james Blades mystery

[projekx]

Need help your help as I have come upon a major roadblock:

James A. Blades was born 22 Jan 1873 in Georgetown, Demerara, British Guyana. James taught school for a short time before going in the military. He was in the Army first but he lied about his age to get in and they kicked him out when they found out how old he was. He was in the Royal Navy Aug 1895 to Jan 1900. On James military record his occupation was listed as a shoemaker. His parents were from England and both were school teachers in Georgetown and one of them taught music. James left Guyana for good about 1905 and married Ettymore Gill who lived in Barbados. They moved to the US in 1907. They had 3 children when they left twins named Ruth and Theresa and a son named James. Ruth and Theresa died as babies.

His fathers name was possibly Sanderford or Alexander. No idea of his mothers name.
If anyone has any information on them please help me. I know one of James parents was caucasion and the other black. Are there any Blades left in Guyana? If you know any please ask them if they can help. Also can anyone tell me how many schools were in Demerara between 1873 to 1900? How about shoe shops 1885-1900? Last but not least how can I get a copy of his birth record from Demerara?

Thank you
Jacki

[Geoffers]

If birth records exist I suggest that you try the High Commissioner first (The don't appear to be held at TNA)

British High Commission
44 Main Street
Kingston
Georgetown
Guyana
Tel: (592) 226 5881
Contact Us bhcguyana@networksgy.com (bhcguyana@networksgy.com)

Geoffers

[Peter Goodey]

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyggbs/index.htm

The above website is rather pessimistic about obtaining copies of vital records.

[projekx]

If birth records exist I suggest that you try the High Commissioner first (The don't appear to be held at TNA)

British High Commission
44 Main Street
Kingston
Georgetown
Guyana
Tel: (592) 226 5881
Contact Us bhcguyana@networksgy.com (bhcguyana@networksgy.com)

Geoffers

I am not understanding the terminology...Is this like the Bureau of Vital Records in the US? I wrote them to see how to proceed. What is the TNA?What other records could I get if all I know is the information I have provided? It is so hard trying to do this in the dark. Even if I went to Guyana I would not even know where to start to look for information. Is there a Diocese in Demerara that I would be able to get information from? I know he was a Catholic. Roman I think but not sure of that. Is there anyone out there that would be willing to do some research for me?

[Geoffers]

Is this like the Bureau of Vital Records in the US?
I know little of American records.

This is the Office of the High Commissioner. Embassies and Consulates around the world sometimes kept records - most of these are deposited at the National Archives (TNA) in Kew, where they are not, a few records (or copies) may be kept locally but don't hold out too much hope.


What other records could I get if all I know is the information I have provided?
Possibly local church records, if they survive, again the High Commissioner may be able to suggest if dicoesan records are kept centrally.

Geoffers

[projekx]

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyggbs/index.htm

The above website is rather pessimistic about obtaining copies of vital records.

Thank you for that link. I went to the site and got involved in looking at their transcriptions which just triggerd a memory. One of the things I always heard is that James father who I already mentioned was a music teacher, wrote the music for a coronation. I saw there was a coronation in Georgetown 9 AUG 1902. I am not really sure what a coronation is except that it has to do with a Queen. Can someone tell me how I can get more information about this coronation? Thank you

[Pam Downes]

Hi Jacki,
The bad news is that no coronation took place in Georgetown in 1902. It actually took place in London on 9th August, when Edward the Seventh was crowned king. He'd succeeded to the throne on the death of his mother Queen Victoria the previous year. Celebrations would have been held in all parts of the British Empire, such as India, Australia, Canada, many countries in the African continent. (Usually referred to as 'the pink bits' on world maps of the time. For a slightly lop-sided map scroll down at
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=127&HistoryID=aa16 )
I would therefore suspect that James' father wrote the music for the local celebrations in Georgetown, as opposed to the actual coronation in London.
I am sure that the festivities would have been fully reported in the local papers, but it's a question of getting getting to view them.
The British Newspaper Library in Colindale, North London has an extensive collection of newspapers from around the world.
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/newspapers/welcome.asp
enter Guyana as the search word, and select 'place'.
The problem is that you can only view the papers 'in person', i.e. someone, be it you, granny, the kid next door or a researcher, has to physically go to the library. You are obviously not in the UK, so you would have to decide whether it would be worth paying a researcher, but they could also look for a birth notice for James, possibly anything about him joining or leaving the Navy, and/or leaving Guyana and marrying. There could even be something about the birth of James and Ettymore's first child. Papers in those days reported and had notices about all sorts of things.
continued.....

