Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library

A LIST OF LANDHOLDERS IN THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA


Together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from
THE QUIT RENT BOOKS IN THE YEAR 1754

This list is in the National Archives in London, in the Colonial Office papers, document number CO 142/31.  The cover sheet to the list merely states:

Jamaica
A
Recd. With Gov Knowles's Letter
dated ye 31st December 1754

Over 1,550 property owners are listed.  For each name, the number of acres held in each parish is listed.  Some held land in several parishes.

There is no minimum limit to the size of properties listed, and some were listed for merely one acre.

In 1754 the island consisted of 19 parishes.  Note the following:
        St. James had not yet been divided into St. James and Trelawny.
        Manchester had not yet been carved out of St. Elizabeth, Clarendon and Vere.
        Metcalf had not been created from St. George and St. Mary.

When patents of land were granted, the grantees had to pay an annual "quit rent" to the Crown for the land.  This list was taken from the "Quit Rent Books" which indicated the number of acres on which each of the persons named was supposed to pay the Crown an annual fee.  For more on this topic, please see 'Plat Books' and 'Patents' on the page Places to do research in Jamaica.  For 'Quit Rent' see the Glossary.

At the end of the list there is a summary, which states:

Total number of acres possessed in the Parish of:

Kingston 46
Port Royal 7,032
St. Catharine 90,167
St. Andrew 102,143
St. David 30,900
St. Thomas in the East 108,668
Portland, 24,324
St. George 42,617
St. Mary 108,160
St. Anne 81,012
St. James 157,068
Hanover 55,423
Westmoreland, 161,175
St. Elizabeth 219,838
Clarendon 230,688
Vere 55,149
St. Dorothy 41,619
St. John 65,446
St. Thomas in the Vale 90,094
TOTAL  1,671,569 acres

Please use the following links to access the detailed lists:

A - C  1754 landowners Abrahams to Custin
D - H  Dallas to Hynes
I - Q   Inglis to Quixano
R - Y  Radcliffe to Yules


DELINQUENT QUIT RENTS

A number of landowners were delinquent in their Quit Rent payments.  A list of those delinquent from 1694 to 1754 is found in Colonial Office papers, CO 137/28 pages 195 to 196.  Some were already on a list to be escheated to the Crown.  Please see Escheat and delinquent Quit Rents.
From 1739 to 1760 55,000 acres of land were forfeited to the crown as a penalty for not opening the land up to cultivation, or for non-payment of quit-rent due to the crown.


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