Mercel Siblings - Maternal

Mercel Siblings (Maternal)

Miss Coolie: She was the eldest of 10 children. She got married and lived in Warsop. She was a poco woman and her religion was revival. She had more white flags hanging in her yard, more than enough to fill a warehouse. She also had a lot of white basin on stands filled with so called holy water. Poco people were people who thought that they had the gift to predict when bad things were going to happen. They wore long clothes and turban on their heads and when they had a nightmare, they would go out on the streets and jump up and down shouting in unknown tongues. Mercel very seldom visited her and she never at any time visit Mercel as he did not believe in such mumbo jumbo.

Rene: Rene was the second child and she was a force to be reckoned with. If her name was printed on a piece of cake she would eat it without knowing it was her name, but yet she was a very smart businesswoman. Smart enough to make others wonder how she accomplished all of her successes. Her husband Gussie got a stroke for many years and he lost his speech and some of his mobility. Rene was the sole provider. They had a lot of pimento on their land. She farmed, did higglering and reaped the pimento to survive. Not only did she survive from of this, but she was able to buy a truck that transported farmers to market and she also had a house in Mandeville that she rented. 

She had no children but her husband fathered many, some of which were fathered by her own close relative, she never complained but took the children in and cared for them.

Rene was very miserable or as it can be said, she was too much of a disciplinarian. She walked 5 miles every Sunday morning from Chudleigh to Craighead Anglican Church, and after church on Sundays she stopped off at Mercel’s house for dinner, and before she leaves, she would find something to argue with the children about.

She can best be remembered for her little toes sticking out of her shoes. She had corn on her toes and nothing was known of orthopedic shoes, so she would buy the hard leather shoes and cut a hole out in the side of the shoes. Rene Lived in Chudleigh, Craighead

Mercel:  He was the third child and first boy. Mercel lived in Common, Craighead.

Darrel: He was the fourth child. Very stingy but yet had two common-law wives, one in Warsop Trelawney and one in Carter, Craighead. He lived that double for most of his life and was never married. Darrel was very stingy. Darrel Lived in Warsop Trelawney and Carter, Craighead simultaneously.

Poor Lou:  Lou was given the name Poor Lou from childhood. He was born with a retardation where he could only stoop. He farmed with this retardation. He was very, very poor but yet very kind. He would give what he did not have. Poor Lou lived in Warsop Trelawney.

Miss Day: She was a very simple woman. She allowed herself to be taken advantage of, so much that some of the paternity of her children were questionable. Her mother description of her was, “I have a daughter and if she was a pig I would have killed her a long time ago.” She lived in Carter, Craighead and Chudleigh, Craighead.

Doris: Oh Doris! She was beautiful, modern, and a charmer. She believed in modernization. Her hair was always well done. She wore shorts and very nice clothes and she liked having fun. She gave good advice to the younger family members and advice that they could listen to and relate to.  She did not communicate like the other family members but tell things as they really were. She lived in Kingston then went to England then moved back to Kingston where she had a bar and a house. She had a maid, and a well-kept house. She was the most modern and civilized of all the sisters.

Tetae: Tetae was just there. He did not make any significant dent in society. He lived close to Rene in Chudleigh so the truck Rene bought, she gave him to operate.

Kencil: Kencil was mentally restarted. He traveled the country of Jamaica and spent time at homes where people just died for a while and then move on the next death. This he did from parish to parish until he gets back to Craighead, Manchester. The only place that he did not walk to and stay was Kingston.

Louis: Louis was the last of the ten children. He was a quadrille musician. He died by drowning in 1953.

His paternal siblings not mentioned here.