Elizabeth Selvin

Birth:	Not known
Death:	Not known
Burial:	Not known
Occupation:	Not known
Father:	Not known
Mother:	Not known

Nothing is known of Elizabeth Selvin other than the baptism of her two children in St. Catherine. No father's name is given, but they were baptised with the surname Gilborne. Elizabeth is described as a 'free negro', i.e. she is not a slave. The children were described as mulatto - indicating that their father was white, although from John Hornsby's record alone it is not clear whether he or his mother is mulatto.


(The date shown in the right hand column is the birth date). It is not known whether both children have the same father, but it seems likely that they do. Three or four possible fathers are known though there could be others.

• John Gilbourn

  An entry in the St. Dorothy parish register for 30 June 1751 records the marriage of John Gilbourn (or Gibbourn) and Lousia [Louisa?] Hornsbie.
  
  (Note: St. John, St. Dorothy and St. Catherine were adjacent parishes until the two former, and St. Thomas in the Vale, were absorbed by the latter in 1867. See more on the history of Jamaica's parishes here)

• Thomas Garland Gilborne

  His baptism is transcribed on Familysearch.com from the St. John parish records of 1757. No parents names are given and no image is available.

• Mark Gilborne

  His baptism is recorded in the St. Dorothy register on the 29 June 1767. On the same day a burial is recorded that appears to be his mother, though the significance of 'Peppercorn' after the name is unclear. It appears to be a surname, but could it be the name of a property, or have some other significance? Did Louisa die after giving birth to Mark?
  
  

• Richard Gilborne

  Richard, a planter, and his wife Jane had children in St. Catherine in 1787 and 1792, before Richard's death in 1794. (More on Richard Gilborne and his family here. It is not known whether Richard was an immigrant or was born in Jamaica. If he was another son of John Gilbourn, no baptism record had been found.

The presence of Hornby as John Gilbourne's middle name surely indicates a link to Louisa Hornsbie? Mark Gilborne is probably too young (15) to be the father of Sarah Mary Gilbourne, though could be the father of John Hornsby. Thomas Garland and Richard Gilborne could both be father of both children, as could John Gilbourn. Would John Gilbourn give a child the name of his dead wife? Possibly. More likely is that one of his children named the child after his father and mother. Until we can prove that any of the likely candidates are indeed children of John and Louisa, we cannot know the link. Nothing has been found of John, Thomas Garland or Mark Gilborne after the entries shown here. Did they leave the island? Nor has Elizabeth Selvin's death been found. What became of her?

Sarah Mary Gilborne appears not to have married, and is found in the records of Slave owners. She appears to have died about 1829.

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