Barbados Gazetteers

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Barbados

Gazetteers

Online Gazetteers

• FamilySearch Places
• World Gazetteers at Archive.org
• Barbados (illustrated) : historical, descriptive and commercial. 1911. By Cave Shepherd & Co. Barbados : Cave, Shepherd. Online at: Archive.org
• The history of Barbados : comprising a geographical and statistical description of the island; a sketch of the historical events since the settlement; and an account of its geology and natural productions. 1848. By Robert Hermann Schomburgk. London: : Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. Online at: Archive.org
• Background notes, Barbados. 1998. By U.S. Dept. of State. Washington, DC : U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of Public Communication. Online at: Hathitrust.
• List of cities, towns and villages in Barbados by Parish at Wikipedia.org
• United States. Board on Geographic Names. British West Indies and Bermuda: Official Standard Names Approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Office of Geography, 1955. Online at: FamilySearch Catalog

Why Use Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. Gazetteers list or describe towns and villages, parishes, states, populations, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. Within a specific geographical area, the place-names are listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary. You can use a gazetteer to locate the places where your family lived and to determine the civil and religious jurisdictions over those places.

There are many places within a country with similar or identical place-names. You will need to use a gazetteer to identify the specific town where your ancestor lived, the state the town was or is in, and the jurisdictions where records about the person was kept.

Gazetteer Contents

Gazetteers may also provide additional information about towns, such as:

• Different religious denominations
• Schools, colleges, and universities
• Major manufacturers, canals, docks, and railroad stations
• The population size.
• Boundaries of civil jurisdiction.
• Ecclesiastical jurisdiction(s)
• Longitude and latitude.
• Distances and direction from other from cities.
• Schools, colleges, and universities.
• Denominations and number of churches.
• Historical and biographical information on some individuals (usually high-ranking or famous individuals)