A personal trainer from New York is desperately seeking his Bermudian family — but has no idea where to find them.

Claude Williams, 57, is a regular visitor to the Island and knows he has roots here but has so far been unable to trace any of his relatives.

His live-in partner Maureen Burgos contacted The Royal Gazette in the hope that readers might be able to reunite Mr. Williams with a cousin he remembers from childhood visits to the Island or put him in touch with any other family members.

The father-of-11 and grandfather-of-four came to Bermuda many times as a youngster to visit relatives but eventually lost touch with his family here.

As an adult, he has returned on numerous occasions for vacations but has never been able to find his Island kin.

Ms Burgos said that each time the couple come here, locals comment on how much Mr. Williams resembles someone they know.

“We stayed at 9 Beaches two years ago and... met a staff worker who said his friend looked just like Claude. Claude gave his number to the worker in the hopes that he would be contacted, but (he) has not (been).

“During our visits, Claude tried searching for his family through the hall of records and by speaking with someone at one of the radio stations, but was unsuccessful.”

Mr. Williams has few clues to his family tree as his mother died when he was 15. But he knows that his grandfather Frederick Columbus Williams was Bermudian and moved to Newport News, Virginia, as a young man where he married a Cherokee Indian.

The couple had three children, one of whom was Claude’s mother, Lillian. Frederick, who worked in the ship yard industry, died in the States in 1952.

He had a sister named Myrtle, who married Charles Winfield and had a daughter called Jacqueline (Jackie). She is believed to have married a man called Bruce and had two children called Bruce Jr. and Sherry/Sherrie.

Mr. Williams also remembers a cousin called Keith Williams, who is the same age as him.

Ms Burgos said she and Mr. Williams would be visiting the Island in September and really hoped to have traced some relatives by then.

“He can remember, even as a child, a sense of longing to see his family in Bermuda again, but because of so many years passing, didn’t know how to do this,” she said. “Each time he has visited Bermuda he has always felt a sense of belonging.

“His grandfather’s second wife, who he was raised by in Charleston, South Carolina, always spoke so highly of his grandfather and his life in Bermuda. Due to the fact that his grandfather died in 1952, and he was only two-years-old, he has very little memory of him.”

Anyone who can help Mr. Williams should email news@royalgazette.bm or call 278-0133.