This page is under development and will include several references to other than Jewish in the Caribbean.
Built in the 1650s and one of the oldest buildings in the western hemisphere, Barbados' synagogue offers a look at the history of the Jews in Barbados, which ties intricately with the history of Barbados plantations and Barbados trade and commerce. During the restoration, a mikvah (ritual bath) was discovered; the mikvah is now open and still has a fresh spring running through it. The museum on the grounds tells a very lively history in a visually exciting manner. Located in Bridgetown, the capital city of Barbados, the synagogue is worth a visit for anyone interested in history and Jewish history in particular.
Also see History of the Jews in Barbados http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Barbados
NON-JEWISH
Nearly all of the E1a1 non-Jewish E1a1M44 surnames in the associated haplogroup project were known to be in Barbados early church records. For example: Phelp (not Phelps), Hall, Chamberlain, Garrett, Yeomans, Walker, Simms, Castle, Worthington, Short. No Zimmerman. You might want to search for yours. A great site for this is at Familysearch.com Go to Barbados, Church records, 1637-1887
I have a site for the Phelps there at Research on the Phelps in Early Barbados Among those names were Pond – a surname also ydna-matching the Phelps and of course are E1a1
These records were Anglican and in most cases are named as African if so. Few were. Barbados Quaker records were lost.
I simply cant believe all of us M44 men descended from those going through Barbados. Yet there they are. Of course similar surnames were used by many and may be entirely different haplogroups. It is also curious that those surnames who are e1a1 M44 show almost no matches of anyone at 12 markers other than our known surname. History indicates that Irish children were sent to Barbados as a form of child labor. No doubt some took the names of those they knew back home. See England’s Irish Slaves
So what do we make of this?
Doug Phelps
Quaker Notes:
Walker http://www.craigavonhistoricalsociety.org.uk/rev/chapmanquakermeeting.html
Chamberlain http://www.failteromhat.com/quaker/page3.php
garrett http://www.garrettfamily.info/
I highly recommend the following book http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Pirates-Caribbean-Swashbuckling-Freedom/dp/0385513984
Also see "Barbados beyond the beaches" These have a lot of information about the persecution of the Jews by the Spanish Inquisition (around 1492) and how the Jews of Spain and Portugal came to the new world. I think that this period could have been when the Phelps and other American colonial E1a1 ancestors came to the new world via the west indies and possibly back migrated to Europe (England?)
There were Portuguese "conversos" that settled colonies in the new world. Also, the Dutch and English invited Jewish traders to England and Holland to counter the Spanish powers and capitalize on their communications network outside the power structure of the Catholic Church.
To my mind I think that this is a more likely route to investigate that the one time influx from the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
John K. Phelps