Henry Josselyn

Slave-owner in Kingston, Jamaica. Online family trees give his wife Susan Burn Josselyn as nee Riensset, born in Haiti in 1792, and Henry's death in Jamaica in 1832.

1. Henry Rieusset, son of Henry Josselyn and of Susan Burn his wife, born 23/08/1823 and baptisted in St Andrew, Jamaica 23/04/1823. Sophia Ann, born 09/05/1827 and Helen Mary, born 02/09/1828, daughters of Henry and Susanna Burn Josselyn of Moscow Penn, "white", were baptised in St Andrew, 01/01/1829.

2. Henry Josselyn registered one enslaved person in Kingston in 1823 and 18 enslaved people in Kingston in 1826. By 1829 he had sold 17 of the enslaved people to William Smith.

3. Henry Josselyn, wharfinger, was a member of a jury at Surrey Assize Court in 1826. There are accounts of sales of goods on Henry Josselyn's wharf in 1826 and 1827.

4. Henry Josselyn is probably the same person as the Henry Josselyn who was born 05/10/1793 and baptised 04/11/1793 in St James, Jamaica, the son of George and Mary Josselyn. He is possibly also the sister of Sophia Matilda Josselyn, who married Major Francis Elrington in 1798. The will of Major Francis Elrington of the 6th West India Regiment of Foot was written in 1798 and proved in London in 1802. Elrington bequeathed enslaved people to his wife Sophia Matilda for life and thereafter to his son Francis Charles. His executors were his wife and father-in-law George Josselyn.

5. He is likely also the person mistranscribed as "Mary Josselyn" in a volume of burials for all parishes, of Prospect Hall in St Andrew when he was buried in Kingston 05/03/1832 aged 39 years. A note in private family papers reads, "These are to certify that Henry Josselyn, late of Prospect Hall in the Parish of St Andrew, was buried at the Parish Church burial ground on the 5th day of March in the year 1832 being 39 years of age as appears by the register book of the City and Parish of Kingston. / (sgd) George Hill, Assistant Curate / Kingston, 13th April, 1833." A further note adds, "Susanna Burn Rieussett the wife of Henry Josselyn died at Prospect Pen in the Parish of St. Andrew – the Pen (now 1899) belongs to Mr Marescaux and is called Cherry Garden. She died of Cholera in 1850."

6. Susan Burn Josselyn does not appear in later almanacs but the estate may be the Rieussett's Prospect registered to P. Rieussett in 1845. A Peter Rieussett is was listed as Clerk of the Market in St Andrew in 1817 with a salary of £300.

1. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

2. T71/92 64; T71/100 56; T71/108 62.

3. Royal Gazette of Jamaica 05/08/1826, 30/12/1826, 17/11/1827.

4. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online]; Caribbeana vol. 4 p. 296; PROB 11/1372.

5. Familysearch.org, unindexed Jamaican parish registers, All parishes, Burials 1826-1836, Vol. 1 p. 50; private family papers.

6. Jamaica Almanacs (1817, 1845).

We are grateful to Rosemary Dodd for her assistance with compiling this entry.