A Caribbean case study
The ancestry of Jonah Albert

Carrying out genealogical research in the Caribbean is often difficult – poor archives, records that don't go back very far and the inevitable problems caused by slavery. Channel 4 commissioned professional genealogist Anthony Adolph of Achievements Ltd <www.achievements.co.uk> to give it a try, using as his guinea pig Jonah Albert, coordinator of the Channel 4 Black History Map project, who was born on 5 October 1967 at Castries, St Lucia.

A Caribbean case study: Part 2

In Part 1 of our project, Jonah Albert wrote down everything he could remember about his father's and mother's families. In Part 2, he contacted his living relatives, to see if they could tell him any more. Unfortunately, most of his elderly relatives are dead, and the family has lost some contact with other relatives since coming to England.

Talking to relatives
However, Jonah was able to contact his mother's sister, Mary Albert. She was able to give Jonah valuable information about the earlier ancestry of his mother's family, the Corniberts.

'Cornibert' sounds French and, according to Mary, the Corniberts were: the St Lucian branch of the family is descended from the French family of Cornibert de Bonlay through an illegitimacy.

The new information that Jonah was able to find out from Mary has been added to his original chart in red.

Father's side (The Alberts)

Father: Mathew Albert
Born 1923, Canaries, St Lucia.
Sailor in St Lucia, later emigrated to Britain.
Married Lucia Cornibert in London.

Grandfather: Aristide Albert
A subsistence farmer.
Married Albertina Edwards; both died in the 1970s.

Great-grandfather: Albert (forename only)

The Albert family's ancestry is thought to include black, white and perhaps some indigenous Indian blood.

Mother's side (The Corniberts)

Mother: Lucia Cornibert
Born 1937, Laborie, St Lucia.
Seamstress.
Married Mathew Albert in London.

Grandfather: Anton Cornibert
Carpenter; was involved in the building of the Panama Canal.
Married Eta Alphonse; after her death, married Antoinette.
Had 10 children, the first born when he was about 40.
Died on 3 or 4 October 1973, aged 106, at Canaries, St Lucia.

Grandmother: Eta Alphonse
Died in about 1944.

Great-grandfather: Arthur Anton 'Georges' Cornibert
Carpenter.
Married a woman with both black and white ancestry.

Great-great grandfather: [unknown forename] Cornibert.
Probably illegitimate and therefore given only
half his father's surname.

Great-great-great grandfather: [unknown forename] Cornibert-de-Bonlay.
French nobleman, living in St Lucia.

Aural evidence and original records
Parts 1 and 2 in tracing family trees involves 'aural evidence' – literally, facts that are heard. In other words, these facts are remembered and passed on by word of mouth. But like anything else that relies solely on the memory, aural evidence can be inaccurate or even, at times, completely wrong. This does not matter, because the next stage involves using original records both to check the facts and to try to extend the family tree further back.

There are two ways of undertaking original research with records: visiting record offices personally or using a paid researcher. Jonah has decided to visit St Lucia himself, and in the next instalment, we will learn what research he undertook and what he was able to discover.

Records on St Lucia
St Lucia is one of the Caribbean's Windward Islands (the others are Dominica, Martinique, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Barbados and Grenada) which, with the Leeward Islands (Virgin Islands, St Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat and Guadelope) form the Lesser Antilles.

Although Columbus discovered the Antilles in 1502, the islands weren't colonised for more than a century, due to the hostility of the original inhabitants, the Caribs. In 1635, the French settled there, bringing in black slaves to work the sugar plantations (after annihilating the Carib population). The Anglo-French conflicts of the 17th and 18th centuries had many repercussions in the area. In 1814, with the defeat of Napoleon, the island was ceded to the British as a crown colony. Slavery was abolished there in 1834, and St Lucia itself achieved independence in 1979.

When the British took over St Lucia in 1814, they found that most of the earlier French administrative records had been burned when a fire virtually destroyed Castries in 1796 (the fire was the fault of the British, who had attacked a French fortress near the town). Then, in 1927, the records of the magistrate’s courthouse and the attorney general’s office in Castries went up in flames. A far more serious fire in 1948 destroyed most of Castries, but although the office of the Chief Registrar of Civil Statistics was ruined, most of the records were saved. Fortunately, the registrar’s new building has been fireproofed!

We have been able to establish that birth certificates can be obtained from the Registrar of Civil Statistics, while marriage and burial records are kept by the Parish Register of Marriages and Burials.

The Central Library is in Micould Street, Castries, the capital of St Lucia, and there is a branch library at Soufrière.

Some of the available records:

Schools
St Mary’s College (boys, RC), from 1897.
St Joseph’s Convent, Castries, from 1952.
RC primary schools, Castries, from 1952.
Anglican infant schools, Castries, from 1906.
Anglican primary schools, Castries, from 1929.
Methodist primary school, Castries, from 1954.

Anglican Church registers
Holy Trinity, Castries, from 1825.
Christchurch, Soufrière, from 1833.

Methodist Church register
The Manse, Castries, from 1948 (earlier ones destroyed by fire).

Roman Catholic registers
Mostly collected at the Bishop’s House, Castries.
Records: Anse-la-Raye from 1812; Castries from 1818; Dennery from 1838; Gros Islet from 1838; Laborie from 1828; Micould from 1896; Soufrière from 1770; Vieux Fort from 1793. There are earlier registers from the mid-18th century, copies of which may be at the Bishop’s House.

Chief Registrar of Civil Statistics
The Chief Registrar (tel: 001 758 453 1916) holds copies of most church registers and also Civil Registration records, which date from 1869 for births and deaths and from 1941 for marriages. There were nine separate registration districts on the island: Anse-la-Raye, Castries, Choiseul, Dennery, Gros Islet, Laborie, Micould, Soufrière and Vieux Fort.

There do not seem to have been any censuses.

On to the next stage
There is a good chance that a search of these records may reveal a lot more details about the Albert and Cornibert families. Jonah is going to St Lucia soon, and while he is there, he will make a start on searching for his ancestors himself. We will let you know what he finds out in our next instalment.