A book, entitled "Codrington Correspondence" catalogs over 500 letters having to do with estate matters of the Codrington holdings in Antigua and Barbuda. Betty's Hope was the main estate on Angtigua and the Codringtons virtually owned the whole of Barbuda at one time. In this book are two letters written by John Edwards. The following is the complete information contained in the book. John Edwards was a slave of Codrington's in Antigua and wrote the next two letters. Letter dated Dec. 26, 1814 from John Edwards to Christopher Codrington: Seeks to purchase his freedom and still remain in the Codrington's employ Letter dated October 23, 1815 from John Edwards to Christopher Codrington: A grateful letter of thanks endorsed by Codrington "my servant when in Antigua whom I manumited. C.B.C" The only thing that I omitted above were the postal markings and the rate paid to send the letters. I find the book a very good reference but that is all that is there on John Edwards. The correspondence runs out about 1840 and so no possible information on CD Butler. Tim On Sat, 3 May 2003 00:07:50 +0000 (UTC), ANDREADRAMSEY@cs.com wrote: >I'm interested in any information on Betty's Hope as my paternal grandfather, >Charles David BUTLER, was born there ca. 1890's. Also of interest are the >letters pertaing to slave John Edwards, as I have EDWARDS ancestors from >Barbuda. Unfortunately, the few vital records I've found for Barbuda are >mixed in with those of Antigua making research a slow process. >Andrea > >In a message dated 5/2/2003 4:42:13 PM Eastern Standard Time, >CARIBBEAN-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: >> "Two letters in 1814-15 from a slave John Edwards seeking to buy his >> freedom in the first letter and sending thanks in the second -- the >> second letter endorsed by "CBC" [Christopher Bethell Codrington] >> 'My servant when I am in Antigua whom I manumitted'

What may be of side interest is land arrangements... I believe Codrington never owned Barbuda outright but was assigned it on a 99-year least by the Crown for a nominal sum. This was a common arrangement and I believe continues to this day. My understanding is that current-day Barbudans do not own the land they live on but it is their to use as long as they continue to live there. So it is near impossible to be an off-shore homeowner unless special arrangements are made or a family member remains in residence. Even now Barbudans routinely knock down walls (of any height) erected by foreign investors - such as in exclusive clubs - who seek to keep locals away from their properties. This land lease arrangement was also the case in places like Mustique and Palm Island, where the islands were made available on a nominal-fee long lease which reverts to the Crown (or local national government, of course) when the lease expires. All subject to correction, of course, but these are my understandings in my travels across the eastern Caribbean as a pilot. -- At 01:54 PM 5/3/2003 -0400, you wrote: >A book, entitled "Codrington Correspondence" catalogs over 500 letters >having to do with estate matters of the Codrington holdings in Antigua >and Barbuda. Betty's Hope was the main estate on Angtigua and the >Codringtons virtually owned the whole of Barbuda at one time. >In this book are two letters written by John Edwards. The following >is the complete information contained in the book. John Edwards was a >slave of Codrington's in Antigua and wrote the next two letters. >Letter dated Dec. 26, 1814 from John Edwards to Christopher >Codrington: Seeks to purchase his freedom and still remain in the >Codrington's employ >Letter dated October 23, 1815 from John Edwards to Christopher >Codrington: A grateful letter of thanks endorsed by Codrington "my >servant when in Antigua whom I manumited. C.B.C" > >The only thing that I omitted above were the postal markings and the >rate paid to send the letters. I find the book a very good reference >but that is all that is there on John Edwards. The correspondence >runs out about 1840 and so no possible information on CD Butler. >Tim > > >On Sat, 3 May 2003 00:07:50 +0000 (UTC), ANDREADRAMSEY@cs.com wrote: > > >I'm interested in any information on Betty's Hope as my paternal > grandfather, > >Charles David BUTLER, was born there ca. 1890's. Also of interest are the > >letters pertaing to slave John Edwards, as I have EDWARDS ancestors from > >Barbuda. Unfortunately, the few vital records I've found for Barbuda are > >mixed in with those of Antigua making research a slow process. > >Andrea > > > >In a message dated 5/2/2003 4:42:13 PM Eastern Standard Time, > >CARIBBEAN-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > >> "Two letters in 1814-15 from a slave John Edwards seeking to buy his > >> freedom in the first letter and sending thanks in the second -- the > >> second letter endorsed by "CBC" [Christopher Bethell Codrington] > >> 'My servant when I am in Antigua whom I manumitted' > > >==== CARIBBEAN Mailing List ==== >all messages posted to CARIBBEAN-L are archived at >http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ >Before posting a query, see if the question has already been asked Regards, James C. "Jim" Lynch 510 Conley Street, Thornhill, ON L4J6T8, CANADA 905-760-2413 (direct, message machine) 905-738-3599 (not direct, voice mail) http://www.candoo.com/

Jim -- I am going to copy the paragraph from Codrington Correspondence which deals with this. The books answer is sort of a compromise between what I had said before and your position: Twenty-five years later his son, Christopher, moved to Antigua, where he bought land and, at Betty's Hope, founded the first sugar plantation on the island, covering some 725 acres. He became Captain-General of the Leeward Islands in 1689, and, owing to his distiguished career and his distinguished services, in 1684 he was granted the island of Barbuda, and his family held this in feudal fief for over two centuries. Codrington died in 1698 The writer of the paragraph above was Robson Lowe, who was not an historian but rather the head of Robson Lowe, Ltd -- the stamp dealers of Christie's of London. Mr. Lowe is, of course, very meticulous. I am too, so I grabbed my copy of "Bondsmen and Rebels" and found the following (speaking of Codrington): Already in Antigua when he arrived were some Surinam refugees who brought capital, useful connections, and considerable experience wiht plantation agriculture and were willing to settle down again to planting in their new home. Among them were the Willoughby, Martin, and Byam families, whose descendents became leading figures in the Caribbean islands. David Barry Gaspar, p. 66. Gaspar's work was on Antigua and did not touch on Barbuda, but does show that even a careful writer will make mistakes at margins of his interest. Lowe was interested in the Codrington's and their letters more than Antigua history. Fortunately, he was interested in these letters. I believe what was granted the Codringtons were leases as you suggest and that these leases were at their ends so that the total time that Codrington's had virtual control of the island approached the 200 years mentioned by Mr. Lowe. Tim On Sat, 3 May 2003 18:27:20 +0000 (UTC), jlynch@candoo.com (Jim Lynch) wrote: >What may be of side interest is land arrangements... I believe Codrington >never owned Barbuda outright but was assigned it on a 99-year least by the >Crown for a nominal sum. > >This was a common arrangement and I believe continues to this day. My >understanding is that current-day Barbudans do not own the land they live >on but it is their to use as long as they continue to live there. So it is >near impossible to be an off-shore homeowner unless special arrangements >are made or a family member remains in residence. > >Even now Barbudans routinely knock down walls (of any height) erected by >foreign investors - such as in exclusive clubs - who seek to keep locals >away from their properties. > >This land lease arrangement was also the case in places like Mustique and >Palm Island, where the islands were made available on a nominal-fee long >lease which reverts to the Crown (or local national government, of course) >when the lease expires. > >All subject to correction, of course, but these are my understandings in my >travels across the eastern Caribbean as a pilot.