Does anyone know who the first French settlers of Haiti were?

Question

Im trying to find out where the name dubuisson comes from and where i and my family originated as far back as i could do.. I want to do what Alex Haley did (Roots)..anyone know what should I do?? Where should I start?

Answer 1

i dont know the family names but it wasnt just one family it was many goverment officials, land owners, buissness people etc, so they came in large groups, there are french haitian families and mullatos families that can trace there anncestory to before the revolution but they are rare, i wish i had more info for you

Answer 2

I think you have given yourself a particularly difficult project, but trying to trace family history for any African-American is probably a very daunting task. I only know where i would start: ancestry.com and such sites, but they mostly trace American roots back to European ancestry. From what I can tell the name was probably of the french/American  landowner who bought your ancestors before they were freed in 1794. The first reference i give below is the message board for that surname on ancestry.com, and at a glance the names listed with that surname were white landowners in Mississippi and other southern states, but look carefully, there may be black folk also among these names. To do a search of Haitian records you'll have to be fluent in french.

I got the following information from wikipedia about Haiti: Haiti, called Saint-Domingue by the French, was first settled in 1625 with French rights confirmed by the Spanish in the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. It became independent of France in 1804. Haiti was part of the island of Hispaniola. France established the colony of Saint-Domingue on the western third of the island in 1664. Nicknamed the "Pearl of the Antilles," Saint-Domingue became the richest colony in the Caribbean before a 1791 slave revolt, which began the Haitian Revolution, led to freedom for the colony's slaves in 1794 and, a decade later, complete independence for the country, which renamed itself Haiti. France briefly also ruled the eastern portion of the island, which is now the Dominican Republic.