This is a place for any Greaves families out there who have roots in Caribbean islands (possibly linked with Chandler, Dowden, Gill, Medford, Searles, Whitehead, and others).

Examples:
• Rebecca Anne GREAVES married John Benjamin WHITEHEAD in 1845
• Joseph Edward GREAVES married Sarah Frances Jane GILL in 1852
• Edward Lawrence GREAVES married Sarah Bailey Lampen 1854
• Charles Matthew GREAVES married Mary Anna Goodman in 1858
• Fitz William Alleyne GREAVES married a Mary GILL abt.1880
• Josephine Anna GREAVES married Joseph Thomas O'Neil TOYER in 1881
• Frederick GREAVES married Charlotte DOWDEN abt.1899
• Louisa GREAVES married Flavius CHANDLER
• John Ruford GREAVES married Ellen Lorenza MEDFORD in 1911
• Lillian GREAVES married Vivian MEDFORD in 1917
• Iris GREAVES married Loftus MEDFORD in 1922
• Phoebe GREAVES married Dillion MEDFORD in 1922
• Adelaide Irene GREAVES married Albert Edward GILL in 1925
• Lilith GREAVES married Emile 'Miles' DOWDEN abt.1927
• Muninie Marjorie GREAVES married Lewis Ledress DOWDEN in 1932
• Nathanial GREAVES married Evelyn Elms SEARLES in 1939
• 'Clara' Ioney GREAVES married Conrad Archibald SEARLES abt.1940
• Audrey Sylvia GREAVES married Francis Glynn Edwards in abt.1950
• Lottie GREAVES married Ralph CHANDLER abt.1950

On 5 February 2004 James wrote:

Samuel Clive GREAVES (b.27-Oct-1896 Barbados) who in April 1942 left Barbados for NY.  In NY he lived with his wife (at 64th Lane Glendale NY).  He worked for himself at 217 Broadway NY).  Samuel Clive was 6'2" 217lb with brown eyes, gray hair and ruddy complextion.

On 25 March 2004 James wrote:
Also two William GREAVES - the first (b.28-Jan-1891) left Babados for NY in April 1942 and lived on his own at 1036 West Indiana Avenue, Philadelphia. He was on US pension. He was 5'8" 108lb blue-eyed, black-hair and light complextioned.

The 2nd - William GREAVES (b.22-May-1896) left Babados for NY in April '42 and lived with Marian F. GREAVES at 92 Dictumn Court, Kings NY. He worked at the NY Post Office (on Church Street). He was 5'8", 163lb, brown-eyes and hair and of light complextion.

On 07 June 2004 James wrote:

Benjamin Francis GREAVES (b.1857 St George Barbados)
his father was John Clarke GREAVES and mother Margaret Anne Barker (married 1853 St George B'dos), and his siblings were Reginald Ambrose (c.1854), Marian Louise (c.1860), John Clarke Jnr (c.1862), Margaret Lilian (c.1870) and Eleanor Mary (c.1872).

In 1911 he travelled to Hartford Connecticut (on the S. S. Maracas) to see his son with another daughter Daisy (b.1890 in Georgetown St. Vincent), leaving yet another daughter Sarah (in PoS Trinidad, at 6 Victoria Square).

Come on you Vinci and Trini family do you know anything of Sarah GREAVES and this line?

On 30 June 2011 Steven Wampler wrote:
My Greaves family from Barbados includes Samuel Rock Greaves, his son, Victor Carlyle Greaves and his son, Fred W. Greaves, my grandfather. I'm looking for Samuel's brothers and their parents. Any help would be appreciated.

On 30 June 2011 Steven Wampler wrote:
Oh, and does anyone know why so many Greaves family members went to Barbados and from where, in the first place? I'm guessing that many left and Barbados became independent. But it was a bloodless changeover, right? My guys mostly went to New York and New Jersey.

Hi Steven - this is a very crude description of Samuel Rock Greaves' family (bmd need to be confirmed):

His father John [Lindsay] Greaves and Rebecca Edwards m.19 Sep 1844 St Lucy.

