Jamaican and American research

[WendyPusey]

I have found a baptism for my cousin's late husband Raymond George ASHLEY (1923), on Family search plus a sister, Gloria (1921) parents Edwin ASHLEY and Betsy. They were baptised in Clarendon, Jamaica.

There is a tree on Ancestry with him on but as I don't have a sub anymore I cannot see the info.

Is there anywhere else I might be able to find some info on this family in Jamaica? I have no idea if Edwin was a slave or not.

As Raymond was a GI in the American Army when he met my cousin, I would also like to know if he became an American Citizen. Where can I find this out please? Any info would be helpful to my search.

[Mary from Italy]

Might be worth having a look here:

http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/

US naturalisations are on Ancestry, but you need a world sub. Ancestry also has slave registers.

[Mary from Italy]

Clarendon is included in this database, but I don't see any of your Ashleys:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/search/

I think it only lists slave owners, though.

[Merry]

There are some passenger list entries on Ancestry for them.....hang on.... lol

[Merry]

No, I take that back - the Edwin Ashley I was looking at travelled with a different wife and children and was sensibly a little young (b 1903).

[Merry]

The Ancestry tree has another child for Edwin and Betsy -

Eric Ashley Birth 21 Jul 1912 in Jamaica.

It has Edwin b Jamaica 1880 and the same for Betsy. According to the tree Betsy d 1981 aged 101 (no place recorded for the death).

[Merry]

I have no idea if Edwin was a slave or not.

Slavery had been abolished a long time before Edwin was born, if he was born in 1880.

It would be helpful to know if he was descended from slaves though. Would he have had African heritage?

[WendyPusey]

Thanks for the extra child Merry.

I have no info on Edwin at all. One of the parents must have been coloured (Am I allowed to say that?) as Raymond George was.

[Merry]

lol I had to work on my wording too!

I have now seen the FS entry for Eric, but it only has a mother's name (Betsey Ashley), no father, so I wonder if Eric is a red herrring? There are several other children born with only a mother, Betsey Ashley, recorded, so if they included Eric they chose (?) not to include the others.

Seems a bit odd.

I see Raymond died on the IoW. Do you know when he arrived here?

[WendyPusey]

He was married in 1947 on the Isle of Wight but the first children were born around Norfolk. I presume he was based at one of the American camps around there.