to my mother discussing the family ancestry. She was telling me of how her father Carl Harrington, a wealthy Vincentian was one of the first individuals along with a gentleman named Mr. Harry started the first bus service on Saint Vincent, before marrying my grandmother Adina James, and moving to Trinidad. Carl Harrington was born in Scotland, his family then moved to England, and as a young man he came to the island of Saint Vincent, where other relatives were residing and settled there. He and Mr. Harry were the original founding fathers of the Saint Vincent Bus Service. With my mother’s memories of her father, she wants me to get a few books written and published for her, which I will be doing very soon.

Firstly, thank you to Suzanne, Cheryl and all other contributors for a helpful and interesting web site.

I am a descendant of Duncan S MacDonald (b. 1803 Ullapool d. 20/11/1885 – buried St Patricks Church, Barrouallie), who was owner of the Wallilabou Estate from around 1830. I believe that Duncan originally went out to St Vincent to join his uncle but I have no information as to who he was.

Duncan’s sister, Ann, also moved out to St Vincent in the early 1800s having married a Murdoch MacKenzie of St Vincent on the 17/3/1825.

I understand that two of Duncan’s sons, Duncan Alexander (b 16/9/1861) and Thomas MacGregor (b 1860) lived in St Vincent until the 1930s, while other members of the family moved back to the UK.

One of Duncan’s daughters, Jessie Helen, married Arthur Wakefield, who was manager of the Colonial Bank, Kingstown, St Vincent and later Charlestown, Nevis.

Duncan’s eldest son, John William, trained as a chemist in Greenock, Scotland, before becoming manager of the Tate & Lyle laboratory in Liverpool and ended up as vice-chairman of the company.

The only mention that I could find of the MacDonalds that I could find on the svgancestry.com web site is of Duncan A MacDonald being appointed a Member of the St Vincent Executive Committee on 3/1/1894.

However, I did notice that Cheryl mentions a McDonald being linked to her mother’s side of the family, so would be very interested to know if there is a connection.

FYI, I did find an 1834 list of St Vincent plantation owners, at http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=West_Indian_Relief_Commission

This shows an A MacDonald and wife as owning the Argyle, Calder and Calder Ridge Estates, so assume that they may have been Duncan S MacDonalds uncle and aunt.

I also saw that Sir A MacKenzie was listed as the owner of Tourama but don’t know if he was related to Murdoch MacKenzie. I assume that Sir A MacKenzie was Alexander Kenneth MacKenzie (1769-1838), who married Elizabeth Punnett. See http://www.scottfuneralservices.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1393489&fh_id=13467

I have also found a reference to a Captain John MacKenzie possibly settling in St Vincent at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CARIBBEAN/1997-01/0852558239 and a recent orbituary for a Susan MacKenzie who was brought up in St Vincent at http://www.scottfuneralservices.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1393489&fh_id=13467 but don’t know if there was any family connection.

I have been in contact with Jonathan Kirton whose ancestors owned the Kearton Estate, which was adjacent to the Wallibalou Estate. I am grateful for the research papers that he has already contributed to this site.

I did notice, in case Vincent S Reid is reading this, that a Peter Reid is shown as one of the witnesses of George Kearton’s will in 1773. By coincidence, I am also aware that a John Reid (b 1755 d 27/4/1812) was Collector of Customs in Stornaway, Isle of Lewis, about the same time that Duncan MacDonalds father, (Angus) John MacDonald HEICS b. 1757 d 22/9/1810 was Controller of Customs in Ullapool.

One book that I have recently come across that I am hoping to obtain is ‘Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic World 1750-1820′ by Douglas J Hamilton ISBN 0-7190-7182-8 (see http://www.electricscotland.com/books/caribbean.htm), which appears to include details of many early St Vincent settlers from Scotland.

Two other other references, which might be of interest to you are ‘The Sugar Refiners and Sugarbakers ‘ web site, compiled by Bryan Mawer, http://www.mawer.clara.net, and ‘The Report on the Eruptions of the Souffriere in St Vincent, in 1902′, which were recorded in the Philisophical Transactions of the Royal Society
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0264-3952%281903%29200%3C353%3AROTEOT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E&size=LARGE.

I did manage to make my first visit to St Vincent, this month, which fulfilled a longstanding ambition. Unfortunately, I was only there for one day but I did manage to find Duncan MacDonald’s grave and visit the old Wallibalou Estate.

