Abaco Ancestry: Tracing Your Island Roots

Abaco Ancestry

Do you have Abaco ancestry? The answer might just surprise you.

You see, the roots and branches of Abaco’s family tree extend far beyond our white-sand shores. There are people throughout the world today who may unknowingly have an Abaco branch in their family tree.

Why So Many Families Have Abaco Connections

After the Lucayans died out, the first settlers in the Bahamas were the Eleutheran Adventurers, who arrived in the mid-1600s from Great Britain, via Bermuda. They included surnames such as Bethel, Sands, Thompson, Carey, Pinder and Albury.

Though they first settled in what we now know as Eleuthera, many later relocated to Abaco after an 1806 hurricane devastated Harbour Island.

During and after the American Revolutionary War, thousands of British Loyalists, enslaved persons and free Blacks left the newly independent United States.

Some went north to what is now Canada. The list of Loyalists who sought refuge in Canada includes many surnames that are also familiar in Abaco, including Adams, Baker, Curry, Dean, Hall, Harris, Farrington, Lowe, McIntosh, Roberts, Russell and Saunders.

Others migrated south, to The Bahamas and the Caribbean.

Abaco Ancestry
A plaque in Hope Town commemorates the British Loyalists who first settled there in 1785.

As was the case with the Eleutheran Adventurers, many British Loyalists, enslaved people and free Blacks had left entire branches of their family trees behind in Africa, Europe, Great Britain and North America.

Abaco’s Families Didn’t Stay in Abaco

By the end of the 1700s, the British Loyalists and their Bahamian-born descendants were discovering that life in Abaco wasn’t much more difficult than they had hoped. And, as the tensions of the Revolutionary War faded, many returned to the Southern United States.

At the beginning of the 1800s, changes to U.S. wrecking laws made it increasingly difficult for Bahamians to make a living from the wrecking trade that had long supported island communities.

Hundreds of Abaconians with surnames such as Key, Curry, Bartlum and Lowe, relocated to Key West, which at the time was virtually uninhabited. They played a major role in establishing the community there, and by 1860, two-thirds of Key West’s approximately 3,000 residents were of Bahamian descent.

William Curry, Abaco Ancestry
William Curry, a Green Turtle Cay resident who migrated to Key West in the late 1830s, would go on to become Florida’s first millionaire, and the wealthiest man in the state. (Original oil painting by Alton R. Lowe.)

And as the 19th century gave way to the 20th, Henry Flagler’s railroad stretched into South Florida, setting off a tremendous building boom. While the Bahamian economy struggled, Miami offered jobs to anyone willing to make the move.

The result was a remarkable migration: roughly one-fifth of the entire Bahamian population, including many Abaconians, eventually emigrated to the United States.

L-R: Morris Key from Marsh Harbour, and George Russell, whose father’s family migrated from Green Turtle Cay to Florida, were among Miami’s first streetcar operators.

A series of devastating hurricanes during the 1920s and 1930s prompted yet another wave of Abaconians to seek new lives and opportunities in the United States and elsewhere.

As generations passed, the branches of Abaco’s family tree spread further. An Abaco-born great-grandparent might have had children in Florida, grandchildren somewhere else in the United States, and great-grandchildren who have never set foot in the Bahamas.

The Abaco connection can easily disappear from a family story. But that doesn’t mean it’s gone.

Genealogy Resources for Finding Your Own Abaco Ancestry Connection

So how do you take the next steps in finding out if you have Abaco roots?

Start with what you already know. Write down the names, birthplaces and dates of your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. Look for family stories about relatives who came from the Bahamas, Florida, Key West, Miami or the Caribbean.

Then start digging.

Below are several great resources that can help you find potential Abaco connections:

  • WikiTree — A free, collaborative family tree builder. We like WikiTree for several reasons. First, it’s free. Second, instead of multiple descendants creating separate profiles for the same ancestor, WikiTree maintains one shared profile for each individual, where different descendants can contribute facts, photographs and sources. If you discover Bahamian ancestry, be sure to take a look at WikiTree’s Bahamas Project.
  • FamilySearch.org — In recent years, FamilySearch has made a substantial collection of Bahamian civil records available online, making it a particularly useful resource for tracing Bahamian ancestors.
  • Bahamas DNA Project — DNA genealogy can sometimes uncover family connections that aren’t apparent from traditional records. The Bahamas DNA Project can help identify genetic connections between people with Bahamian ancestry. You can also browse selected results from the Bahamas DNA Project on the Wyannie Malone Museum’s website.
  • Wyannie Malone Museum genealogy database — The museum also maintains an extensive online genealogy database that can be particularly useful when researching Abaco families and ancestors.
  • Bahamas Genealogy Group — A terrific place to connect online with others researching Bahamian family history and to ask questions about particular surnames and ancestors. If you’re stuck or need help with your search, this is a good place to ask. There are plenty of Abaconians and Bahamian genealogy enthusiasts who may be able to help unravel a difficult family connection.

Over the centuries, the roots and branches of Abaco’s family tree have spread across thousands of miles. Who knows? You may just discover that one of those branches has found its way into your own lineage.

Here are some genealogy-related Abaco Sun articles that may also be of interest.