How to Start Your West Indian Family Tree From Abroad
photos courtesy of Shanida Carter
written by Shanida Carter
I laid eyes on my great-great-grandfather for the first time earlier this year in my New Jersey home. It was almost 3 in the morning. After hours of searching digital trails online, I came upon the black and white photo of Wesley Wellington Watkis. The image was on his Panama Canal employment identification record along with other information including dates, pay rates, physical attributes, and answers to questions like whether he could read and write (answer: yes.)
The discovery led to more discoveries of his parents and their parents. I was overwhelmed with a sense of pride and triumph, considering I am chasing ancestors on my mother’s Panamanian side and my father’s Trinidadian side. The early morning revelation has been more than a decade in the making.
Since 2008, I’ve reached back six generations into the 1800s, across 10 countries, without the necessity of buying a plane ticket. It may not be as hard as you think to get started but it will take time and stamina. Modern technology has made it possible to dig into your roots with access to the internet. Here’s how:
Wesley Wellington Watkis
Interview the oldest living members of your family. Now. Even better: record their voice or interview them on camera. Some experts recommend that you begin your quest by jotting down details of your own life. However, you don’t know how much time you have left to talk with relatives who are in their 70s, 80s, 90s or older. The older they are, the more likely their memory is fading. Though the Trinidad Parang fiestas may be different this year due to the COVID pandemic, holiday celebrations or dinners are perfect times to start filling out your family tree. Everyone should be in a jovial mood and stuffed, sipping on coquito. Even if you aren’t physically close to your elder loved ones, have a relative help them log onto Zoom or Facetime. It will most likely take several interviews. It took a lifetime to make the memories they are sharing with you. Also, West Indian elders are known to keep secrets so it may take a few tries to get them to open up. Don’t assume anything! Easy starting questions include:
Where were you born?
What was the first home you remember?
Why did your parents give you the name you have?
What was your first language?
Where were your parents born?
What language did your parents have?
What are some family stories you remember?
Interview yourself. How far back can you go in your own timeline of life? What’s the earliest memory you have? Plot important dates on the calendar for you and close loved ones such as births, deaths, graduations, christenings, and marriages. Recall addresses and key moments in your life such as accomplishments or residential moves. Keep in mind that this present moment will be the past for your future generations. Think about the details of your life that you want to leave for them. Now that you’ve interviewed yourself and your eldest relatives, interview your closest family members including your parents and siblings. You can find a ton of questions to ask on the internet.
[Additional Read: Don’t Trust The Whitby and the Hesperus, A Poem on Indentured Servitude]
Clean house! Go through journals, heirlooms, yearbooks, government and religious documents, and photos. Images are great for jogging memory and printed photos may have dates on the back. Go through your email for travel receipts and notes from family. Scan or take photos of items you deem important to your search and come up with a way to identify the people in the images.
Get organized with an app or software. Now that you have hearty notes and a solid starting point, consider getting an account on a family tree website such as MyHeritage.com or Ancestry.com. I highly recommend Familysearch.org which claims to be the world’s largest genealogy archive. It gives you tools to continue your search in one location instead of searching several different sites. Basic account memberships to these sites are free. If you’re comfortable, these sites can house the information you collected. Be careful when allowing sites to automatically populate information based on public online records. Cross check and fact check. For example, someone who died in 1888 couldn’t have given birth to someone whose birth certificate has a 1912 date. Others prefer software to keep their information offline. There’s several to choose from including RootsMagic, Family Historian or Legacy Family Tree.
Be specific in your quest. Maybe you’ve gathered so much information that you don’t know what to do next. Perhaps you’ve come to a dead end in your search. The next move may be overwhelming. Think of one or two specific questions to which you want to find the answers. This will help narrow your search. For example, who was my great-great-grandfather’s mother on my maternal side? This narrows my focus to look for details on his life by only researching his closest relatives.
Head to the (virtual) library. For example, the Newark Public Library has a full webpage dedicated to genealogy resources. It also offers free genealogy webinars.
Find a professional genealogist. If you don’t have the time and energy or if you’ve hit a wall in your search, you can hire a professional to do the research. Standard rates start at $50 an hour. You may have to hire someone to look up records in the country where you cannot physically be yourself. Not all countries have online databases of public records. You may also want to check out memberships to genealogical associations.
Get connected and link up. Some of these tips came from my dear higher education colleague and expert Genealogist Robin Semple. I’ve casually mentioned my hobby over the years which has led me to her and others who are researching their own family trees and may have great tips to share. Once you put your quest into the universe, the universe will give you clues to help you on your way. Many connections have been made by chance or luck with no other logical explanation.
Happy investigating!