By chance, I met a local whose grand parents had been given land by the MacDonalds. He received us very warmly and took time to show us around some of the ruins of the old manager’s house; arrowroot processing plant and tobacco drying sheds, which I found fascinating. I hadn’t appreciated quite how productive the estate had been, as they had obviously grown quite a range of crops (bananas, coco, coconuts, arrowroot and tobacco), as well as sugar.

I understand that some of the remains of the old plantation house are still visible further up the valley but, regrettably, I didn’t have time to visit them on this occasion. I also discovered, after I got home, that part of the estate has recently been turned into a park with a visitor’s centre.

Anyhow, I should be delighted to hear if anyone knows anything more about the MacDonalds or MacKenzies.

I should also be very interested if anyone can tell me what information is being displayed about the history of the Wallibalou Estate at the visitor’s centre.

Regards

Mike

In my research I couldn’t find much on Jane. The only information I have on her is that she had a sister named Susan and that their mother was a maid from Mustique with the surname Bacchus. Perhaps this could be a starting point for you. Was she married? Because if so, maybe her marriage certificate could have some Infirmation as to who her parents were. She was definitely born before 1855 because her father died in that year. William’s first wife. Eleanor Elizabeth Hazell died in 1845 then he remarried in 1849 to Sarahann Stodard Warner who was originally from Bermuda. He and Sarah apparently didn’t have any children. She had three small children from her first marriage and he had his two sons from his first marriage. Jane was a half sister to these sons, Moshe and Old Bill.

Did you know that Moshe was married to your great grandfather Donald’s sister, Eliza, in 1860 on Bequia? That would have made Jane and Eliza sisters in law technically. Do you have the birth date for William C because all I have is that he died in 1967.

That’s all I have for now. Please let me know if this was helpful.

Robin from upstate New York.

You would need to put a call out to folks so that people know that this is being done and so that they can contribute whatever phrases they know. I know a couple of phrases and I think that my mom would know some, too.

Perhaps the help of a masters student studying linguistics would help us even further. Just some thoughts.

Great idea!!!

As for French creole, I remember when we were kids (growing up in Canada) my mom would use creole phrases such as “toute moun bagay” when she wanted us kids to get together and clean up or just gather together for some reason, or finish sentences with “oui, papa”. There were quotes such as “crapaud smoke your pipe” and things like that.

There are other French surnames such as Ollivierre from Bequia and perhaps Bonadie is a French name, too. They are also from St Vincent/Bequia. They are my family and I’ve been doing research on them, too. I suspect that just because someone carries a French surname, doesn’t necessarily mean that they still speak some remnant of the old French creole language. Cordice is another name, that could be French, but I’m not sure if it is.

There was/is also a French Creole culture in Trinidad. I know that many Vincentians populated Trinidad, so there could be a connection. There was a film I viewed a few years ago and it included some of that French culture and the language that still exists today. The film was called, Jab! The Blue Devils of Paramin.

Here is a link to more on Dr. LePage…maybe it could be of help to you. http://benjamins.com/series/jpcl/23-1/art/08chr.pdf

All the best,

Cheryl

You gave some great tips for researchers, Vincent. Hope you can be of help to those of us who aren’t on island.

As a matter of fact, maybe you can start with me. I haven’t done too much research on my mom’s side. Her surnames would be Jacobs, Smart, McDonald, Saunders. From Georgetown and Colonarie. Years would span from 1850-1950 for starters.

This site is dear to me, i have found the information to be very stirring and awakes a sence of love for family in me. recently i have done some research for someone from Jamaica who was trying to find out about her great grand father, who left St Vincent in the very early 1900s maybe even that exact year. To make this story short, i just put my (hound) nose to the ground and i was able to find out a lot about that Great Grand Father.

If you wish to find your ancestry in St Vincent with only a little information, it pays to get the name of a village or area as a point to start, going to that location can reveal a lot or very little depending on how well the social life of that particular area developed over the years.

Having a name or names to work with is also very helpful, but remember “”nicknames”" might be even more inportant than official names. Remember names disappear over time, and all that might be remembered may be a story or mannerism or manner of dress or habits.

I live in St Vincent, and i know the Island like no other, i am willing to help where possible.

To the site developers, please seperate request from comments so that people can get some help, you are doing a great job so far , and i have been harping about this site to everyone.

A few years ago i found a request on this site (through tonyoldies.homestead.com) where someone was seeking info about a REID, i have tried to find it for the last few weeks , but i have been unable to

I am currently researching the Davis ancestry and any help will be welcome,

Thank you

http://svgancestry.com/index.php/military-records/ – that is a link on this very site where it gives a list of men and the year they served in the West Indies Regiment in St Vincent.

Wouldn’t you just love to see what these people looked like?