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Old Inhabitants

A person living in the Bahamas before the arrival of American Loyalists (See Below). For our purposes, we labeled people as Old Inhabitants if they were in the Bahamas prior to 1780.  Old Inhabitants tended to be merchants and lawyers and shopkeepers and subsistence farmers, having a diversified economy in the Out Islands. Many early Bahamians had come from Bermuda—either themselves or their ancestors. By looking through 17th century Bermuda records published by Julia Mercer, Association Oath Rolls (which covered all British Plantation Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard outside the British Isles), and others, we see multiple Long Island names in early Bermuda, and surmise that longstanding family relationships may have lasted for many decades and spanned the distance from Bermuda to Long Island. We labeled the people who were documented as being born/baptized, living, marrying, having babies, being enumerated, being taxed, and listed in wills in the Bahamas prior to 1776 as “Old Inhabitants” (also called “Conchs” by the American Loyalists).

One great example of this is the will of a Bermudian Abraham Adderley, dated 1688. A Richard and Frances Hunt had leased land from Adderley. Although we have not traced this line, we believe that the Hunts and Adderleys remained close, as one hundred years later Robert Hunt and another Abraham Adderley were granted land in adjacent settlements on the north end of Long Island. These types of proven and suspected connections between Bermudian families and the earliest Long Island families are numerous.

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Name: Settlement

Abraham Adderley (Adderly): Burnt Ground

Thomas Bill: Burnt Ground

Bromfield Bonamy: Roses

Roger Bow (Bowe): Mangrove Bush & Deadmans Cay

William Bow (Bowe): McKenzies

Elizabeth Bowles: Bunches

John Brown: Berrys

John Bullard: The Bight

George Bunch: Stella Maris & Burnt Ground

John Bunch: Bunches

Mary Bunch: Bunches

William Bunch: Bunches

William Burrows: Lower Deadmans Cay

William Cash: Lower Deadmans Cay

Daniel Culmer (Comer, Cullimore, Cumber): The Bight

Robert Culmer (Comer, Cullimore, Cumber): Stella Maris

William Culmer (Comer, Cullimore, Cumber): Glintons & Pinders

Richard Curtis: Stella Maris

Neptune Curtis Jr.: Burnt Ground & Stella Maris

Neptune Curtis Sr.: Stella Maris

Margaret Dallas: Alligator Bay

Jeremiah Darville (Darvil, Darvill): Deadmans Cay

John Darville (Darvil, Darvill): Lower Deadmans Cay

Marmaduke Darville (Darvil, Darvill): Deadmans Cay

John Drudge: The Bight

William Drudge: Bowers

John Duncan (Dunn): Wemyss, The Bight & Gordons

Charles Ellis: Pinders

Abraham Eve: Burnt Ground

John Ferguson: Oneils-Scrub Hill & Lower Tatnalls

J. Fox: Upper East Channel Cay

John Fox, The Bight

Joseph Fox: Grays

Samuel Fox: Old Grays

James Gray: Old Grays

Abraham Greenage: Cartwright

John Griffin (Griffith): Deadmans Cay

Samuel Griffin (Griffith): Lower Deadmans Cay

Susannah Hewitt (Hewet): Deadmans Cay

Thomas Hodgson: Millerton

 John Hunt: Mangrove Bush

Robert Hunt: Glintons & Seymours

George Johnson: Burnt Ground & Benzies

John Johnson: Bunches

William Johnson (Johnston, Johnstone): Burnt Ground

Faith Kelly: Cartwright

James Knowles Sr.: Pinders & The Crossing

Samuel Knowles: Bowers

Edward Lane: Roses

Joseph Lightborn: Burnt Ground

Mary E. Major: Deadmans Cay

George Maycock: Benzies & Deadmans Cay

Sweeting Maycock: Deadmans Cay

Daniel McKenzie: McKenzies

Anthony McKinney (McKenney, McKeney): Sam McKinnons

Benjamin McKinney: Sam McKinnons

Henrietta Micklethwaite: Newton Cay

John Morley: Lower Deadmans Cay & Deadmans Cay

Barack Morton: Stella Maris

John Newman: Lower Deadmans Cay

Benjamin Newton: Newton Cay, Seymours, Galliot Cay

Abraham Pratt: Glintons

Joseph Pritchard: Lower Deadmans Cay

Robert Pritchard: Lower Deadmans Cay

John Rahming: Pinders

James Ridley (Riddley): Roses

John Roberts: Miley

Michael Rogers: Pinders

James Rose: Roses

Parr Ross: Simms & Doctors Creek

Robert Rumer (Rum): Burrows Harbour

Benjamin Simms (Sims): Upper Tatnalls

Thomas Smith: Clarencetown

William Smith: Miley

James Spatches (Spatchers): Salt Pond

John Sweeting: Deals

Alexander Thompson: Thompson Bay & Salt Pond

Alice Thompson: Salt Pond & Thompson Bay

Ann Thompson: Bowers

Benjamin Thompson: Thompson Bay

Thomas Thompson: Clarencetown

William Thompson: Gordons

William Walker: Bunches

Jeremiah Wells: Lower Deadmans Cay & New Found Harbour Islands

John Wells: Simms

Francis Williams: Pinders

William Williams: Pinders

Sarah Wilson: Bains

William Wilson: Millerton, Old Grays

William Wilson Jr.: Old Grays

Thomas Young: McKanns

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