Articles from...
From Volume 10, Number 4 (October, 1998):
"How and where do I start looking for my ancestor in Saint-Domingue?" is the most frequently asked question I get. Although many researchers have progressed beyond this, it is a process worth detailing for those who are just starting Saint-Domingue genealogy, and who may not be familiar with the LDS.
The Family History Centers of the Latter Day Saints (LDS or "Mormons") are the most important research facilities in the U.S. for Saint-Domingue genealogy. These Centers are located all over the country and the world. (To find the one nearest you, call your local LDS stake look in the phone book under Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). Researchers can access any of the millions of rolls of LDS microfilm, which contain original records, documents, books, maps, etc., through these centers for a small rental fee. And among these millions, are eight rolls that are essential, indispensible to our research microfilm numbers 1094159 through 1094166. They contain the "mother lode" indices of church and civil records for the French colony of Saint-Domingue.
But, before you start, it is helpful to keep the following things in mind:
1. Although records for Saint-Domingue exist as far back as 1666, those for most towns in the partie du Nord (the most populous area) run only from 1777 to about 1788.
2. Before 1790, registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials were kept by church officials; from 1790 on, births, marriages, and deaths were recorded by civil officials and are referred to collectively as the État Civil.
3. From 1795 to 1809, France occupied the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, on the eastern half of the island (awarded by the Treaty of Bâle). 14 registers of French civil records exist for Santo Domingo, for the years 1801 to 1809. If you have had trouble locating your Saint-Domingue ancestor during this time period, consult roll 1094166 for the indices to these 14 registers.
4. Your search will be much easier if you know the name of the town in which your ancestor lived and the approximate time span he lived there.
5. Many wealthy colonists owned property in more than one part of the colony and could have lived on any of it at any given time. They frequently owned large habitations out in the country and maintained town houses in the local capital.
To start, find which microfilm roll contains the indices of the registers for the town of your ancestor. Do this by consulting the "Haiti" microfiche in the Family History Locality Catalog. Look under the heading Haiti - [name of town] - Church Records (or Civil Registration). Then rent that roll from the LDS main library in Utah, and, when it arrives, start searching around and through the time period your ancestor was in the colony. Unless the town was a large one (Port-au-Prince, Cap-Français), the registers will be indexed in 10 year groups, called tables décennales, for example from 1720-1729, 1770-1779. After the 1770s, some registers are indexed on a more frequent basis.
When you find your name in the index, copy down the reference, which will usually include a year, a page number (sometimes followed by R for "recto" (front) or V for "verso" (back), and a letter - B, M, or S (baptêmes - baptisms, marriages, or sépultures - burials). The post-1789 indices will indicate the nature of the act with N, M, or D (naissances - births, marriages, décès - deaths).
The index will often supply some information, such as the names of the parents or a racial designation for baptisms, the name of the other party in a marriage, and, for burials, the name of a spouse, parent, relative, or, in the case of slaves, the owner or habitation.
Then, refer back to the "Haiti" microfiche and look again under the name of the town for the year in which you found your surname listed. Order the roll for the appropriate time period this film will contain photographs of the actual records. If the town was very small, all the records will be on one or two rolls. For example, all the registers for Petite-Riviere (1710 to 1803) are contained on 2 rolls of microfilm, whereas those of Port-au-Prince (1711 to 1803) are on 13 rolls. Note: There may be church and État Civil records for some towns in the early 1790s, so look under both listings.
When the microfilm arrives, simply find the appropriate register and page containing the act which documents your ancestor. The registers I have viewed in the course of my research are in fairly good shape and legible. If your local Center has a microfilm reader-printer, you can even make copies of the document(s).
It all seems so easy, doesn't it?! Unfortunately, there can be problems.
What if you don't find your ancestor in the registers of a certain town? Examine a map of Saint-Domingue and take note of the names of surrounding towns and search through those indices. Or if your ancestor owned a plantation or lived in a small town, look through the indices of the nearest large town. (This may mean renting more microfilm.)
And what if you don't know the name of the town where your ancestor lived? Tedious, but still possible. In this case, you must rent all eight rolls of indices, probably one or two at a time, and search through the indices of all the towns during the appropriate time period. This will be slow going, but Saint-Domingue genealogy isn't always a piece of cake - that's why it's so exciting when you find something!
And what to do if you still don't find that elusive ancestor? The possibilities are numerous. Maybe he didn't marry in the colony, maybe she went back to France to give birth to the children, maybe they died at sea or on a visit to Guadeloupe or America. There are many reasons why ancestors may not be recorded in the registers of Saint-Domingue, even though you know they did live there.
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From Volume 11, Number 4 (October, 1999):
The island of Trinidad was discovered by Columbus in 1498, on
his third pass through the West Indies. Having no precious metal
resources, the it s development was hampered by inadequate financial
support from Spain. The colonists were frequently the prey of
pirates, and they survived by trading their crops (illicitly and
openly) with English, French, and Dutch vessels.
Ironically, Trinidad was not to achieve its greatest era of growth
and prosperity until the late 1700s, through the industry of colonists
from another European power that would never own it France.
The main migration of Frenchmen to Trinidad started after the Treaty of Paris in 1763, when France ceded the colony of la Grenade, to Great Britain. Many of the French Catholic planters on the ceded island were subjected to severe political and social discrimination by the Protestant British. These were also difficult times for the planters of the other French islands they were experiencing problems with depleted soil, hurricanes, plagues of ants, and other economic downturns.
At the same time, Charles III of Spain wanted to hold on to his stepping-stone to the South American continent, but he also realized that foreign immigration would be essential to develop Trinidad.
And so the stage was set. On 3 September 1776, he issued a royal decree, inviting anyone of the Roman Catholic faith to settle on the island. The generous terms of the invitation attracted many of the economically distressed colonists from the French West Indies, among them, a planter from la Grenade, named Philippe Roume de St. Laurent. Realizing Trinidad's potential, Roume took an active part in recruiting new settlers, and by 1779, at least 523 free settlers and 973 slaves had entered the island, nearly all of them French.
