"Lignum Vitae"- Wood of LifeNational Flower of Jamaica
"OUT OF MANY, ONE PEOPLE"
Welcome to my Hobby Page. My hobby is FAMILY HISTORY of Jamaica, West Indies (sorry not Jamaica, New York). Maps, sources of genealogy, emblems, my tiny tafel and some fun places to visit are included. I hope this page will be of interest to those who are just getting started on their Jamaican ancestry, as well as those who have pursued this pastime for a while. Madeleine Mitchell's Hobby HomePage
"Lignum Vitae"- Wood of Life
National Flower of Jamaica
Important Dates in Jamaican History
Join the Caribbean List and Jamaica List to contact other researchers
Send your surnames to the West Indian Surname List
Links to other Jamaican Genealogy on the Web
Useful Genealogy Sources on the Web
Some Fun Places to Visit on the Web about Jamaica
My Sister Nora Crook's Work Page
The counter since November 4, 1996 was over 100,000,but I lost it
Last Updated August 3, 2006 ©Madeleine Mitchell Comments, corrections and contributions welcome. e-mail to:mitchelm@pullman.com. The icon used on this page is the lignum vitae flower.
This page was created with the Hot Dog Pro Web Page Editor
Important Dates in the History of Jamaica
Compiled 21 September,1988 by Madeleine E. Mitchell. Amended August 2, 2006
Join the West Indies Newsgroup/Caribbean List and Jamaican List to contact other researchers
This newsgroup is now linked with the Caribbean-List, an e-mail list which comes in Digest form or single message form.
To subscribe to Caribbean-L, e-mail to
CARIBBEAN-L-request@rootsweb.com. Put nothing in the subject line and turn off your signature and other automatic additions, write only 'subscribe' in the body or text area of your message. Currently messages are running 11-25 messages per day, so if you want to receive the output as a digest (ONE long message), address your request to CARIBBEAN-D-request@rootsweb.com
To subscribe to JAMAICA-L, e-mail to
JAMAICA-L-request@rootsweb.com. Put nothing in the subject line and turn off your signature and other automatic additions, write only 'subscribe' in the body or text area of your message. Currently messages are running 0-2 messages per day, so if you want to receive the output as a digest (ONE long message), address your request to JAMAICA-D-request@rootsweb.com
The Caribbean List and Jamaica List are also archived at Rootsweb
When the vote was taken, the following was included as the description of the newsgroup:
There is an established precedence and interest in the study of
West Indian ancestored genealogy on the Internet, as well-evidenced
by the discussions and queries concerning this topic that regularly
appear in cluster groups on commercial online networks, bulletin
boards, and in limited discussions in various newsgroups in the
"soc." and "alt." hierarchy. However, the discussions and queries
tend to be scattered among numerous electronic forums, and
researchers are unsure where to post questions and comments
concerning the West Indies to reach others who share their
interest, often posting in several different places as a result.
Presently, there is no place of concentration where such people can
register their queries and remarks, and be assured that they will
be read by the many who are interested world-wide, rather than by
the few who may by chance encounter West Indian genealogical
postings in electronic forums which are focused on other parts of
the world. The number of nations whose sons and daughters added to
the population of the West Indies is extremely numerous: former
colonial powers including England, France, Spain and The
Netherlands; as well as dozens of countries in Europe, Africa, the
Americas and Asia. Soc.genealogy.west-indies has the potential to
serve as the gathering point for researchers interested in the
approximately 30 countries which today comprise the West Indies,
and to provide a forum for people to share queries and insights
regarding the genealogy of the West Indies.
A FAQ on this topic is planned and a Surname Interest List has been set up. Sally Jones has posted to the newsgroups several pages of source information. They can be retrieved in the archived newsgroup click here .
The focus of soc.genealogy.west-indies is on exchanging information
on the genealogy and family history of West Indian ancestored
people world-wide. This group is designed to focus on West Indian
genealogy, but since the colonisation of many of the West Indian
islands had a social and financial impact on the colonising
nations, discussion may widen to reflect this aspect.
