Four Paths, Middlesex One Place Study

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Four Paths, Middlesex One Place Study

This profile is part of the Four Paths, Middlesex One Place Study.

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Name

Four Paths, Clarendon, Middlesex, Jamaica

Geography

Country: Jamaica

County: Middlesex

Parish: Clarendon

GPS Coordinates: 17.964663209558104, -77.29402624123931

Elevation: 46.6 m or 152.9 feet

History

The purpose for creating this One Place Study of Four Paths is to document the place where my Rodriques ancestors, beginning with my great grandfather, Charles, were born.

Charles S. Rodriques was born in Four Paths in the early 1850s. His wife, Julia McLean was from the nearby village of Brixton. Both Four Paths and Brixton shared the same pastor and so, were connected. (Source: Jamaica Congregational Churches, A History and Memorial 1901 (Internet Archive), pages 33-34.)

Charles and Julia lived together in Four Paths and had eleven children there. They are: Ida, Percyval, Kenneth, Mabel, Arbrey, Rupert, Hubert, Muriel, Eva, Barrett and Evelyn.

Timeline: 1670-1834

The earliest survey of Clarendon parish, where Four Paths is located, was completed in the year 1670, fifteen years after Britain took Jamaica from Spain. The survey listed 143 families and a total of about 1,430 people living in the parish. (Source: Jamaican Family Search.) The overall population increased significantly under British rule and the reintroduction of slavery on the island.

Four Paths estate first appeared on a map when it was plotted as a sugar estate with cattle mill, in James Robertson's 1798 survey of the county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was later recorded in Robertson’s 1804 map of Jamaica. In 1809, Four Paths estate along with two others in the parish, all owned by the same proprietor, had 444 slaves.

By 1834, thirty-six years after Four Paths was established, England abolished slavery on the island. In and around Four Paths were several sugar estates and large properties where a great number of slaves were owned and worked. The Four Paths estate (also known as Turners’ Four Paths) had five different owners within its thirty-six years of existence. These owners were, Dutton Smith Turner, Donald McLean, Edward Protheroe senior, Philip Prothereoe the younger and James Wright Turner. (Source: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/estate/view/2841)

The Four Paths United Church, regarded as “the oldest of the former Congregational Churches on the island” was inaugurated the same year that slavery was abolished. Its founder was an English missionary, Reverend W.G. Barrett. A history of the church is on pages 33-34 of the book, Jamaica Congregational Churches: A History and Memorial 1901. (Source: https://archive.org/details/jamaicacongregat00unse/page/33/mode/1uphttps://jamaicanancestralrecords.com/parishes-2/clarendon-2/four-paths-united-four-paths-clarendon/)

Rodriqueses in Four Paths: 1850s-1990s

Although Charles Rodriques was born in Four Paths in the 1850s to Rodriques and Rodriques, without his parents’ given names, I cannot tell exactly who they were, where they were from or when they arrived in this place. Charles’ last descendant to live (and die) in Four Paths was his grandson, Austin Rodriques. Austin died at the family home on Foga Road in the 1990s. His funeral was hosted by the Four Paths United Church.

Population

Four Paths’ population, when it was first plotted as a sugar estate, is unknown. In 1809, when it was owned by Dutton Smith Turner (who also owned Eden and Fountain estates), there was a total of 444 slaves on all three estates. At the end of slavery, the number of slaves for Four Paths alone was listed as ninety one. Details of the slave population for all the years that the Four Paths estate was operational is listed in the attached spreadsheet. Source: Legacies of British Slavery database as well as Jamaica Almanacs for the years 1811-1833. Source: 'Four Paths [1] [ Jamaica | Clarendon ]', Legacies of British Slavery database, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/estate/view/2841 [accessed 29th June 2023].

Sources

• Jamaica Almanacs 1811-1833
• Jamaican Ancestral Records
• Jamaica Congregational Churches, A History and Memorial 1901 (Internet Archive)
• Legacies of British Slavery database
• Robertson’s 1804 Jamaica map