JOURNEY WITH US.
A research guide to ancestry, family history, and genealogy resources for Suriname.
Uncover with Ancestors of Paradise the untold stories of your Surinamese ancestors!
”From Anegada to Virgin Gorda, tour the Caribbean in this gorgeous site packed with resources, historical photos and videos…”
101 Best Genealogy Websites of 2024
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records.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through census records, court records, deeds, naturalization records, military records, ship passenger lists as well as birth, marriage, and death records.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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Civil Registry Suriname (from 1828) | Nationaal Archief Suriname
In Suriname a Civil Registry was introduced in 1828 according to the Dutch model. Unlike in the Netherlands, the Civil Registry did not immediately apply to the entire population. Two groups of people were missing. People in slavery were excluded, who were noted in the separate slave register. They only entered the Civil Registry after the abolition of slavery on July 1, 1863. Most of the inhabitants of the interior were also missing until after the Second World War. For a long time, the civil servants only worked in the old colonial area: Paramaribo and the current districts of Wanica, Para, Commewijne, Saramacca, Coronie and Nickerie. Maroons and indigenous people were only registered if they had a child or died in those districts, or if they married someone who was already registered.
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FAMILYSEARCH RESEARCH WIKI | Suriname
The FamilySearch Research Wiki is a free, online genealogical guide created and maintained by FamilySearch, a non-profit organization. It contains links to genealogy databases, websites, other resources, research strategies, and genealogical guidance to assist in the search for your ancestors. Articles included are locality pages for countries around the world and topic pages that include pertinent genealogy record types explaining how to use the record, what it contains, and how to find it.
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OPEN ARCHIVES | SURINAME
Search the genealogical data of Dutch and Belgian archives and societies and automatically find linked records and additional information about people and context.
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SHIPINDEX.ORG: A VESSEL RESEARCH DATABASE
ShipIndex.org simplifies vessel research. Whether you’re a genealogist, a maritime historian, a researcher, or just curious, we can help you learn more about the ships that interest you. We tell you which maritime resources, such as books, journals, magazines, newspapers, CD-ROMs, websites, and online databases mention the ships that interest you. We enhance these references by noting which ones include illustrations or crew and passenger lists, and where you can find or purchase the resource.
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SlaveVoyages
The SlaveVoyages website is a collaborative digital initiative that compiles and makes publicly accessible records of the largest slave trades in history. Search these records to learn about the broad origins and forced relocations of more than 12 million African people who were sent across the Atlantic in slave ships, and hundreds of thousands more who were trafficked within the Americas. Explore where they were taken, the numerous rebellions that occurred, the horrific loss of life during the voyages, the identities and nationalities of the perpetrators, and much more.
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SURINAME AND NETHERLANDS ANTILLES: DECLARED FREE SLAVES (EMANCIPATION 1863) | NATIONAAL ARCHIEF
Index of enslaved people in Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles who were emancipated in 1863.
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Suriname: Slave Registers, 1816-1863 | Nationaal Archief
In the Surinamese slave registers, enslaved people were registered on the page, the 'folio', of their owner. This could be a plantation or a private owner. The slave registers start in 1830 and continue until the abolition of slavery in Suriname on July 1, 1863.
In the slave registers you will find a person's name, gender, age or year of birth, mother's name (mainly in registers from 1848), the owner and a link to the scan of the folio. You will also find the date on which a 'mutation' was recorded, the type of mutation (birth, death, registration, deregistration and registration) and sometimes additional information.
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WIEWASWIE
CBG | Center for Family History in The Hague is the owner of WieWasWie.nl. CBG is the national center for knowledge, documentation and publicity for genealogy and heraldry in the Netherlands.
collections.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through our collection of diverse genealogical resources.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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AlleSurinamers.org | Stichting voor Surinaamse Genealogie
Welkom op AlleSurinamers.org, de bronnenwebsite van de Stichting voor Surinaamse Genealogie (SSG). De stichting heeft deze site opgezet om alle belangrijke bronnen voor Surinaams familieonderzoek op één plek bij elkaar te brengen, deze van een heldere toelichting te voorzien en up-to-date te houden. De stichting wil hiermee mensen met belangstelling voor Surinaams familieonderzoek de goede richting wijzen en behulpzaam zijn.
