By Vilma Ruddock, M.D.
Family historians and other researchers find it challenging to access Jamaica’s historical records. Most are still located in registries, archives, and libraries. However, you can access many documents online if you know where to find them. This post presents a list of the primary websites for Jamaican genealogy research.
The Primary Websites
The following is a list of the main websites for finding Jamaican birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial (BMD) records, as well as other historical information online. Click on the link for each site to learn more
- FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/en/
- Jamaican Family Search: https://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.org/
- Ancestry.com: https://www.ancestry.com/
- The Slave Registers of Former British Colonial Dependencies: https://ww.ancestry.com/search/collections/1129/
- The Legacies of British Slave-ownership (LBS) database: 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/
Start your online research with FamilySearch, the best website for finding BMD records, the mainstay of genealogy research.
Create a User Account
To access these websites for free, create an account with a username and password. However, to view and download documents, you need a paid subscription on some sites.
FamilySearch, Jamaican Family Search, the LBS database, and the Slave Registers on Ancestry.com are free to copy or download.
Internet Search
Don’t neglect the value of an Internet 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.