and you are all invited to share in its evolution.[1]  At the time that I write it counts nearly 1000 individuals over six generations.  Most of these have of course now passed on.  But I look to others now to help record the new departures and arrivals.  I also hope that one day someone may trace our relatives in India.  The task seems daunting following the country’s partition in 1947 and the mass migration of 14.5 million Hindus and Muslims across the newly-formed borders with then West and East Pakistan.  Yet others have been successful.[2]  In any case I am happy to have been able to capture some of the history from Guyana onwards and I hope that this first edition of the Family Book serves as an incentive and starting point for the generations ahead of us to continue recording it.          


                                                                        Omar Shahabudin McDoom[3]

                                                             April 25th, 2008, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA      


[1]  This book contains much private and sensitive data.  After hearing concerns from several family members, I took the decision not to make all of this information available electronically.  I instead printed an individually-numbered series of books and entrusted them to one representative from each distinct family line, usually an individual from the fourth generation.  I would ask then that you please do not make photocopies of the data (or post them online) and instead contact me if you wish another copy for your family.  The book was also a labour of love.  I would very much appreciate it if it be passed on as a book, and not merely a set of photocopies. 

[2] One individual known to the author traveled to India and corroborated the existence of her ancestor in the village by checking local land records for that time.  There is also a private service offered by a man in Delhi, India, to the descendants of indentured Indians who seek their ancestors’ families. 

[3] I may be reached by email at omcdom@gmail.com  if there are corrections or queries.