Exploring my roots.

 For some strange reason, for decades I had labored under the illusion that I had a very small family. 

The late Schoolie

To be fair, I knew most of my mom's family but not too much of my dad's, although

I did know and worship his mom, Mary Marshall, (nee Smith) fondly called Schoolie, (as she had been a school principal).

My brother Bernie and I stand in front of Schoolie's grave at Middle Quarters in St. Elizabeth, with Zacky, one of the many young men she mothered during her lifetime.

      

My late father.

Schoolie is the one who taught me everything about slavery, that we were members of the strong, fierce Mandingo tribe out of Sierra Leone, and that I should always stand up for my rights.

Schoolie and her husband Joseph aka Teacher.

She died at the ripe old age of 103!

I did at some stage, meet her big brother George (uncle George) who she adored.

 Their father died when she was only 14 years old and he dropped out of school so he could work on his dad's farm to support the family and ensure that she got an education.

He lived in Woodlands, St. Elizabeth and raised his family there. I remember going to visit him at least once and meeting many of his immediate family when I was quite young.

However my best memory of that visit was that there was a shop attached to the house from which I was given many candies and other goodies.😁.

As Schoolie aged and her health deteriorated somewhat, she had to go to live with Uncle George's family as my father who had always been there for her when everyone else was overseas, predeceased her by 7 years.

Uncle Prim 

Eventually her younger son, Winston aka Prim, returned from the USA to take care of her.

The super talented Barry, rehearsing at home with his Tallawah Mento Band.

Uncle George was the grandfather of the talented Colin Smith who I think I knew for most of my life, through him. 

I however knew him as Barry and years later we reconnected and I became friends with his wife Anette too.

L-R. Anette, Barry, Judi, Bernie at "Winedown," Silver Sands, Trelawny

It was through Uncle George that I also knew another cousin from the Smith side too.

He was the late Winston Gayle. He lived with us for a while in Malvern St. Elizabeth and even became somewhat of a big brother to me.

Years later when I moved to Kingston, we reconnected and I met his lovely wife Ruth and son Robert who is a mirror image of his dad, only taller.

Robert and his wife Caroline.

Even before I retired, I started to dedicate more attention to getting to know more about my extended family. 

That's what took me on my last trip to Cuba in 2012....to meet cousins I learned lived there.

https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-cuban-connection.html?m=1

There I met seventeen quite close cousins!

The next trek was to Canada: https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2018/08/family-time.html.

Then Seattle, Washington: https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2019/08/finding-family.html.

Peter and his twin boys

 I even met a cousin, Peter, and his twin boys who live in Kenya, while I was vacationing there in 2021!

All these were however relatives of my paternal grandfather, Joseph Marshall aka Teacher, thus called as he had also been a school teacher before becoming blind.

I suspect that I never got to know his family when he was alive, as I had only met him once when I was very young and had been terrified of him as he had a big white beard and wore dark glasses.

 I had never before seen anyone with dark glasses or even a beard, I recall😁.

His dark glasses were not to make a fashion statement though, but because he was blind.

However, it was only when I retired and migrated from Jamaica to Florida in 2016, that I reconnected with Barry (aka Colin) and really started to find out about my extended family from Schoolie's side, through him.

The beautiful Miss Aggie.

That's when I realized that my extended family on her side was really big too!

Shortly after I arrived in Florida, it was his mom's birthday and I was honored when he invited me to the party. I had not seen her for decades, so was really grateful that I got the opportunity to spend her last earthly birthday with her and meet her children and many of her children and grandchildren.

That night, I spent a long, wonderful time with her, catching up on all sorts of family history while refreshing many of my childhood memories.

She died shortly after that party and at her funeral, I met even more of the Smiths.

It was again through the Barry connection that I learnt that the Smiths and other members, were planning a family reunion for July 2023 and resolved to attend to get to meet more of my kin.

The Silver Sands posse L-R: Coretta,Judi,Joan, Bernie, Lolita.

While the majority of the attendees stayed at the Grand Palladium in Lucea, we stayed at my brother's place in Silver Sands, Trelawny.

 On Wednesday 19th July we met with up with everyone else who attended, to travel to St. Elizabeth to really dig into the roots.😊

Four busloads of happy troopers set out, most of us decked out in our yellow family reunion t shirts.

Our first stop was at a small shop just outside of Anchovy, St. James, for snacks and drinks and to begin the joyful interactions.

Then it was on to Middle Quarters where Schoolie had spent most of her life. 

