Saint-Domingue Special Interest Group

Purposes and Goals

The Saint-Domingue Special Interest Group (hereafter referred to as the S*I*G*) was formed to meet the special needs of those Jefferson Genealogical Society members who have a specific or general interest in the political and social history and genealogy of the French West Indies colony of Saint-Domingue.

Although the special focus of the S*I*G* is Saint-Domin-gue, we welcome anyone researching their family history in any of the other French West Indies colonies.

Also included in the scope of the S*I*G* are the island-colonies in the Caribbean and North Atlantic, -belonging to Great Britain, Spain, and other European nations, as they relate to the French refugees that sought shelter on their shores, settled there, and/or married into their families.

The purpose of the S*I*G* is to help researchers trace their ancestry in and through the West Indies, and North America, by informing them of records, documents, books, special collections, etc. that exist in the United States and Europe, and by discovering and investigating previously-unknown sources.

Members are encouraged to be aware of and learn more about the political and social history of the era and area, and the events that affected the lives of their ancestors. Help and sharing sessions at the regular S*I*G* meetings give researchers the opportunity to ask for assistance with special research problems.

It is also our intention to make our needs known to in-dividuals, organizations, libraries, repositories, and research facilities, -especially those that might be in a position to acquire books, manuscripts, and microfilmed records of importance to West Indies research.

Present Activities

Some time ago, the S*I*G* completed a project which involved resear-ching the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) for refer-ences to collec-tions of Colonial West Indies-related materials that exist in repositories in the United States. Over 200 references were found and placed on index cards. These have been photocopied and are available for loan by mail to members and subscribers.

Our latest project , which has just been completed, involved indexing the surnames in Winston Babb's 1954 dissertation, French Refugees from Saint-Domingue to the Southern United States, 1791-1810, an under-utilized source, brimming with refugee names and references. This index has been published in the July 1999 issue of the Saint-Domingue Newsletter.

We presently exchange newsletters with the Généalogie et Histoire de la Caraïbe (GHC), of LePecq, France. Their monthly bulletin (the GHC) contains a wide variety of articles, including letters, genealo-gies, queries, his-torical essays, book re-views, etc. We have an agreement with the GHC whereby we both publish each other's queries (their bulletin is mailed out to many genealog-ical societies in France and the West Indies). All back issues of the GHC are presently available at the Eastbank Regional Library in Metairie. We also exchange with the excellent Caribbean Historical and Genealogical Journal which covers all the colonies and countries of the West Indies. It is published by Peter Carr of The Cuban Index.

At the present time, we cannot conduct research for individuals. What we can offer is "networking"—contact with other West Indies resear-chers and organizations. The quarterly Saint-Domingue Newsletter (published in January, April, July, and October) goes out to many libraries, research facili-ties, and societies that are located in other areas of the United States where the Saint-Domingue refugees settled. (Mailings may be delayed to coincide with J.G.S. bi-monthly mailings.) Queries are accepted from everyone and are published (at no charge) on a space-available basis.

Everyone is encouraged to submit material about ancestors, reports on research in progress, special discoveries, book reviews, queries, or anything pertinent for publica-tion in the Newsletter. One-liners, as well as longer articles are equally welcome.

Meetings of the Saint-Domingue S*I*G* are held on the third Monday of February, April, June (Pool Party), August, October, and December (Christmas meeting) at 7:30 p.m. ---For more details, -contact Augusta Elmwood (contact information at the bottom of this page).

Membership Requirements

Membership in the Jefferson Genealogical Society is a pre-requisite to membership in the S*I*G*. The fee for joining J.G.S. is $10.00 per year (this includes a subscription to their bi-monthly publication). Applicants should make checks payable to Jefferson Genealogical Socie-ty.

Membership in the Saint-Domingue Special Interest Group is free. The annual contribution for the quarterly Saint-Domingue Newsletter is $US 7.00 for domestic mail, $US 10.00 for foreign orders. Make checks payable to Augusta Elmwood, not to the S*I*G*.

Please do not combine monies for the two organizations ! Send all paperwork and checks to the J.G.S. address below. Appropriate items will be forwarded to me. When joining after 1 October, please indicate if the money is for the current year or for the upcoming one.

Back issues of the S*I*G* Newslet-ter are $US 2.00 each, domestic; $US 3.00, foreign orders. Presen-tly, there are 42 back issues : 1989 - 1 (no surname index); 1990 - 5; 1991-1999 - 4 issues for each year. Order the entire set for a reduced price of $US 52.00, domestic or foreign orders. When ordering back issues, no stamps or envelopes are necessary. Membership is not required to purchase back issues.

