The Guyana / British Guiana Genealogical Society

EMIGRATION DATA

      Transcriptions of ship manifest's logs from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s only of those passengers leaving the port of Demerara and arriving in New York, Boston or Baltimore. When noted in the manifest, the transcription includes the passenger's final destinations or immigration visa status into the US. Many logs provide the person's name, age, plus the name & address of their nearest kin residing in Guyana/British Guiana.   A great many intended to stay in the US permanently and some were to transfer to another ship to Canada and England.   To date, only a small fraction of the manifests of passengers leaving Demerara have been transcribed; it is a slow process and is a project done only as time allows.

SHIPPING and TRANSPORTATION

These records concentrate on the "boom times" of travel to and from Demerara, British Guiana. This site lists the steamship lines and fleet names (if known), as well as photos of travel brochures (such as at right), and photos of steamships. Many of these transports were used in the early 1900s when there was a large exodus of people emigrating to the US, Canada or England.

  CLUB LISTINGS

   The listings contained in the directory of the active British Guiana Clubs, their office holders, and members or whatever information is  provided.

DR. ROGER AUSTIN's Research Materials

         Materials from the late Dr. Roger Austin's website are linked from a page devoted to the materials Dr. Austin researched; i.e, Personal Memoirs written by those who lived in the Colony (Highly recommended reading !) ; a list Engineers of Sugar Estates and of clerks compiled by John Platt, and much more ! . Roger was a noted researcher who has left us his valuable research material.

ST EUSTATIUS TRANSCRIPTIONS

As many British Guiana ancestors arrived from surrounding Caribbean Islands, the transcription of the 1781 List of Burghers (citizens) of St. Eustatius may be of interest.

LAND GRANTS & LAND OWNERSHIP

From various sources, including published books, lists of land grants and ownership were discovered.   These begin with the early Dutch   colony in the early 1700s and include later grants and land purchases in the English colony.

LOCAL EVENTS LISTINGS

      Some directories contained a section of the above title. Much of the listings included scheduled Court of Policy meetings and various other   local meetings which, being of no genealogical interest, have been omitted from the transcriptions.   The result is a listing of events of   genealogical and historical interest.

PLANTATIONS & ESTATES

Many colonical ancestors worked on the various plantations, sugar (or other commodity) estates. This section contains records about the   known estates.

• 1860 Sugar Estates Listing - Lists owners, Attorneys, and Managers. Listing is presented by location within British Guiana.   [British Guiana Directory with Almanack and Diary for the Year of our Lord, 1860; Demerara; printed and published by R. Short, Water   Street, Georgetown, British Guiana, Pages 30 to 36]; Transcribed by Sharon Anderson, August 2007
• 1860 - This listing covers all the plantations known in 1860 as well as the villages with owners and crop(s). Please note that transcription is verbatum; i.e., the word "Negro" was left in as it was found even though it was   very tempting to change this so no one would be offended. This list is presented in 10-page PDF Files; (1) sorted by area within   British Guiana and (2) by Plantation Name - to make it easier for reseachers. (NOTE: Note that most names are duplicated at least once and some more frequently, a frequent cause of confusion as most duplicate names are in different areas.)     [British Guiana Directory with  Almanack and Diary for the Year of our Lord, 1860; Demerara; printed and published by R. Short, Water Street, Georgetown, British   Guiana, Pages 46 to 61]; Transcribed by Sharon Anderson, August to November 2007