John Sutton Minot

Attorney-at-law in Kingston, receiver of Passley Garden estate in Portland in the 1820s and also possibly a legatee of the estate. His death-date of 1830 is taken from a genealogical website sourced to the parish register.

"Minot Jane Susan Daughter of John Sutton Minot and Eliza his Wife Born 22nd September 1814 Baptised 1st October following" in Portland, Jamaica.

"Minot Mary Hawthorn Daughter of John Sutton Minot & Eliza his Wife Born 16th December 1810 Baptised 22nd October" in Portland, Jamaica.

The IGI lists John Sutton Minot as born in Portland, Jamaica, in 1784 and 1788, and marrying Eliza in Portland in 1809 and 1813.

Benjamin McMahon worked as an overseer on Passley Garden in the 1820s. According to McMahon, under Minot’s management the estate suffered as slaves were “exceedingly ill-treated” to the extent that they were highly unproductive which seemed to only perpetuate the squalid conditions of starvation and poverty. "Mr. Minot was very poor, and very capricious in his temper; he seldom kept an overseer more than a few months, and generally left his salary unpaid on discharging him. Whilst I was there, the book-keeper discharged himself, and Mr. Minot requested me to pay him his salary. I did so, but was never repaid. Mr. Minot died intestate, and I never was able to recover one farthing for my services on the estate."

Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online]; Burial at Portland, 08/01/1830 B0024 Jamaica Parish Register Burials I & II, 1826-1844, I, p. 235, from http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/r/R5ka-wi.htm [accessed 20/08/2017].

Benjamin McMahon, A Description of Jamaica Planters, viz Attorneys, Overseers and Book-keepers, With Several Interesting Anecdotes (London, 1839) pp. 78-79.

We are grateful to Robert Keirle, Siddharth Singh Ahlawat and Hannah Dubad for their assistance with compiling this entry.