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ANCESTRY MESSAGE BOARDS | CARIBBEAN
Ancestry message boards contain over 25 million posts on more than 198,000 boards.
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ANCESTRY MESSAGE BOARDS | Suriname
Ancestry message boards contain over 25 million posts on more than 198,000 boards.
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DIGITAL LIBRARY OF THE CARIBBEAN
The Digital Library of the Caribbean is a cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean & circum-Caribbean.
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THE EARLY CARIBBEAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE
The Early Caribbean Digital Archive is an open access collection of pre-twentieth-century Caribbean texts, maps, and images. Texts include travel narratives, novels, poetry, natural histories, and diaries that have not been brought together before as a single collection focused on the Caribbean. The materials in the archive are primarily authored and published by Europeans, but the ECDA aims to use digital tools to "remix" the archive and foreground the centrality and creativity of enslaved and free African, Afro-creole, and Indigenous peoples in the Caribbean world.
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HISTORY HUB
History Hub is a research support community for everyone, including genealogists, historians, and citizen archivists.
CEMETERIES + MEMORIALS.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through cemetery records, grave records, tombstone inscriptions, and funeral booklets.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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FIND A GRAVE | SURINAME
Find the graves of ancestors, create virtual memorials or add photos, virtual flowers and a note to a loved one's memorial. Search or browse cemeteries and grave records for every-day and famous people from around the world.
historic images + film.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through early photographs, studio portraits, historic landscape images, and film.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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HACHAYIM HAYEHUDIM JEWISH PHOTO LIBRARY | SURINAME
HaChayim HaYehudim Jewish Photo Library is an archive of images from the Jewish world. Jewish communities in the Caribbean featured include Aruba, Barbados, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, St. Eustatius, St. Thomas, and Trinidad.
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HUNTLEY FILM ARCHIVES | SURINAME
We are a team of dedicated film archivists who aim to help you produce the best archive content for your project.
Our collections are vast and varied - the sum of over fifty years of service to production and to film archiving. Our footage starts around 1895 and we cover the places and people of the 20th century comprehensively and globally. Our holdings are mostly documentary with the addition of behind the scenes Hollywood, Bollywood and a special collection of pioneer film makers. It is with great pride that our source material is still on celluloid for quality and that filmic texture. Our films are housed in purpose built film vaults and our staff expert in their field.
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Mary Evans Picture Library
Mary Evans Picture Library licenses images for use in books, newspapers, exhibitions, websites and all manner of other media. Our images cover a broad range of topics, with the overarching themes of history and film. Our range, however, extends far beyond most people's perception of historical pictures, to include areas such as fashion, design, society and, uniquely, the paranormal.
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THE MONTGOMERY COLLECTION OF CARIBBEAN PHOTOGRAPHS | SURINAME
The Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs is a singular collection of more than 3,500 historical images from 34 countries including Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad. This visual record contains studio portraits, landscapes and tourist views and brings to life the changing economies, environments and communities that emerged post-emancipation. The Collection includes nearly every photographic format available during the years 1840 to 1940, including prints, postcards, daguerreotypes, lantern slides, albums, and stereographs.
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M/S MUSEET FOR SØFART (M/S MARITIME MUSEUM OF DENMARK) | IMAGE ARCHIVE
M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark tells the story of Denmark as one of the world's leading maritime nations in an evocative and dramatic way.
You can visit the digital image archive here where more than 60.000 photos are digitalized (in Danish).
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NATIONAAL ARCHIEF PHOTO COLLECTION | SURINAME
The National Archives manages 15 million photos. You can view more than one million photos online. The photo collection provides an overview of events from the period between 1865 and 1990.
