In a newspaper article in the Norwich Mercury from 200 years ago this week, it’s mentioned that the death of Joseph Christmas, aged 17, was confirmed. The news had come from Port-au-Prince, which is today one of the most dangerous cities in the world and nearly entirely controlled by gangs. This likely wasn’t his destination, he was on a merchant ship where he died during the travels.
Joseph Harmer Christmas was born on 19 May 1809 in Great Yarmouth and was baptised the following day, which seems to be rather efficient. He was the son of John and Honor Harmer Christmas and here’s the will of John. On the surname, it’s relatively rare and its origins are unclear although there’s more on a Wikipedia page about the matter. What intrigues me more is what the 16 year old (the newspaper article got his age wrong) was doing off in the then British West Indies, his family didn’t appear to be wealthy enough to be involved in owning plantations, although they did seem reasonably well connected. Yet another mystery that maybe one day I’ll be able to solve to my complete satisfaction….