NEWRY
BAHAMAS
ABOUT NEWRY BAHAMAS
Welcome to Newry Bahamas website
The Newry Bahamas website is an extended project of Newry Bahamas family anthology which commenced in December 2007.
The initial project started as a family tree exercise, eventually connecting two seperate branches of the Newry family that still lives in the islands of the Bahamas: The descendants of James Newry and the descendants of Simeon Newry, (other siblings seem to have immigrated to North America).
The family tree then morphed to include biographies of members of the Newry clan in a history based family book, eventually culminating to include this website which will serve as a networking hub that will link all of the various families together.
Family Researcher
Cecil Newry III
Newry Surname
The surname Newry, spelt ‘Newry’ or ‘Newery’ is ranked 405,174 out of 1,778,655 total unique surnames in the United States based on the 2002 United States White pages.
The Newry name is of Irish origin which translates to mean ‘the Yew at the head of the Strand,” which relates to an apocryphal story that Saint Patrick planted a yew tree. The name first surfaced in 1144 AD with the naming of a city in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the border with County Armagh. It is about halfway between Belfast and Dublin.
Our History
The Newry name surfaced amongst people of African descent in the Caribbean as early as 1767 with an African slave called ‘Newry’ living in Acklins, The Bahamas. However, it must be noted the Newry name also surfaced in Jamaica with Cupid Thomas Newry born circa 1782 in St. Mary, Jamaica. A small number of slaves have been recorded to have had the Newry surname throughout Jamaica and Berbice1, Guyana.