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Many of the godparents in the Family Register are family members, both family members who are listed elsewhere in the Family Register and family members who are not. Examples of the latter include Elizabeth Mallard who is sister to Margaret and Sarah; and James Hall who is married to the sister of Dorothy Gray Jackson's mother. Some look like family members but are still unconfirmed, such as Mary Mallard and Sarah Jackson.
The families have a habit of naming children after godparents: Concanen, MacFadyen, Colthirst & Mignot entered into the family names in this way. Other possible examples are Herman, Bryan, Briscoe, Gray & Smellie as these were common surnames in Jamaica at the time. Thankfully, nobody copped Schroeter or Grosicard as a given name. Both Schroeter and Grosicard took some effort to confirm. I have confirmation on all those as well as Mrs Martha Maria Albro (in 1812), Apitz (as Apitsz in 1802), Arbouin (in 1850), G P M Downer (from almanac), Edward McGeachy (in 1819), and Joseph Buttenbach (as Joseph Buttgenback in 1802) as well as most common names. Emily M Clements d. 20 Jan. 1852 aged 39 in St Andrew (Wright, 1966). Mrs Arbouin was Catherine Sussanah Davis ‘of Port Royal’ b. 20 Aug 1791 British Honduras, d. 1 Oct 1874, m. 1808 Charles Arbouin (Donald Lindo).
Some of these, in particular MacFadyen and Grosicard, appear in the records only briefly. I found the marriage of the MacFadyen godparents in the Port Royal Register:
James McFadyen m. 25 Nov 1832 Margaret McGowan
Margaret McGowan may be related to James McGowan who was a godfather from 1802 to 1814. I've found references to James McGowan in the Port Royal Register with wife Mary from 1794 to 1820. In the case of Dr James MacFadyen and his wife Margaret, three separate family lines named their children after them, there's:
Ella MacFadyen HALL / McPHAIL,
Madeline MacFadyen HALL, and
George MacFadyen PATERSON
A memorial inscription in Kingston church (Wright, 1966) states that Margaret MacFadyen was born 3 May 1812 and died 21 June 1843.
The Concanen, Mignot, Schroeter and Colthirst families lived similar lives to the Halls. That is, they had children at around the same dates, perhaps had a few slaves, sired a few mixed race children. It would be an interesting project for someone, sometime, to track down one of these families.
I've taken a little interest in the Colthirst family because my father was christened Arthur Alan Colthirst Paterson. I found that James Colthirst Colthirst (no that's not a mistake) married Lydia Salt in 1793. She immediately become known as Lydia Colthirst Colthirst. Together they had son James Colthirst, born and baptised on the 18 May 1794 in St Andrew, and had son James Forbes Colthirst in 1795 in St Andrew. I think he is the James F Colthirst who appears as a godfather in the Family Register in 1838.
The story doesn't end there. The Colthirsts may be distantly related. James Forbes Colthirst had at least two children (James Henry b. 1 Mar 1819 bap. 13 Jan 1820 in Kingston and Henry Forbes b. 13 Nov 1821 bap. 13 Nov 1822 in Kingston) with a mustee (i.e. 7/8 white) woman named Frances Hall. Now there's no proof, but this Frances Hall may be the daughter of John Hall junior and Ann Silburn, born 1 Feb 1792 in St Andrew. Admittedly the daughter of John Hall junior would have been a quadroon, but by the 1820s the Parish Registers were getting very lax about fine racial distinctions. The mistake may even have been deliberate; the child of a white and a mustee was legally white and free to do things that a mustee couldn’t.
Henry Forbes Colthirst (Merchant at East Street, and later Paradise Pen, Kingston) was married to a woman with christian names Theresa Maria with whom he had a child Henry Charles Colthirst on 21 Dec 1851, Alexander Stevens Colthirst on 12 Mar 1856 and Arthur Charles Creighton Colthirst on 14 Jun 1857. He left a will in 1879. Henry Charles Colthirst was buried on 18 Aug 1852.
Donald Lindo has some more information on the descendants of Henry Forbes Colthirst in his Genealogy of Jamaica CD-ROM. Here it is:
Descendants of Henry F. COLTHIRST
1. Henry Forbes COLTHIRST b. CIRCA 1825, occupation Merchant. 1869-1881 - 3rd Chairman of Jamaica Mutual Life Assurance Society, succeeding Edward Jordon.
Children:
2. i Ella Maud.
3. ii Hannah.
Second Generation
2. Ella Maud COLTHIRST m. Arnold Denny FIGUEROA, b. 2 DEC 1858, (son of William Grey FIGUEROA and Sarah Elizabeth FIGUEROA) occupation Accountant.
Children:
i Ivor Arnold Joseph FIGUEROA b. 13 JAN 1901, KINGSTON, occupation Accountant, m. SEP 1926, Gertrude RYAN.
ii Enrique Arnold (Rique) FIGUEROA b. 16 FEB 1908, KINGSTON, notes : Water Comm., occupation Accountant, m. (1) Agnes WHORMS, notes : Deceased, m. (2) Merle PARKE.
4. iii Enid Muriel.
iv Islin FIGUEROA.
v Alma FIGUEROA notes : Never married.
3. Hannah COLTHIRST m. Henry Brown PHILLIPS, occupation Schoolmaster.
Children:
5. i Alfred Augutus b. 28 AUG 1883.
ii Joshua Bailey PHILLIPS b. 10 OCT 1886, Norwich, Port Antonio, PORTLAND, occupation Chemist/Politician, m. 25 DEC 1913, Ida Adella JACKSON.
Third Generation
4. Enid Muriel FIGUEROA m. 18 OCT 1915, Oswald Ramon NUNES, b. 10 SEP 1891, KINGSTON, (son of Jose (Joseph) Ramon NUNES and Alice Althea PARKE) occupation Mgr.Govt.Savings Bank.
Children:
6. i Michael Keith b. 28 JAN 1918.
5. Alfred Augutus PHILLIPS b. 28 AUG 1883, PORTLAND, occupation Physician & Surgeon, m. Lucille GRANT.
Children:
i Ruby D. Grant PHILLIPS m. 6 JUL 1957, Zin Alexander HENRY, b. 3 JUN 1921, (son of George HENRY and Ena MORDECAI) notes : U.W.I., occupation Lecturer-Industrial Rels.
Fourth Generation
6. Michael Keith NUNES O.D. b. 28 JAN 1918, m. (1) 4 SEP 1943, Elizabeth Marion KITTOE, (daughter of Sutton KITTOE) m. (2) 24 FEB 1960, Christine Angela DAVIDSON, (daughter of Dennis Groom DAVIDSON and Carmen Iris CORINALDI). Michael died 17 FEB 1996, Lime Cay, cause: Heart attack.
Children by Elizabeth Marion KITTOE:
i Michael Anthony (Tony) NUNES b. 10 OCT 1947, KINGSTON, occupation Attorney-at-Law, m. 18 JUL 1970, Neave Therese O'BRIEN, (daughter of Thomas Paul O'BRIEN and Maeve Therese DALEY).
ii Stephen NUNES.
iii Margaret NUNES.
iv Anne NUNES.
v Catherine NUNES.
I figure that Tony Nunes is my fifth cousin, one removed. Nowhere else in this book (and that includes Appendix 2) will you find any Boom descendant of my generation more distant than fourth cousin.