This resource is in response to Joy Lumsden's post below, but I hope it will be useful to other people as well. For those who have family in the Caribbean and want to find out about their ancestors' everyday activities, check out "Caribbean Newspapers, Series 1, 1718-1876: From the American Antiquarian Society." Countries represented include Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guadaloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Bartholomew, St. Christopher, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, and the Virgin Islands. This is a digitized and fully searchable resource that can be accessed at many research libraries. (Unfortunately it is by subscription so it is not available free to all, but again check out the catalog of universities near you to see if they have it.) The newspapers are complete and include all original advertisements. Thus, if your family members owned stores or ever sold items (houses, etc.) you can find out amazing information. http://www.readex.com/content/caribbean-newspapers-series-1-1718-1876-american-antiquarian-society Depending on the institutions subscription, you can often access Early American Newspapers at the same time.