OTHER DIRECTORIES
Contained in the Commercial Directory of Latin America (1892) was a section for British Guiana. Debbie Sobers has transcribed the entries. The Directory was similar to those in the local Geogetown Directory, being sorted by Type of Occupation/Business; to make it easier for our visitors, the entries have been alphabetized by Surname or Business name, Given Names, and Location. Search the transcriptions by the PDF files according to the first letter of the Surname or Business Name:A to C D to G H to M N to Z
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.CENSUS - A Happy Holidays gift from Lisa Booth was received December 2009. Many thanks to Lisa for her work in preparing a census a listing of persons born in British Guiana but living in the UK and USA. Note that although the USA census had many persons listed as born in the "West Indies", only those whose birthplace was listed as British Guiana, Demerara, Berbice or Essequibo were included in this listing. See the right hand menu under Emigration Data for these census.
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