WHERE IT BEGAN
Sodom & Bigwoods
Craighead
♣♣♣
SODOM & BIGWOODS
It was a very humble beginning which started at Sodom, Manchester, Jamaica.
The road was very long but Mercel and Esmie never got tired.
They taught their kids to dream big.
They both believed and praise God.
They were thankful for whatever little they had, and God blessed them abundantly.
They believed strongly in education as that was the best gift they had to give their children.
From the first child who became a nurse in the 60's to the last child who is also a nurse and all the children between with honorable professionals.
The children are proud and grateful to the mother and father that toiled so very hard to make a life for them. A life that as children they never dreamed possible.
Mercel was a very wise man. His wisdom was like that of a profit.
He knew what he wanted for his children's future, even when they were too young to understand.
The road in front of where Arabella house stood in Sodom.
Grandma Arabella Old Home, Built with Edward sweat and Clarence & Roderick Financial Support.
Ruins seen here 2010
♣♣♣♣
From Memory- First Home the Mecel & Esmie Bought When They First Got Married
Bigwoods District in Craighead - Near Mother Flow Water - and Next Door to Iris Nunes Who Lived to be 103 Years Old.
 |
| Bigwood House - Roderick Brown the neighbor to the far right - his little hut he lived in with his daughter. His wife died at child's birth. |
This cabin bear a slight resemblance of Mercel and Esmie's first home, except the foundation post was higher, there was no step to go up the verandah and the windows were board and not glass. That house to the side was the kitchen but the kitchen wasn't to the side it was more to the front of the house.
In the 50's, there were no electric lights in Craighead and most Districts in Jamaica. Most electric lights and on the streets were just in the big cities. To get to the outside kitchen at nights, one had to use a bottle light as seen below.
Bottle Light used in place of flashlights.
The lamps used were glass lamps filled with kerosene in the houses, as there were no electricity. Home Sweet Home glass lamp seen below.
Home Sweet Home Lamp
The store keepers in the Districts used Tilley Lanterns which were much brighter than the glass lamps used in the homes as seen below.
Fire Place in the Bigwood kitchen and all other kitchens - below.
Coal stove for baking Christmas pudding and for heating clothes iron
Coal would be placed underneath the bottom of the dutch pot and on the top of the dutch pot.
Iron used for pressing clothes.
Esmie as a young housewife, used the bottle light, the glass lamp, the wood stove, the coal stove and the iron to assist her with her chores on a daily basis.