The Minor Family of Somerset

There were Amerindians on Barbados for upwards of a thousand yea
rs. The Portuguese, first Europeans to find the island and name
d it after the bearded figtrees that grew on the beaches. Engl
ish settlers arrived in 1627. It is unclear why the Amerinidan
s abandoned the island. A governor was appointed andthe Hous
e of Assembly founded in 1639. Within a few years there were ov
er40,000 white settlers, mostly small farmers. In these year
s Bridgetown wasbecoming a delightful place to live, with whit
e Dutch houses with red tiled roofs imported fromSpain, and spac
ious Parks. Settlers turned to the Dutch when the English passe
d laws obligating trade only with English firms, who often faile
d to deliver goods. Dutch trading ships, captained by men of ex
tremem daring and competence, ignored the English laws, evaded E
nglish patrol ships and conducted smuggling operations on a vas
t scale. Labor which had beenperformed by white indentured ser
vants was soon done by slaves from Africa slipped in by Dutch sm
ugglers. In 1636 a law was passed that a slave was a slave fo
r life. At that time Barbados had a few slaves and mostly whit
e indentured workers in a population of 6000. By 1649, when Pet
er Tallman had beenon the island for two years, there were 30,0
00 slaves and almost the same number of whites. In 1649, a vagu
e sense of unease had spread through the community. Violence er
upted in the "Sugar Revolution" of the 1650's when most ofthe w
hite population left the island. For the rest of the colonial p
eriodsugar was King and Barbados was dominated by a small grou
p of whites who owned the estates. References: "Caribbean Islan
d Handbook 1991" Box and Cameron; "Cabibbean" by James A Michene
r, 1989: "Big Storms in Little England" page167. The emiGrant
, Peter Tallman, of Hamburg Germany and the Barbados Islands app
arently settled first at Newport, RI, for on 18 Nov 1650 as Pete
r Tallman of Newport on Rhode Island, Apothecary, he gave a powe
r of attorned to aMr. John Elton. The Power of attorney was a
s follows: To collect what was due to him from "Mr Samuel Maver
ick of Boddles Island in the Massachusetts gent: and "to take up
p and to seaze uppon a Negro man of mine Wch I am informedis Wi
th in the Jurisdicition of the Massachusetts. The Negro is name
d Mingoe and but a young man and hath the mark of I.P. on his le
ft shoulder: and did unlawfully departed from my house in Newpor
t about six months since." (Aspinwal Notarial Records pp 370-371
,) (entered under date of 5 (12) 1650 (5 feb1660/1 He had there
fore, arrived in Newport at least as early as May 1650. We hav
e established that Peter Tallman arrived in the Colonies and ou
r proofthat he came from Germany is through a deposition, foun
d in the town recordsof Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and made by J
oseph Sheffield on 17 Mar. 1702/3concerning a declaration mad
e to him by Peter Tallman of Portsmouth on 13 Mar1702/3. In th
is declaration Peter Tallman stated that he was then 80 yearso
f age, that in the year 1647 he came from Hambrough (Hamburg) t
o the Island of Barbados, that within two years after his arriva
l he was married, in Christ Church Parish in said Island, to An
n Hill, daughter of Philip Hill and Ann, is wife, that seven o
r eight months after his marriage he moved from Barbados to Rhod
e Island bringing with him his wife and his wife's brother, Robe
rt HIll, and also his wife's mother, who after said Philip Hill'
s death married Mr. John Elten, and that Mrs. Elten remained i
n Rhode Island about one year with her son Robert and afterward
s moved to Flushing on Long Island, thenceto Staten Island, an
d then, with her son Robert Hill, to Virginia, where shehad a c
hild or more by Capt. Hudson, who, as is reported, she married
, andwhere her son, Robert Hill, settled. The said Peter Tallm
an further declared that the Peter Tallman Jr. whose habitatio
n w