Convinced by the success of this first wave of immigration, and encouraged by Roume de St. Laurent's energetic lobbying, the Spanish crown issued the Cédula of Colonization of 1783, which refined and expanded the incentives of the earlier decree of 1776. The main enticements were free land grants, with additional land awarded for each slave brought in, Spanish citizenship, and special long-term tax incentives. It also gave legal sanction to a new class of inhabitant free men of color. Many of them immigrated and became small landowners, artisans, or domestic servants and held positions in the militia.
During the time of the Cédula, the Spanish colony of Trinidad grew and flourished. The capital was moved from the old San José de Oruña (St. Joseph) to the rapidly expanding town of Port-d'Espagne (Port-of-Spain). The economy was largely controlled by the French settlers sugar, coffee, cocoa, and cotton were the main crops. Maurice Picot de la Peyrouse (also from la Grenade) built the first sugar mill on the island. Frenchmen held many important positions in the government in 1788, six out of nine members of the Cabildo, or city council, were foreigners. Their influence was strong in other areas as well: French social customs had invaded all levels of life, and the French language and the Creole patois were the most widely-spoken languages. French-speaking priests were even brought to the colony. One historian pointed out that, by 1784, Trinidad was "a French colony in all but name."
Immigration to Trinidad in the 1790s reflected the fortunes of the revolutionary war in the French West Indies, especially those of Saint-Domingue first came the royalists, then the republicans, fleeing the British, then colored republicans fleeing Toussaint L'Ouverture. In 1795 at least one attempt had been made to seize Trinidad for republican France.
In September 1796, Spain, now an ally of France, declared war on Great Britain, and in February 1797, England attacked Trinidad. After only token resistance to the superior British naval and land forces, Governor Chacón surrendered the island. When the British occupation governor Thomas Picton took over in 1797, the total population had reached almost 18,000, (56% of which were slaves), and there were 486 working plantations on the island. Trinidad was formally ceded to Great Britain in 1802 (Peace of Amiens).
The French influence continued to be felt in the British colony of Trinidad, as the Napoleonic wars drove large numbers of French subjects from the other islands. In 1801, official correspondence indicates that several Saint-Domingue refugee families arrived from Jamaica. An 1803 census reveals that, of the 8,000 white and free population, the number of French speaking colonists was almost double that of the Spanish speakers, and more than three times as numerous as the English speakers. A majority of the 21,000 slaves spoke French.
As late as 1839, five years after slavery had been abolished in the British colonies, three shiploads of Frenchmen arrived in Trinidad (total, 676 persons), lured by an "Immigration Ordinance" designed to counter the labor shortage. It was noted that in 1838 "creole French is more the language of the people here than either English or Spanish...".
Although the British ruled Trinidad until 1962, when it was granted independence, a strong French influence still lingers in the customs and traditions of the people of Trinidad and the architecture of its cities.
Sources for Research Civil, Religious, Others
Although this writer has had no personal experience in researching ancestors in Trinidad, the following addresses are suggested as a starting point:
Office of the Registrar General
Port-of-Spain,
Trinidad & Tobago
I do not know if this agency holds any civil records dating back to the era of French immigration.
Concerning official
government documents of the British era, Guy Grannum, (in Tracing
Your West Indian Ancestors, Sources in the Public Record Office)
reveals that "the PRO [in London] does not hold the domestic
records of colonial governments. These remain with the colony,
and may be found in the former colony's archives." He did
not state the nature of these "domestic" records. The
address to write to concerning these records is:
National Archives
POB 763, St. Vincent Street
Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
Unfortunately the records of the Cabildo from the Spanish era, were lost in a fire in 1903, but a published manuscript entitled Abstracts of the minutes of Cabildo, 1733-1813 exists. Borde (see bibliography) did not mention what, if anything, happened to British era documents.
Grannum's book also discusses the following PRO records that might contain information about French colonists:
1. 1814 List of Land Grants (CO (Colonial Office) 295/35) abstract of all grants of land made by the Spanish government and all permissions of occupancy or petitions of grants from the Capitulation, 14 June 1813. (This probably contains significant information about the French immigration of 1776 and 1783.)
2. The Slave Registry, 1812-1834 (T 71)
3. Original Correspondence (CO 295, beginning in 1783) , Sessional Papers (CO 298, beginning in 1803), Miscellanea (CO 300, beginning in 1804)
4. Miscellaneous Lists 1814-15, List of persons allowed to remain in Trinidad (CO 385/1)
The PRO does not research mail
requests. In order to obtain copies of or search through any of
these documents, it will be necessary to hire a researcher or
go there and do it yourself.
Sacramental registers are another important source. I have not
been able to ascertain where the sacramental registers for the
period of French immigration are stored, but the Archdiocese should
know. The address is:
Archdiocese of Trinidad &
Tobago - Chancery
Archbishop's House
27 Maraval Road, St. Clair
Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
The Archdiocese also has a website
listing the names and addresses of all the churches in Trinidad
by district/town. Many of them have e-mail addresses. The URL
for the website of the Archdiocese is www.immaculateconception.com
Earlier in this century, the Trinidad Historical Society Historical
(later, the Society of Trinidad and Tobago) published a series
of about 1,000 unbound 5"x 8" monographs, each about
one to five sheets in length. They include transcriptions and
translations of documents housed in British archives (mostly the
Public Records Office) concerning the history of the island, from
as early as the 1500s. A number of these leaflets deal with the
French presence in Trinidad. An incomplete (but sizeable) collection
of these publications exists at the Howard-Tilton Library of Tulane
University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Malheureusement, the historical
society no longer exists.
The most useful work about Trinidad for genealogists is the 54-page
article by Xavier Steiner, listed in the bibliography at the end
of this article. It contains names abstracted from three of the
oldest cemeteries in Trinidad, the most important and largest
one being the Lapeyrouse cemetery (the former site of the first
sugar factory on the island) in the center of the capital city
of Port-of-Spain.
