Thanks to Ernest, Dorothy and Prof Handler for the reality check. I kinda get a head of steam on when I read some of the stuff being ascribed to oral history these days and to threads like ""what we have learned about our "surname" in Jamaica"" (rhetorically here) Oral history has its place. There is some very scary online Gen being done based on nothing more than assumption. When I read the baptismal lists for certain parishes in Jamaica where several hundred people were baptized the same month two points come to fore: That sadly for many this would be as far as they are likely to get and 2. that the common assumptions about slave naming practices must be viewed very sceptically and thus may not be relied on to support undocumented paternity etc. I know for a fact that there may be Codringtons who are afro/euro distant cousins, but that the name was used liberally with no regard for paternity at all and most often Not on a Codrington plantation. I think the break in lineage is one of the most haunting legacies of Slavery though there are success stories. But it occurred to me the other day that europeans may point to similar breaks prior to surname use due to a variety of violent incursions be they Roman, Frank, Hun, Goth, and though all come into play in following bloodlines, prior to surnames, any disruption causing people to shift location would render tracing any sort of true line very very dicey (with the exception of Royals and Nobles). And lower caste Europeans were only becoming properly traceable perhaps a hundred years prior to the settlement of Barbados! Of course they are not comparable to the effect of the African Diaspora by any means. Another thing I think abit sad is due to the passion associated with slavery many on the Jamaica lists obviously do not do regional study which necessarily requires studying landowners, Planter records, wills land documents etc. "Planter's History" can often yield material helpful to their research and in fact may be the only solid data available. Sadly the majority of documentation such as plantation ledger books, merchant/planter correspondence etc is only fragmentary and much that survives is still dispersed such as to be nearly as good as lost. Most of it is not easily accessible to regular folk. A couple months back I was lurking on the Jamaica Board watching interaction regarding the "Jamaican" name of Neufville. Not one person had taken any time to notice what the concentration of Neufvilles in particular parts of Portland parish,Ja might suggest. They had not learned of the plantation history of the area, or done any work in the parish registers to learn european Neufvilles had owned substantial plantations in these areas. As a result, the name was used often in slave baptisms, and there were (most likely) children of mixed heritage. Were any noted in the registers as Neufvilles? Or were they noted in wills and legacies? Or were the majority of Neufvilles baptized on adjacent properties by whim desire or lack of a better idea? I heard no one applying such methods. But one guy posted this HUGE file claiming to have everybody related and laid out neat. Right This is one case where the question "what's in a name" is one hell of a question.. Or should we say the Caribbean is a place where "what's in a name" is the beginning of a journey, not necessarily the one you intend! And I think wherever it takes you, you emerge a richer person for it. ChrisCod -----Original Message----- From: caribbean-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:caribbean-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Ernest M. Wiltshire Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 4:09 PM To: caribbean@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Carib] Fw: Oral History & Caribbean Geneologies? Jerry Handler has reprimanded me (below) for the error of my ways: I hang my head in shame! Ernest "...Barbados was settled in 1627,not 1637 (obviously a typo), the amerindians in Dominica are not Arawaks, but the descendants of so-called Caribs, and people speaking Arawakan languages live in Guyana...there is no such thing as an Arawak ethnic group...sorry, to be so anthropological about this"... *************************** The Caribbean List now has a Resources Page at Historic Antigua and Barbuda http://www.rootsweb.com/atgwgw/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CARIBBEAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.420 / Virus Database: 270.14.3/2413 - Release Date: 10/05/09 06:19:00 _____ I am using the Free version of SPAMfighter <http://www.spamfighter.com/len> . We are a community of 6 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 1113 of my spam emails to date. 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