[CARIBBEAN] BARWICK/BERWICK - in Barbados 1666 as governor and 1731 son is governor
Catharine Vinson
about BERWICK/BARWICK activity in Barbados, Jamaica, and other
locations. At least this time, I have a bunch of definite "sightings"
and links to several Barbados families: ADAMS, BRUCE, WALROND,
CULPEPPER, ADAMS, HARRIS, WEST, FRENCH. I'm hoping to learn about these
connections in order to untangle the Berwick lines, including that of
Samuel BARWICK and his son Samuel who both served as governors for
Barbados.
A Col. Samuel BARWICK was governor of Barbados in 1666; his son Samuel
BARWICK (Jr.) also served as governor (and evidently made the rank of
General according to one reference; but General of what???) in 1731. He
left a daughter Jane BARWICK who married Joseph Osborne BRUCE and
"conveyed to him the estate and representation of the family" (from my
family papers). Why the first Samuel Barwick ended up in Barbados is a
mystery to me, except for the clue that his immediate family members had
employment ties to Charles II (Peter serving as physician-in-ordinary)
and John BARWICK, D.D. as Dean of St. Paul's College, London from 1661
to his death in 1673, after spending 2 years 4 months in prison by
Cromwell's forces for being a confessor to Charles I. So, I'm guessing
the entire family spent at least an entire generation running around
trying to earn a living and avoid the wrath of the various interests
using cannonballs to argue how many angels could sit on the head of a
pin and the English throne and whether the clergy should wear a surplice
or not.
Anyway, back in the trenches, Samuel BARWICK gets himself to Barbados
(and one hopes doesn't make an idiot of himself once there) and holds
down a job as Governor. But he dies in Bermuda in 1693; was he on his
way back to England? If so, why? His widow Sarah (her maiden name is
unknown as yet, possibly Gibbs) dies later, much later one hopes, since
their son Samuel is only four years old when his father dies. The junior
Samuel was born in Barbados and I am _guessing_ that he was reared in
Barbados, since he marries a woman born in Barbados: a Frances ADAMS
born September 1710. Samuel and Frances produce Jane--and only Jane
according to family records (it would be so convenient if they had
produced a son Thomas <sigh>). Samuel dies in Lancashire, England; I
have no information about Frances' death. Bottom line: Jane BARWICK is
it for the BARWICK line in Barbados (but not the West Indies, since the
estate of Mary Ann BARWICK/BERWICK is still unaccounted for over in
Jamaica but is being administered by Alexander C. Grant in England. I'm
also finding clues and Berwick/Barwick sightings in Nevis and Antiqua.)
Joseph BRUCE was born in Garlet, Clackmann, Scotland in 1722; died 24
Mar 1786 in St. James Parish, Barbados. Jane BARWICK was born abt. 1732
in Connecticut and died September 29, 1786 in Barbados being buried in
Barbados on October 1, 1786. Joseph and Jane were married August 27,
1752 in St. James Parish, Barbados. They left one son that I have
recorded, Barwick BRUCE who was born Oct 25, 1757 in St. James,
Barbados. Barwick BRUCE married Amabel WALROND on November 6, 1777 in
Barbados. I have one child listed to date, a Nathaniel French BRUCE.
Barwick BRUCE and Amabel WALROND both died in Hartford County,
Connecticut in 1841, so I presume they left Barbados sometime after the
birth of Nathaniel (born Nov 23, 1791 in St. Michael, Barbados).
All I have for Amabel WALROND is that she was the child of Nathaniel
WALROND and Amabel HARRIS. Nathaniel WALROND was the son of Anthony
WALROND and Ann WEST. All of Barbados?
I have conflicting information about Joseph BRUCE's parents. One
reference lists him as the son of James BRUCE and Keturah FRENCH.
Another shows him as the son of Alexander BRUCE (b. 13 Jun 1637) in
Green, Perthshire, Scotland; death April 16, 1704, Veincask, County
Armagh, Irleand, and buried in Barbados (his body being shipped in a
whiskey cask, one supposes!) and Margaret CLELAND who married Alexander
BRUCE April 17, 1677 in Edinburgh Parish, Edinburgh, Scotland.
This is all I have. I'm particularly interested in West Indies
connections of all three families to Spanish Louisiana (prior to
Louisiana purchase in 1803) and both Spanish and British West Florida. I
also am trying to see where/when/if the Samuel BARWICK line crossed with
the BERWICK line in Louisiana (BERWICK and BARWICK are alternate
spellings used in the same family originally from England). Also any
ties to a WALLACE line that marries into the Louisiana BERWICK/BARWICK
line in 1768 through a Helena Eleanore Birgitta WALLACE, daughter of A.
Dornell WALLACE and LYONS (given name unknown as yet). I believe Helena
WALLACE _may_ have been in the W.I. as a very small child between 1750
and 1752; she was born August 14, 1748 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. Her
parents are reported to have been born in Scotland with her father
coming from Elderslie, Renfrewshire, Scotland.
The only other detail I have about the first in 1660 while Samuel
BARWICK was governor of Barbados he leased 77 acres of land in St.
Thomas to Alleyne CULPEPER and Thomas CULPEPER, merchants. This is
interesting, since there is an established CULPEPER, FAIRFAX,
BERWICK/BARWICK family connection in the Northern Neck of Virginia in
the early- to mid-1700s that leads on the Berwick side to Louisiana (one
leg of the USA migration being Massachusetts - before 1640 > Maryland
and Virginia - before 1652/in Talbot County by 1664 > Virginia - Old
Frederick County on Potomac, River by 1739 through 1763 > Philadelphia -
1740 >Charleston, S.C. after 1763 > British West Florida 1769 > Natchez
District and Spanish Louisiana by 1770s through 1900s.)
Any information relating to any of these folks in the Caribbean--or
suggestions where to next look for sources--would be very much
appreciated. They are all over the map and hard as heck to unsnarl.
Catharine
cvi...@mindspring.com
Edward Crawford
Perhaps you have done so already but have you considered looking at Burke's
Commoners, (which has an index so that you can pick up marriages to familes
that are not listed) also Burke's Landed Gentry and Burkes Irish Landed
Gentry. French for instance is an Irish landed family and the BEF in 1914
was commanded by a Sir John French.
It is surprising how often marraiges to West Indian planter families are
mentioned if you look closely, sometimes of course they occur but the West
Indian connection is not mentioned
But there is no index for Burkes Landed or the Irish Landed, only a list of
families in alphabetical order. The early issues must be out of copyright
and I dream that someday someone will put them on the web so they are
searchable or reproduce them WITH AN INDEX as the Philadelphia Genealogical
Society did for |Commoners in the 1970s.
Edward Crawford
HEATHER NIELSEN
Ref: American Wills Proved in London.
Will of a William Bamber of Bermondsey, Surrey, shipwright of the "Five
Sisters", Capt. Gideon Holmes, now going on a voyage, (of the merchant ship
Bugill who died in New York., Bachelor), dated 1 April 1729. My whole
estate to Anne Scott daughter of my exec. Thomas Scott of Bermondsey,
victualler. Wits: Thomas Swan, JOHN BARWICK and Samuel Clark, scrivener in
Jacob Street near Rotherhithe Wall. Probate 20 Dec 1731 by exec. named.
(PROB. 11/648/298)
Regards
Heather UK
(The Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Wall are both in London.)