Trinidad Collection
Search

Trinidad Collection

HOME
Maps Transcriptions & excerpts Maps
Histories, family Bibles, etc. Histories, family Bibles, etc
Voices & Visions from the past Voices & Visions from the past

In early 2010 we visited Trinidad. While we were there we visited Lapeyrouse Cemerery in Port of Spain, the National Library, the library of the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, and the national archives. Our time was very limited, and all these activities were very incomplete -- there is lots more there, particularly in the libraries and archives.

Here we present the pieces we collected. Surnames of particular interest to us include Guppy, Rostant, Leotaud, de Verteuil, Maingot and Labastide, but we collected other surnames that we thought had a connection to these.

  • Lapeyrouse Cemetery transcriptions and photos of plots we found with surnames of interest to our research.

    (There are more cemetery stones from Trinidad on the Facebook site of Paul de la Bastide at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=364226851986)

  • Notes from "Trinidad and I: Memoirs of Pierre Ange Rostant, 1891-1970". This book is held in the Rare Book Room of the West Indies Collections of the library of the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, trinidad. We spent a couple of hours going through it and made notes on the genealogical material included in it. You can download this PDF of these notes. Please limit this to personal use only, and refer other researchers to this webpage rather than distributing it yourself.

  • Notes from Trinidad Official and Commercial Register and Almanac 1899: Viewed at the National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain.

Bibilography for (our) family history in Trinidad

Title: A memorandum describing the history of our ancestors : Carige, Marino, Sanda, Meany, Rostant, Hobson, Boos.
Author Mavrogordato, Olga J.
Where we saw it: Heritage Library, National Library in Port of Spain, Ref WI 929.12985 Ma c.1

Title: Trinidad and I: Memoirs of Dr. Pierre Ange Rostant
Author: Pierre Ange Rostant
Where we saw it: West Indies Collection, Library of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Rare Book Room
See notes we made.

Title: Anaparima: The History of San Fernando and the Naparimas, Vol. I: 1595-1900
Author: Michael Anthony
Where we saw it: This book was published by the City of San Fernando and we bought it at the gift ship at City Hall for TT$300 = US$50
Lots about anyone involved with city politics, little about people inm the surrounding area. For us, the many, many pages about Jeanne's 2nd great grandfather Robert Guppy (City Clerk and then Mayor for many years) made the book well worth its price.

Title: Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago
Author: Michael Anthony
Where we saw it: Purchased from the Nigel R. Khan Bookseller store in San Fernando for TT$65 = US$11
An excellent history book with occasional mentions of people from the families we are researching.

Title: The Story of Port of Spain: from the earliest times to the present day
Author: Carlton Robert Ottley, 1977
Where we saw it: National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain.
This pocket book is also available -- although not common -- online through used booksellers.

Title: Child of the Tropics - Victorian Memoirs
Author: Yseult Bridges, edited by Nicholas Guppy
Where we saw it: We were given this many years ago, but it is available from online bookstores as a used book.
Yseult Bridges, nee Guppy, is the youngest daughter of Robert John Lechmere Guppy, the person resonsible for the name of the guppyfish, and is Jeanne's great grandfather. The book also mentions the Rostant family at length. This served as a resource to help us know what to look for in Trinidad.

Contact us:
Don and Jeanne Ross
Duncan, BC
Canada
phone: 250-715-1857