St James is one of the original parishes in Jamaica. From it, Trelawny was formed in 1770. In his book of 1790 entitled “A descriptive account of the island of Jamaica” , William Beckford described the parish as the second most flourishing town after Kingston. He wrote that it possessed around 350 houses, 70 suger plantations, 70 settlements and 27, 000 slaves. He reported that St James experienced large commercial trade from its ports to Great Britain and North America.
Below is the list of last names of early settlers to St James, Jamaica during the 18th century.
Copyright Sharon Tomlin 2007