A Brief History of the Hanna-Heastie-Tynes Family

The Family's origins began with the settlement in the Bahamas of three men, two from Scotland and one from England. These men John Hanna, George Heastie, and Benjamin Tynes are responsible for the surnames that we know today as the major surnames represented in the Family. Their offspring who eventually married into other families introduced the African side of the family. The original African roots of the Family have understandingly been more difficult to trace than the European roots.

The early Family in the Bahamas ended up in the three islands of Acklins, Crooked Island & Long Cay in the Southern Bahamas. The major portion of the Family ultimately settled in the Pompey Bay area of Acklins Island, which is regarded as the main family seat in the Bahamas.

As the Family members dispersed from the Southern Bahamas Islands they established important footholds in other areas most notably in Nassau, Hanna Hill in Grand Bahama, and even as far away as Hanna Town in Delray Beach, Florida and Liberty City, Miami, Florida in the United States.

Today the Family is widely dispersed around the world with the more significant populations in Nassau, Bahamas and in the Southern Florida region of the United States. Ironically the Family seat of Pompey Bay Acklins is permanently inhabited by only one family with a few seasonal residents. Other areas of Acklins, Crooked Island and Long Cay now have more resident members of the Family than the Pompey Bay Area.

Due to their Scottish and possibly Irish roots the early family was somewhat clannish in nature and kept tight controls on their land and family traditions. They were notorious for protecting access by outsiders into the Pompey Bay area and preferred to intermarry within the confines of the original three families. Their clannish nature led to the first few generations being almost exclusively members of one of the three families and a very tight knit society. They developed a reputation for being an honest, hard working, highly independent and somewhat eccentric group of people. These traits were also responsible for making them a fairly successful group in business and other activities within the Bahamas