While her home has been sold and remodelled, standing proudly below the house is a Moravian Church which she had donated the land for, as she was an extremely religious person.

As her great granddaughter Coretta now owns the land beside the church, she had spoken to the pastor to have it opened so the family could look around.

However the team there seems to have planned an entire church service for us with hymns, prayers and songs of praise!

The next stop was to the nearby, well kept YS Falls, to which our father had often taken us, long before it was developed into a major tourist attraction.

I think I can say without fear of contradiction that everyone had a ball there and the lunch we had pre-ordered was really good.

As the YS property is also a working farm, we could see cows and horses grazing peacefully in the well kept paddocks. (It's times like these I feel I should become a vegetarian, but the flesh is weak😡).

In the shuttle to the falls 

Shy doctor birds doggedly visit their seed trays dispite the disturbance by humans.

It was very reluctantly that everyone finally dragged themselves from the refreshing and scenic falls. We had other places of historical significance to the family to visit and time was really moving fast as we were having such fun😊.

After traversing the scenic countryside carefully, (due to the roads being quite narrow and winding), we arrived at Woodlands District where the late George Smith and his family had lived.

This is a picture of the original home but it is only on arrival that I realized that it was no more. 

But the family home there had burnt to the ground 😡.

As I understand it, when the Smiths moved into Kingston, they allowed an elderly couple to reside there. Unfortunately, during a power outage, they lighted a candle and the home caught fire. 

The husband died but the wife survived.

A very sad story and the pics are below.

The information was provided by Hope, also Uncle George's grandchild.

The beautiful hills surrounding Woodlands District.

Above is a picture of the Smith's home in Woodlands painted by the extremely talented artist Barry Smith aka Colin. Immediately below it, is what the property looks like today!

Family members explore the periphery of the former family home in Woodlands.

Uncle George, like his sister Schoolie, was also an ardent member of the Moravian religion and the beautiful church on the hill was the one they attended.

Most of his immediate and extended family are buried in the cemetery belonging to that church.

Uncle George, his wife and one son's tomb are fenced together in the cemetery.

As family members looked for the tombs of their relatives and reminisced, dusk was beginning to fall so we had to rush off to Seaford Town in Westmoreland from whence the Schulfer family had hailed.

 Interestingly enough, it was the previous year that my brother and I had travelled to that district out of curiosity, as it has an extremely interesting history.

The blog I wrote after that visit, can be found at:

https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2021/08/

At the time of our visit, we had no idea that we had family with ties to that area!

Sections of Seaford Town.

As night was fast approaching and we had to go back to Montego Bay and Lucea, we did not tarry long there though.

It was an absolutely wonderful, well planned and fun filled day, but there is no happy ending.😡.

Our second big get-together should have taken place at the Palladium on the following Saturday.

We really looked forward to the event, thinking everything had been set in stone.

We however never knew just how obnoxious, irresponsible and dishonest some members of Palladium's management team were!😡

The arrangements had been to have an all-white dress banquet for all the family, (those in property and those who were staying elsewhere) so we could get to know each other better and take photos for posterity. 

For in reality, on the very entertaining bus trip the previous Wednesday, we only got the opportunity to interact with those travelling on our own vehicle.

 Naturally, as we weren't staying there, we were required to pay to attend and since it was to be a very special occasion, no one had any problem with the cost.

However, it was only after we had made all our plans, that the hotel management attempted to extort additional funds from us, by demanding that we had to book into their hotel for at least two nights!

Coretta at Silver Sands.

That demand was counter to any agreement that had been made with the organizers and definitely not acceptable to those of us, who had been having a wonderful time at Silver Sands.

So despite the preparations we had made, we refused to accept their terms to attend the much anticipated banquet😡.

In other words, because they reneged on the agreement, they defeated the major component of the reunion!

(I hope all who did reviews on that property, mentioned how unprofessional and unreliable the management there is, so unwary families and visitors planning major events can be forewarned.)

 Fortunately, the banquet that we could not attend, was held on the closing night of Reggae Sumfest, so we were able to find alternative entertainment there:

 https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2023/07/sumfest-sell-off.html?m=1.

As good as that festival was though, it couldn't compensate for the anger and disappointment we felt at being deprived of the opportunity of meeting and getting to know better, members of our extended family who attended the important, once-in-a-lifetime reunion.

See also:

https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2023/07/birthday-bash.html?m=1

MEMORIES 

NB. A number of the pics above were borrowed from the family reunion's What's app page.