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NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY STEREOGRAPH COLLECTION | SURINAME
This digital compilation was developed in support of the NYPL website, "The African American Migration Experience," a sweeping 500-year historical narrative from the transatlantic slave trade to the Western migration, the colonization movement, the Great Migration, and the contemporary immigration of Caribbeans, Haitians, and sub-Saharan Africans.
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SOUTHEAST ASIAN & CARIBBEAN IMAGES (KITLV) | UNIVERSITAIRE BIBLIOTHEKEN LEIDEN
The KITLV image collection holds photographs, prints and drawings that were acquired by The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV). Housed at Leiden University Libraries since 2014, as part of the KITLV library collection.
The biggest part of the image collection consists of photographs. Around 1890 the KITLV started collecting photographs for the purpose of documenting the image of the Dutch East and West Indies in all their facets, such as landscapes, town views, architecture, and life under indigenous and Dutch rule and so forth.
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VIVID-PIX
Easy-to-use software that helps you fix your pics and documents fast! Free to try - no credit card required.
HISTORIC MAPS.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through historic maps.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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David Rumsey Map Collection | Suriname
The David Rumsey Map Collection was started over 35 years ago and contains more than 200,000 maps. The collection focuses on rare 16th through 21st century maps of North and South America, as well as maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The collection includes atlases, globes, wall maps, school geographies, pocket maps, books of exploration, maritime charts, and a variety of cartographic materials including pocket, wall, children's, and manuscript maps. Items range in date from around 1550 to the present.
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OLD MAPS ONLINE | Suriname
Our mission is to give old maps a new life in the online world via the Old Maps Online search catalog that allows visitors to explore and discover the beauty of historical maps depicting a past geographical place of their interest.
cultural institutions.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through libraries, museums, historical societies, and community cultural centers dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Caribbean culture.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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Association of Saramaka Authorities
The Association of Saramaka Authorities (VSG) was established in 1996 with the aim to represent the position of traditional Saamaka leaders and their people from 77 villages in relation to increasing human and land rights violations by the Surinamese state.
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INDO-CARIBBEAN CULTURAL CENTRE
Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC) is a non-profit, independent, educational organization recognized by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. ICC was established in 1999 with its axiom being “Celebrating unity in cultural diversity in the Caribbean.” It is dedicated to publishing two magazines every year – a Divali souvenir magazine, and an Indian Arrival Day commemorative magazine. ICC is primarily committed to the production of information about people, issues and events affecting Hindus and Indians in multi-ethnic Trinidad and the Caribbean.
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NATIONAAL SLAVERNIJMUSEUM | NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SLAVERY
Within the next few years, the Nationaal Slavernijmuseum, a new national museum of slavery, should open its doors to the public. Documenting the history of transatlantic slavery and slavery in the Dutch colonies in the Indian Ocean will be the museum’s guiding principle. The museum’s content will target a broad audience, with a focus on education, art, information and research. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science supports the initiative.
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Stichting voor Surinaamse Genealogie
Stichting voor Surinaamse Genealogie is een ontmoetingsplaats voor mensen met een interesse in Surinaamse familiegeschiedenis, waar zij met elkaar in contact kunnen komen en informatie uitwisselen, – biedt een helpende hand voor zowel beginnende als gevorderde onderzoekers als het gaat om hoe genealogisch onderzoek aan te pakken, welke hulpmiddelen ter beschikking staan en hoe het resultaat van het onderzoek op de meest efficiënte wijze vast te leggen,
books.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through our collection of books for beginners, research guides, records guides, case studies, memoirs, family histories, oral histories, and photography collections.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
blogs.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through history, culture, and genealogy blogs.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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CARIBBEAN PORTRAIT COLLECTION
Inspired by the stories that my Grandmother told me about our ancestors in Trinidad, I started researching my family history in my youth. My research has resulted in me accumulating vast amounts of information not only on my immediate ancestors but also related families (something we refer to as “pumpkin vine family” in Trinidad). I have since found out that my ancestors were not only from Trinidad, but also Barbados and Guyana with other branches moving to Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent, Suriname and Venezuela. I have realised that although our forebears may have lived on small islands, they were certainly not isolated and often maintained connections with relatives many miles away. Within the Caribbean region we have a shared history and this has encouraged me to utilise this connectivity to create this resource.
