General Chat

Rachael Hunte owned 9 properties (on the edge of the 'red light district') which passed to her son the constable! As she was free the choice was hers.

If I remember correctly the bap. records said reputed son of........put 2 and 2 together!!

Briggs - single man and as was said he had pick of the crop - would have said the bonus was an extra rather than an incentive.
After saying plaque to slave owner should be left to rot he then finds out he is actually descended from one!!

He made much of his g.gfather being ambitious but nothing basically of his part in Africa and helping to put down an uprising of the people of Sierra Leone.

Twists and turns everywhere. Horrific but they were the times then that a 4yr old child is taught to buy and sell slaves and possibly to increase his holdings by natural means but let us not forget in 19th century we were sending boys up chimneys and if they did not move quickly lit a fire under them

If only someone would fly me to Jamaica to look at the IGI online!
Seriously though, I was hoping I might get some pointers as to what to do when i start on my OHs tree. His Mum's from Trinidad but from Bombay roots but sadly it wasn't to be. I guess I'll stick to his Father whose family comes from Bombay via Mauritius. No on second thoughts I'll stick to my own tree!
I guess it must be a shock when you find out that you have slave owners in your tree but at the end of the day your ancestors are the people who make you who you are. No ones asking you to accept that what they did was right. Hell, I'm sure mine probably did loads of stuff that I wouldn't be proud of but thats with the benefit of hindsight.

i was shocked when he swore

i was like, aaarrrrrrrr sharp intake of breath,

i mean i swear myself so i dont know why , well not in work, and not in certain company,think it was just unexpected

Julie Ann, I believe the slaves were given the surname of their owners. What I didn't understand and wasn't explained was how the daughter of a Davy and Briggs could be a Smith?!

I do wish when they put the trees up that they used a similar set up to when they did it for Heir Hunters. It would be so much more helpful if they put the dates on them.

Maggie, it's hard to say what sort of man he was. After all, it's hard to fight an upbringing where you're taught from the age of 4 to own other people. Perhaps his own heritage sickened him? Hard to say. Also, she may have been black but, just how black was she? She probably actually saw him as a bit of a catch, you have to wonder what he did after emancipation really.

I don't think I've ever really been ashamed by the British Empire's history before, but I did feel it tonight.

No, it wasn't Priscilla who was the (presumed) prostitute/property owner, that was Racheal Hunte (mother of James Hunte the policeman).

Amazing how he managed to find the Harriotts on the IGI as well - I have tried for years to find a James Croyle, who according to the 1901 census was born in Barbados.
Have just tried the IGI again - apparently there were no 'Croyles' in Barbados at all!! There were some last time I looked!!

Well, we all go in with some sort of expectation, I guess, so it's no surprise that being a black man he would expect to be descended from slaves.

I guess the loose ties that we see are probably tied up for them but at the end of the day they have to decide what they put on the show. They must cut an awful lot. But it always makes me grumble that they make the search look so damn easy. (And yeah, Janet, I'd also love to go to Barbados to search the IGI...tough life, eh? LOL)

Maggie, I think I remember being told a while back that they rotate the info available on the IGI, dunno how true that is though.

I really want a trip to the carribean now, need to save some pennies LOL. Anyone wanna buy my parents house, they've had no viewings since June!

very interesting and thought provoking, could see how shocked he was at the turn the research took.

I must say though that I am a bit disappointed that this series is focusing so much on celebs with overseas roots. the only all english one so far has been Patsy Kensit. just looked at the bbc website and David Suchet and Jodie Kidd also seem to be overseas stories - at least in part. looks as if only 2 of the series are going to show UK based research, am assuming Lawrence L-B is welsh/english! I can't be the only person with absolutely no overseas connection (not even Ireland) can I?!

Maz. XX

I too wonder how child Smith was named so, as neither parents were Smith!!

No Maz - you're not the only one - so far 100% English - not even a snifter of Irish, Scottish or Welsh!! What is really galling is that I suffered racial abuse as a child - and I'm probably more English than the perpetrators!!
So, just to put the record straight - the 'English' complexion isn't 'peaches & cream', it's a rather swarthy colour - cross between Arab/Jewish look with dark brown eyes and black hair!! I have 'paled up' as I've grown older - I used to be 3 shades darker than my siblings..........
Mind you, my family also came from 'port' towns and Cornwall and I can only go on what was put on record.......

The Barbados connection is to do with my grandad's best mate. He was black, his mother (also black) was born in Southampton - as were her parents, and grandparents, but his father came from Barbados.

I have an ancestor born in Italy but her parents were both English and she wasn't over there for very long. I've not been able to find any record of it, but was able to get the birth cert for her older brother who was born in the UK. In fact, they all seem English so far too. I'd love to find some foreign link, we did get very excited by her being born in Rome, sounded so exotic but, alas it looks like her Dad just travelled a lot for work.

LOL Maggie, you never know do you, we have to take what's on the birth records as correct unless proved otherwise.

Brilliant program - one of the best I have seen so far, of all the series'

Hi Maggie and SS, glad I'm not the only one! I know that the overseas ones are interesting, but I do think that they should do some more that involve basic British research. Maybe they can't find anyone who has interesting enough ancestors!
Maz. XX

....even my own children keep pestering me to ask my mum if she had an affair!! LOL

When I was at school, my best friend was English / Chinese Mauritian. We were the last two to leave the classroom, when the teacher suddenly asked if we were sisters!

It came home to me when my daughers and I were at an Ann Frank exhibition and my yongest (6) asked why there was a photo of me on the wall - it was Ann Frank.

He didn't have to go to Jamaica to search the IGI as you can find the records here - I was a bit concerned at it being a submitted record though. Good job that he had immediate access to the parish registers!

Fascinating mix of stuff though.

Jill

Maz, all the ones they looked at and discarded...they were all ag labs PMSL

Summer Scribe mentioned the repeat earlier. It is
on BBC 2 at 7pm Thursday 18th September.

LMAO Maggie, oh dear, that really doesn't bode well does it. I'd get your mum sozzled and do a "between you me and the gate post...is dad really my dad?" LOL. Or, could well be some kind of throw back gene, they do happen... no, really...they do *Grins*

how do you go about that tho maggie
its a bit of a puzzler that,
you couldnt ask your mam such personal question could you