Albury

 The Bahamian Alburys are believed to descend from Henry Albery of Locks Farm, near Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Henry died when his sons were relatively young and left instructions for the property to be sold and the proceeds divided among his heirs. His son, William Alburie, age 15 embarked from Gravesend, Kent, east of London on 30 September, 1635 on the ship Dorset, bound for Bermuda. His brother John sailed to Rhode Island and was believed to be ancestor of the Albro family. In 1650 Capt. William Alburie/Albury sailed from Bermuda to Harbour Island on the yacht Gertrude. In 1699 the Spanish attacked Nassau and killed several of it's inhabitants (including William's likely son Joseph). Joseph's children, John Albree/Albury (b. 1688) and his sister Elizabeth (b. 1691), were made orphans by this event. They were taken in by the captain of a Boston vessel who brought them to Boston early in the year 1700. In May 1711 John married Elizabeth Green of Boston and they are the ancestors of the Albree family of New England.  It appears that Joseph (d. 1699) had a brother who survived Spanish attack. That brother is the ancestor of the Albury family in the Bahamas today.  Direct paternal line descendants of John (suspected brother of William Alburie who sailed to Rhode Island and is the ancestor of the Albro family) have also had Y chromosome tests. They are not a Y chromosome match with the Albrees of New England and the Alburys of the Bahamas.

A John Alberry is recorded as living in North Yarmough, Casco Bay, Mass.  He was among about nine refugee families who arrived Jul 1685 from Eleuthera who survived a Spanish attack there. The Bahama Islands: Notes on an early attempt at colonization Hassam, John Tyler, p. 16.

Adderley

The Adderley family was one of the pioneer families who remained in the Bahamas after many of the Puritan Adventurers left in late 1650's.  

Pompey Adderley lived in Burnt Ground, Long Island and is assumed to have been a slave of Abraham Adderley's plantation.

Butler

George C. Butler and his son George Jr. of Hartford converted the vessel Welthea from a whaling ship to a merchant cargo vessel and began running food, liquor and live stock as far south as Antigua. Around 1780 the Welthea put into the harbour in Bermuda and George went into business with Chaddock Claxton (1738-1785) of Sandy Parish. George C Butler died at sea in 1788 and George Butler Jr. became owner and Captain. Four years earlier George Jr. married the daughter of his business partner, Aster Clark Claxton (1766-1800. George, now 27, and Aster had a son Robert Claxton Butler (1788-1843), born at Sandy Parish on April 5, 1788, shortly after his grandfather died at sea.  Two years later, in 1790, George, Aster & Robert arrived at Potters Cay dock in Nassau harbour and decided to make Nassau their new home. George continued to transport food & liquor between Wethersfield, Bermuda and the Bahamas for several years. George built a home on Bay Street in Nassau and eventually set up a small shop selling liquor and ships stores. While in this business George met a Scotsman from Fairfield Co. South Carolina, Henderson Ferguson (1770-1824), now living on his estate, Forest Estates, George Town Exuma. While George and Henderson became best friends, so did George son Robert and Henderson’s daughter Frances. Robert and Francis (1799-1828) were married on December 7, 1816 at Christ Church in Nassau. Robert, the first Butler born in the Bahamas, was a successful merchant and carried on the Butler shipping and liquor business until his death in October of 1843 in Nassau.  Six years after Robert & Frances were married George died while visiting his best friend Henderson in Exuma. Two years later in March of 1824, Frances father died in Exuma. George Butler & Henderson Ferguson, friends forever, are buried side by side, covered with beautiful marble slate imported from Hartford on the vessel Welthea. The grave site is at the Hermitage on the Ferguson private estate just outside of George Town. Robert and Frances lived in Nassau and had six children. On the 10th of June 1822, at age 34, Robert & Frances, in Nassau, gave birth to their third son Henderson Ferguson Butler (1822-1869. About 1840 Henderson met and married Minnie Malvese (1840-    ) in Nassau. Minnie & Henderson had seven children, the seventh being Henderson F. Butler, Jr. born July 6th 1861 and died at Nassau June 6th, 1921. On the 15th of October 1889 Henderson married Agnes Beatrice Perpal (1864-1938), the Grand daughter of Juan Perpal (1762-1824) of Menorca, Spain who had immigrated to the Bahamas about 1800. Henderson & Agnes had nine children. Excerpted from http://www.the-butlers.com/butlerdna/members/m_0081.html

Carey

The earliest Carey is JOHN who had John and Richard baptized 1721; who with Sarah had Mark about 1726, Abraham 1730, and Ann 1732. He and sons Mark, Richard and Abraham are mentioned in the census of 1840.  Men of the same generation were WILLIAM and MARK:  WILLIAM and Susannah had John 1722, Isaac 1735 and four other children by 1734.  Same as? the William who in the 1740 census with Mary had Sarah and William.  MARK was single in 1731 but had a wife and one child by 1734.