[projekx]

I see thank you so much. I have sent them a message this morning so now I will wait for a reply. I hope and pray that some good will come of it as I am at a complete standstill. I had an aunt who was entrusted to all the papers of James and his wife. When I say all I mean bibles, official documents and photos. Well she passed away a few years ago and you probably can guess what happened. I just recently learned that she had all of these things and byt the time I found out all was thrown away like garbage. I was so dissappointed. So now all I can do is try my best to find the information on my own.
Thanks again for your help

[Pam Downes]

....continued
(Just remembered that my message was getting rather long, so have split it rather than risk the text duplicating itself!)

As you will want reports from a specific date, the Newspaper Library might be able to send you certain pages. For instance, the issue of August 8th might have a 'running order' of the events for the following day, whilst the August 10th edition would have a 'what happened report'. Worth asking if they could, and possible cost, bearing in mind that you will have to pay for staff time (quite high I would think), photocopies, and postage. Um, just found this regarding cost. Doesn't say if it includes the photocopying.
http://www.bl.uk/services/information/familyhs.html#nss
I personally think a researcher would be able to offer better value for the same money. They still may not get results re any details for say, James' birth, but they could search 4 newspapers for a week each, as opposed to 4 newspapers for one date, and they would still have time to get the coronation reports.
Pam

[projekx]

Thanks for that info. I am going to see if I can find someone on the Act Of Kindness board to research the Demerara Daily Chronicle for information related to this coronation and as you suggested the birth announce if there is one. Your information caused me to do some other searches and I wound up on WORLD CAT (www.worldcat.org) beta site which searches libraries worldwide and I found a book that may have some information and what do you know a copy of it is held in NC Cental University which is less than 20 miles from me! So together with the book and the act of kindness volunteer I may make some headway here! I also found a list of cemetaries that existed in the 1800's in Georgetown. Now my question is this. Is Georgetown part of Demerara or visa versa in the 1800's?

I have been on several boards and so far this one has been the most helpful! I don't know what took me so long to get on here!
Thank you guys and any more ideas are certainly welcome. No one knows of any Blades in Guyana huh?

Be Blessed!

[Pam Downes]

Did a google on Demerara, and the first hit was for Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demerara
Wiki can be unreliable (especially with regard to the latest z-celebs!) because any old body with absolutely no knowledge of the subject can type anything they want. But as you have to start somewhere..... :D
If you are going to a big library they should have encyclopaedias, gazetteers, etc which should have details that hopefully mainly tally with the Wiki site.
Also look for further entries on google for both Demerara and Georgetown. You never know what you might come across though it might take a while. Over half a million hits for Demerara alone, though you can use +/- words to eliminate some of them.
Pam

EDIT: Just done an advanced search on google for demerara minus sugar and rum. Now only 305,000 hits. :)Strange thing is that the Wiki entry is no longer first.
With the advanced search you can also change the number of entries per page.

[projekx]

Did a google on Demerara, and the first hit was for Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demerara

EDIT: Just done an advanced search on google for demerara minus sugar and rum. Now only 305,000 hits. :)Strange thing is that the Wiki entry is no longer first.
With the advanced search you can also change the number of entries per page.
Thanks for that info. I did not know how to filter out searches and as you can imagine searching for my last name (Blades) can be a headadche. It comes up with knives. scissors, grass everything but what I am looking for. LOL thanks