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Nembhards of Jamaica
Posted by Jay Nembhard <pneumatikos2003@yahoo.co.uk> on Tue, 01 Mar 2005, in response to Nembhardt (yes with a "T"), posted by Hyacinth Nembhardt on Thu, 24 Feb 2005
Hi HyacinthGood to hear from you. In regards to the the 't' I have been very confused with this over the years. I do know of Nembhards with 't's at the end but where did this develop? In Germany? Very possible but I have not yet discovered any Germans with that name. I'm not saying that there isn't. Most probably there are as there are other names ending with 't' like Gerhardt, etc.
The confusion is where our roots lie. Is it that Germans emigrated to Jamaica or is it Germans who emigrated to England, had their names anglicised, that is, dropping off the 't' and then their descendants emigrated to Jamaica? There is more evidence to 'English' Nembhards (whose ancestory must have been German) than those directly moving to Jamaica from Germany. A good example is the Hon Ballard B Nembhard who was a wealthy land and slave owner in St Elizabeth but originally from England.
If that is the case where do the Nembhardts in Jamaica come from? And to make matters worse, you have family members who are both 'Nembhards' and 'Nembhardts'. Is it a case of family members who are 'Nembhards' going back to the original 'Nembhardt'? The reason I asked is because a few years ago I considered adding a 't' to my name. As a matter of fact I do get letters from time to time addressed to 'Jay Nembhardt'.
As to my debate with Bernadette. YOu may notice that I did not respond to her last comment. By me saying that I did not know of any dark skinned Nembhards from St Elizabeth she implied (albeit very subtely) that I was racist. I found her comments not only insulting but also silly. How can there be blacks who are ethnic Germans. Not just that but my wife of ten years is black.
Understanding my roots, to me, is not one of idle speculation. If I don't see a link then I'm not going to embrace one until it can be proven. For example, I do not know if Ballard Nembhard is an ancestor of ours but the argument is logical. A white slave master sleeping with black female slaves producting mulatto Nembhard children from St Elizabeth is not only plausible but more than likely fact. I remember my dad telling me that his grandfather, my great grandfather, David Nembhard had in his possession chains that were used to lock slaves up.
Nevertheless I can't prove that link just yet and so I can't call Ballard Nembhard my great-great-great-great grandfather or anything. If I uncover the evidence then I will. Until then it is just speculation however logical it may be.
In regards to dark skinned Nembhards I must back track and make a u-turn. I have since moved to Wolverhampton in England and I had package of mine delivered to a wrong address in Wolverhampton. It was sent to another J. Nembhard, the 'J' being 'John'. His mother phoned me and I went to their house, which was less than a mile down the road, and lo and behold there was John's dad, a dark skinned Nembhard from St Elizabeth.
A couple of weeks later I went to Nottingham (being a preacher I'm often invited to different churches) where a lady saw a leaflet advertising me being the guest preacher for that church and came to meet me. Her name was Beverley Nembhard and she was black but she told me her grandfather came from St Elizabeth but moved to Westmoreland. I believe her brother has posted a link on the Irish Genealogy web page since then.
So I stand corrected. In the space of two weeks I've met two dark skinned Nembhards. If Bernadette reads this, I must point out that I'm not disappointed or upset and I will not call out the local KKKs to burn their houses down. Now that I've met them and knowing where their families are from I know that we are releated.
Nevertheless I still don't know if the Nembhards from St Ann are related to the Nembhards from St Elizabeth. As I've stated before I know that the Nembhards from St Catherine are related to the Nembhards from St Elizabeth. I've met a few of them when I lived in London and I know their family history and I can verify (at least to myself) that we are related.
All I desire is verification. I don't care if they are chinese Nembhards or Native American Nembhards or Arabic Nembhards as long as I can verify the link. I have been very thorough over the years with my research into our family history and I will not simply accept something which may or may not be true. Until I can verify something I will not accept it. 'Nuff said.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Jay
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