Greetings from Melbourne. Did anyone else on the Moray list have an ancestor-relative who went to Jamaica to grow sugar cane or any other farming venture? My ancestor William MACKIE and his wife Elspet ROY went to Jamaica about 1800 and their 4 children were born there. They returned to Forres in 1818. I wonder if William Mackie was part of an organised company, or if he decided to go there on his own initiative. Any information about such a venture from Scotland to Jamaica would be interesting. Helen

In the Book 'The House of Innes' put out by the Innes Clan Society there is a story of an Innes family who bought a plantation in Jamaica. The family was into shipping as well. The long and short of it is that Mr. Innes wanted to free the slaves that came with the plantation. The neighbors objected saying their slaves would then want their freedom. In the end Mr. Innes won out.......and ironically, I can tell a story about a colored man with the last name of Innes who happened into a store in the western US. My step-brother was helping him select a pair of shoes, when the colored man noticed the name label on my step-brothers jacket; also Innes. Years later when I started doing genealogy, my step-brother asked me how this could be since I had told him the Innes family was from Scotland via Flanders........I have since wondered if the answer was that the colored man was one of the ancestors of the slaves on the plantation in Jamaica. I have done much reading and it seems to be a common thing to do when they were freed. They had first names, but no last names and they sometimes took the name of the plantation or the owner, out of respect. How else to explain it? I mean no disrespect to anyone here, but that's the story. Would be interesting to be able to find the fellow and see if I could back track his ancestry; I'm sure the story would be very interesting. Goldie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Helen" <phreich@alphalink.com.au> To: <MORAY@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 4:46 AM Subject: [MORAY] Moray Scots to Jamaica > Greetings from Melbourne. Did anyone else on the Moray list have an > ancestor-relative who went to Jamaica to grow sugar cane or any other > farming venture? My ancestor William MACKIE and his wife Elspet ROY went > to Jamaica about 1800 and their 4 children were born there. They returned > to Forres in 1818. > I wonder if William Mackie was part of an organised company, or if he > decided to go there on his own initiative. Any information about such a > venture from Scotland to Jamaica would be interesting. > Helen > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MORAY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

Forgot to say the Innes family was from Elgin.....Goldie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Helen" <phreich@alphalink.com.au> To: <MORAY@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 4:46 AM Subject: [MORAY] Moray Scots to Jamaica > Greetings from Melbourne. Did anyone else on the Moray list have an > ancestor-relative who went to Jamaica to grow sugar cane or any other > farming venture? My ancestor William MACKIE and his wife Elspet ROY went > to Jamaica about 1800 and their 4 children were born there. They returned > to Forres in 1818. > I wonder if William Mackie was part of an organised company, or if he > decided to go there on his own initiative. Any information about such a > venture from Scotland to Jamaica would be interesting. > Helen > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MORAY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >