Joseph Hamer of Demerara

Jos. Hamor [sic] appears in the 1794 as the owner of an unnamed estate given as No.15 & 16 Berbice West Zeekust and another unnamed Plantagie in Berbice among others in a section headed 'In de Rivier Berbice, van beneden opwaards', and in 1798 as the owner of De Eendragt in Demerara.

1. Will of Joseph Hamer of Demerara South America [made in 1800] proved 20/11/1805. He bequeathed an additional annuity of £1000 to his wife, on top of an existing £2000 p.a. (presumably under a marriage settlement), and left £5000 to Samuel Blair Hamer, son of Marianne Deniant, 'a free mestizo woman' to whom he left £300 p.a. He left a further £100 p.a. to the reputed daughter of his father. The will divides his residual estate among his three sons (William, Henry and Michael) in equal shares, and refers to his plantations in Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice without naming them.

2. According to an online family tree, Joseph Hamer was the son of John H. Hamer. He married Mary (possibly Budgen). They had three sons and four daughters. Joseph also had an 'outside' family, a son and five daughters, with Marianne Deniant. Joseph's two legitimate sons were named as guardians of his illegitimate children in his will.

3. An inventory of Mon Repos, the property of Joseph Hamer Esquire, deceased, with plantation acreage, buildings and the names of 85 men, 70 women, 43 male children and 46 female children, is held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

4. Samuel Blair Hamer, son of Joseph and Marianne Deniant, married Anna Scott 17/03/1828 in St George, Bloomsbury. He remarried, to Caroline Catherine Annie Waldron, 26/06/1851 in St Giles, Reading, Berkshire.

5. Marianne, daughter of Joseph and Marianne Deniant, married George Lawrence (1788-1857), a clerk in the Bank of England. They had two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary. In the censuses of 1841, 1851 and 1861, Marianne (Mary) Lawrence was living at 52 Cadogan Place, London, and her sisters Eliza, Louisa and Catherine. All four women were born in British Guiana and their occupation was given as "Property, British Guiana". Eliza died in 1865, effects under £100, Marianne died in 1866, effects under £450, and Catherine died in 1874, effects under £100. No death record for Louisa has been found.

Naam-Lyst der Bestierders, officieren, bediendens en plantagien op de colonie de Berbice (Amsterdam, 1794), transcribed by Paul Koulen, pp. 8 and 10. We are very grateful to Mr Koulen for making his transcription available to us.

1. PROB 11/1433/159.

2. http://www.mathewfamilytree.com/custom.html [accessed 06/05/2015].

3. Plantation slave inventory, MGS/24, Michael Graham-Stewart Slavery Collection, Royal Museums Greenwich, https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/archive/rmgc-object-477931 [accessed 15/12/2021].

4. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online]; Ancestry.com, England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973 [database online].

5. 'Lawrence families of the Builth and Llanelwedd area in the 18th and 19th centuries', Rednorshire Society Transactions Vol. 59 (1989) via http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1191402/llgc-id:1196728/llgc-id:1196839/getText [accessed 06/05/2015]. 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses online. National Probate Calendar 1865, 1866 and 1875.

We are grateful to Rhonda Mathew and Gillian Hutchison for their assistance with compiling this entry.