Kinship Family Tree Assignment

Thank you!

References

My mother eventually settled in Mandeville with her now husband, Richard Reid, whom she met at work. After living there for so long she misses the community in Hayes. “I do not believe most people in Manchester are as family-oriented as I'm used to…What we have in our yard back in Hayes you do not see here.” Even from a mile away, she felt the support of her family on her back. My mother spoke to me about her goal of Self-Actualization. For her, that means furthering her education by completing her master’s degree. The photo below shows my mother graduating with her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration-Accounting.

During my mother’s high school years, her parents were busy working. Thelma was still engaged in her factory work and Gauntlett was a jack-of-all-trades. He had only finished his primary level education before learning various trade skills.  My mother recalls him learning and working as a Plumber and Cobbler. My mother left Clarendon after graduating high school. She moved to Manchester to get some space from her family while attending college. After giving birth to me in 2003, she was between Manchester and Clarendon. I was left with my extended family in Hayes with my grandmother, great-grandmother, cousins, grandaunts, and my uncle, Mekhi, born only a year before me. After moving to Manchester with my mother I continued to spend holidays in Hayes. I also returned to their care for a year of my primary school education. Below is a picture of my mother during her early 20s.

Two other sisters decided to build their own home on Mama’s plot of land. They filled each home with children who depended on each other then and even now. While the 4 siblings lived together two were only a stone’s throw away. The third, their youngest and only brother Audley, moved to St. Elizabeth but vists occasionally. Mention photo. My grandmother enjoys her life as it is today, surrounded by her grandchildren, husband, son and of course her sisters and their family. This photo pictures a young Audley with his older sisters

Both Gauntlett and Thelma’s siblings stayed close to home. They assisted each other where they could, with money for their parents or just pick-me-ups. My grandmother and her closest older sister, Millicent, were joined at the hip, as seen in the photo below. They planned for a new home on the land their mother had bought. Additions were made to Mama’s home on both sides, Thelma on the right and Millicent on the left. My mother, aunt and their cousins were tasked with spending time with their grandmother on the weekends. The children tried to overlook the missing amenities to focus on having fun with each other and getting closer to Mama. A bigger home and bigger yard cemented the dynamics of an extended family.

Seeking to change her economic standing, my grandmother began working for herself and her family when she was 23 or 24. She was a line worker then for The Jamaica Producer’s Group Ltd. sorting bananas and handling tools at their factory in Clarendon. My mother recalls that first family home being a blur for her and her younger sister. The second house they relocated to was not far from the last. Thelma seemingly followed in her parents' footsteps by staying close to home. Everyone’s home was within walking distance of each other. Not much was of worry to my mother and her sister. Being between the ages of 6 to 14 meant there wasn’t much for them to do. My mother was thankful for her parents when thinking back, remembering how they never really wanted much back then. The issues with the house were overshadowed but the fun they would have with their cousins was always over. My mother (back, right), and aunt Sherone (front, left) with their cousins pictured below.

Around age 19 my grandmother met her husband and my grandfather, Gauntlett, who was 26 then. After having my mother and aunt Sherone, they settled at their first home in Savannah for about 5 years. Anderson (2021) mentions in her book Masculinity and Fathering in Jamaica a pattern called “progressive mating” characterized by non-residential visiting unions, common-law unions and legal marriage, which begins with a sexual relationship and family building with marriage as the final goal. Due to the casual nature of these relationships “outside children” or “outside relationships” were commonplace for males pursuing many relationships. My grandfather also displayed these behaviours, fearing a committed relationship with my grandmother which eventually led to 3 “outside children” down the line. The two did marry nonetheless late into their relationship, as seen below.

My mother’s maternal grandfather and Thelma’s father, Austin Cunningham, had moved from Hanover to the parish. Neither woman can recall why he moved “I assume he was seeking a better life?”, my mother commented. The only information the family has on Austin is his relation to the Maroons in the Hanover countryside, with no names of potential relatives. Southwestern Clarendon was the birthplace and home of my great-grandmother, Lilla, affectionately called ‘Mama’ and her mother Mabel a Black and Syrian mixed woman. Lilla and her common-law husband, Austin, met and began their family in Sedge Pond in her mother Mabel’s home. Around age 22 in 1958-1961 the couple moved to Corn Piece Settlement in Hayes, Southeastern Clarendon. Pictured below is Lilla in her late adulthood. Below that is a photo of Austin in his later years.