In the 1750's and 1760's the names Michael, William, and Benjamin appear in marriage records.

Adult Careys on Eleuthera in the early 1790's: William, Abraham, Jacob, Thomas, Samuel who married Mercy, Benjamin who married Mary, and Michael who married
Sarah. In 1784 Mark Carey arrived in Nassau with his family from East Florida.  At least 8 suspects for the father of Isaac or John.

Cleare

Three Cleare brothers sailed from England. John Cleare settled in Harbour Island. One brother settled in Bermuda and the other settled in British Guiana.

Curry

Joseph Curry moved to America from Glasgow, Scotland, about 1750 and became deputy surveyor of South Carolina. He died during the American Revolution and following the war five of his sons, Joseph, John, Richard, Benjamin, and William, moved to the Bahamas. Jane Curry, the mother, and her younger son, Stephan, believed to have been too young to have provoked Patriot displeasure, remained in South Carolina. All the numerous Currys in the Bahamas today, and some of them in South Florida, are said to go back to these five Loyalist brothers. William Curry settled in Nassau and became a merchant. At first his four brothers lived at Harbour Island, a small northeastern satellite of Eleuthera. Sometime after 1790 Richard and Benjamin, both of whom had married Conchs, moved to Green Turtle Cay, Abaco. Jane Curry, the first child of Benjamin and Mary Curry, was born at Green Turtle Cay February 14, 1793. A son, Benjamin, was born at Green Turtle Cay December 24, 1796. This Benjamin Curry married a Conch, Martha Albury, and their son, William Curry, was born at Green Turtle Cay September 11, 1821. This William Curry moved to Key West, Florida, in 1837 and became a leading citizen of Key West for almost fifty years. He was a merchant, a shipbuilder, a wrecker, and a public official and was known as "Rich Bill" or "Florida's first millionaire."

Fernander

Oral family history says that the family's original name was Fernanda and were from France. They came to the Islands in the late 1600's as French privateers. The family may have arrived in the Bahamas from Saint-Domingue between 1791 and 1803 as refugees of The Haitian Revolution.

Hanna

The Bahama Gazette of 7 Feb 1789 noted that Robert Hanna of Grenada arrived in Crooked Island. Traditionally, the Hannas are from Acklins, Crooked Island and Long Cay (Fortune Island). Some of the earliest mentions of Hannas are found in documents and letters to the Parliament from Crooked Island.

Key

Nathan Key, Sr. served as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy during the American Revolution. As a Loyalist he (and his brothers William, Timothy, and Edward -- according to family oral history) migrated to The Bahamas from St. Augustine, Florida, about 1783. Nathan married Martha Roberts on 23 Jan 1798, probably in Hope Town, Abaco, and they resided in Marsh Harbour and Hope Town.  In 1812 he received 220 acres (now known as the "Key Tract") in Marsh Harbour.   It is also suggested by Mrs. Lane (author of Key and Allied Families) that a Thomas Key who received a grant from the Earl of Dunmore on Crooked Island in the Bahamas during 1791, was the father of Nathan Key, Sr. although no direct proof is offered.

Lightbourn

In 1662-3, John Leybourne emigrated to Bermuda, where it is recorded that he owned Lot #53. He became known as John Lightbourne, and his direct descendants were Joseph I, Joseph II, and Joseph III. The last Joseph, a ship's captain, had 18 children by two wives. His sons Paul and half-brother Benjamin emigrated to Nassau, Bahamas c.1775, and their descendants comprise the two large families of Lightbourns to be found in Nassau today.  Known branches of Bahamian and Bermuda Lightbourns are living today in America and Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, and New Zealand.

