Late 1985, after I relocated to Costa Rica, Central America. I began compiling information about the London(s) in Guyana. Thanks to the tremendous help from my now deceased Uncle Walter, eldest sister Mata, and half first cousin Louisa Chapman, aka, Teacher Exily, all of who resided on three different continents, I secured useful reliable historical data. Furthermore, other living interested family members willingly provided supplementary information.
Around 1800, a youngster was born somewhere in West Africa. He was brutally, and forcibly transported to the then colony of British Guiana in South America, and held as a slave during the prime of his youthful years. It emerged that either by dint of hard work, and perhaps outstanding leadership qualities he achieved the position of headman among his fellow slaves to become what was known as a slave driver. He could neither read nor write English, the language of his (sic) ‘Owners.’ He signed his last WILL and TESTAMENT with an “X” mark that was accordingly witnessed. The orthography of the writer, as well as the signature of one of the attending witnesses to the event, strongly advocates that that individual was the author. It is also quite probable that the said author was a member of the London Missionary Society; an ardent British abolitionist group stationed at Rodborough on the West Coast of Berbice, and someone who graciously participated in that endeavor. One also surmises that as a quid pro quo, this ex-slave either took the name Jupiter London, or was baptized into Christianity, and given that anglicized name. Other evidence of the association between the missionaries, and the ex-slaves, was the fact that Jupiter bequeathed part of his estate to the London Missionary Society. The foregoing generosity of Jupiter, is somewhat analogous to the statement attributed to Nobel Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who said: - “after the Missionaries arrived in Africa they told the Africans to close their eyes, and bow their heads in prayer, however, when the Africans opened their eyes all of their lands had disappeared.”
Once slavery was abolished around 1835, eight ex-slaves with their acquired anglicized names, precisely: Thomas Bacchus; Monday Macunja Barry; James Carmichael; Lodewyk Daly; Anthony David; Jupiter London; Caesar Toney; and Thomas Watt pooled their resources and purchased the abandoned Plantation Inverness (No. 8) situated on the West Coast of Berbice. Jupiter secured the lower eastern portion of the estate. Additionally Jupiter owned Plantation Jose, the lower section of No. 10. At Jose, sugarcane juice was converted into syrup in open copper vessels manned by ex-slaves employed by Jupiter’s heirs, but there is no information about how he acquired that estate. Unfortunately Jose was dispossessed from his heirs due probably to poor management, some underhand tricks, as well as non-interest from his sons after the sudden death of their lawyer during legal proceedings about unpaid debts.
Jupiter wed one Phoebe, whose single name implies that she was probably a slave girl, also brought from West Africa. The union between Jupiter and Phoebe produced four boys whose names were Isaac; Christian Jupiter; William Ebenezer, and Jacob. James Roone is mentioned as the son of Jupiter, but no explanation is offered to indicate whether he was an adoptee, or the illegitimate child of either Jupiter, or Phoebe. Suffice it to say that James Roone was subsequently involved in the shenanigans that resulted in the loss of the Jose Estate to unscrupulous individuals.
On the other branch of the tree Ningu Pansu arrived from Mozambique also as a slave, and afterward changed his name to Robert Harris. He was wed to Tumba, and conceivably, she was also an ex-slave girl as the singular non-Anglo name suggests. The union between Robert Harris and Tumba produced three daughters Jane, Eliza, and Sarah; they consequently became the roots for the other branches of t
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The London(s) of Guyana