Need advice on Jamaican ancestry

Question

A man came yesterday to install fiber internet at our house. We became good friends, so I offered to research his family tree. He accepted enthusiastically but informed me that finding his paternal side would not be easy.

He said his grandfather emigrated from Jamaica but changed his name, and no one in the family knows what his birthname was.

What resources are available for researching an issue like this? I've not done any research at all in Jamaica, so I'm quite unfamiliar with genealogical research from that area of the world.

There is no rush on this, although he seemed quite excited and said he would send me family information ASAP.

Answer 1

Hi Paul, FamilySearch has good resources for Jamaica including, if the migration was to US, the naturalisation records which give a lot of detail.

There's a project page for Jamaica too with a link to resources.

Obviously you are going to have to work backwards from his new country, so will need clues from census records, family relationships, date of birth, travel records. The birth name on the US naturalisation record has to match their birth cert so that is your best bet. 

Comments

Thank you. That's helpful.