Meet the author

Guy GrannumGuy Grannum has been researching his own Barbadian ancestry for many years, and in doing so has gained first hand an in depth knowledge of how to research West Indian ancestry.

Guy works at The National Archives in the Research and Editorial Services Department.

This second edition of "Tracing your West Indian ancestors" is Guy’s most recent publication. We had a chat with Guy about some of the topics in the book and his interest in West Indian ancestry.

You can either read the interview straight through by scrolling down the page, or use the links below to jump to a question and answer.

Question 1

FamilyRecords: How and when did you first become interested in Caribbean family history ?

GG:

I first became interested the West Indies and ancestry in about 1988 when I found out that my great grandfather was born in Barbados.

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Question 2

FamilyRecords: How much prior knowledge of genealogical research techniques will someone using your book need?

GG: The first edition assumed that researchers understood general genealogical techniques and sources, though not specific to the West Indies. I soon realised that many complete beginners were using the book, so in the second edition I have included general guidance on how to get started.

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Question 3

FamilyRecords: How much of your own family history have you managed to trace at The National Archives? And how in depth are those findings?

GG: I have managed to trace my Barbadian family to the early 1700s using sources in The National Archives and in Barbados. The earliest records in The National Archives I have used are the slave registers which have given me useful information back to 1817 including a reference to a marriage in 1823. I have also identified a possible first Barbadian Grannum ancestor who was sentenced in 1723 in the Gloucester assizes to transportation to America.

My findings have been quite in depth, and have amounted to far more than simply dates and events. My Great-Grandfather, for example, was a colonial civil servant, and Colonial Office files are full of letters he wrote while working for the civil service. The letters provide an insight into his personality and into his life.

For instance, I found a letter he wrote to the Colonial Office when working in the Gold Coast requesting to be transferred from West Africa to another colony so he could bring his wife from England to live with him. In another letter written while working in British Guiana (now Guyana) he asks for promotion or transfer to a more temperate colony to give his wife and children a change in climate.

So I have found out a lot of quite personal information about my ancestors and their lives.

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Question 4

FamilyRecords: Have you traced any colourful or interesting ancestors who you could care to tell us about?!

GG: Well, there is one such individual though the story is not for certain. I have found a William Crannum who was sentenced in 1723 at the Gloucester Assize to transportation.

Though his crime was relatively minor, the theft of a loaf of bread and other goods to the princely sum of 2 shillings and 6 pence, at this time this was enough to be punished with transportation to the New World.

The assize record states that William Crannum and others were to be transported to America which included the Caribbean. Twelve years later in 1735 I have found a marriage of a William Crannum to Ann Mullens in Barbados and seven years later in 1742 the baptism of my earliest Grannum forebear - Andrew to a William and Ann Granham. I believe that these are the same person but have not been able to prove it.

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Question 5

FamilyRecords: How thorough was the British Colonial Administration when it came to Record keeping?

GG: On the one hand the Colonial Office was very thorough at keeping records. By way of example, from the 1850’s the Colonial Office recorded a description of every single piece of correspondence they recieved. The records of the Colonial Office are very informative and tell us a lot about the historical development of the colonies and to a lesser extent the lives of colonial inhabitants and colonial civil servants.

Record keeping in the colonies was on the whole very good mirroring on a local level British practices. Unfortunately, for many dependencies and former colonies and dominions many vital and historical records have not survived. For example, in the Caribbean the tropical environment such as the insects, humidity and hurricanes together with volcanoes, fires and war have all contributed to the loss of many important records. Also, current Caribbean governments have more urgent economic priorities than the preservation of archival records. Luckily this is changing as tourism and especially ecological and heritage tourism are becoming vital industries and the former colonies are developing a sense of personal identity rather than being offshoots of Britain.

It is important to realise that the records of the Colonial Office are not the records created locally by colonial governments but comprise reports and correspondence sent to London for information or action. The records in The National Archives compliment local records and can help to reconstruct histories but most missing genealogical records are lost for ever as they were not duplicated or required to be sent to London.

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Question 6

FamilyRecords: What are your top tips for someone tracing West Indian Ancestry?

GG: In common with family history in general the more you know about your family the better. It is particularly important to know which countries your ancestors came from as each of the West Indian countries was separately administered. You also need to know approximate dates your family lived there since before the 20th century the islands frequently changed hands between one European power and another so you may find that you may need to undertake research in other European archives. Ethnicity is also important for if you know that your ancestors were Portuguese, Dutch, Indian, Amerindian or African etc then this may provide clues when your family went to the Caribbean - bear in mind that not everyone of African descent in the Caribbean are descended from slaves. You also need to be careful about names - the spelling of surnames was not standardised and may have been anglicised; many people are known by informal family names but to check the records you need to know the official name.

To me the most important series of records are the slave registers which start in 1814 for Trinidad but most don’t start until 1817 and run until 1834 with the abolition of slavery. These are basically a census of all slaves - but provide useful information on slave owners. For slave owners they can provide details of family members and indicate if he or she died between registrations. For slaves the information varies from country to country but the basic details include name, occupation, age, where born and colour and movements between owners; some registers list the slaves in family groups usually headed by the mother, the names other relatives if on the same return, and baptismal name.

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