Kelly

James Kelly was a planter in Virginia when the American Revolution came to an end.  He was a Loyalist and moved to Florida for a while and then came over to the Bahamas.  My Uncle John said that he was married in St. Augustine at the Catholic church there.  In June 1783 he emerges in Bluff, Eleuthera or near there to having been given a grant of land by the governor Lord Dunmore. James tried growing coffee and cotton on the plantation but with limited success. James had three sons as best I can ascertain: William, Robert, and James Jr. William stayed on the plantation, and Robert went to Harbour Island.  That is where the Briland side of the family began; Kelly's hardware, Kelly Shipping (i.e. Betty K).  Through these Kellys there is a link to Sir George William Kelly Roberts, first president of the senate under the 1964 New Constitution, also to E Paul Albury, dentist and historian.  Now back to the line that stayed on the plantation. Wiliam's son was Thomas Lofthouse Kelly, who moved eventually into the settlement of Bluff proper.  His son was Robert Austin Kelly who was my grandfather.  Austin had several brothers and I know that one was called Thomas. Anyway they all left Current during the depression of the twenties to go to Key West to fish.  Each one of the brothers had his own fishing boat.  All of the brothers stayed in Key West except grandpa. He had come home to visit his ailing mother and during that time he met his future wife and consequently he gave up his quest to return to Key West.  Now by the same token that the sons of Thomas Lofthouse Kelly left and went to seek better opportunities in Key West, maybe some of the Kelly clan from Harbour Island went there also, so that would have introduced some more Kellys into the mix in Key West, but they would all go back to the same fellow James.  In some historical records that I have read, it said that James tried growing coffee and cotton on the plantation but with limited success. Too hot and the soil was no where as rich as that of Virginia. adapted from the writing of Godfrey Kelly

Lowe

In 1715 Matthew Lowe and other pirates of Eleuthera (including John Darvill, Jr., John Cary, and John Kemp) seized a Spanish ship said to be carrying 11,050 pieces of eight. They were arrested by Thomas Walker and jailed in Nassau. Prior to their trial they were freed by Benjamin Hornigold. Captain Gideon Lowe and his brother are believed to have been shipwrecked in Bermuda. In the mid 1700's they sailed to Harbour Island, Eleuthera where Gideon married Nancy Saunders (daughter of Sarah and Nathaniel Saunders of Harbour Island). In 1783 Gideon Lowe participated in Colonel Andrew Deveaux's capture of Nassau from the Spanish and was rewarded with grants of crown land. Nancy and Gideon Lowe and their ten children moved to Green Turtle Cay, Abaco after the arrival of the Loyalists. Several branches of this family later immigrated to Key West, Florida.

Neely

According to family lore, the Neelys of Eleuthera were the descendents of the slaves of the Loyalist Governor of Virginia during the Revolutionary War (Lord Dunmore).  He escaped with his slaves during the war's waning days.  He was appointed governor of the Bahamas and established Dunmore Town on Harbour Island.

Pritchard

Paul Pritchard, a shipbuilder, of Welsh extraction sailed from Scotland into Charlston, South Carolina. (Ref. Records of Some Southern Empire Loyalists, collected and written by Lydia Austin Parrish 1940-1953, Bahamas National Archives).  He purchased an existing shipyard which he renamed Pritchard Shipyard in 1778.  The largest on the Hobcaw Creek of the Wando River near Charlston, SC.  He and his wife Ann had four Children, William, Paul, Aphra Ann, and Catherine.  William immigrated to the Bahamas where he was granted 80 acres on Long Island, bounded westerly and southerly by vacant land, easterly by William Bows land and northerly by the sea.  This title is signed by the Earl of Dunmore, Lieutenant and Governor General of the Bahama Islands in Nassau, December 23, 1789.  The first land listed to the Pritchard's on New Providence was a 10 acre parcel in 1818. (Ref. Grant Book A1-84).  Pritchard and Bro. was established in 1874 by William Edward and his brother Orlando F. Pritchard,  importers of groceries, teas, provisions, hardware, furniture, etc., and exporters of Bahama sponges.  Many parcels of land were purchased in the 1930's by William and Orlando west of Baillon Hill Road on Deveaux St. (Ref. Bahama Archives).  William Edward and Margaret "Mamie" Annair, ne Thompson, Pritchard lived many years with their eight children (see bahydna.htm#PPritchard ) at 28 Queen St., circa 1905-1930, an old Bahamian mansion built in 1806, which still stands today.  The family legacy continues through William and Mamie's son, Sir Asa Hubert Pritchard, 1891-1990, importer, merchant, politician, representing the island of Eleuthera, Speaker of the House, Nassau, Bahamas and his children. leonapritchard@yahoo.com

Pyfrom

All Pyfroms worldwide descend from 2 brothers, who came to Eleuthera from New York. These brothers were the only survivors of a family that left England, to emigrate to America.  One version says that the two very young orphans did not know their family name. The other version says that the family name was Pfeiffer and the children probably could not pronounce it properly. In either case, the US Immigration personnel created the name PYFROM, supposedly making them the only 2 in the world. It is also said that the Pfeiffer link has been traced back to Germany.

Roberts

In 1717 three pirates: Jacob Roberts and two others both with the name of William Roberts surrendered themselves at New Providence and were pardoned.

Talbot Bethell, in his Early Settlers of the Bahama Islands (1914), noted that the Roberts family originally came from Ireland. [An unverified source notes that they came from Kinsale, County Cork on Ireland's southern coast.  Thirteen miles from Kinsale is a small harbour named Roberts Cove.]  "It appears that they moved from New Providence and settled at Harbour Island at an early date, and from Harbour Island a branch of the family went to Abaco about [1784].  Many members of the Roberts' family switched off and went to Key West, Fla., where they have naturally become United States citizens."

From an unpublished narrative on the Richard Roberts family: "Many land records of the Roberts family being in the Bahamas during the 1750s are still very much in evidence, and during the 1780s there were at least four families in the Islands.  We find John (2), a Richard and a Ruth. Several sons of a John, namely Joseph (father of Richard) John and Richard moved from the old home around Nassau to Harbour Island.  The Governor of the Islands was giving free land to help resettle loyalist[s] who had come to the Bahamas from the Carolinas following the British defeat in the American Revolution.  Some of the old families" (of which the Roberts family was)  "took advantage of the offer and resettled" (in the Abacos, Harbour Island, Spanish Wells, etc.).   "The Roberts family reportedly came to the Bahamas from the Emerald Isla. (Ireland) probably around 1720.  There has been some speculation that the original members may have been associated with the pirates who frequently visited the island and after 1718 were put to a stop in their raids and pillagings.  Many settlers by the name were found in Bermuda as early as the 1630s"...... "All through the West Indies, the name was found and Barbados, which in the early 1600s was like Bermuda, an outpost of Virginia"......."many of the white land owners were named Roberts.....and their slaves likewise bore the name."

From an unpublished letter (1977) from Bill Roberts to Betty Bruce of the Monroe County Public Library: "According to family tradition, the Roberts family originally came from Wales and arrived in this country in the mid-1600's.  In 1778, a John or William (Billy) Roberts left the Carolinas for the Bahamas and received a grant from the King of England for land on Abaco.  The family was engaged in farming on Abaco and lived on Green Turtle Cay.  The last farming venture involved pineapples to the northern U. S. ports in family owned schooners.  My great-grandfather (William Bramwell Roberts) and three of his brother[s] migrated to Key West in the early 1900's.  One (Austin) brother remained in the Bahamas and operated a saw mill on Abaco until he died."

Russell

The earliest record of a Russell in the Bahamas is that of John Russell, captain of the Port Royal, who was wrecked in 1669 upon Munjake Cay, Abaco (Riley, "Homeward Bound" pg. 37-38). No additional records have been found mentioning the surname for the next sixty years, but the Russells are recognized as one of the earliest families in the Bahamas. There are at least three distinct Russell lines in the early Bahamas with a possible fourth line.

The Benjamin/Daniel/Elizabeth Russell line first appears in the Woodes Roger Census (1731) at Harbour Island and includes most if not all of the Pre-Loyalist Russells. These Russells are said to be of Scot/Irish origin (Bethell, "The Early Settlers of the Bahamas") however no evidence was given for this statement. Members of this original line most likely still reside in the Bahamas. William Russell, the schoolmaster at Green Turtle, and who married Jane Curry (St. Johns register; Bahama Gazette, 31-Dec-1812) is also believed to be a possible member of this line (Harllee, "Kinfolks" pg. 1783).

