The following is a list of the main websites for finding Jamaican birth/baptism, marriage, death/burial (BMD)records, and other historical information online. Start your online research with FamilySearch, the best website for finding BMD records, the mainstay of genealogy research.
The Websites
- FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/en/
- Jamaican Family Search: https://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.org/
- Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/
- Slave Registers of Former British Colonial Dependencies: https://ww.ancestry.com/search/collections/1129/
- Legacies of British Slave-ownership: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/
- The Gleaner Newspaper: https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com
*Other Jamaican Newspapers: https://newspaperarchive.com/jm/ - MyHeritage: https://www.myheritage.com/
- Findmypast: https://www.findmypast.com/
*Other Newspapers Worldwide: https://newspaperarchive.com/
*The British Newspaper Archive: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.com.co.uk/
Create a User Account
Create an account with a username and password for free access to search these websites. However, to view and download documents, you need a paid subscription for most of the sites. The Slave Registers on Ancestry and Jamaican Family Search databases are free to use.
Google Search
Don’t neglect the value of a Google search for your family surnames or other search terms. You might discover other valuable sources of information on your ancestors or lead you to new documents that were uploaded on the genealogy websites since your last search.