A new website for Trinidad & Tobago has just opened up on
the CaribGenWeb. The host is Dean de Freitas. The URL is sites.rootsweb.com/~ttowgw
. It is still under construction and all the links have not yet
been enabled. De Freitas plans to eventually post a section about
the French immigration to Trinidad.
The Latter Day Saints microfiche for Trinidad & Tobago lists
only published works, including some of the histories mentioned
in the bibliography below. They have not yet microfilmed any original
material.
Readers who wish to study the subject further are referred to
the following books. :
Borde, Pierre-Gustave-Louis. The History of Trinidad Under the Spanish Government. Second Part (1622-1797). Translated by Brigadier General A. S. Mavrogor- dato. Paris: Maisonneuve et Cie., 1883. Frequently cites Cabildo abstracts. Of special interest are the 150 names of French settlers listed at the end in the notes for chapter 14.
Brereton, Bridget, A History of Modern Trinidad 1783-1962.
Kingston: Heinemann, 1981. A well-written history.
Carmichael, Gertrude. The History of the West Indies Islands of
Trinidad and Tobago 1498-1900. London: A Redman, 1961. Thoroughly-researched.
Excellent end notes cite many original colonial documents in the
PRO.
Grannum, Guy. Tracing Your West Indian Ancestors. Sources in the Public Record Office. London: PRO Publications, 1995.
Joseph, E. L. History of Trinidad. London: Frank Cass and Company, Limited, 1970.
Kaplan, Irving et al., Area Handbook for Jamaica. Washington D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1976.
Millette, James. Society and Politics in Colonial Trinidad. Trinidad: Omega Bookshops, Ltd., 1985. Well-written, very objective and informative.
Ottley, Carlton Robert. The Story of Port of Spain From the Earliest Times to the Present Day. [Trinidad]: Longman Caribbean, [1970].
Steiner, Xavier, "Recherches sur les Français de Trinidad: Les Sépultures des cimitières de Port d'Espagne, Saint-Joseph et Chacachacare", in Cahier du Centre de Généa logie et d'Histoire des Isles d'Amérique, No. 61 (December 1997), pp. 1-54. Contains names abstracted from graves of 3 Trinidad cemeteries.
Williams, Eric, History of the People of Trinidad
and Tobago. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964.
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From Volume 12, Number 4 (October, 2000):
The surviving sacramental registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials for the église catholique of St.-François, Bombarde, Saint-Domingue include only the years 1784 through 1788.(1) Yet these records document more than just life events they tell of the presence of an "exotic" group of people (as one contemporary writer described them) Germans who had come to Saint-Domingue twenty years earlier, as refugees of a sort. They had been recruited in Europe, as part of the French expedition of 1763-65 to colonize Kourou in French Guiana, on the northern coast of South America. This effort was a disastrous and total failure. About 14,000 people died because of poor planning and tropical disease.(2)
On 2 August 1764, the Minister
wrote to the colonial administrators of Saint-Domingue that the
King, in order to augment the white population of the colony,
was sending 2,470 Germans there from Cayenne (French Guiana).
They would, it stated, be sent with tools, clothing, and provisions.(3)
Between November 1764 and January of 1765, the Germans (and some
Acadians, victims of the grand dérangement in Acadie) arrived
at Cap Français, taking colonial officials completely by
surprise apparently the royal correspondence had not caught
up with them.
A majority of the new arrivals (especially the Acadians) were
sent on to Môle-St.-Nicolas. The Môle, located on
the far point of the underpopulated northern peninsula of the
Saint-Domingue, was then considered one of the strongest naval
stations in the New World.(4)
But about a thousand of the Germans were settled inland and to
the south of Cap Français, in the parishes of Sainte-Rose
and Dondon. They were lodged temporarily in empty barracks, but
by January of 1765, each family had its own house and 4 carreaux
of land, which included a small planted garden. Unfortunately
by December of that year, three-quarters of them had died from
disease and the rigors of a climate quite alien to their own.
The survivors were relocated to Môle St.-Nicolas, to be
integrated into those who had gone there straightaway a year earlier.
However, the Germans and the Acadians did not get along, and Fuzée
Aublet, director general of the Môle, separated them. Some
300 of the Acadians moved on to Louisiana. The rest, he sent to
rather barren areas on the southern coast of the northern peninsula,
one at Plate-Forme and the other on the Baie d'Henne, knowing
they were fishermen and that the sea was their livelihood and
their destiny.
The Germans, who excelled at animal husbandry and agriculture,
were settled in the newly created town of Bombardopolis located
inland from the Acadian settlements, on the edge of a vast prairie.
Aublet had named the town after his benefactor, a M. Bombarde
(who had pulled strings at Court to get him appointed Royal botanist
at Cayenne), and added a classical touch with the Greek ending
-opolis', although later maps show simply "Bombarde".
Bombarde was laid out on a square plan, 32 blocks, divided by
20 intersecting streets, situated so as to take the best possible
advantage of the breezes. Although several main streets bore names
honoring the French family and ministers, some of the other names
were German in origin. There was nothing pretentious about the
town the houses were humble abodes built with roofs of
straw.
The Germans immediately and zealously set to working their lands,
which were at one end of a great cool, fresh plain, high above
the sea, where the view went on and on, and the air circulated
freely. Several small rivulets and springs furnished the inhabitants
with water. The Bombarde nights were pleasantly cool and during
what was called the "cold" season, the morning dews
often reminded one of the white frosts of France. Apparently the
topography of the northern peninsula was so varied that conditions
a mere ten miles away in any direction might be totally different
and insufferable. The Germans discovered this in 1765-66 when
some of them were settled amongst the Acadians, closer to the
coast, at Plate-Forme and Henne they promptly left.