A non-membership subscription to the current year's Newsletter is also available, for $US 10.00, domestic or foreign mail. (Make check payable to Augusta Elmwood, and send it directly to me at my home address.)

Publications Available

Available from the S*I*G*: a 21-page selective, annotated bibliography listing works essential to Saint-Domingue and West Indies genealogy and history, includ-ing journals, microforms, maps. Send $US 4.00 (no envelope) to the address below. (Foreign orders, $US 5.00, no envelope.)

Addresses:

Saint-Domingue Special Interest Group

c/o Augusta B. Elmwood

1514 Saint Roch Avenue 
New Orleans, Louisiana 70117-8347 
Phone (504) 944-4908
e-mail: mailto:Augusta @ sstar.com

                                         OR

Jefferson Genealogical Society
P. O. Box 961
Metairie, LA  70004-0961

Questions concerning the Saint-Domingue Special Interest Group should be directed to S*I*G* leader Augusta Elmwood, at the New Orleans address above. Questions concerning J.G.S. should be mailed to the Metairie box number above.

S*I*G* and Society funds are limited—please be sure to include the customary SASE (or two International Reply Coupons for foreign mail) with all correspon-dence requiring a reply.


Check whichever applicable:

___ Membership Application                                                                                                                             (S*I*G* use only) ______________

___Database Information Only

SAINT-DOMINGUE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

c/o Augusta B. Elmwood
1514 Saint Roch Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70117-8347

 

NAME____________________________________________________________ DATE__________________________

ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________

CITY/STATE/ZIP(ALL 9 DIG-ITS) ______________________________________________________________________

(This information may be published in the Saint-Domingue Newsletter)

 

PHONE: HOME___________________ WORK______________________ OCCUPATION_____________________

 

Other Genealogical or Historical societies in which you hold membership:

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Your area of West Indies research, experience, expertise (islands, nationali-ties):

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

 

I request membership in the Saint-Domingue Special Interest Group.

(Sign this only if you are applying for membership in JGS and the S*I*G*)

 

                                                                                                            __________________________________________________________

Signature of applicant

 

I hereby give permission to publish any surname information that I submit on the Survey sheet in the annual

Surname Index, as well as my name and address.  Sign this if you submit surname index list, or intend to do so in the future.

 

                                                                                                        _________________________________________________________

Signature of submitter


All ancestors listed on the Ancestor Registry / Surname Index Survey Sheet must have a West In-dies/Caribbean/Bermuda connection of some kind, even if it is only a distant relationship or oral tradition.

The Name column can contain the ancestor's entire name, including all given ones and "dits", or only the surname (be sure to list ALL variant spellings), whatever is known.

Any ancestor may be listed more than once, but list only one Event per line per ancestor. Events may include: born, married, died, resided, fled from, military service, marriage contract, etc. Births/ baptisms and deaths/burials may be combined on one line.

The Time Span/Date may be specific, down to the day, or as general as a decade or set of years ("1780-90s" or "1769-1787" or "before 1793" or "ca 1802"); use circa, est, or approx if you are uncertain.

The Island/Town/Parish entry should be as specific as possible, listing province, town, and even the church parish or a plantation name. If you cannot pinpoint the location, simply enter the appropriate general location, such as: "Guadeloupe", "West Indies", "Netherlands Antilles", etc.

Put additional comments on the back of the form. They can contain any information you consider necessary, but make them as concise as possible. [For example: "Born in Philadelphia, Last Will says parents (unknown) from Saint-Domingue"].

Submit as many forms as necessary...the Survey form may be duplicated. Please put your name in the lower left-hand corner of the form.


Saint-Domingue Special Interest Group

SURNAME INDEX SURVEY

Name: Last, First

EVENT

DATE or TIME SPAN

ISLAND, TOWN, etc.

       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       

Submitter's Name or Number:

c/o Augusta B. Elmwood
1514 Saint Roch Avenue 
New Orleans, Louisiana 70117-8347 
Phone (504) 944-4908

e-mail: Augusta @ sstar.com

 

AUTRES DOCUMENTS

Jeremie Papers

Schomburg Collection

The John Garrigus Project

Revue de la Société Haïtienne d'Histoire et de Géographie

Latin American Microform Project