Barbados Church Records

Barbados    Church Records

The oldest standing church on the Island of Barbados is St. James Church (picture on right). Joanne McRee Sanders published indexes and abstracts of many Barbados church records (see below). Recently, FamilySearch has started an initiative to make free online indexes to many of the same records, and has broadened the scope to include nineteenth century records derived from both church and civil records.

Original Barbados christenings and burials (1679-1680) are kept at the Barbados Department of Archives. The collection has been microfilmed: FHL Collection 1162149 Item 1

Baptisms

• "Barbados Baptisms, 1739-1891," online database, FamilySearch.
• Sanders, Joanne McRee . Barbados Baptisms 1637-1800 . Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1984 . Free Name Search; digital version at Ancestry ($); purchase at Genealogical.com; FHL Collection 972.981 K29s.

Marriages

• "Barbados Marriages, 1854-1879," online database, FamilySearch
• Sanders, Joanne McRee . Barbados Records: Marriages 1643-1800 . Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1982 . Free Name Search; digital version at Ancestry ($); purchase at Genealogical.com; FHL Collection 972.981 K29sj v. 1.

Burials

Burials registered in some of Barbados's early Church of England parishes (more than 170,126 burial entries) are available on the website Tombstones.bb.

The records have been microfilmed and are widely available through the Family History Library's satellite Family History Center system. Some are also online:

• "Barbados Burials, 1854-1885," online database, FamilySearch

Other Records

• List and Index Society. Calendar of Letters from Canada, Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, Barbados and the Bahamas 1721-1793: Preserved at the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. London: Swift (P & D), 1972. FHL Collection BRITISH Large Q Book 942 B4pro spec. ser. v. 5

Jews

The HaChayim HaYehudim Jewish Photo Library website maintains online images of:

• BARBADOS, Bridgetown. Nidhe Israel Museum (Barbados Jewish Museum -- former Jewish School building), opened August 2007. (2007)
• BARBADOS, Bridgetown. Nidhe Israel Synagogue. (2007)
• BARBADOS, Christchurch. Shaare Tzedek Synagogue, Rockley New Road. (2007)

Arbell prepared a history of early Jewish refugees in Barbados and other Caribbean islands:

• Arbell, Mordechai. The Jewish Nation of the Caribbean: The Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Settlements in the Caribbean and the Guianas. Jerusalem, Israel: Gefen Publishing House, 2002/5762. FHL Collection 972.9 F2a