Justinian Casamajor

Merchant of London. Compensation for Elmes estate in Antigua was awarded to James Newman, executor of Justinian Casamajor, 'who was survivng trustee of a Term of 500 years for securing several annuities - for arrears of subsisting and determined annuities £1663 7s 3d And annuities now subsisting which together with the factorage now amount to £387 3s 9d per annum'. The annuitants were legatees of Matthew Christian, owner of Elmes on his death in 1777 or 1778.

1. Justinian Casamajor, son of John Casamajor and Hannah Cradock, was born 09/09/1746 and baptised 09/09/1747 at St Anne's Soho, London. He married Mary, daughter of Duncan Grant of Antigua. Justinian Casamajor and his wife Mary had at least 10 children - 3 baptised in Marylebone, 1774-1778 and 7 baptised in Shenley, Hertfordshire, 1780-1792. There were possibly 18 children in total. In the Yale Center for British Art there is a portrait by Daniel Gardner (1750–1805) of ‘Mrs. Justinian Casamajor and Eight of her Children’ (1779)

2. Justinian Casamajor inherited Potterells in North Mymms, Hertfordshire, and also property in Middlesex, from his friend Charles De Laet who died in 1792 without issue.

3. The will of Justinian Casamajor or South Audley Street, Middlesex, was proved 17/09/1821. According to an online report, the will mentions interests in Antigua and St Kitts and well as shares in a Bristol warehouse: 'There is something strange about his will as no estate duty was paid, and across it the accountants had written "insolvent" and mentioned a letter from the West Indies'.

4. Offered for sale: letter from Justinian Casamajor of Potterells Grove dated 19/01/1809 to Mrs Curling, stating that the Court of Chancery has disallowed all charges of interest on the arrears of the annuities of the late Matthew Christian's estates amounting to £2567 2s 5d.

5. A statement of the annuity account of Justinian Casamajor deceased from the executors of William Hooper as trustee of the annuities on the estate of Matthew Christian dated 20/11/1820 is available online at the Caribbean Documents Collection, University of Miami.

6. At some point Casamajor also owned a lease on Vernon's estate in Antigua. In a contested claim for compensation for enslaved people on Mount William estate in St Vincent, it was claimed that Casamajor illegally transferred enslaved people from Vernon's to Mount William.

7. Justinian's daughter Elizabeth Grace (born 15/12/1774) married John Vernon (of Vernon's estate, Antigua) at North Mimms, Hertfordshire, 17/11/1808.

T71/877 Antigua claim no. 275 (Elmes). T71/1220 and T71/1221.

1. Familysearch.org batch nos. C06236-8, C04885-2, C03324-1, C03324-2. Langford Vere Oliver, History of the Island of Antigua (London, Mitchell and Hughes, 1894) Vol. 3 p. 174.

2. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery during the Time of Lord Chancellor Thurlston (4th ed., London, W. Clarke & Sons, 1819), vol. 4 pp. 527-536.

3. PROB 11/1647/416. http://www.brookmans.com/history/casamajor.shtml [accessed 15/08/2013].

4. http://www.richardfordmanuscripts.co.uk/keywords/antigua [accessed 15/08/2013].

5. http://merrick.library.miami.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/asm0570/id/13/rec/20 [accessed 15/08/2013].

6. T71/892 St Vincent claim no. 470 (Mount William). T71/1302: counterclaims of the two Vernons were based on the value of enslaved persons sold 'illegally' by Justinian Casamajor from Vernons to Bryan Blake and removed to Mt William. Cecilia Blake replicated, tabling an indemnity from 1821 whereby executor of J. Casamajor surrendered the remainder of his lease on Vernons to Vernon and indemnify Justinian Casamajor's estate, whose executor was James Newman. Notice of appeal vs award, dismissed 07/07/1838.

7. Familysearch.org batch no. M07272-1. Langford Vere Oliver, History of the Island of Antigua (London, Mitchell and Hughes, 1894) Vol. 3 pp. 172-177, 'Family of Vernon'.