The Saba Islander

Donkey on Wheels

 

DONKEY ON WHEELS

BY: Will Johnson

Few people realize today what a sea change it meant for Saba when the first motor vehicle arrived on the island. Saba was at least 30 years behind the rest of the islands as St. Maarten already had two cars in 1914.The first car on St.Maarten was a Ford belonging to Louis A. van Romondt; some months later a second car arrived, a Chevrolet for Mr.  A.C.Wathey, (Claude’s grandfather).

On Saba in 1923 when a merchant imported a donkey from St. Eustatius to bring up his cargo from the Fort Bay to The Bottom the porters went on strike as they considered this modern form of transportation to be harmful to their ages long profession of bringing from a barrel of beef to a grand piano up on their heads from Fort Bay to all parts of the island.

 

One aspect associated with bringing a motor vehicle to Saba which we seldom think about is the planning which went into how to bring the vehicle safely to shore. One has to remember that Saba at the time had no such thing as a harbor. On a calm day the Fort Bay was very rough in comparison to the Great Bay on St. Maarten. Also the road network only extended from Fort Bay to The Bottom and had only been completed on October 16^th, 1943. Photo’s accompanying this story will serve to demonstrate the difficulty in unloading a vehicle in rough waters in the open sea and bringing it safely to shore. We do not even know who came up with the idea to lash two lighter-boats together and to place on top of these boats a wooden platform to hold the vehicle. Then the two boats on arrival in the heavy surf and rocky shore would have to be turned around to take the pounding of the waves. Two hastily placed wooden ramps would be placed against the boats and the vehicle with driver already in place would make its descent into the rocks and assisted by boatmen and other volunteers would be hauled up through the rocks to a dry spot under the cliff. Miracle of miracles, between 1947 and 1974, after which motor vehicles were landed on the pier, a couple of hundred motor vehicles were landed without major incident in this fashion.

Many stories have been told about the first JEEP’s arrival and the impact it had on the population. In 1947 Saba had a population of 1150. The islands maritime tradition was long behind us. The Captains and their families from The Bottom, St. John’s and Windwardside had migrated to Barbados, Bermuda and the United States in the first thirty years of the twentieth century. Shortly after that people started going to Curacao and especially Aruba. A good number of those who lived here in 1947 had never even been off-island and had certainly never seen such a thing as a motor-vehicle a so called “donkey on wheels.”

Formerly the Lt. Governors kept a sort of daily journal. The arrival of the Jeep was of such importance that then Vice Lt. Governor Max Huith (the title of the job back then “Onder Gezaghebber), carefully noted down enough of the event that we can enjoy reading about it today. The event was that important that the Lt. Governor of the Windward Islands came along with the M.S. “Kralendijk” to obviously be a part of Saba’s history. He must have realized that Saba would no longer be the same in the future.

 

We quote from Vice Lt. Governor Max Huith’s Journal:

Monday 17 March 1947;

This afternoon at around 5.15 pm, arrived with the  M.S. “Kralendijk” from St. Maarten Mr. P.H. van Leeuwen, Lt. Governor of the Windward islands, R.J.Beaujon Jr., Director L.V.V., Drs. J.H. van Boven, Director of the Department of Social and Economic Affairs; Mother Vicar of the Dominican Nuns; Mother Prioress Sebastina Fay, Mother Vicaria Candida, and Prioress Amalia.

On that same occasion a JEEP, coming from the Department of Public Works on Curacao and destined for this island arrived. In the afternoon the necessary preparations were made in connection with the unloading of this means of transportation.

After having welcomed the Lt. Governor, those who had arrived went to The Bottom, where, at the home of the undersigned, refreshments were served.

