Dr William Brebner

Dr William Brebner, originally from Boharm, Banffshire, Scotland. Subsequently, doctor and surgeon of Hanover parish, Jamaica. Brebner had been resident in Hanover since at least 1815, living at 'house at Green Island, next to Parsonage'. In the Jamaica Almanac of that year he is recorded as owning 3 acres and 4 enslaved people. These totals gradually increased over the following two decades, so that by 1833 he owned 31 acres and 12 enslaved people, and in 1840 a 148 acre estate named Pedro, near Lucea. He remained in Jamaica after emancipation, dying in 1842 at Pedro.

In 1832 Slave Register returns listed ownership of 23 enslaved persons (an increase of one since 1829). Since the 1829 register he had purchased 5 slaves: Bob, alias Robert Campbell (recorded as 'negro, 16 years of age, creole, son of Kitty', purchased 6th August 1829 from Ann P. Clarke of Hanover; Manuel, alias James McKenzie ('negro, 20, creole, son of Helen McCulloch', purchased 27/1/1830 from Hugh Munro of Hanover; Edward Lee ('negro, creole', purchased October 1830 from J. Drummond of Westmoreland; Kitty ('negro, 56, African', purchased 6/8/1829 from Ann P. Clarke of Hanover. Died 24/6/1830; Helen McCulloch or Nancy ('negro, 38, creole', purchased 27/1/1830 from Hugh Munro of Hanover). During the same period he sold Joan, alias Frances Thelwett ('negro, creole') on 24/12/1834 and Annie Stewart ('negro, 29 & 3.5 months, creole') on 16/10/1830 and Narcesse ('negro, 22, creole') on 27/11/1830. Peter Atkinson ('negro, 58, African') had died on 24/2/1831, and Diana O'Malley ('negro, 2.5 years old, creole') born December 1830.

Scots in the West Indies, 1707-1857, available through Ancestry.com.

The Aberdeen Journal, 1842.

Jamaica Almanacs, available through Jamaicanfamilysearch.com: http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples/Almanacs.htm

We are grateful to Cynthia Gentles for her help compiling this entry.