Routes of commerce opened between the Môle and the three
refugee' towns on the south side of the peninsula. The area
developed and by September 1765, all of the inhabitants were comfortable
lodged, and plans for barracks and fortifications were drawn up.
In April 1766, Bombarde counted 776 Germans. In July 1767, Môle-St.-Nicolas
was made an entrepôt - an international, open port, and
the "trickle-down" effect helped Bombarde to prosper
the Germans sold all their surplus produce there in the
markets. In 1784, when the Môle's entrepôt status
was revoked, they turned to the cultivation of coffee, and by
1787, the parish had produced 250,000 livres (pounds) of coffee.
As a tribute to industry of the Germans, it is worth mentioning
that in 1793 the British forces which had taken over Môle-St.-Nicolas
were totally dependent on Bombarde for their produce and poultry.(5)
Moreau mentions the Germans in Saint-Domingue only briefly during
the 1770s, when their lands (along with the King's habitation)
were officially surveyed. Almost a generation later, in February
of 1789, they petitioned the government to divide up these Royal
lands near Bombarde among them, as they were mostly lying fallow
and not reaping any great profits. Moreau also mentions the hurricane
of 1772, after which the area was siezed by a cruel dry spell
which lasted until 1774.
In spite of Bombarde's prosperity, and probably because of the
initial, hard conditions and high mortality rates, the town remained
small. By 1770 the German population in the parish had decreased
to 334 (down from 776 in 1766). Twelve years later, in 1784, the
parish of Bombarde had only 600 whites (French and Germans), 50
free people of color, and 900 slaves. In 1789, the town had two
companies of militia, one of which was composed of Germans. These
militia companies along with some free men of color totaled 160
men-at-arms.
Moreau's work ends in 1789 and, thus, does not address how the
Germans were affected by the slave revolts at Cap Français
in August of 1791. However, on 26 September 1793, the inhabitants
of Bombarde (mostly Germans) capitulated to the British forces
from Jamaica, that had just invaded and occupied Saint-Domingue.
But their loyalty remained uncertain, especially as no British
troops were available to garrison the place. In fact, half a year
later, the Germans defected to the Republicans and repulsed an
attack by British marines. (6) In 1796, Lt. Thomas Phipps Howard,
a soldier stationed in Saint-Domingue during the British occupation,
referred to Bombarde in his journal: "[It is] inhabited by
a Colony of Germans, where there is a tolerable strong Fort tho'
the Place itself is but an inconsiderable Burg." (7)
But this "inconsiderable burg" made a considerable difference
in the lives of the Germans who arrived there thirty years before
with nothing but a willingness to work and a desire to succeed.
Moreau paid this tribute to the Germans: they are, he wrote, "a
sober and laborious people, whom France has neglected [as colonists].
Their success and prosperity were the result of their own economy
and efforts, the sweat of their brows and the strength of their
arms, in spite of living in a climate so alien to the one from
which they were transplanted. From the beginning they have paid
a cruel tribute because of this transplantation, but their industriousness
promises them a only bright and shining future."
A perusal of the decennial tables alphabetiques for church registers of the town of Bombarde (1784-88) reveals the following 49 names which are obviously of German origin. A survey of the actual records would probably reveal more, including, perhaps, some places of birth in Germany. No doubt the Saint-Domingue notarial archives at Aix-en-Provence, France would be even more fruitful:
Anhauser | Fogel | Louthinger | Schnellemin |
Appel | Gaab | Martz | Singlas |
Branberg | Gratz | Meyr | Sippemane |
Brindel | Haine | Miller | Thal |
Christ | Haortz [?] | Odo | Verner |
Connerath | Hay | Openheiser | Volfensperger |
Creber | Helmispac | Risser | Voock |
Ey [Ei?] | Herman | Schell | Wackner |
Felshaver | Hoffmaennin | Scheloite | Wattre |
Felzeaur | Laissert | Scher | Woock |
Ferdig | Langerat | Scherman | |
Flick | Lenard | Schliere | |
Flock | Linek | Schneider |
Sources and notes
1. Latter Day Saints microfilm
no. 1094171, "Eglise catholique. St.-François, Bombarde,
Haiti" (Salt Lake City: Filmed by the Genealogical Society
of Utah, 1974). Indices to the registers are on LDS microfilm
no. 1904159, item 1, "Saint-Domingue. Greffes des Tribunaux
civils. Tables alphabétiques des registres paroissiaux".
The original registers and indices are housed at the Archives
d'Outre-Mer in Aix-en-Provence, France.
2. James E. McClellan III, Colonialism and Science.
Saint-Domingue in the Old Regime (Baltimore and London: The
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), 61-62; and The New Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Macropaedia. Vol 7. (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica,
Inc., 1970), 714.
3. Médéric-Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry,
Description topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique
de la partie Française de l'isle Saint-Domingue. Revised
and expanded edition. Edited by B. Maurel and E. Taillemite. 3
vols. (Paris: Société de l'histoire des Colonies
Françaises et Librairie Larose, 1958), 232-33, 267, 735-37,
752-61. Unless otherwise cited, the information in this article
was found in Moreau's work and translated by this writer. Although
Moreau cites official correspondence which states that 2,470 Germans
were sent to Saint-Domingue, nowhere in his work does he account
for the placement of all of them. An examination of the C9A papers
(Correspondance générale, Saint-Domingue. 1664-1792)
might illuminate this subject considerably.
4. David Patrick Geggus, Slavery, War, and Revolution
The British Occupation of Saint Domingue 1793-1798 (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1982), 108, 114, 233.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Robert Norman Buckley, The Haitian Journal of Lieutenant
Howard, York Hussars, 1796-1798. (Knoxville: University of
Tennessee Press, 1985), 37.
This article was originally inspired by the German names I found in the Bombarde indices. I enjoyed researching it and have learned a great deal about this little-known aspect of Saint-Domingue history. If readers have any further information, corrections, or ideas (an extraction project?), or find any references to this interesting subject (published sources or original material), I would very much like to hear from them.
