When I did research on the name, and I have forgotten more than I remember:), the names shows up in Scotland,, means people who live in/near bush, and I believe are part of Clan McDonald. Many years ago, I went to Busby, Scotland, as I said it is near Palsey east of Gloscow, and the name dows trace back to the Normans/Norse. How's this for a "?", my family at face value could be called black or mulatto, we prefer caribbean creole, but my mother's name was Valdarair, definately nordic. over the years it became Valaria, aka Valarie. I also have a suspission that her maternal grandmother was a Jew, proberbly by religion and not heritage. One never know, that is why this is soo much fun. There is a Busby area in the borderland of Englend/Scotland. Ann "Sharing the information." Researching the USVI, St.Eustatius, St. Barts, Barbados ----Original Message Follows---- From: MReilly169@aol.com Reply-To: CARIBBEAN-L@rootsweb.com To: CARIBBEAN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: East Indian Indenture Immigration W.I. Names/Caste/Bengali Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 13:57:59 -0400 Just curious; my uncle by marriage was a Busby on his mother's side. They were from Rhode Island. I would think Busby is an English or Scottish name (lowland Scots and English are basically the same linguistically), as I understand it most Statians are of British descent albeit Dutch nationality. That -by suffice is Scandinavian, denoting a place name, but I forget exactly what it means, village I think. It's common in England and Scotland because of the heavy Norse settlement in the Middle Ages, the extent of which can be gauged by the name Ingleby, meaning "English Village," which tends to show that villages inhabited by the English stood out from the norm in Northern England at the time. I don't know what Busby means but it seems likely that all Busby families originate in the town of Busby, except for those who adopted the name. There may well be more than one town named Busby, however. I would think if any Indians took the Busby name from American missionaries, they would have been Baptist, Methodist, or Congretationalist. Maybe Quaker. In any event some evangelical sect of British origin, and not Anglican or Lutheran. But then it would be hard to distinguish them from converts by English and Scottish missionaries, who were also active in the same places. The Scots would be more likely to be Presbyterian, I would think. ==== CARIBBEAN Mailing List ==== For information on individual islands, research aids, island bulletin boards or history please visit the CaribbeanGenWeb project at http://www.rootsweb.com/~caribgw/ _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail