| Notes |
- Name: Wilhelmina L. Weatherhead /Gittens/
Name: Wilhelmina Weatherhead /Gittens/,
Name: Wilhelmina /Leslie/,
Name: Wilhelmina /Weatherhead/,
Name: Wilhelmina L. /Weatherhead/, , [6, 7]
- This is an excert from a research paper prepared by Jeffery Gittens in about 1988. The full paper is included with the source for this note.
The information in the excerpt is the source for establishing that Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead is the daughter of James William Weatherhead. *****HOWEVER, THERE IS NO OTHER DIRECT EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THIS RELATIONSHIP.*****
JOSEPH GITTENS AND WILHELMINA WEATHERHEAD
The record of the marriage of Joseph Gittens to Wilhelmina Weatherhead can be found in Volume RL310B of the Register of Marriages (1849-1866), page 314 Certificate #710. Their marriage was solemnized in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity in the Parish of St. Philip according to the rites and ceremonies of the established Church of England after Banns. The ceremony was performed by the Rector R.F. King and the witnesses present were John E. Gittens and John E. Gittens, Jr.
There appears in the Register of Marriages another certificate #709, the one immediately preceding that of Joseph and Wilhelmina. James Edward, a blacksmith and a bachelor was married to Sarah Rebecca Weatherhead on the 10th of March 1853 by the Rector R.F. King. John Edward p resent at the wedding of Joseph and Wilhelmina also bore witness to the wedding of James Edward and Sarah Rebecca. It appears that the Gittens brothers, James Edward and Joseph, married the Weatherhead sisters, Sarah Rebecca and Wilhelmina Leslie. The father of these girls, James William Weatherhead was a signatory as witness at the marriage of Sarah Rebecca and James Edward. Sarah Rebecca, was an illiterate spinster who signed her marriage certificate with an X. Her father, James William Weatherhead was a sugar planter at Walronds.
- (Research):From: Cliff Gittens
To: Victor Gittens
CC: Chris Gittens
Date: Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 08:20 AM
Re[2]: DNA Test Results
Hi Vic,
We have had our almost 2 year old grandson the last three days so we have been kind of preoccupied and I haven't been able to get to my email to respond to your last message.
You ask a very interesting question as to how I was able to connect Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead to her father James William Weatherhead. My response was going to be because Jeffery's research noted that James William Weatherhead was a witness at both his daughters weddings and that the research mentioned that Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead and Sarah Rebecca Weatherhead were sisters. Well, I re-read Jeffery's research and noted that he did say that Sarah Rebecca Weatherhead and Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead were sisters but there is no mention of James William Weatherhead being a witness at Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead wedding to Joseph Gittens. Additionally, as you correctly noted the baptism information for Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead can not be located. So, to answer your question, there is no direct evidence to support that Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead was the daughter of James William Weatherhead, other than maybe the comment in Jeffery's research that Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead and Sarah Rebecca Weatherhead were sisters. But Jeffery's comment is not supported in any fashion with fact, or otherwise explained.
My sense is that it is very likely Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead and Sarah Rebecca Weatherhead were sisters and did marry the Gittens brothers. It's just too coincidental that there are two marriages of Gittens and Weatherheads in the Parish of St. Philip following one another in the marriage register. This type of sibling marriage is not common place but I have seen it happen a few times in my Barbados research. One confusing issue is that although the marriages follow one another in the marriage register ( Certificate #709 and #710) the actual marriage dates were 14 days apart. Sarah Rebecca Weatherhead and John Edward Gittens married 10 March 1853 and Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead and Joseph Gittens married March 24, 1853. There doesn't seem to be an obvious reason for this?
My challenge now is how to record all of this in my database. I think the best thing to do is to record Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead as the daughter of James William Weatherhead, as I initially intended. However, I will qualify the evidence in a note to try and clearly state that the daughter/father connection is not fully supported with direct evidence.
I acknowledge your comments about whether there was an mixed race ancestors in your family. My sense is that if there was a mixed race history it would have been known and passed down in family lore, but I guess we can't be certain. I ran into a similar problem with another Gittens mixed race family who's sons all immigrated into the USA. Some of the sons were classified as black and others classified as white on their immigration papers. It took quite a while to sort the family out.
Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead being referred to as 'Scottish' by some of your relatives is confusing. Maybe it's connected in some way to the 'Scotland Johnny' reference?
I sure agree this is quite a puzzle!
Regards,
Cliff G.
Cliff Gittens
On Mon, Mar 28, 2016 at 09:36 AM, Victor Gittens wrote:
Hello Cliff
Fascinating history about the Barbados records of the "redlegs" and your hypothesis. . It would sure fit. Bear in mind that my mention of no mixed race(Afro and white) is simply my perceptions. It is possible that there is some mixed race background. Certainly Matilda, my grandmother, is reputed to be a full blooded Amerindian, either Carib or Arawak and her picture does look the part as do my Dad, Aunt and some cousins.