From Volume 8, Number 2, (April 1996), pages 6-7:
Although there is no evidence to substantiate that any great number
of Saint-Domingue refugees fled directly to the Spanish colony
of Puerto Rico in the 1790s, there is proof that there was a substantial
number of French and refugee families residing there after 1815.
And, of the 561 books in the Tulane University Latin American
Library that deal with various aspects of the history of Puerto
Rico, none seems more appropriate to our focus than La inmigración
a Puerto Rico durante el siglo XIX, written by Estela Cifre
de Loubriel, Ph. D. (Call number JV7382.C5.)
Although this work discusses in detail, migration to Puerto Rico
from other parts of the Spanish empire, it also mentions the "mayor
número" of French that settled there after the
Cédula of August 1815.
According to the author, the largest number of non-Spanish immigrants
to take advantage of the Cédula were the French, followed
by those from the islands of the Caribbean. No doubt, some of
the "French" were Saint-Domingue refugees who had returned
to the metropole (France). [Or who were French and had migrated
to Saint-Domingue.]
The Réal Cédula
de Gracias of 10 August, 1815 was a royal invitation, the
first legislation formulated exclusively for the island of Puerto
Rico. It's intent was to foster industry and agriculture on the
island, by attracting emigrants from all parts of Spain and foreign
countries.
People of all races whites, mixed bloods, and blacks were
invited to settle on the island, but only natives of those countries
that were at peace with Spain, and only those who professed the
Roman Catholic faith were permitted.
The immigrants had to be free persons, but they were allowed to
bring slaves with them. The law also granted them certain concessions,
guarantees, and rights: free land; all rights and privileges of
citizenship, including honorary titles and military positions;
tax-exempt status (for whites), freedom to return to their native
land during the first 5 years, without any legal or financial
penalties; the freedom to will their possessions to relatives
wherever they may reside; a 15-year extension on the "diezmo"
(a 10% tax on goods brought into the colony), with a reduction
of the tax to 2½%; the ability to travel anywhere in the
Spanish empire or foreign dominions, with permission of the governor
of the island; the right to import slaves, free of taxes, to name
a few.
After 5 years the immigrants, if they were persons of good character
and credit, were permitted to become citizens. (Those who wished
to leave Puerto Rico after 5 years were not penalized, but were
given time to put their affairs in order before departing.). There
were other stipulations and later refinements to the law, but
the basic conditions of the Cédula remained the same.
This seems like quite an attractive
package and it is easy to understand why one's French ancestors
might have taken advantage of Spain's generous immigration policy.
About 663 "non-Spanish" persons went to Puerto Rico
in the first 2 years after the Cédula. Evidence of their
move can be found in Legajo 2421, Audiencia de Santo Domingo,
Archivo General de Indias, which contains a list of 612 "foreigners"
who took advantage of the decree. (51 other names appear in the
Archivo Eclesiástico Castrense de Madrid.) Most of these
immigrants were planters and farmers.
La inmigración... is divided into three parts. The first
is a brief discussion of earlier migration from the 16th through
18th centuries. The second part discusses in detail migration
to Puerto Rico during the 19th century: political and economic
causes, legislation that encouraged it, and statistical analyses
of the kinds of immigrants: their ages, occupations, geographical
origins, and motivations, followed by a bibliography.
The third part is a catalog of immigrants containing 13,217 names,
culled from 365 documents in some 40 different sources.
A random selection of 2 pages of Ls and 2 of Ds reveals a number
of sons of Saint-Domingue, France, and Louisiana who went to Puerto
Rico as a result of the Réal Cédula de Gracia of
1815. It is possible that the ones listed as natives of France
lived in Saint-Domingue at some time.
[Since the publication of this article,
another, more comprehensive book dealing with the subject has
been published. The following review was published in The Saint-Domingue Newsletter , Volume 14, Number
3 (July 2002, page 24 "What's New and Not-So-New?":
§ La Real Cédula de Gracias de 1815 y sus
primeros efectos on Puerto Rico, by Doctora Raquel Rosario Rivera.
San Juan, P.R.: First Book Publishing of Puerto Rico, l995. LOC
number: TXU6644-295. 295 pp. Available from the author at P. O.
Box 194544, Hato Rey Station, San Juan, P.R. 00919-4544. $25,
all charges included. In Spanish.
The Real Cédula de Gracias was an attempt by the Spanish
crown to foster industry and agriculture in Puerto Rico by attracting
Catholic emigrants to the island. (See Saint-Domingue Newsletter,
Vol 8, No. 2, p. 6). It has been treated in other works and papers,
but never in such detail as this.
Rivera's book discusses the conditions in Puerto Rico that led
to the issue of the Real Cédula, its affects on the other
islands of the Caribbean, the affects of the immigrants on the
society and economy of the island, and, specifically, the immigration
from Louisiana.
Numerous tables, graphs, and charts, are used to illustrate the
statistics Rivera gleaned from Spanish and Puerto Rican archival
sources: an annual break-down of the adults, children, and slaves
arriving, by country (the largest number of immigrants listed
France as their country of origin, but there is no indication
as to whether they had come via Saint-Domingue. Italy, Venezuela,
and Haïti were also represented by substantial numbers.);
a list of the professions of the immigrants; the amounts of capital
introduced into Puerto Rico by nation (those settlers France were
the largest contributors to the economy of the island).
Even for non-Spanish speakers, the appendices are especially important.
One contains a compiled "register of immigrants, established
in Puerto Rico during the period 1815-1820" (compiled by
the author, taken from archival sources and listed alphabetically),
giving the first and last names, country and city of origin, race,
profession, marital status, and (if appropriate), the names and
origin of the spouse. A second list contains archival citations
of documentary sources for each immigrant in the list. Also listed
were the number of children, slaves, and capital they introduced
into the colony.
