Genealogy Chat

I am trying to trace my Great Grandfather Daniel Christopher Gallaway who was born in St Lucia in approx. 1876. He was either a stowaway or a cabin boy on the ship SS Mohegan that was shipwrecked off the Manacles near Falmouth, Cornwall in 1898. He settled in Cornwall and in 1910 married my Great Grandmother (a widow) Harriet Burt (nee Lean) and had 4 children. On his marriage certificate, his father's name is Frank Gallaway, occupation Colt Breaker. It is known that he had a sister in St Lucia, but none of the family know any details about him or his family before he arrived in Cornwall. And he is not recorded anywhere on the 1901 census. Does anyone have any ideas of where I can go from here? Thanks Paula

From the Channel Four Website: Records on St Lucia St Lucia is one of the Caribbean's Windward Islands (the others are Dominica, Martinique, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Barbados and Grenada) which, with the Leeward Islands (Virgin Islands, St Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat and Guadelope) form the Lesser Antilles. Although Columbus discovered the Antilles in 1502, the islands weren't colonised for more than a century, due to the hostility of the original inhabitants, the Caribs. In 1635, the French settled there, bringing in black slaves to work the sugar plantations (after annihilating the Carib population). The Anglo-French conflicts of the 17th and 18th centuries had many repercussions in the area. In 1814, with the defeat of Napoleon, the island was ceded to the British as a crown colony. Slavery was abolished there in 1834, and St Lucia itself achieved independence in 1979. When the British took over St Lucia in 1814, they found that most of the earlier French administrative records had been burned when a fire virtually destroyed Castries in 1796 (the fire was the fault of the British, who had attacked a French fortress near the town). Then, in 1927, the records of the magistrate’s courthouse and the attorney general’s office in Castries went up in flames. A far more serious fire in 1948 destroyed most of Castries, but although the office of the Chief Registrar of Civil Statistics was ruined, most of the records were saved. Fortunately, the registrar’s new building has been fireproofed! We have been able to establish that birth certificates can be obtained from the Registrar of Civil Statistics, while marriage and burial records are kept by the Parish Register of Marriages and Burials. The Central Library is in Micould Street, Castries, the capital of St Lucia, and there is a branch library at Soufrière. Some of the available records: Schools St Mary’s College (boys, RC), from 1897. St Joseph’s Convent, Castries, from 1952. RC primary schools, Castries, from 1952. Anglican infant schools, Castries, from 1906. Anglican primary schools, Castries, from 1929. Methodist primary school, Castries, from 1954. Anglican Church registers Holy Trinity, Castries, from 1825. Christchurch, Soufrière, from 1833. Methodist Church register The Manse, Castries, from 1948 (earlier ones destroyed by fire). Roman Catholic registers Mostly collected at the Bishop’s House, Castries. Records: Anse-la-Raye from 1812; Castries from 1818; Dennery from 1838; Gros Islet from 1838; Laborie from 1828; Micould from 1896; Soufrière from 1770; Vieux Fort from 1793. There are earlier registers from the mid-18th century, copies of which may be at the Bishop’s House. Chief Registrar of Civil Statistics The Chief Registrar (tel: 001 758 453 1916) holds copies of most church registers and also Civil Registration records, which date from 1869 for births and deaths and from 1941 for marriages. There were nine separate registration districts on the island: Anse-la-Raye, Castries, Choiseul, Dennery, Gros Islet, Laborie, Micould, Soufrière and Vieux Fort. There do not seem to have been any censuses Pippa

Thanks for that information Pippa. I will give that phone number a call and see if I can get any information. Many thanks Paula

Barbados has an archive dept.-I emailed them and they replied with lots of stuff 2 days later.

Ruth


This thread is over 5 years old!

It is entirely possible that neither Paula nor The Ego Has Landed even bother looking at this


I suggest that you click on the name, and send a message through the GR system


Then hope that she/he still has the same email address that si on file with GR




sylvia