They had the following children:
Mary Elizabeth Angel Greaves c.13 JUL 1845 St Lucy (m. or d. not found)
Julia Greaves c.01 Jun 1846 St Lucy, Barbados (m. or d. not found)
John Edward Greaves c.Nov 1850 St Lucy d.22 Sep 1854
Thomas Greaves c.11 Dec 1852 St Lucy pos.m.09 Jun 1875; m.Mary Patience Bishop
Charles Greaves b.1852 c.03 Oct 1853 St Lucy d.29 Aug 1854
Rebecca Harriet Greaves c.07 Jul 1854 St Lucy (no details)
Charles Greaves [II] c.01 Jul 1856 St Lucy (m. or d. not found)
William Hanible Austin Leacock Greaves c.30 Jan 1859 St Lucy d.25 Nov 1872
Alleyne Roary Greaves c.25 Mar 1860 St Lucy; m.Martha Elizabeth Jemima Smith
Laura Alonso Elvira Lindsay Greaves c.28 Jul 1861 St Lucy; m.James Leonard Smith
*Samuel Rock Greaves c.31 May 1863 St Lucy, Barbados
John Edward Greaves [II] (b.04 Mar 1866 c.30 Mar 1866 St Lucy (no details)
John Edward Greaves [III] (c.29 Sep 1873 St Lucy (no details)

Note: Alleyne Roary (Allan Boaz) left for Manhattan NY and married and one of Laura's children married in Manhattan NY.
Further: Samuel Rock Greaves arrived in NY in 23 Sep 1902 and was living there in Brooklyn in 1905.

Steven - the middle-name Lindsay and Whitfoot feature frequently. There are a number of John Lindsay Greaves (seeming to be linked) and the earliest seems to be 1793.

John Lindsay Greaves c.10 Feb 1793 St Lucy father Edward Greaves [mother most likely Ann ----]
His brother Thomas Lindsay Greaves (c.10 Feb 1793 St Lucy) later married Elizabeth Jane Butcher and they also named one of their sons John Lindsay (c.31 Dec 1820 St Lucy).

Another was c.01 Apr 1829 St Lucy to John Greaves and Elizabeth Bullen but haven't found their marriage or John's family to trace the link.

Another b.23 Dec 1837 c.15 Sep 1838 St Lucy, father Samuel Greaves mother 'Edward' [most likely Keturah Edward Archer. This John Lindsay became a doctor and died 16 Oct 1918 Morrow Co., Mt Gilead, Ohio.

And another is a sibling to your *Samuel Rock - this John Lindsay Greaves c.14 Sep 1879 Barbados [f.John Lindsay Greaves] mth.Rebecca [Edwards] Greaves his (and Rock's) other siblings are Charles Greaves c.01 Jul 1856, William Kamble Austin Leacock Greaves c.20 Jan 1859.

On 15 September 2011 Julianne Griffith replied:

Regarding John Lindsay Greaves and Rebecca Edwards:
There is a son, Benjamin Joseph Greaves, who is my great-great grandfather. He and two brothers, Charles and Samuel left Barbados and worked in Mahaica, Guyana. Benjamin returned to Barbados. One brother left for New York, and I am unsure if the other remained in Guyana. By the way, Benjamin had plenty children with several women in Guyana.

On 30 June 2011 Jeol Searles replied to Steven Wampler:

Steven - (answering the simpler question first) Barbados' independence was a modern-political event in 1966 (and doesn't relate to the families and period your interested in). The important date would be emancipation (1834) and the generation immediately after (which include the Greaves' families). Many artisan whites began loosing their livelihood with the sudden freeing of tens-of-thousands in that period.

Linking the Greaves families is a v.important project and where they came from (most likely northern england rather than scotland) needs work too.

On 15 September 2007 Joel wrote:

The GREAVES and WHITEHEAD families also inter-married a few times and in Barbados we have:-

Rebecca Ann Johnson GREAVES (~1822) married John Benjamin Whitehead (c.1822) on 03/12/1845 Saint Lucy Barbados

JBW's father was James Whithead married to Dorothy ODWIN (in 1819 Saint Peter) and they had James Odwin Whitehead (1821), John Benj (*), twins Henry & Richard (1827), Edward (1829), Francis Arthur (1830), twins George & Thomas (1831), Joseph (1834).

As well as John Benjamin's marriage, we have James Odwin's (1845 to Jane Yetts Porter), Edward (1863 to Marg. Jane Harris), and Francis Arthur (1861 to Elfrida Waple Thornton).