Top of page
From Volume 13, Number 4, (October 2001), pages 28-29 :
The initial slave uprisings of 1791 were perceived by many of the
colonists of Saint-Domingue as a temporary condition. Many of
them sought refuge in the eastern part of Cuba (especially in
the towns of Santiago and Baracoa), with the hope of returning
to their plantations and businesses after the revolts had been
suppressed. When they realized that things would never return
to normal, they put down roots in the Spanish colony and began
new lives, also breathing new life into Cuba's ailing economy.
In most secular and religious documents they were designated as
"French", but their children were born in and grew up
in Cuba, without ever having known the soil of France or Saint-Domingue.
A final flood of refugees arrived in 1803 with the French surrender
and evacuation of Saint-Domingue. Napoleon Bonaparte had failed
to recapture the richest of the 18th century Caribbean colonies.
But as Emperor of France, Napoleon still had ambitions in Europe,
and the war that eventually erupted over there, would profoundly
affect many of the (estimated) 20,000 Saint-Domingue refugees
who had fled to Cuba.
In March of 1808 French troops entered and occupied Spain, and
placed Joseph Bonaparte, brother of the Emperor, on the Spanish
throne.
The news that arrived in Cuba in mid-July of 1808 was unsettling:
in May, the citizens of Madrid had risen up and killed 200 French
soldiers stationed there. Reprisals were swift and bloody
the suspects were rounded up and shot the following day, a scene
made famous in Goya's El Tres de Mayo.
On 17 July the Captain-General of Cuba, the Marquis de Someruelos,
sent instructions to Sebastian Kindelan y O'Regan, governor of
the eastern region (the one most heavily-populated with Saint-Domingue
refugees), and to other officials, to draw up a general census
of foreigners in their districts, especially the French. Although
they wanted to preserve the goodwill of the refugees, who had
contributed greatly to the economic rejuvenation of Cuba, Spanish
officials were concerned about the risk of a Fifth Column.
The census divided the French into two groups: those who could
stay, and those who had to leave. Many of them made plans to depart
that very summer of 1808.
Those who had become naturalized citizens of Spain, or who had
married Spaniards and had children, and those who had taken the
oath of allegiance to the Spanish crown were permitted to stay.
The French who wished to remain made haste to begin the naturalization
process by taking the oath of allegiance in August and September
of 1808. They were called "New Spaniards". Those who
had previously taken the oath before the start of the troubles,
were required to renew it at that time.
The Archivo General de Indias in Sevilla, Spain houses a collection
of documents called the Papeles Procedentes de Cuba. Within the
PPC is a document, dated 31 October 1808, entitled "Lista
de los franceses juramentados en esta Ciudad conforme al Oficio
del Governador y Capitan General de la Isla, su fecha 31 de Agosto
ultimo", ("List of Frenchmen taking the oath in this
city, in accordance with the order of the Governor and Captain
General of the Island, dated 31st of August last [1808]").
(AGI, PPC, Legajo 226 (xx), folios 965-970.)
This list of 112 Frenchmen contains significant personal information
about the individuals, and is valuable for Saint-Domingue researchers
because it provides positive proof that they were in Cuba in the
Santiago area in August of 1808. There is no indication whether
they were taking the oath for the first time or just renewing
it.
(Continued on Page 29)
(Continued from Page 28)
I have presented the contents of the "Lista de franceses..."
in table form (column format) for easier reading. The entries
in the original are individually numbered and written across the
page in paragraphs. The upper inside corner of the first sheet
is stained The lower inside corner of each folio has crumbled
away (about 10% of each page - negligible data loss).
The table on pages 30-32 maintains the numerical order of the
original document. No attempt was made to translate any of the
terms or to correct any of the information. The intent of this
article is to present information, not to interpret it or re-arrange
it, although I did make some observations in brackets. These notations
are as follows:
[*] - data missing due to deterioration;
[ ? ] - unable to understand writing or spelling;
[text] - data missing-educated guess; or a spelling suggestion;
or my comment;
- not stated.
In the table below, two categories
of information from the original document were omitted due to
space limitations: abonadores (sureties) and religion.
The places named in "Native of" are Spanish renderings,
i.e., "St.a Mar/S.n Marco en St.o Dom.o" is obviously
the town of St. Marc in the partie de l'ouest, and "Ave de
Gracia" in France is obviously Havre de Grace. Most of the
other abbreviations can be fathomed, but three that are similar
in appearance, have different meanings: haced.r (hacedor) means
maker; hac.d.o (hacendado), land-owner; has.da (hacienda), hacienda
or plantation. The letters following periods in abbreviations
are superscripted in the original record.
Each Frenchman had two abonadores
who vouched for him. Most were Spaniards, but four have French
family names: Don Manuel Duhaut (guarantor for 13 refugees); Don
Pedro Laclau (10); Don Estevan Valanguè [sic] (1); and
Don Franco José Mustelier (1). All but two of the men were"R.C.A.R"
(Religion Católico Apostólico Romano), Roman Catholic.
In the case of No. 8, [*] Bremon, the page is deterio- rated,
the entry lost; for No. 42, Josef Vendon/Verdon, no religion was
indicated, perhaps an oversight
The column labeled "ST" indicates the marital status
of each man c (casado), married; s (soltero), single; v
(viudo), widower. Two particular entries deserve noting: in the
case of No. 19, Pedro LaFon, the page has crumbled away, leaving
only "no" ([+] in the "ST"column), which might
indicate that "Theatre of Operations of the Campaign of Santiago
de Cuba" from The Campaign of Santiago de Cuba, by Herbert
H. Sargent, Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1907. Although this
map is based on those contemporary to the Spanish-American War
(1898-1899), several of the locations mentioned in the PPC list
show up on it.
he does not know what happened to his wife in Saint-Domingue.
This is probably also the case with No. 102, Francisco Delmas,
whose entry states "se ignora" he does not know
([] in the "ST" column).
The document was signed and dated on the last folio, number 970,
thus: "Sant.o de Cuba y Oct.e 31 de 1808 año. Martin
de [?]"The complete document can be viewed on microfilm at
The Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres St., New Orleans, LA,
on the PPC microfilm, edition 106, roll 104. It is near the end
of the roll. To view an abstract of the list click here.
