FindMyPast: Welsh records, Antigua & Newspapers

 NOTE from DearMYRTLE: The following was received from our friends at FindMyPast.

Findmypast’s archives continue to grow with thousands of new and exclusive Welsh family records and a fascinating Antiguan petition dating back to 1830. Here is what's new this Findmypast Friday. 

Denbighshire Parish Records

 Over 23,000 new baptism, marriage and burial records from north-east Wales are now available to search exclusively on Findmypast. This includes;

• Over 7,800 new Denbighshire baptisms
• Over 11,200 new Denbighshire marriages
• Over 4,500 new Denbighshire burials

All of this week’s new additions include both transcripts and images of original documents covering the parishes of Ruthin and Llanrhydd. See Findmypast’s Denbighshire parish list for all of the individual churches and date ranges covered by these collections.

 

Perfect for delving deeper into your Welsh heritage, transcripts will provide you with essential dates and locations as well as names of your ancestor’s parents or spouse. Images may provide additional details such as residences, occupations, the names of witnesses and even your ancestor’s signature.

Antigua, Petition Of The Coloured Inhabitants 1830

This relatively small but powerful new addition to Findmypast’s international record collection reframes a hidden part of Black history. Over 300 mixed-race males signed this fascinating document, demanding equality from the British parliament.

 

In the stratified and hierarchical society of the then colonies of the British West Indies, populations were divided broadly into three categories, these being white, “coloured” and “negro”. “Coloured” was the term that had replaced “mulatto” (and “mustee” etc.) for what we would now regard as persons of mixed race. The 1830 Petition of the Coloured Inhabitants of the Island of Antigua should be regarded in the above context. There are 316 signatories - all adult males.

 

The petition itself is significant as a claim for equal civil rights for the mixed race population as for the white colonial population. The tone is respectful but firm. The petitioners emphasise that, as loyal British subjects, they want parity, including the obligations that come alongside the privileges to which they feel entitled. Specifically, they demand such rights as:

·         Freedom to engage in agricultural pursuits

·         Employment as overseers and managers on plantations

·         Eligibility to be commissioned as officers in the island militia (in which they comprised a majority of the non-commissioned officers and privates)

·         Entitlement to serve as jurors

·         Right to receive parish relief and to pay poor rates

Newspapers

Findmypast have gone global this week with the arrival of six new Caribbean papers and their first from New Zealand. Brand new to the collection are:

• Lyttelton Times covering 1851-1853, 1864-1865, 1871-1877, 1879-1894 and 1897
• Barnsley Telephone covering 1920
• Budget (Jamaica) covering 1877-1878, 1881-1883, 1886 and 1888
• Morning Journal (Kingston) covering 1838-1840, 1858 and 1864-1875
• St. Christopher Gazette covering 1771, 1837, 1839-1840, 1848, 1871-1888 and 1908-1909
• St. Kitts Daily Express covering 1884 and 1886
• Barbados Agricultural Reporter covering 1845 and 1870-1886
• Saint Christopher Advertiser and Weekly Intelligencer covering 1839-1840, 1855, 1869-1888 and 1897-1909

While new pages have also been added to:

• Cradley Heath & Stourbridge Observer from 1882-1888
• Denton and Haughton Examiner from 1880, 1882-1885 and 1887-1889
• Liverpool Daily Post from 1888, 1894, 1897, 1899-1900 and 1907-1909
• Haslingden Gazette from 1901-1909, 1912 and 1914
• Liverpool Weekly Courier from 1882
• Lancaster Standard and County Advertiser from 1908-1909
• Evening News (London) from 1893