Downers- From British Guiana to Trinidad

[steven downer]

Can anyone assist with any information regarding a William Downer, listed as a Surveyor, around 1835 in British Guiana? I am particularly looking for his parents and/or his grand parents.. Thanks

[Sue Mackay]

Hallo Steven

I have moved your post to a thread of its own in the West Indies Forum, as it is more likely to get seen that way.

|wave| welcome to B-G by the way!

Edit: Was working through new posts in the order posted and now see that you had repeated your request in a new thread anyway :D Have deleted that one so that there are not two identical threads to cause confusion.

[Sue Mackay]

Ancestry has lots of slave returns for William Downer and William Thomas Downer for Trinidad and for Tobago. These are taken from the T71 series held at the National Archives in Kew.

The TNA Catalogue also shows this entry (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=4338552&CATLN=6&Highlight=%2CWILLIAM%2CDOWNER&accessmethod=0) for a William Downer, surveyor of a topographical map of Berbice, British Guyana.

Looks like you might have to make a visit to Kew ;)

[J Downer]

Richard Clarke Downer born London 1779 and resident in Berbice in the early 1800's had a son William Schwiers Downer born cir 1815-20. William was raised in Belgium/Netherlands but could well be your surveyor in Berbice.

[Sue Mackay]

Richard Clarke Downer born London 1779 and resident in Berbice in the early 1800's had a son William Schwiers Downer born cir 1815-20. William was raised in Belgium/Netherlands but could well be your surveyor in Berbice.

If you are interested in Richard Clarke Downer then you may like to read Post 12 in this thread (http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37757). Pottoka kindly found these children for me when she was looking for the birth of my Amelia Downie in Marseille, but they proved not to be related. I shall be glad if her sleuthing was not in vain ;)

[J Downer]

Yes her research was vital - another researcher had a painting dated 1830 of the children of Richard Clarke and Charlotte van den Helm including William Schwiers Downer plus those she found born in Marseilles.