Discussion is open to anyone with an interest in West Indian
genealogy including, but not limited to: people who do live, did
live, or may have lived in any of the West Indian Islands;
colonists; voluntary immigrants; involuntary immigrants (such as
slaves); emigrants and their descendants. Researchers wishing to
trace their slave ancestors prior to their arrival in the West
Indies will find that soc.genealogy.african is more suited to their
postings.
The scope of the group reflects the varied ancestral backgrounds of
the inhabitants of the West Indies - often referred to as a
"melting pot". The cultural and language differences of the
islands, often reflecting their heritage can prove a problem to
researchers. The difficulties of researching public records in a
part of the world where earthquakes, fire, hurricanes and pests
have destroyed many records can be very daunting, but genealogical
archives around the world do contain records which will help to
build up vivid accounts of the lives of West Indian ancestors. The
disseminated nature of the historical and genealogical information
requires a high level of mutual co-operation from researchers
around the world.
Posts may be in any language, but those seeking replies from a wide
spectrum of readers would be well-advised to also post in English.
Postings on offensive or defamatory themes, and any other topics
unrelated to genealogy are not welcome.
The additional gateways for this newsgroup have yet to be created.
In this instance, the newsgroup will precede the Fidonet and
traditional mailserver avenues.
END CHARTER. 
Through the hard work of Sally Jones, Kent, England, Vaughn Royal of Alexandria, VA and others, there is a newsgroup for the West Indies: soc.genealogy.west-indies which includes Jamaica and 30+ West Indian islands and countries. If your internet provider carries "newsgroups" you will be able to access this group. If not, it doesn't do any harm to ask the provider to add the newsgroup. Added in 2003 Added in January 1997 The Newsgroup soc.genealogy.west-indies also has been archived and is available for searching on the Web. click here .RATIONALE: soc.genealogy.west-indiesCHARTER: soc.genealogy.west-indies
Used with permission of Sally Jones, 1996.
The icon used on this page is an Alamanda flower.
Send your surname list to the West Indian/Caribbean Surname Lists
You can make contact with other researchers who are interested in your surname families through the West Indian Surname Lists. This list was started and was maintained by Vaughn Royal up to 1998. .
Because Vaughn Royal unfortunately has not been able to continue with the West Indian Surname list, a new list was started by Jim Lynch in 1999. It is:
In addition you can put a query about your surnames on the Query page of the WorldGenWeb Jamaica page, queries are archived.
The icon used on this page is the hibiscus flower.
My TinyTafel and About me
My Tiny Tafel was generated on Roots IV and shows my maternal and paternal lines.
About Me
I was born in Brown's Town, St Ann, Jamaica to K. and C.(nee Levy) Mitchell in 1941. We lived in Reading, St James, Grove Place, Manchester as well as Brown's Town before moving to Half-Way-Tree, Kingston 10 in 1952. My father worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and the first two residences were Agricultural Experiment Stations where he was assigned. I attended St Hilda's Diocesan High School in Brown's Town and St Andrew High School for Girls at Half-Way Tree. I have an older and a younger sister and 4 nephews and 1 niece. My mother lives in Cambridge, England near my eldest sister, the author, Nora Crook, and my younger sister, the nurse, Janet Watson lives in the Boston area. Thank goodness for telephones and faxes! My father passed away in England in 1993. Enough of that. My major family lines come from England, Scotland, Africa and Jewish (London). As well I have some extensions into France (via Haiti) and Ireland. At one time I thought there was a German line, but now I am not so sure. So out of many, one people.
After Cambridge School certificate I went to MacDonald College of McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. This is where my interest in family history started when I had to write a paper on the family in a Sociology class. I went on to do my graduate work in Nutrition at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. And then I came to Pullman, Washington where I have been since 1969, except for two sabbatical leaves, one spent in Washington, DC and the other in Boston, MA.