Tuesday March 18^th 1947;

At 6.30 AM went to the Fort Bay, to try to get the “JEEP” rolling. In the beginning the motor refused to start, so that the undersigned went back to The Bottom by horse for discussions with the Lt.Governor of the Windward Islands. In the meantime the Captain and the Engineer of the M.S. “Kralendijk” had worked on the JEEP, and finally for the first time in the history of Saba, a motor vehicle was driven via the Fort bay road over the roads of The Bottom. The enthusiasm of the people, especially the children, was great. It is a pity that mentioned JEEP before being shipped had not been thoroughly checked by Public Works. It became apparent that the gasoline line was blocked; gasoline pump did not function; the lights did not work; battery empty and handbrake not working. All of this, according to the Captain and Engineer of the M.S. “Kralendijk”. Also Mr.R.J. Beaujon Jr., Director of L.V.V. who in connection with the “refusal” of the JEEP had made a special trip from The Bottom to the Fort bay, has also observed these defects.

In the course of the morning the Governments special breed chickens were visited. In the afternoon discussions were held with the Lt. Governor of the Windward Island and the Director of Social and Economic Affairs and Director of Agriculture, Stock raising and Fisheries on a number of subjects. In the late afternoon the new road between The Bottom and St. John’s was inspected by the Lt. Governor and the undersigned. The Lt. Governor expressed his satisfaction with this road.

Wednesday March 19^th, 1947:

This morning at around 8 o’clock Lt. Governor of the Windward Islands and entourage left with the M.S. “Kralendijk” to St. Eustatius. They were accompanied by the undersigned to the Fort bay. At 9 o’clock back to The Bottom and carried out office work. In the afternoon the schoolboys from The Bottom were given the opportunity to take a ride in the JEEP through The Bottom. These children were overjoyed when for the first time in their life they were privileged to experience something like this. “Look how fast the trees are passing us,” one of the children shouted. “Who would have thought this”, said an old lady, who begged to be taken for a ride also. The boys were given turns in groups of five or six.

This is the extent of what the “onder Gezaghebber” had to tell on the arrival of the first JEEP on Saba. Mr. Oliver “Ally” Zagers of Hell’s Gate who had learned to drive while working in Bermuda had the privilege to bring the first motor vehicle on shore. In 1938 when the road to The Bottom from the Fort Bay was started, the three labourers who broke out the first steps were my grandfather James Horton Simmons, “Lee Thomas” Hassell (Senator Ray Hassell’s grandfather) and Norman Hassell the latter who is yet among the living. Today there are nearly 900 motor vehicles of all kinds on Saba. The motor vehicles made a great change in the life of the people of this island, which in many ways has been a blessing and in others a curse.

 

In my book “Tales from My Grandmother’s Pipe” I tell the story of my first experience with the JEEP. I had heard the bigger boys’ talking about what I thought was a new SHEEP that the Government had ordered. As can be seen from Mr. Huith’s Journal the highlight of the Lt.Governor’s visit was to pay a courtesy visit to the Governments new chickens, so that a new sheep would have not been unusual.

Anyway on arrival in The Bottom I saw at the Government Wireless Radio Station some sheep grazing which was not unusual. The Bottom still has issues with goats grazing. I was not at all impressed with the sheep. We had bigger ones than that at home. That is until we got down by the Anglican Church and Mr. Huith had decided to inspect the new road being built in the direction of St. John’s. Well you can imagine the terror of hearing the motor and seeing this “donkey on wheels” headed in my direction. Jet plane could not overtake my flight to the nearest mango tree and in between my tears I saw Mr. Huith and his machine which I had mistaken for a sheep flying around the corner.

