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Index of Family Names taken from Barbados Maps between 1657 and 1847
Jeff Clinton has built an index of family names that appear on old Barbados maps from 1657 (Ligon) through to 1847 (Schomburgk) – quite an undertaking! Jeff Clinton’s work indexing family names and plantation names on old Barbados maps started with a cruise trip to Barbados and a map on display at Sunbury Plantation that…
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The Quakers in Barbados – The untold story: The will of Samuel Forde
This is the fifth video in a series where John Knox tells the untold story of The Quakers in Barbados focusing in this episode on the will of Samuel Forte and his vault. The above photographs were taken by Professor Hans Machel, Professor emeritus of Geology at the University of Alberta who was staying with…
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The Quakers in Barbados – The untold story: Drax was a Quaker Family
This is the fourth video in a series where John Knox tells the untold story of The Quakers in Barbados focusing in this episode on the Drax and Codrington families. John has recently setup a YouTube channel: @TheUntoldHistoryOfBarbados. It’s about: The Untold History of Barbados – Amerindians, Quakers and Slavery. As John adds to his…
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The Quakers in Barbados – The untold story: The wills of Henry Gallop, John Holder, George Foster, his wife Grace and his cousin Thomas
This is the third video in a series where John Knox tells the untold story of The Quakers in Barbados focusing in this episode on the wills of the Gallop, Holder and Foster families. John has recently setup a YouTube channel: @TheUntoldHistoryOfBarbados. It’s about: The Untold History of Barbados – Amerindians, Quakers and Slavery. As…
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The Quakers in Barbados – The untold story: An Introduction & Addendum
These two videos are the first in a series of videos where John Knox tells the untold story of The Quakers in Barbados. John Knox has documented a number of stories on the History of the Quakers in Barbados for BajanThings: John has recently setup a YouTube channel: @TheUntoldHistoryOfBarbados. It’s about: The Untold History of…
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“These Fields and Hills beyond recall” – The Quaker biblical root for field and hill names associated with Dukes Plantation, St. Thomas
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Psalm 18:2, King James Version Are “these fields and hills” really “beyond recall” as our National Anthem so authoritatively claims? The fields as…
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The Quaker Gardens of St. Thomas – Friends’ equality even in death
The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Society of Friends or Friends or Quakers early burial grounds, consisted of simple grassy areas, appearing to be little other than tended gardens or fields. Graves were generally unmarked and often there were few outward signs that any burials had actually taken place. “1780 – N.B…
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Category: Quakers in Barbados
Quakers were in Barbados from the late 1640’s. Barbados served as a vital gateway for the very first Quakers to reach the North American mainland in the late 1650s.
Barbadian Quakers were instrumental in settling several American regions, including South Carolina, Rhode Island, and “New Barbados Neck” in New Jersey.
This migration was triggered by Barbados’ plantocracy who grew deeply hostile to Quakers; mostly due to their pacifism and attempts to introduce enslaved people to their faith.
Tensions peaked when the Barbadian Assembly passed The 1676 Act to Prevent Negroes from Coming to Quakers’ Meetings. This law imposed crippling financial fines on any Quaker who allowed an enslaved person into a meetinghouse or onto their property for religious instruction.
This legal oppression triggered a steady exodus of Quakers from Barbados to more tolerant, expanding Quaker communities in North America. By the 1720s, these strict laws and economic pressures had decimated the Barbadian Quaker movement, forcing the remaining Quakers to either convert to Anglicanism or permanently migrate.