Barbados

Getting started with Barbados research

Many North Americans have early family connections to the Island of Barbados. Described as England's richest colony in the 1680s, a great deal of trade existed between Barbados (part of the Triangular Trade), the British Isles, Africa, and ports on the mainland in the New England, Chesapeake, and Carolina colonies. Many indentured servants from the British Isles served labor terms in Barbados in the 1600s, and upon receiving their freedom, could find no available land on the small island. Most set sail for Jamaica and the mainland English colonies.

Since the 1960s, Barbados has been an independent island nation in the Lesser Antilles, West Indies, east of the central Windward Islands, northeast of Venezuela between the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean.^[1] Before that time, it had been part of the British Commonwealth. 

Parishes

Bridgetown (city) | Christ Church | Saint Andrew | Saint George | Saint James | Saint John | Saint Joseph | Saint Lucy | Saint Michael | Saint Peter | Saint Philip | Saint Thomas

Research Tools

"Colonial Ancestry" in Your Archives (The National Archives wiki) has tips about finding records for Barbados.

Helpful guidebooks about researching Barbados ancestors in records on the island, as well as in English archives, are discussed in Barbados For Further Reading.

Online collections containing these records are locted in FamilySearch.org.

Wiki articles describing these collections are found at:

• Barbados Baptisms (FamilySearch Historical Records)
• Barbados Burials (FamilySearch Historical Records)
• Barbados Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Featured Content

• Barbados Census
• Barbados Church Records
• Barbados Probate Records
• Chronicle Barbados: Centre for Barbados Studies in History and Genealogy

References

1. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bb.html