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JEWS OF SURINAME | SEPHARDIC GENEALOGY
Family history of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish diaspora.
podcasts.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through on-topic podcast episodes and series.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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That 1926 Photograph | In the Telling
Andwele means “God brought & delivered me” in Swahili. He was born November 20, 1977 in the capital of Suriname, Paramaribo. Suriname is a small country on the northern coast of South America where the official language is Dutch. He currently lives on the island of Saint Maarten in the West Indies where he works as a clinical pharmacist. His journey into unearthing his family history started as a child...being fascinated by stories told at family gatherings. Stories that connected him to people long dead before he was born...but whose stories helped to shape his identity...and fed his hunger to fill in the blanks.
In this episode, Andwele's story begins with a 1926 photograph featuring his great grandmother on the occasion of her 60th birthday. It was his curiosity about the people in that picture that made him always listen to stories from his mother’s siblings and cousins about those memories from their childhood, and bits and pieces of information that they remembered about stories that were told to them.
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Tujuan Taki
Tujuan Taki is een initiatief van vier gepassioneerde Javaanse Surinamers. Hun voorouders zijn geboren in Indonesië en vervoerd naar Suriname om als dwangarbeiders op de plantages te werken. Zij hebben elkaar gevonden in Nederland, waar een grote gemeenschap van nazaten van contractarbeiders woont.
social media.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through social media discussion forums, networks, groups, and pages.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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CARIBBEAN GENEALOGY | FACEBOOK
This group is for sharing resources and assisting with research relating to Caribbean ancestry and history.
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CARIBBEAN GENEALOGY RESEARCH COMMUNITY | FACEBOOK
Welcome to the Caribbean Research Community! This group was created to give people researching the region a place to ask questions, collaborate, and share research with one another.
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THE CUTLASS MAGAZINE
A progressive podcast and platform dedicated to the Indo-Caribbean community and other descendants of Indian indentureship from around the world.
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GENEALOGICAL TRANSLATIONS | FACEBOOK
Genealogical Translations was established to provide amateur family researchers a place to have their genealogical documents translated. We are a global volunteer group whose members help other members by offering free translation of their genealogical documents such as vital records, postcards, obituaries, and more, in languages including – Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and many others!
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MAROON LEGACY | Instagram
Embrace your foundation through maroon ancestral lineage healing traditions.
GENEALOGY VIDEOS + TUTORIALS.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through tutorials, lectures, roundtable discussions, and genealogy webinars.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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INTRODUCTION TO AFRO-CARIBBEAN GENEALOGY RESOURCES WITH SHARON WILKINS
Learn how to trace your Afro-Caribbean ancestors from the West Indies, including Barbados, Jamaica, and other places. Presented by Sharon Wilkins, President of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society - New York.
hire a professional genealogist.
Uncover the rich lives of your Surinamese ancestors through collaboration with a professional genealogist.
The following resources may include some affiliate links in an effort to support the continued growth of Ancestors of Paradise as a leading research resource in Caribbean genealogy. Thank you for your support!
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DESCUBRE TU HISTORIA
Helping descendants from the Caribbean, Central, South and North American former Spanish colonies start the journey of healing and empowerment through the knowledge of their Family History.
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Legacy Tree Genealogists
Are you looking for details about your Caribbean ancestry? Do you need help getting started or have you hit a brick wall?
Caribbean genealogy can be challenging, and the professional genealogists at Legacy Tree Genealogists can help with your research needs.
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