PLANTAIN & THE LAWRENCE FAMILY
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To re-listening to 1 hr and 41 minutes of recorded audio and co-ordinate any necessary information from your family.
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30 hours
FRAGMENTS…
Family tree [37]
THE LAWRENCE LINEAGE
I. Lawrence siblings
All brothers died (in their 40s). They don’t know if his brothers had children.
One sister: Lydia Lawrence migrated to Canada. She had one daughter (adopted).
All his sisters died.
- Interview with Roy Lawrence
At least 4 male siblings (Names unknown). Deceased early in life.
Sister: Lydia Lawrence: Never married. Moved to Canada with her adopted daughter.
Sister: Albertha Lawrence married a Reuben Beckford. They had 6 children.
- Family tree from O'Neil Lawrence
1. 1900 - 1986: Sister, Alberta Lawrence
2. 1902 - 1922: Brother, Joseph Malachijah Lawrence
3. 1903: Brother, Samuel Seth Lawrence
4. 1906: Sister, Lydia Lawrence
5. 1905: Birth of John Lawrence
6. 1909: Birth of John Henry Lawrence
7. 1911: Sister, Mary Elizabeth Lawrence
8. 1916: Princess Augusta Lawrence
II. A case of two Johns…
One of his relatives said his name was: Stephen. But he didn’t like his name so he went by 'John'
- Interview with Roy Victor Seymour Lawrence
Apparently his mother had lost or mixed up the birth certificates of her sons who all died save “John”. He may have claimed the name as it was the name of his father; but he was sometimes called Stephen (sp) a name he apparently resented
- Family tree from O'Neil Lawrence
1909: Birth of John Henry Lawrence
1905: Birth of John Lawrence, Roy's Father
Marriage to "Miriam/Mary Ann/Ann White"
Information for John Lawrence:
- Name: John Lawrence
- Age at marriage: 34 years old. Therefore, birth c. 1906. Supports the previous finding for his birth certificate.
- Father's Name: Henry Lawrence
- Father's Profession: Butcher
- Father's Father: Henry Lawrence. He was deceased at time of marriage (therefore we know his father died before 1940)
- Marriage: Holy Trinity (Anglican). Note: They were thought to be Baptist, so this indicates otherwise.
He spent his childhood in Bogue, then left and spent a long time at Blyston, Trelawny on a banana plantation with an uncle. His sisters used to look down on him because he grew up on a banana plantation. This plantation would have been owned by family (unsure of the link). His father said they if his brother had not died he would have never come back to Bogue.
When he came back to Bogue, he did butchering. But he wasn’t a good businessman. He gave the best price and never made money. Sold at the tripe market: Cow skin; Corned (preserved) pork; Fifth quarters. He had a licence to set meat and loaned it out. He joined the Special Forces; Constabulary around the 1940s.
- Interview with Roy Lawrence
Signatures
1940: Marriage Certificate
1973: Last Will and Testament for John Henry Lawrence
Death records
III. Henry Lawrence & Louisa Rhiney
1898: Marriage of John Lawrence's parents, Henry and Louisa
Marriage of parents, Henry Augustus Lawrence to Louisa Matilda Rhiney
- Father: John Lawrence
- Age at marriage: 30 years old. Therefore, birth c. 1868.
- Father's Profession: Mason
- Father's Father: John Lawrence. He was deceased at time of marriage (therefore we know his father died before 1898)
- Mother: Louisa Matilda Rhiney
- Age at marriage: 24 years old. Therefore, birth c. 1874.
- Mother's Profession: NA
- Mother's Father: Samuel Rhiney. He was deceased at time of marriage (therefore we know her father died before 1898)
Witnesses:
- Maria SMITH
- Thomas William Sawyer (?)
1958: Death of Louisa Lawrence (nee Rhiney)
![1958 - DEATH - MOTHER, LAWRENCE, Louisa [RHINEY].JPG](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/504c99aee4b02ca5e4b77a1f/1628093710824-8GPZJJM9X5PV2WKB0I2K/1958+-+DEATH+-+MOTHER%2C+LAWRENCE%2C+Louisa+%5BRHINEY%5D.JPG)
IV. The Rhiney/Riney family
1897: Death of Samuel Rhiney
- Age at death 40. Therefore birth c. 1857
- Profession: Cooper
- Informant is niece, Sarah Riney
1930: Death of Mary Rhiney
- Age at death 80. Therefore birth, c. 1850 (Younger than husband)
- Informant is grandson, Fitzroy Dawkins
1870: Marriage of Grandparents, Samuel Rhiney and Mary William Barker
1848: Baptism of Mary WiIliam Barker
After the abolition of slavery most available work was on the very same plantations that former enslaved people had worked on; the wages were low, and people had inadequate rights to land. Rent and taxes were high, as was unemployment. The Morant Bay rebellion (1865) in Jamaica was one example of the working classes protesting about such conditions.
(https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/caribbeanhistory/society-welfare-after-slavery.htm)
*
Yet, whatever the “international dimensions” of Emancipation, the reality was that within the Caribbean the planter class remained opposed to Emancipation, and only the reward of £20,000,000 in compensation for their lost “property” made surrender to the Colonial Office more palatable to them. So, too, did planter recognition that they were to prove victorious in one very important respect-the slave was legally free, but the structure of slave society remained unchanged. The energy of planters was now to be directed towards converting a former slave labour force into a permanent plantation labour force. From the perspective of planters, it was to be the same rider, on the same mule, cantering towards the same destiny…“For the whites of Jamaica and elsewhere where slavery had been abolished, the challenge of Emancipation consisted in organising production around free labour, while keeping alive the spirit of inequality that had marked the plantation system.”
(Prof. Patrick Bryan: https://jis.gov.jm/information/emancipation/)
IV. SUMMARY
Next steps?
Has anyone in the family heard of the Vernon and Beckford link?
The “outside" children: All need to be searched at the RGD
THE WHITE LINEAGE
I. MIRIAM ANNE WHITE
She was born in Westmoreland (Bethel Town)
Her father was John White (a mulatto). Her mother was 'jet black'. She had one brother.
She was married to John Henry Lawrence and had a son, Victor (Roy) Lawrence, on 27 July, 1938.
She was involved with the Salvation Army.
- Interview with Roy Lawrence
1940: Marriage to John Lawrence
- Name: Anne White
- Age at marriage: 36 years old. Therefore, birth c. 1904.
- Profession: Dressmaker
- Father: Samuel White. He was deceased at time of marriage (therefore we know her father died before 1940)
1984: Death certificate
II. The White Siblings
1890: Birth of brother, Albert Joshua White
2. 1892: Birth of brother, Amos Elias White
3. 1893: Birth of sister, Beatrice Josephine White
4. 1897: Birth of brother, Charles Stephen White
5. 1899: Birth of Ann White
6. 1901: Birth of brother, Levi Benjamin White
7. 1908: Birth of brother Ewart Eddiston White
III. SAMUEL WHITE & MARGARET ELIZABETH WHITE
1890: Marriage certificate for Samuel White and Margaret Elizabeth SMITH
