Emma Williams
Emma Williams of Clarendon, Jamaica, Courtesy of Archivo Nacionales de Guatemala
What is the oldest thing you know about either side of your family history? Emma Williams was born in Clarendon, Jamaica in 1907. She immigrated to and settled in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala in the 1920s where she worked as a domestic. She gave birth to a daughter in Puerto Barrios in 1926. Large numbers of women migrated throughout Central America in search of jobs; single women from Jamaica, St. Lucia, Belize, and Panama. Some started as domestic and went on to purchase property thrive operating boarding houses, restaurants, and bars. They left a mark throughout the Caribbean basin where English became the lingua franca, and jazz, chicken and meat patties became popular.