I am curious on how you matched Wilhelmina to James. When I checked the database earlier, Whilemina was not listed under James' family and I could not find any birth or baptismal records for her. Living cousins recall her being referred to as "Scottish". I read some references that suggested Whilemina was listed as a "seamstress" and her presumed "sister" Rebecca as "illiterate".
I appreciate your work on this. What a puzzle!!
Regards
Vic
On Mar 28, 2016, at 10:15 AM, Cliff Gittens wrote:
Hi Vic and Chris,
I had a chance yesterday to review the research done by Jeffery Gittens, which by the way I think is excellent. From the research I was able to:
1. Merge two records for John Thomas Gittens and J.T. Gittens into a single entity.
2. I was able to identify the father of Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead as James William Weatherhead.
3. Relate the Gittens brothers Joseph Gittens and James Edward Gittens. Likely their father was also named John Edward, but I haven't been able to identify him in my database.
The remainder of the people mention in Jeffery's research were already in my database. Jeffery's research did provide some interesting details, like occupations to some of these people.
The only part of the research that I am having problems reconciling are the details presented for Joseph Gittens, the father of John Thomas Gittens. It's not clear to me how the research concludes that the Joseph Gittens, born/baptised 14th March 1830 in St. Philip, and described as a "Free Coloured Person" is in fact the same Joseph Gittens who married Wilhelmina Leslie Weatherhead.
I certainly could be wrong, but I don't think they are the same person. If they were the same person then the family of Joseph and Wilhelmina would have been of mixed race. I don't think your family lore has any mention of mixed race ancestors and Vic mentioned in an earlier email that John Thomas Gittens was white. Further, Vic mentioned in a recent email the family lore as it relates to an earlier grandfather being referred to as "Scotland Johnny", being another term for "Redleg".
Now, there is a theory that the "Scotland Johnny" reference could explain why there are no baptismal records for Joseph Gittens or his brother James Edward Gittens, or their father James Edward Gittens, Sr. The Barbados "redlegs" mostly settled in an area of Barbados referred to as the Scotland District. The Scotland District was named after its UK lookalike and contains the entire parish of St. Andrew and portions of St. Peter, St. Joseph, and St. John. The baptism records for the Parish of Saint Andrew prior to 1825 have been lost. It's entirely possible that the Gittens Brothers, Joseph and James Edwards who married in 1853 could have been born in Saint Andrew just about, but before 1825. They would have been about 28-30 years of age when they married, which is a little old but reasonable. So these factors could explain why we can not locate a baptism record for Joseph Gittens and his brother John Edward Gittens.
It's my hunch, with no facts to back it up, that the references to the family research done by the other Victor Gittens regarding his family line have no bearing on the events of your family lines.
Jeffery's research certainly added some clarity to your family line. However, we still have a brick wall at your great-grandfather Joseph Gittens, I believe.
Regards,
Cliff Gittens
On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 10:30 AM, Victor Gittens wrote:
Hello Cliif
I am still trying to make sense of it all. We think we have traced my paternal grandfather to Barbados(later settling in Trinidad and eventually British Guyana where he died) but then run into a wall. While we are confident my great grandfather was married in Barbados, we do not know of his origin. I am having another Family Tree DNA test done in order to trace ethnicity. It should show my paternal grandmother as amerindian(Carib or Arawak). I am curious to see if there is any Afro on my paternal(or maternal for that matter) side. If not, it would lend credence to the theory mentioned below.
Your comments are interesting in as much that family "lore" has one of my greater great grand fathers referred to as a "Scotland Johnny (I have recently located three first cousins who also recall the reference to "Scotland Johnny ), another term for "Redleg". These were a poor, outcast, indentured group who arrived in Barbados(from England/Ireland/Scotland) in the early 19th century rather than being direct descendants of the 17th century Gittens Plantocracy and/or it's slaves. There is still a small group of Redlegs living in Barbados: white, isolated, and impoverished.
The Y-DNA results yielded one name match at the 4th generation level with a man in Georgia who has no information about his paternal descendants.
Any input on how to translate these results is appreciated.
Thanks
Vic
On Mar 25, 2016, at 11:41 AM, Cliff Gittens wrote:
Hello Victor,
I saw your Y-DNA test result in the Gittens DNA Group and found them quite fascinating. It seems apparent that you are not related in any way to the other Gittens males that have been tested and are included in the group. At least not in the last few thousand years.
This is odd in one respect in that your ancestors do have a Caribbean (Trinidad) connection as do the other 3 males Gittens in the group. The other three Gittens are all from Barbados.
It looks like you are the first Gittens of another group with the Gittens surname. We will see what pops up in the future.
Thanks for testing
Cliff Gittens
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