Barbados Emigration and Immigration

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Emigration

North American Emigrants

  • Alleyne, Warren and Henry Fraser. The Barbados-Carolina Connection. London: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1988. FHL Collection 972.981 H2a
  • Kent, David L. Barbados and America. Arlington, Va.: C.M. Kent, 1980. FHL Book 972.981 X2b.

In the seventeenth century, residents of Bergen County, New Jersey named a town "New Barbados."

Marler attempted to identify Barbados "Redbone" surnames present in Louisiana:

  • Marler, Don C. Redbones of Louisiana: For 200 Years Redbones Have Been Louisiana's Mystery People. Hemphill, Texas: Dogwood Press, 2003. FHL Collection 976.3 F2md

Genealogists attempting to track migrations from the British Isles to Barbados to Colonial North America, will be best served by attempting to find mention to an ancestor in other types of Barbados records, such as a census or census substitute, parish register, or will.

British Emigrants

As part of the Commonwealth until 1966, Barbadians had the full privileges belonging to subjects of the British Crown. This stimulated travel back and forth between the United Kingdom and Barbados. The twentieth century witnessed a large emigration of blacks from Barbados to the UK.

Caribbean Emigrants

Many Barbados indentured servants, after failing to secure land following their labor terms, left the island for Jamaica, see:

  • Williams, Joseph J. Whence the "Black Irish" of Jamaica? New York, N.Y.: Dial Press, 1932. FHL Collection 972.92 W2w

Central American Emigrants

More Barbadians were employed by the Isthmian Canal Commission of the United States in building the Panama Canal than any other nationality. Records of two-year work indentures survive documenting thousands of these short-term migrants. Many Barbadians also participated in the French failed attempt to build the canal in the 1880s, but fewer records survive.[1]

References

  1. Herbert Hutchinson, "Commemorating the Barbadians Who Excavated the Panama Canal (1904-1914)," The Journal of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society, Vol. 54 (2008): 223-248.