Activity: Illustrated talk [Samaan Series]
Topic: History / Ancestry
Host: Moray House Trust
Date: Tuesday 8th November 2022
Time: 11 AM Guyana
YouTube: https://youtu.be/zEW_u4HkWvk
It was our pleasure to host a short talk by Dr David Alston entitled ‘Scottish Names and African Roots: Resources for tracing Afro-Guyanese ancestry.’ This was the fourth session in a new series, the Samaan Tree Series, organised by the Trust and aimed at those with curious minds and a little free time during the day.
Dr Alston is a historian and former museum curator and teacher. He has compiled research about Scotland’s links to Guyana pre-1843 on the Slaves and Highlanders website for many years. He has also recently published a book entitled ‘Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean.’
RECORDING: https://youtu.be/zEW_u4HkWvk
SOME SCOTTISH/GUYANESE SURNAMES: Alves, Anderson, Campbell, Davidson, Douglas, Forbes, Fraser, Gordon, Grant, Green, Jeffrey, MacDonald, Macintosh, Mackenzie, Maclean, Macleod, Macpherson, Macrae, Morrison, Munro, Murray, Reid, Robertson, Rose, Ross, Shaw, Sutherland, Walker, Young.
RESOURCES:
Guidance:
1: How do I research my Guyanese heritage? 2014 article: https://www.theroot.com/how-do-i-research-my-guyanese-heritage-1790878087
2: Research African-Caribbean Family History by Guy Geranium 2017: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/next_steps/genealogy_article_01.shtml
Databases (partial):
1: British Guiana Colonists: database of C18 and C19 residents of Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo. Contains details of about 16,000 individuals. Last updated December 2020. https://www.vc.id.au/tb/index.html
2: Emigrants from Demerara, extracted from Official Gazette 1902-1917 : https://www.gbggs.org/Emigrants/
3: Slave registers (Berbice 1818, 1819, 1822) can be browsed or searched : https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/1129/
4: Surname Index: Guyana Colonial Newspapers: transcripts and images of early C19 newspapers. Last updated 2018. https://vc.id.au/edg/
5: Surname Index: 1880-1896 The Argosy newspaper (GBGGS website): https://www.gbggs.org/Research/Transcriptions/
General:
1: The Guyana/British Guiana Genealogical Society: research section includes some data on land grants, census records, ship registers etc https://www.gbggs.org/
2: Online records from The British National Archives include some census records, death duty registers etc: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/?letter=&search=&research-category=online