ERNEST AUSTIN (1890-1973) - Son of Robert Austin
Father of Mercel Austin
Cousin-in-law of Arabella Grant
Father-in-law of Esmie Austin
♣♣♣
EARNEST AUSTIN WEALTH,
POWER AND EVIL
Maybe Ernest
would have been a better man and father, but he signed on with the devil when
he marry Maude White-Austin.
Only once in
Mercel’s life had he ever asked his father for something. He asked his father
to buy him a cap when he was a boy and Maud replied by saying Ernest did not
have the money. At the same time they were counting money from the profits they
received at the Market and he knew they really had the money for the cap. Not
only that, they were in the marketplace where the cap was sold. He had
accompanied them to the market.
Ernest was a
white man. His descendants were Scottish. His parents were plantation overseers.
He was born as
an illegitimate child. His mother later marry another plantation overseer, Mr.
Cohen. Some people still called him Mr. Cohen even though his last name was
Austin.
Like Mercel,
he was from Allside, Trelawny. Some of his older legitimate children were also born at Allside, Trelawny.
His family
turned their backs on him because he loved black women. He was married to a
black woman, Maud Palmer, who was also the first cousin of Arabella
White-Grant.
In the
district of Craighead alone, he acquired 36 acres of land. This land stretches from
the roadside of Craighead to the Hectors River and beyond. The river that
divides Manchester from Trelawny. In addition this this, there were also a lot
of land in Trelawny that he walked away from as there were more than enough
farm land in Manchester to manage.
His
acquisition of the land was merely due to his smartness. He had the money
available and in those days when people borrowed money on their land it used to
be from a private investor and not the bank. If the borrower forfeit on the
loan then the land would be sold off. Ernest was called in on a lot of these
deals and he purchased all the surrounding lands as they became available.
Maud was very
controlling and she made sure the children knew that. The only two children
they could not control were ( Miss B) Valda Mabel Austin-Malcolm, married to Kenneth Aquilla Malcolm
from Christiana and Mercel.
The children
that did not listen and weren’t biased against Mercel were, (Bea) Valda Mabel, (Sun) Guy Hamil ,
Veta, Sarah Frances and Vincent. Gemima and Eugennie that lived in Kingston, divorced themselves from their parents even before some of
Mercel’s children were born.
Veta loved
Mercel and she showed her love but she was fearful of their wrath. Sarah was
hot and cold but still they had some kind of relationship. Bea was
wonderfully close to Mercel. She and her husband Kenneth were the rocks he
leaned on whenever he needed anything, such as a loan or even advice on how to
proceed with certain decisions. Guy loved him also but lived in England and
moved to St. Thomas after returning to Jamaica. He made sure he kept his family
far away from them. Vincent lived in England and when he moved back to Jamaica
he lived a few minutes from their house but never visited. Then there were the
other two Ailen and Iris.
Iris and
Ailen stayed at home and watch what their father had. They were the young
Maud. They were as terrible and hateful as their mother Maud. They were
haters. They hated people for prospering and the hated others that weren’t so
prosperous because they breathe. Their souls were dark and bitter. They weren’t
like the devil, they were the devil themselves. They would buy a whole real of
cloth and make one dress from it as they did not want anyone else to have the
same material.
Some of the
grandchildren of Ernest and Maud were very successful but they never visited
their grandparents’ home and one could only assume that because of their
control and hatred the grand children stayed away from them. One of such
grandchild was Madge Sinclair, the actress from Roots, Trapper John MD. At the
time of her death, she was acting on Steve Harvey’s sitcom as the grandmother.
Madge mother sent her and her sister to spend the summer with their
grandparents in Craighead. While sleeping in one morning, Aileen looked through
the window and remarked, “Where did my sister find this man from to have such
ugly children with him?” They were speaking about Madge’s father. Madge went
back to Kingston, told her mother about Aileen’s remark and the mother never
sent the children back to Craighead nor visited her parents again. Even when
Madge became famous, she never made mention of them.
A very subtle
way they tried to harm Mercel kids was by trying to give them bad luck. Maud,
Iris and Ailen knew that Mercel’s children had to walk alongside their home to
get to Sodom for lunch every day and during exam time they would burn things at
the side of the road as a bad omen. It worked, but in a positive way. The more
they burn, the more progressive the children got.
Ernest sat in
church at a special bench on Sundays, the same aisle as Mercel’s children and
never once asked any of them how they were doing.
One
good example to share here: One of Mercel young son was travelling on Sodom road
alongside Earnest home and the pan feeding Iris pig rolled over in the road and
Iris called to her nephew and said,"
little boy pass me that pan". The son who must had been about
8 or 9 years old replied to her, "come
and take it up yourself". He just walked on. First thing, she
did not know his name and secondly, the son knew that they hated his parents so
much that he would not get into trouble.
It’s very unfortunate that the two families lived in the
same district and yet did not get to know one another. Mercel’s children never
once stepped on the property of their grandfather.
In later years, Mercel and his sisters Iris and Ailen
forgave each other but it was just too late for the children.
Ernest Death: Coronary Trambosis
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