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Old 28-07-19, 22:34
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Default Who Do You Think You Are - Naomie Harris 29th Jul

On BBC1 at 9 p.m., and repeated on Thursday at 11:35 p.m.
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Old 29-07-19, 23:09
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Naomie Harris became interested in her family history when she took a DNA test which showed that 48% of her DNA was Nigerian. Her mother, Carmen Harris, came to England from Jamaica aged 5, and her father, Brian Clarke, came to England from Trinidad. Naomie knew her maternal grandfather but knew very little about her father's family since she had had very little contact with him.

Naomie went to see her father, who showed her a photo of his parents, George and Barbara Clarke. George was born in Guyana and Barbara in Grenada, and they both moved to Trinidad when they were young. Brian showed Naomie a letter which George wrote to Barbara's grandmother asking for her hand in marriage. The letter was addressed to Mrs Dawns, St James, Trinidad. Brian told Naomie that he was one of 8 children of George and Barbara, and that he was 7 years old when they came to England. They lived in Hornsey and then in Muswell Hill, near Naomie, but she never met them.

Naomie went to Port of Spain, Trinidad, to see where Barbara lived and to meet her father's brother Saba Clarke, who showed her George's birth certificate, born 24 Apr 1922 at St Andrew, Grenada, the son of Wilfred Clarke, chauffeur. Wilfred's father was Charles William Wallace Clarke, and Saba said that George had told him that Charles was born in Ireland and that his wife was an African Grenadian.

Naomie went to St Andrews, Grenada, and met an historian, who told her that Charles was white but was born in Grenada, not Ireland. His wife's name was Anne Sophia but there was not much information about her. Charles was listed in the 1897 Grenada Handbook as overseer at the Mount Horn Plantation, which was then about 360 acres and produced cocoa. Naomie went to see where it was. Then the 1921 Grenada Handbook listed Charles as Town Warden and Collector of Jetty Dues.

Naomie met another historian, who had researched Brian's family tree. This showed that Charles's parents were William Clarke and Agnes Emily Langdon. Agnes was the daughter of James Langdon, born in Somerset in 1807. An article from the Grenada Free Press newspaper dated 1829 mentioned James as overseer on the Requin Estate. After the abolition of slavery there in 1834, James stayed in Grenada and by 1849 he was the manager of the La Sagesse sugar plantation. Naomie was shown a report on the condition of "liberated Africans" brought to Grenada by the ship Clarendon in 1849, which said that 19 of them became indentured labourers at La Sagesse. Even at this date, after the abolition of slavery, the workers would be given the surname of the owner or manager of the estate, so several became Langdons.

Naomie then went to Kingston, Jamaica, where her mother's family came from. Her grandfather's birth certificate showed that he was born as Joscelyn Maxwell Tulloch on the 15th Jan 1921 at Crossroads, St Andrew, the son of Syretta Tulloch, a dressmaker. The informant was Syretta's father Henry Tulloch. There was no information about Joscelyn's father. Naomie searched online and found Syretta's marriage to Ralph Harris 26 Sep 1933 at St Andrew, Jamaica, and concluded that Ralph was probably not Joscelyn's father. She met an old friend of Syretta's, Dorothy Davis, who showed her a photo of Syretta but said that they had never discussed Joscelyn's father.

Naomie went to Trenchtown in Kingston to meet a social historian who showed her Syretta's birth certificate - she was born on the 27th Jun 1901 at Newtown, St Andrew, Jamaica, her mother being Jemima Pottinger, a housekeeper, and her father Henry Tulloch. The couple had several other children, most of whom died in infancy, including Leonard Joseph Tulloch, and the youngest Henry George Tulloch who survived. "The Gleaner" newspaper of 3 Jan 1929 had a letter from the Stony Hill Industrial School stating that Henry George was apprenticed to the carpentry trade there and did not want to return to the parents who had neglected him as a child, but this was followed by another letter dated 31 Jan 1929 saying that his aunt in Kingston had got in touch and persuaded him to return home.

Jemima Tulloch's death certificate showed that she died on the 7th Nov 1930, in the corporation poorhouse. Henry sr's baptism certificate showed that he was baptised on the 23rd Jun 1867 at St Anne, Eastern Davis Town, the son of Andrew Tulloch and Rebecca Goulbourn. Naomie went to Eastern Davis Town and found the baptism record for Rebecca, born in April 1843, the daughter of Henry Tracey Goulbourn and Letitia nee Bennett, who married in 1839 at St Anne. Naomie was then shown the 1816 baptisms of Henry and his brother Forbes Tracey Goulbourn, both slaves at Belle Vue, a property of about 50 acres in St Anne. Naomie went to see where it was, and was shown the Return of Slaves 1817, which listed Henry and Forbes, a younger brother Thomas Goulbourn, and two older brothers James and Edward, all the children of Elizabeth Leevers, age 38, negro, born in Africa. The two eldest brothers were also shown as negroes but Henry, Forbes, and Thomas were described as "sambo", i.e. 3/4 black and 1/4 white, and as "Creole", i.e. born in Jamaica. The slave owner was William Leevers and would have given Elizabeth his surname. The register of baptisms had an entry in 1817 for William Tracey Goulbourn, a "free person of colour" who was probably the father of Henry, Forbes, and Thomas. Elizabeth was listed on the 1832 Return of Slaves so Naomie thought she would have been freed soon afterwards and perhaps married William.
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Old 29-07-19, 23:10
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Good episode. I wanted to know whether there was a man named Joscelyn Maxwell around when Naomie's grandfather was born! Couldn't his name be a clue as to who his father was? Also, surely if Elizabeth Leevers married, there would be a record of it? Off to search...
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Old 29-07-19, 23:27
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Didn't find a marriage or death for Elizabeth on FamilySearch but I don't know whether they have finished indexing the Jamaican records yet.
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Old 31-07-19, 06:19
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Just watched it. I enjoyed it and took to her. I did think it would take more than one ancestor to account for her DNA being 47% Nigerian.
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Old 31-07-19, 12:28
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I did think it would take more than one ancestor to account for her DNA being 47% Nigerian.

So did I Anne.
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