   People from other islands made fun of us of course. They said that people had brought packs of grass for the JEEP to eat and so on. For people in the other villages like Windwardside it took some years before they saw the JEEP. Old people who could not get around and had never been off-island and in some cases had never even visited another village, had to wait until Calvin Holm broke down the Governments barrier and rode the first Jeep into Windwardside in 1952, and so there was no official ceremony. Calvin made it as far as where the Big Rock market is now and had to back up all the way to Over-the-Peak before the alarm was sounded to the Police Station in The Bottom that Calvin had broken the barricade and had driven into Windwardside illegally. For the Government a problem but for us young boys Calvin had made our day. In the beginning we used to think that the only motor vehicles in the world were JEEPS. Following that one of the Governments, Arthur Anslyn brought in one from Aruba, and also Alvin “Bobby” Every, followed by a JEEP pickup for the Government to help bring materials for the road and then Mrs. Elaine Hassell (wife of road builder Lambert Hassell) brought in a NASH car. In 1953 until 1955 when I left the island for school on Curacao I still had to walk to and from school in The Bottom. It was only in the last few months of school in 1955 that we could catch a lift with the Government’s pickup. Some years ago when I was Commissioner I had much trouble getting money out of State Secretary De Vries to buy some new school busses. Every day it seemed that more forms had to be filled in and questions to be answered. Finally as to why we needed new school busses, I informed the State Secretary that the donkey which transported the children to school had died of old age and that we wanted to go over to a more modern form of transportation. Well it was not too long after that five brand new Toyota “Donkey-on-Wheels” arrived on Saba to transport the schoolchildren. And so now you know.

 

 

Dr. Julia Gorham Crane Remembered

 

 

Dr. Julia G. Crane Remembered

By; Will Johnson

In 1971, Dr. Julia G. Crane’s book “Educated to Emigrate” was published by Van Gorcum and Co. N.V. in Assen, Holland with a grant from the Prince Bernhard Fund. She later went on to write “Saba Silhouettes” and “Statia Silhouettes”.  In doing so she made an enormous contribution to these two islands. Her books contain a treasure trove of information from native islanders on the history and culture of these two small Dutch Caribbean colonies.

Her research about patterns of emigration by Sabans over the years was done for her doctoral dissertation presented at Columbia University in 1966. Her research was funded by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

She arrived on Saba on April 3^rd 1964 and already started working by telling something about each of the other five passengers on the 6 passenger Dornier plane. In reading her Journal on her very first day walking around The Bottom from the guesthouse where she stayed you get the feeling that you are accompanying her on her walk and talking to old friends now long dead but brought alive in her interviews with them.

In her introduction to “Educated to Emigrate” she states the following; “Every anthropologist who works and lives in a community inevitably incurs obligations to the community and individuals within it; but this is particularly true for the person who is so fortunate to work among the people of Saba. The officials of the island adopted me as an honorary ‘Sabian’ and were unfailingly helpful, especially Mr. R.O. van Delden, who was Administrator of Saba during the first portion of my field work. Teachers in all the schools, the doctors and nurses, the police, and the clergy of all three denominations were generous in giving useful advice, information and warm hospitality. To the native Sabians themselves I owe an immense debt of gratitude. Their great interest in teaching me, to know their island, and in helping the investigation made them excellent amateur anthropologists, sensitive in presenting relevant data for my use, and constantly alert to see that no event of possible interest was missed.

Since my return from the field, hundreds of letters from Sabians have kept me informed about present conditions in their life, of which they consider me still a part. To select individual Sabians for special thanks is impossible because thanks are due so many, for so many reasons.”

The Chairperson of her dissertation committee was Professor Margaret Mead of international fame and I have correspondence between the two of them. There is a joke among anthropologists as to the composition of a typical San family of the Kalahari Desert and it consists of a husband, wife, four children and one anthropologist. Saba seems to be like that. For such a small island we have been lied about, studied, vilified and condemned by people not from here so that Julia Crane’s work was like a breath of fresh air. She let the people do the talking. Instead of reading an old document and giving it her own interpretation she let her subjects totodo explain and inform about their lives and that of their ancestors who had been here for ten generations and more. Therefore her books are so valuable and are such a pleasure to go through and to know that here was a woman who certainly knew what she was doing.