The William Russell (Loyalist of New York) line were also noted to have later landed on Abaco (Riley, "Homeward Bound" pg. 243) and they could be same as listed in the Spanish East Florida Census of 1783 as an auctioneer, his wife and three children. He (or his son?) may be the William Russell that is found marrying Sarah Clear at Harbour Island (St. Johns register; Bahama Gazette, 14-Jan-1813) and later listed as a planter in slave registers in the Abacos. This line is thought to still be in the Bahamas as well.

The John Russell (Loyalist shipwright) line originally came from South Carolina and initially settled in East Florida before immigrating to the Bahamas. John Russell married (2nd wife?) Mary Hog(g) at Nassau in 1796 (Christ Church register) and later returned to Florida in the early 1800s. Some decedents claim all his relations in the Bahamas moved back to Florida as well although records seem to indicate a few might have remained behind.

A final line might be that of Gabriel Russell who appears as a "master" in the apprentice lists of 1835 at Heneagua (now called Inagua) along with Richard Russell, deceased. This is included as a possible fourth family line due to the distance of Inagua from all other focus areas of Russell habitation (Harbour Island, Abacos and New Providence). Little is known on this line and it is not known if it still remains in the Bahamas today. - - Ed Russell

Sands

http://www.angelfire.com/folk/robertson/Robertson-Sands.htm

Saunders

Undocumented lore says that "John, Benjamin, Thomas, with their sister Jane, and John came from Manchester, England, via Bermuda, and that the Saunders family owned an interest in a dry dock at Bermuda." (Second edition of AT Bethell's "The Early Settlers"). They are believed to have come with Captain Sayle to Ilutheria (Eleuthera).

Documented evidence:  The first mention of a Saunders in the Bahamas is one Mary Saunders who married a John Pittman settled on Nassau. John's father received a land grant in Nassau from the Lord Proprietors in the Carolinas in 1690, of which I have a copy. Mary and her husband could not settle permanently on the land because the Spanish kept up a "terror" campaign against the small colonies in the islands. They ultimately escaped to Newport, Rhode Island and died there. Relatives of Mary's, Daniel Saunders and Nathaniel Saunders, took refuge from the Spaniards by escaping to Casco, Maine. They returned to the Bahamas in the early 1700s because the Indians in Maine were equally unkind and attacked the settlement there and leveled it.

Upon their return, several of Daniel and Nathaniel's descendents, moved to Harbour Island. Thomas and Benjamin Saunders in 1721 were selected as "fit persons" to stand for election to the first Assembly in the Bahamas. From Harbour Island, and then Green Turtle Cay, the Saunders were prosperous wreckers. In the 19th century, Saunders and Sons did well for itself running the blockade during the Civil War, farming a pineapple plantation in Nassau, and becoming shopkeeper/merchants.  - - Ann Morley Carmel anncarmel#@#cox.net (edit out the #'s)

Taylor

Archibald Taylor (c.1720-1780) emigrated in 1770 from Skipness, Argyll, to Bladen County, North Carolina with wife Catherine (1722-1810) and their children: John (1746-1832), Archibald (d 1836), Duncan, Daniel (1755-1833), Gilbert, Angus, and Marion (c.1755-1840). During the American War of Independence, three of the sons, Archibald, Duncan and Gilbert, fought on the Loyalist side - Archibald ("Major Archibald Taylor") being particularly prominent - and as a result their lands in Carolina were confiscated. The British authorities later granted Major Archibald and Duncan land in Long Island in the Bahamas - Major Archibald is known to have named his land there "Lochabar" (sic), no doubt because, like many Taylors, he claimed a Clan Cameron connection and Lochaber (sic) was the Camerons' Scottish homeland. A descendant of Major Archibald, Sir Henry Milton Taylor (1903-1994), was Governor-General of the Bahamas from 1991 to 1992. - - Martyn Taylor http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SCT-ARGYLL/2006-09/1157211859

Treco

The oral family history is that two Treco brothers came from the Bay of Biscay region of France on their own ships.  Peter Treco's obituary states he was a native of Paris, France and lived in the Bahamas since at least 1809.  Peter and Patience's child was baptised in 1819.  The patriarch John Peter Treco was born about 1779, Paris, France and died 18 Sep 1849 Nassau.  He immigrated about 1809 and is buried at St. Matthew's Anglican Church.  Another early Treco is Charles Treco who died at age 80 in 1867 on the island of Inagua. He was born about 1787.