Of the residence of Ferdinando in the island for thirty years, ample
evidence exists in various documents. Sir Robert Schomburgk was
shewn by the rector of the parish, the Rev. J.H. Gittens, an old
vestry-book of St John's, in which various entries occur of the name
of Ferdinando Palæologus, from 1649 till 1669, as vestryman,
churchwarden, trustee, surveyor of the highway, sidesman to the
churchwarden, and lieutenant, &c. The last entry is that of his
burial, 'October 3d 1678.' His name also appears in a legal document
respecting the sale of some land, executed in 1658. But the most
important evidence of his identity with the Cornwall family is his
will, in which the names of his sisters, Maria and Dorothy, occur.
It was entered in the Registrar's Office, the 20th of March 1678,
and proved before the deputy-governor, Colonel Christopher
Codrington. The widow became the sole survivor and heiress of the
property, Theodorious having died in his youth, so that the last of
the Palæologi reposes in the parish church of St John, in the island
of Barbadoes; and the estate which once belonged to the descendant
of the Greek emperors now forms part of Clifton Hall and the
Plantation Ashford. Laying these circumstances together, and
considering how completely the will of Ferdinando corroborates the
Landulph inscription, of which he probably knew nothing, the
genealogical problem, we think, is fairly wrought out, and the last
of the descendants of the Roman Cæsars traced to his final
resting-place beyond the Atlantic. A curious anecdote is mentioned
by Sir Robert Schomburgk as to the revival of the tradition of one
of the Palæologi being in Barbadoes. He says, but without vouching
for its truth, that during the last conflict for Grecian
independence and deliverance from the Turkish yoke, a letter was
received from the provisional government at Athens, addressed to the
authorities in Barbadoes, inquiring whether a male branch of the