I became close with her even though I was not living on Saba at the time and we corresponded back and forth and her Journals were made available to me by the late Frank Hassell. She wanted me to have them for my archive and not for distribution. I was with her on St. Eustatius for part of the time when she was doing research there for her book “Statia Silhouettes” and I learned a great deal from her. She lived among the people for almost a year on Saba the first time, and then came back later on when she was a teacher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A number of her students from that University assisted her on Saba with her field work doing interviews with the old people, which in itself was of great importance to our small islands true history.

Over the years she made many friends on Saba and on Statia. She carried on her research even though she suffered with ill health during most of her research years. She took photos of the land and the people, so many in fact that it would seem that everyone living on Saba in 1964 as well as each goat on the island was photographed by her and in themselves form a valuable collection for the present generation of Sabians to admire.

She made a great impression on many people. This is best expressed in an article written by my late first cousin Carl Lester Johnson of New York, twenty years my senior, and published in the “Saba Herald” of Thursday October 24^th, 1974 and entitled “The Coupling Link.”

“Who am I? Where did I come from? What were my forebears? How can I know?

If one was faced with all these questions at once, it would mean that one knew no heritage; consequently lacking a complete self. A coupling to our heritage is very important to the wholeness of one’s self; self in turn is what we perceive ourselves to be as individuals. Not to know ourselves and the hereditary factors which shape our lives, would truly be a tragedy.

Self-perception and the insights that shape our lives, come to us at the most unusual times. I clearly recall my first act of self-perception. At the time I was a young man and living on Saba. It was during World War II and no ships had called to the island for quite a while. On that particular day, a ship had come in and brought the naked necessities of life. I had made five trips from the Fort Bay to The Bottom, driving five donkeys; my sixth trip had been straight through to the Windwardside. When I was finished I sat down on the path leading to our home.

Suddenly, an awareness came over me. I looked down at my hands and I became aware of myself as an individual. My extremely close relationship with friends and family stood aside and for the first time I became fully aware of Carl Lester Johnson as a person, separate and distinct from all other persons. It was at this particular moment that I determined the direction that has led me to where I am today. This decision was no grand design; it was the sum product of my heritage. You see, I had been educated to emigrate. This was an existential decision. It was a good decision; a decision which was the outgrowth of my cultural heritage. The heritage, so important in determining how we grow and how long we live.

This awareness of the importance of my heritage, over the years, made me very conscious of the heritage. Because of this, I have been greatly assisted in my relationships with others. Therefore when we have been so greatly assisted in knowing our collective selves, we must feel gratitude for that assistance. I would like what follows to be an expression of a warm feeling of kinship and gratitude for a very lovely person, of whom I know, but I have never met.

The first time I read “EDUCATED TO EMIGRATE” by Julia G. Crane, I did so without a predisposition to the acceptance of what I was about to read. I had never read anything about Saba, by a non-Saban, which had ever been very objective. Although, much that was written was always done with kindness and understanding; as an Island Culture, we were always treated as curiosities. When faced with the results of a thorough intellectual process, the product of a great effort and work of love; although I had precociously hoped for it, I just could not consciously accept its existence.

Time flies and three years have passed since my last reading. Like everything else, we too undergo changes, constantly. Because of change and a period of introspection ‘a fork in the road’, I was again drawn to the book. As I read it and contemplated its bibliography, I could not help but ask myself, ‘What had brought a young woman from the heart of the continent to perform such a labor of love for a microcosm, our little world, our Saba?

Many times throughout many years in an alien environment, in order to make adjustments, I have had to review the harshness of my beginnings to reassure myself that I possessed the inner strength to deal with the complexities of the constant mechanization and dehumanization of my adopted land. These are bad times for all of us and when we face reality, we must admit that the road ahead, is not an easy one. Therefore when our eyes pass over the words and we realize that ours was a heritage of hard times, we become aware that within us there is that ‘Hard part of the Rock’ which is the equal of present hard times. Then we know that we will overcome. So, to be reminded of this solidness in our nature, is to fortify our strength and it is for this that we are grateful.

