Joseph Travers

Son of Joseph Travers (1752-1820), brother of John Travers (q.v.) and partner in Joseph Travers & Sons (q.v): with his brother he was awarded the compensation for Harmony Hall in Jamaica and Marble Hill in Antigua.

1. Appears to be a trustee or executor in the claim with Martha Fleming Ottley, but the will in which he was 'interested' was probably that of Sarah Hooker widow of Testwood Hants., which was proved 30/04/1814, when Joseph was still a young man. Sarah Willett Hooker, nee Ottley, was the daughter of William Ottley of Hengrave, grand-daughter of Drewry Ottley of St Kitts and sister of Martha Fleming Ottley (q.v.). In this award, for part of the compensation for the enslaved people on the Marble Hill estate on Antigua, he was almost certainly acting (with Benjamin Travers, q.v.) as a trustee of Caroline Ottley (nee Travers), the wife of the Rev. John Bridges Ottley (ne Hooker).

2. Will of Joseph Travers, wholesale grocer of St Swithins Lane proved 12/08/1851; that of his father, under which he and his brother John were trustees, was proved 14/06/1821.

3. Harmony Hall was owned in 1798 by John Ingram senior (Scottish-born merchant of Brighton, Sussex) and his son Robert Ingram (merchant of Billiter Square, London, born in Scotland in 1759): "Deed between Robert Ingram of London, merchant and John Ingram of Brighton, co Sussex Esq. This relates to land and plantation sugar works in the parish of Trelawny in the county of Cornwall and Island of Jamaica and called Harmony Hall containing about 800 acres also 450 acres and called James's Valley. This is in fine state with signature and seal of Robert Ingram, dated 1798." John senior of Brighton, Sussex, died in 1800. His will was proved by his widow Janet Findlay; and mentions his son Robert (a merchant in London), son-in-law Joseph Travers (q.v., grocer, who had married Jane 14/03/1781). Robert Ingram, formally of Billiter Square London now of Bethnall Green Middlesex, died 10/02/1816: in his will he mentions his friend James Cunningham, one of his executors and also George and John Cunningham. Harmony Hall is shown as held by the Hon James Cunningham and George Cunningham up to and including the 1816 Jamaica Almanac: Joseph Travers first appears in the 1818 Jamaica Almanac.

T71/877 Antigua claim no. 38 (Marble Hill).

1. PROB 11/1555.

2. PROB 11/2138; PROB 11/1645.

3. Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919) Vol. 1 p. 20. PROB 11/1337/21 (John Ingram senior); [will of Robert Ingram?]. Jamaica Almanac (1816 and 1818). See the entry for Susanna Fletcher Ingram for more on the Ingram family.

We are grateful to Julie Weizenegger for her assistance in compiling this entry.