It is not known if other, similar documents exist. This list is
an isolated one, and is grouped together with several other non-related
items at the end of Legajo 226, which have been labeled as "Varios".
For more about the events that led up to the May 1809 expulsions
of the refugees from Cuba, the reader is referred to Gabriel Debien's
article, "Refugies de Saint-Domingue Expulsés de la
Havane en 1809", in Anuario de Estudios Americanos, Vol.
35, pp. 555-610, my source for the historical context of this
article. It includes a listing of 482 refugees, only one of whom
appears in this list Antonio SERRES, No. 89.
For a detailed study of refugee life in Cuba, researchers should
consult Gabriel Debien, "Les colons de Saint-Domingue réfugiés
à Cuba (1793-1815)", in the Revista de Indias , Vol.
XIII, No. 54 (Oct.-Dec. 1953), pp. 559-605; and Vol. XIV, No.
55-56 (Jan.-Jun. 1954), pp. 11-30. An English translation of this
article appears in The Road to Louisiana, The Saint-Domingue Refugees
1792-1809, Carl A. Brasseaux and Glenn R. Conrad, editors, pp.
31-112.
Are there more lists like this one? Debien's article about the
expulsions from Havana indicate that there are lists of French
residents of the island (related to the expulsions) in Cuban archives,
perhaps provincial archives, definitely in Havana. Have any of
these been microfilmed or transcribed and made available in the
United States?
According to Roscoe Hill's study, Descriptive Catalog of Documents
Relating to the History of the United States in the Papeles Procedentes
de Cuba deposited in the Archivo General de Indias at Seville
(1916, reprint 1965), there is much material in the PPC relating
to the refugees in Cuba in various years, but not all of these
documents have been microfilmed for United States repositories,
because it does not directly with the history of the U.S.
From Volume 16, Number 2, (April
2004), pages 4-5 :
The Jérémie Papers, acquired by the University of Florida
in Gainesville over 50 years ago, are a significant collection
of French colonial documents from the Grand' Anse region of Saint-Domingue.
They are housed in the Special and Area Collections Department
of the University's Smathers Library. About ten years ago they
were closed to researchers, but they have recently been re-opened,
and abstracts of almost all of the documents are now online!
Under an initiative begun by John Nemmers, Descriptive and Technical
Services Archivist, graduate student Keith Manuel (a native of
St. Landry parish, Louisiana) has written an online guide and
finding aid to the Papers. The guide places the material into
historical context; and discusses the kinds of and significance
of documents in the collection. In addition, Manuel has just abstracted
700 records of the greffe, and these are available online, along
with abstracts of the notarial records that were prepared years
ago. Below (in quotes) are excerpts of Manuel's guide.
"The Jérémie
Papers encompass the notarial and administrative archives of the
municipality of Jérémie, located on the northern
coast of present-day Haiti's southern peninsula. Under the French
colonial regime, the jurisdiction of Jérémie (also
known as la Grand'Anse) encompassed two parishes, Saint-Louis
de Jérémie and Notre Dame du Cap Dame Marie, which
were both civil and ecclesiastical divisions. Several bourgs,
or small towns, existed in the outlying districts, or cantons.
During the 1770s and 1780s, Jérémie experienced
a coffee boom, as did many other parts of Saint-Domingue that
contained highlands not suitable to sugar cultivation. In addition
to coffee, many of these highland plantations grew cacao and cotton
as secondary crops. A handful of sugar plantations existed on
the coast near Jérémie."
Manuel also discusses the different "strata" of inhabitants
(whites, free people of color, slaves), all of whose lives are
reflected in the Papers.
On the scope and content of the collection: "As the records
of the jurisdiction of Jérémie, the Jérémie
Papers contain the archives of more than thirty notaries who operated
both in Jérémie and in outlying areas. These archives
contain such legal documents as marriage contracts, wills and
successions, and sales of both urban and rural real estate. Pertinent
to the study of the African slave population are sales of slaves,
slave emancipations, and the sale of plantations, which often
included the enslaved workforce. The economic life of the free
inhabitants of the quartier is recorded in documents forming and
dissolving partnerships, buying and selling property, and recording
the property left behind upon their death.
"The Jérémie Papers also contain ecclesiastical
records covering scattered years for both parishes of the Grand'Anse.
Though fragmentary, they are important sources for the religious
and social life of the region, recording not only baptisms, marriages,
and deaths but also who attended these important occasions. These
records are presumably copies of those sent to Versailles and
now housed in le Centre des Archives d'Outre-mer in Aix-en-Provence,
with the exception of those dealing with the 1790s. No copy of
these latter documents are located in archives in France.
"Finally, the Jérémie Papers contain records
of the quartier's civil administration. Some land survey records
have survived from the period beginning in the early 1770s, and
several land concessions from the governor and intendant of the
colony survived as well. More plentiful are the registers of civil
proceedings recorded before the greffe, a municipal office similar
to that of a clerk of court in the United States. Though only
an unknown fraction of the original civil registers has survived
and though years covered by the extant registries are uneven,
these manuscripts offer scattered images of daily life in Jérémie
and its outlying dependencies.
"Three kinds of registries
have survived:
1.) minutes of the notaries, in which were transcribed notarized
documents;
2.) records of the senechaussee, or local court (named after the
presiding officer, the senechal), which amount to lists of monetary
awards given in lawsuits; and,
3.) declarations made before the greffier (registrar). Complete
lawsuits are not recorded in the registries of the senechaussee,
and if these records survived, the University of Florida does
not have them."
The Jérémie Papers encompass almost two centuries,
1714-1896, but most of them fall between 1770-1804, a brief but
hectic 35 years. The collection occupies 27.25 linear feet in
65 acid-free boxes. The identification number is Ms Group 17.
