Where to Search for Jamaican Ancestors?

One of the genres of music I have enjoyed since a kid is reggae music. Although I know that my ancestry is embedded in the Caribbean, the last thing I expected was discovering that I actually have many DNA cousins who show 100% Jamaican ancestry.  Since this island shares Taino and African ancestry with the two islands that my parents come from, I wasn’t expecting to discover that I have a genetic Jamaican DNA cousin.

So where can you search your ancestry where it doesn’t cost you a trip back to the island?  Or even if you are on the island, you don’t have to visit some archive to get data?

Well Familysearch is the option available to you.  Currently, they have quite a few libraries available to you.  First, let’s start with searchable databases.

• Caribbean Births and Baptism  1590 – 1928
• Caribbean Deaths and Burials 1790 – 1906
• Caribbean Marriages 1591 – 1905

For the following databases, you can either search or scroll down to the bottom and click on the image number which will lead you to the digitized images.

• Jamaica Births and Baptisms 1752 – 1920
• Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880
• Jamaica, Civil Registration, 1880-1999 (has over 3 million images)

Happy to see that Jamaica has many resources available.  As I continue to research and eventually find my Jamaican connection, all of these links will hopefully lead me to more answers.  Good luck with your research!