| Notes |
- BIRTH:
- Year of birth would be 1784-1785, according to age (72 years) in his November 1857 burial record in the records of St. Joseph RC Church, St. Joseph, Trinidad and Tobago. Native of Trinidad, according to this record.
- Since he owned an enslaved servant in 1813, if it is assumed that one had to be 21 years of age in order to own an enslaved person, then this would indicate a year of birth on or before 1792 (which would be consistent with the above record).
- Since he is listed as having been commissioned a Captain in the local Trinidad Militia on 24 January 1815 (see below), he must have been at least 15 years of age at this point (the age at which free Trinidadian men were required to enlist in the Trinidad Militia in 1816, and officer commissions were bought from the Governor or his Secretary, so could theoretically go to a person at any age), so he would have been born before 24 January 1800. [Source for information on the Trinidad Militia: Randolph T. Jones, "The Trinidad Militia, 1801-38," Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 82, no. 330 (2004): 132-54. Accessed December 13, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44231056 ].
MILITARY:
- Captain in the Loyal Trinidad Light Infantry Battalion, Second Division, Trinidad Militia, with a commissioning date of 24 January 1815 [Source: The Trinidad Almanac for the Year of Our Lord, 1827 (Port of Spain, Trinidad: J. Holman & Co., 1827), page 36].
LAND HOLDINGS:
- Owned Desert Estate (also called Le Desert Estate) in Santa Cruz, a cocoa plantation, beginning with the 1819 Plantation Slaves Register. This was listed as a new plantation in the 1819 Register. The record of it on the list of new plantations is in The National Archives of the UK (TNA), T 71/508, page 177r, "Desert," image available in "Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers, 1813-1834," Trinidad, "1819, Plantation Slaves," image 181, on Ancestry at https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1129/images/CSUK1812_133749-00180. Given the small number of slaves involved, it seems as if it was a relatively small estate.
- Jean Baptiste Sellier kept the Desert estate in his personal ownership as he proceeded to act as the manager of other plantations owned by relatives:
>La Sagesse Estate in Santa Cruz (a cocoa plantation owned by Celestin Dancla, a relative of his wife) for which he was listed as being in possession as an attorney in the 1825 Plantation Slaves Register (but not in the 1822 or 1828 Registers, so it seems that his role here was temporary); and
>La Marguerite Estate in St. Joseph (a sugar plantation) which Jean Baptiste managed after the death of his father in 1831.
- Listed as a co-owner of "La Marguerite" Estate in St. Joseph, formerly known as "Marguerite" but listed as a new plantation name in the list of such names in the 1834, Plantation Slaves Register. This record is in TNA, T 71/519, page 165v, "La Marguerite," image available in "Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers, 1813-1834," Trinidad, "1834, Plantation Slaves," image 170, on Ancestry at https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1129/images/CSUK1812_133759-00169.
- Received compensation in 1836 for the emancipation of enslaved workers on two estates (see below), so was still owner of both at that time.
- Listed as the owner of La Marguerite Estate in St. Joseph in the 1851 Census of Trinidad.
SLAVE COMPENSATION:
Was awarded compensation by the British Government after the emancipation of slaves on two of his estates.
- Was awarded ?130 11s 5d on 13 June 1836 as compensation for 3 enslaved persons. The name of the estate involved is not in the University College London database, but was probably Le Desert Estate (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/28356)
- Was awarded ?2073 16s 11d on 13 June 1836 as compensation for 42 enslaved persons on La Marguerite Estate (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/28361)
DEATH:
Date of death would be on or just before his date of burial of 4 November 1857 in his burial record in the records of St. Joseph RC Church, St. Joseph, Trinidad and Tobago.
BURIAL:
Full date given as 4 November 1857 in his burial record in the records of St. Joseph RC Church, St. Joseph, Trinidad and Tobago. Buried in the principal cemetery of the parish, according to this record, which would probably be the larger Steph's Cemetery near the junction of King Street and Eastern Main Road, and not the smaller cemetery adjoining the church itself.
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Our Family History
Abt 1785 - Abt 1857 (~ 72 years)
Siblings