Jamaica: In search of Thomas Alexander Bennett
Monday 5 & Wednesday 7 December 2016
On Monday I got a taxi to Spanish Town to see what I could find in the Jamaican Archives.
When travelling overseas it is worth checking what the current warnings are for your destinations. Europe and America didn’t have warning for them, Cape Verde was unknown, but Jamaica had a caution. There has been violence in some of the areas east of where I was staying. The driver that picked me up from the airport went well out of his way to drop me at my destination. It wasn’t until later that I realised he may have been avoiding an area that wasn’t safe some months before. It was a flat fee from the airport to your destination, so he wasn’t trying to scam me. Spanish Town is another area designated as unsafe.
I arrived at the Jamaican Archives to discover I could only take a note pad and pencil in with me. I didn’t have a pencil so had to borrow one. If I wanted a copy of something, then I would need to pay for it. With the hot temperatures outside, I was dressed in shorts and t-shirt. Inside the Archives it is freezing cold. I was in the same office as 3-4 staff who were rugged up with gloves, scarf and thick jackets. When I went back on the Wednesday, I thought I was better prepared, and although I was wearing trousers, they were summer weight. I did have a thermal long sleeve top and cardigan; I really needed to have socks and shoes, thick tracksuit pants, scarf, beanie and jacket.
By the time I arrived on the Monday I only managed about 5 hours before I couldn’t take the cold any longer. On my second visit I managed to last 6 hours, but that was more because I decided I wanted to get the task done and get out of there. It wasn’t difficult to get to Spanish Town; it was about an hour taxi ride to get there. Luckily the husband of one of the staff there had a taxi and took me back to Kingston, and it worked out for him as he could easily pick up fares to return to Spanish Town. But somehow the exercise of getting there, spending hours in a cold environment and reading through the Baptism records was draining.
On my first day – with the task of looking for a needle in a hay stack; I didn’t know which Parish to look for – I was advised that the Baptism records was the place to look, however for some reason the records for St Elizabeth were not there. I only noted down that they weren’t there, not why. I wasn’t able to locate anything in the 11 hours I was there over the two days, but I noticed some information that didn’t sit well for me.
What we know is that Thomas Alexander Bennett was born around 1828 in Jamaica. His father is Charles Bennett and his mother is Margaret Sumner. The Baptism records I looked through ran from 1826 onwards. I looked up to 2 years after emancipation started – 1836. There were some records of white children, but the majority were black. Prior to emancipation the parents were listed with other details: black, white, mulatto. From 1834 there was an increase of Baptisms, including adults so there was less details per listing. All Bennett or Barrett children I found were black.
Children as young as 6 weeks old were listed as apprentices or labourers – this is because during emancipation, black folks were no longer listed as slaves. As they were to be paid for the work they did, and would be tied to the property of their previous owner, they were now ‘apprentices’.
There were some free blacks and free slaves listed. Often the parents, if listed, were not married. This would have been because they may not have been allowed to marry, or the father may have been a landowner or overseer. In some areas the land or landowner was also listed on the record. And as harsh as that seems, it is an incredible resource to be able to track people. In some countries slaves were not listed by name, as they were considered property.
All of this gave me an insight into the time, and was extremely valuable, even though I didn’t find any references to my ancestors. When meeting friends of my hosts, they commented that Bennett is a common name, but I realised that back in 1828 it wasn’t too common.
After my second day searching I was kind of over the process. I had planned to go back a third day, but I didn’t know where else to look.
I went on two tours with Karen Hutchinson, one the day before I headed to the Archives and the other on my last day in Jamaica. In the beginning I thought I was looking for a mixed race relative, but after the couple of days researching, I was starting to believe that Thomas was black. Karen was surprised, partly because I’m white, but also because when she has come across tourists in the past that come looking for ancestors, they are normally looking for white folks.
It wasn’t until September 2017 when I went to the Genealogical Society of Victoria that I found a shipping record of Thomas that listed his DoB and that he was born in St Elizabeth that I felt there was a break through. Time to revisit what can be found in Jamaica.
Trying to locate where relevant information is held takes a bit of negotiation. Prior to my visit I paid a researcher to locate any information for me. It cost over US$600 and although she did check through all parish records, I don’t know where exactly she went. I know I was able to view all parish records except St Elizabeth at Spanish Town, but if she went elsewhere to view the records she did, then were else could I go? I’ve tried to ask where are the places to look through records but so far have been directed to someone who has offered to research for me. At a third of the cost of the last researcher, but I wonder if I’d just we wasting more money.
About a year after my trip I was contacted by a cousin who came across the blog post ‘A date with history.’ They dropped hints but not giving any clear information on my Great grandmother Cecelia. Fortunately another cousin came across my blog as well and invited me to join a Facebook group set up by descendants of Thomas and Elizabeth Bennett. One cousin in particular, Andrew, is a wealth of information of the family as they were in Australia. He was able to supply the files that Cecelia had been in jail for 6 months for her part in horse theft. So much to explore there!
Having Andrew to discuss these types of things with helps to push me along to keep working on these things. Sadly sometimes, life gets in the way.
In time I may add details to this blog or add new ones when I come across information.