Manuel's guide and finding aid is at:
The most important section is
the Contents List which contains two parts:
1.) The Papers of the Greffe, with a hyperlink to the 700 abstracts
that Manuel has prepared, representing 18 boxes of documents (extreme
dates 1714-1821).
"The registrar of the greffe, known as the greffier, included
documents from a variety of sources in his archive. This official
registered personal papers presented by the inhabitants of the
jurisdiction for safekeeping.
"The greffier also registered a copy of the ecclesiastical
registers from each of the two church parishes that existed in
his jurisdiction, as well as the registers generated by the civil
and criminal courts held by the senechal. "The notaries of
the jurisdiction also registered with the greffier, copies of
the acts that they had drawn up for the inhabitants. Finally,
like the greffe of the intendancy in Port-au- Prince, the greffe
of the senechaussee also registered all concessions of land that
the governor and intendant granted with the jurisdiction of Jérémie.
"The papers of the greffe held by the University reflect
the diverse nature of the documents kept by the greffiers from
whose archives the Jérémie Papers originate. No
attempt was made to organize this portion of the collection by
type of document (e.g., land surveys, notary documents, court
petitions). Instead, the registers were arranged chronologically
to ensure ease of use."
2.) The Notary Papers, with hyperlinks to abstracts of the records
of each notary.
"The notarial documents have been organized by notary [30
named notaries and one "other"] and then chronologically.
Such documents include marriage contracts, last wills and testaments,
sales of land and slaves, etc. Some notarial documents exist in
the papers of the greffe, so the other series should be checked
for related and complementary materials."
It was just recently discovered that the notary thought to be
named Momal was really named Thomas.
Note: there is no name or subject index to the abstracts, but
they can be easily searched for names or key words by using the
computer's <CTRL-F> (find) function.
Researchers should also remember that these abstracts are only
for the Jérémie Papers at the University of Florida.
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New
York Public Library (see "Computer Corner, page 6) also acquired
materials that complement these records. In addition, other materials
related to the region of la Grand'Anse exist in le Centre des
archives d'outremer in Aix-en-Provence, France.
Researchers who are interested in using documents in the collection
should notify the archives in advance so that the staff can have
the materials ready. Contact information: University of Florida
Smathers Libraries, Special and Area Studies Collections, John
Nemmers, [email protected], or 352-392-9075, ext. 213.
Archives policy regarding use: "The Jérémie
Papers are open to the public, but researchers may be restricted
from handling particularly fragile records. Due to the poor condition
of certain documents, photocopying may not be permitted. Patrons
must seek permission from department staff prior to reproducing
these items."
Many thanks to Keith Manuel and John Nemmers for permitting me
to quote liberally in this article, from the University's online
guide; and a heartfelt Bravo! to them from Saint-Domingue researchers
everywhere for taking an interest in the Jérémie
Papers, and making them and the abstracts accessible to researchers.
The Jérémie Papers will be microfilmed when sufficient
funding can be found for the project. We hope this will be very
soon.
We have some exciting news from France: the Association de la Généalogie
et Histoire de la Caraïbe, (GHC) now has its own website,
and has given genealogists everywhere a wonderful gift! An index
to the society's bulletin (known as Généalogie et
Histoire de la Caraïbe or GHC for short) is now available
online through that website. This includes an Index of Names,
as well as an alphabetical listing of all articles published in
the GHC from January 1989 through December 2003 165 issues,
4,041 information-packed pages.
To access the index, go to the GHC website at:
This page, labeled "GHC Index
des années 1989 à 2003" contains three options.
Option #1 links to the cumulative Index des Noms.
Click on the hyperlink (IND89-03.zip) to open a File Download
option window. From here you can either save the file on your
computer (to unzip and read later) or you can open it, unzip it
and search it immediately. The Index is a text file written in
Word Pad, and can be read on all computers. The file takes about
10 seconds to download (using a DSL modem) and even less to unzip.
Most all of the names in the Index are family names, except for
those slaves who had none, in which case, they are indexed by
their first names.
Option #2 links to a year-by-year alphabetical listing
of all articles published in the GHC. Click on the hyperlink (ART89-03.zip)
to open the File Download window, where you have the same choices
as in option 1. This file, however, is written in Word. It downloads
in about 3 seconds with a DSL modem.
Both of the above documents are fairly easy to use even if your
knowledge of French is limited. But to fully utilize and understand
them, you should start with
Option #3, (ANNEXES.zip, same procedure as
above) links to three documents, the most important of which is
Intro.rtf (written in Word). It lists the codes used for the locales
listed in the Index of Names (the départements of France
are listed by their numbers, other countries, by multiple-letter
abbreviations). Page two of the Intro tells you what to do if
you find the name(s) for which you are looking, in the Index.
Page-No.txt (readable in Word Pad) is a "concordance"
a list of all 165 issues and the page numbers contained
in each.
The GHC has also given us a little "lagniappe"
almost half of the GHC issues can now be consulted online in DOS-type
text, (but cannot be downloaded) with a simple click on the hyper-links.
Just go to:
The issues that are accessible
online are listed at the bottom of the page. All pages and links
on the GHC website are searchable using <CTRL-F>.
If you do not find the issue you need on the website, the GHC
is available in the United States, in at least five locations:
Jefferson Parish Eastbank Regional Library, Metairie, LA; Smathers
Library, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Allen County
Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN; New England Historical and Genealogical
Society Library, Boston, MA; LDS Family History Library, Salt
Lake City, UT (only issues from 1996 through 2001). It may also
be available in partial or full runs in other U.S. libraries.
In addition, it is in the library of the University of the West
Indies in Mona, Jamaica.
IMPORTANT: The index is not necessarily just for those
researching ancestors in the Caribbean. A glance at the 156 location
abbreviations in Intro.rtf reveals that GHC articles frequently
trace families back to France, and even to other countries and
continents. The GHC has performed an invaluable service for genealogists
around the world. We offer them a heartfelt "Merci infiniment"
for sharing their treasure.