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Research in Other Countries => Other Countries => Topic started by: mmitchell on Thursday 31 January 13 02:40 GMT (UK)
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Hi Everyone:
My great uncle died in Kingston, Jamaica on 14 Jan 1879 at the age of 21. We know he is buried in the Orange St. cemetery, but have no other information. I was wondering if someone could look this up and confirm it. Frances was from Manchester, England and we have no clue what he was doing in Jamaica.
Does anyone have access to "The Jews of Jamaica :tombstone inscriptions, 1663-1880" by Bennett and Wright?
I believe this is also after they started civil reg of death records. I was surprised he is buried in the Jewish cemetery as the family is not Jewish.
Thank you in advance for the help.
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If you post his name then we can have a dig around. Francis .....?
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I guess having his full name would help... ;D
Frances Joseph Mitchell dob: 02 Jul 1857 and died: 14 Jan 1879.
Sorry about that.
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Francis Joseph Mitchell
(3rd quarter September 1857 at Manchester Lancashire 8d194)
son of John and Eliza Mitchell; and brother of John Bertram Mitchell , and later Alice M Mitchell was recorded in 1861 as being a son whose father was a Plumber and Roof Slater employing folk but is later recognised as being a glazier as well.
By 1871 was recorded as being the nephew of Ann and Alice Malligan who was engaged as an office boy in the field of gasfitting, while his brother John was still a scholar.
Which only leaves 8 years of his life left before he dies in Jamaica, of which I suspect Malaria may have contributed .
His father John passes 21st of February 1865 leaving probate 2nd August 1865 for which monies under 1000 pounds passes to his wife Eliza.
Francis' father John had come from a large family for which Ellen , Hannah, Sarah and William were amongst the siblings and children of John ,(elsewhere stated as Patrick being father ?) and Mary(Alice) Mitchell nee Mulligan.( who was of Irish background). Francis' grandmother died in Manchester in the 1st half of 1865 as well,leaving Francis and his siblings to fend for themselves. It was obvious that the family took them in as the children were in fact still very young but probably there was some money in lieu of the parents dying in the same year.
I suspect Francis saw an opportunity of some sort offered to him to go to Jamaica for work and a chance of better money, however, did his siblings also go to Jamaica, and
did they go with some member of the Malligan family or was it some other connection?
I see their lives as very difficult , probably emotionally as well as physically cut short probably with an untimely death of Francis.
Best of luck in your quest to find his occupation, but at that time most of Jamaica was in a period of plantations , and having just come out of Slavery
circa that period(slavery ended in 1834) there were probably workers needed for all manner of things.
PS I hope I got all the facts right in the bio....
Have you tried any of the links in my post for Jamaica on this board?
good luck with your research
Marty
:)
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*** wasnt sure if it was Mulligan or Malligan
:)
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That is the family. Mary Alice Mitchell nee Conway was Joseph's grandmother and his grand father was John Patrick Mitchell. Most of the documents I have found with the family he uses John, but a few times he does go by Patrick which is common for Irish to use multiple names. (given, baptism and nickname)
My great grandfather was John Bertram Mitchell who came to America in 1885 and worked for the Pacific Mill Company in Lawrence, MA. He was a clerk and became a overseer in 1893 of the packing and print works. The sister passed away at the age of 24 in Manchester and left everything to her Aunt, Ann Mulligan who appears to have had a lot of family live with her. One of William's daughters lived and worked for them also. William was a plumber also and became a master plumber before dropping off the map. I have found catholic church records going back to the 1820's on the Mitchell, Conway and Mulligan families. They did not hide which is nice.
I am not sure if Frances was in the Navy or went to Jamaica to work. My research of the area at the time would suggest the sugar industry and perhaps was on a merchant ship.
Thank you for your help. The book I mentioned should have his burial plot location and with it I might be able to get a photo if the grave is still there.
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Well he does not appear to be in "The Jews of Jamaica :tombstone inscriptions, 1663-1880", but his death happened after civil reg started so it should be out there someone. Is there a link or a cite I can search deaths in Jamaica?
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Have you tried emailing the Registrar General's department for advice ?
http://www.rgd.gov.jm/?q=contact
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I did that awhile ago and got no response which told me either they could not find it, it might not be during the right time period or they did not look. It's in the family bible so I will assume it is right since most everything else has checked out. I just thought it would be nice to pay our respects someday if he has a grave marker.
Can anyone think of a record for someone who dies overseas, but resides in England? There is nothing to suggest he lived in Jamaica and was probably working on a merchant ship.
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Have checked the UK maritime, army and consular deaths but there is nothing that fits. Is it definitely Orange St Cemetery, Kingston, Jamaica ? What does the family bible say exactly?
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Orange St. Kingston, Jamaica with the 14 Jan 1879 date. He must have been working on a Merchant Ship, but thank you for checking the naval records. This one has been a mystery since I started working on the family tree.
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Did you find any passenger / crew lists in your research....?
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I did not find a passenger/crew list which is why it is unclear how long he was in Kingston. This is one of those mysteries I would love to figure out, but have not had much luck. I can tell you that my great grandfather always used his middle name and I believe Frances would have too.
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I am wondering if he was a stowaway. Could this be why he is not showing up in the passenger records?
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Could this be why he is not showing up in the passenger records?
What passenger records are there for UK or Jamaica in that era?
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Shaun the family bible has the date and the Orange cemetery listed. Someday when I can afford it I will try and get the record. :)
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Jamaican BMD civil registrations have good coverage on Familysearch from 1878 onwards, complete with images of the register pages. I don't see anything for a Francis Mitchell in Kingston parish in mid-January 1879.
There is a death of a Francis Mitchell in Chapelton, Clarendon parish in February 1880 aged 23 but he was a labourer and most likely a local.
Have you checked the burial records at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/ ? It's a subscription site but it's not expensive at US$ 9 for a month's access.
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shaun....
that record you found is more than likely it..... died one place moved up road to cemetery...family has one recording in bible as a generalisation.......... Jamaica is not that big a place and there were only a couple of registry offices......... so much like uk where a registrar covers many towns or villages....
i would try obtain more info on the entry found.......
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just another comment here..... re passenger stuff...... there would be one shipping from uk to at least new york..... then a subsequent shipping to jamaica. there were only a few lines in those days.......
i can state that all vessels went to usa first then to jamaica...... it is all a question which port they used
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i can state that all vessels went to usa first then to jamaica
There were regular direct steamer services to West Indies from the UK, notably the Royal Mail packet ships which sailed twice a month from Southampton to the West Indies from the 1840's onwards.
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MM - does the bible inscription clearly say "Kingston Jamaica" ? Might it be some other Orange Street cemetery?
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interesting shaun........ i would like to know more about those, please, and if you add to resources of jamaica post it would bew appreciated.....
thanks
:)
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Just a thought MM - the army chaplains' index show the death of an F Mitchell in Natal, South Africa in 1879-80. I am wondering if your family bible reference to "Orange Street" could be "Orange Free State" ?
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sorry for the delay in response. The bible entry does state Orange St. Kingston Jamaica for burial and I have not found any other family members who went to Jamaica. My great grandfather would have had the family bible when he came to the US since he was the only one still alive in his immediate family. His mothers family, took care of them when they were younger.
Some great leads for follow up and I agree that the labourer just might be him. I will keep digging. :)
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since this post went up ..... the jamaican site that shaun mentions is now free ....see post by martywillis on jamaica resources post ;)