I am sure, a people who can stand at the monuments of their forebears which go back five and six generations, have no doubts about their heritage. Most of it had come down by “word of mouth”; the rest was spread over many islands and several continents. To have it coupled together by the links of intellectual endeavor is the keystone that will bridge the banks of the past to the shores of the future. For this reason, we cannot afford to ignore “EDUCATED TO EMIGRATE”. It is the ‘Coupling Link’ in the chain to the anchor of our heritage.

Educated to Emigrate, is the first meaningful, scholastic effort devoted to us as a people. It inscribes us in the journals of history. So that we not forget or appear ungrateful, I ask my fellow Sabans to join with me in a move to name a school or library on Saba for ‘JULIA G.CRANE’ who forged the coupling link. She is our intellectual benefactor. The memories of her should not dim with the yellowing pages of her wonderful work.

I, regardless of what others do, will always turn to it. If I should become lost and cry, as in my youth, I would want the warm tears on my cheek to remind me that I must, over and over, travel once again the happy paths of my youth.”

For some reason we used to call Saba people by their second name and so we called him Lester. He was a banker in New York and lived on Long Island. He knew the islands well. Grew up on Saba and St. Maarten and worked for a time in the Post office like I did. In New York he met a girl born there from Saba parents and they married and had four children. Some people will want to know who the person was who writes so well and I surely will write something about him later on.

Dr. Julia Crane remained in contact with her people on Saba as her health continued to deteriorate and she passed away on June 19^th, 2001 at Chapel Hill North Carolina and was buried in New York where she was born on November 8^th, 1925.

We want to ask God to bless her memory for the good work she did in providing the coupling link to our heritage and may she continue to rest softly.

*****************************************

The Long Lost Letter

 

The Long Lost Letter

By; Will Johnson

Recently when reading the book “Fourteen Islands in the Sun” by Charles Graves, I came across the following passage:” That day I lunched at the Normandie, the second newest hotel in Trinidad. But thanks to Carnival, there were no shrimps, no langouste, none of the local dishes I wanted except for a tiny chip-chip cocktail.

“Fast asleep, head and shoulders across the bar (I can produce a photograph of him), was Lord Brynner, shaven as bald as the actor whose name he snitched. Not for Lord Brynner the alarums and excursions and risks of failing to be chosen Calypso King in 1964. He had already been signed to sing at the West Indian Pavilion in the New York fair later in the year for a pleasantly fat fee. So he was the winner before he had started, in fact without entering the contest at all.”

I decided to Google him and it was a real emotional experience to see him once again in the flesh so to speak and a flood of memories of my friendship with him on St. Martin came back to me so clearly that I decided to write this article as a tribute to him.

Lord Brynner was born as Kade Simon in Erin Trinidad in 1937, and only now I discovered that he died in 1980, though years ago I was told by someone from Trinidad that he had took up drinking and had gone on to other more potent drugs.

In the early nineteen sixties he used to perform at the Little Bay Hotel. He was always proud of the fact that he had won the Trinidad and Tobago Independence cultural contest in 1962. My job, consisted of speaking to the Manager of the Little Bay Hotel, and arrange one or two nights performance for him. He would send me a letter well ahead of time and I would send back to tell him what to expect. Usually it was no problem as back then there were few Calypsonians beating down the gates to perform on St. Martin. I do remember Lord Kitchener being there and giving a performance at the old airport bar around 1965 or so. And the Mighty Sparrow was there as well. Little Bay Hotel had a sell-out crowd for the visit of the “Merry men” from Barbados and I remember wanting to go to the show but could not afford the entrance fee. My fee from Lord Brynner was that during his performance he would mention that in the audience he had a friend named “Will Johnson” and that was enough payment for me. He would also perform in Bermuda, New York and other places.

On Trinidad Calypso has a long and fascinating history. It dates back to the days of Governor Picton in 1707 and Lawa Begorrat, a French immigrant who had a team of favourite slaves to entertain his guests on important occasions. A ‘chantuelle’ called Gros Jean was appointed as” Maitre Kaiso”, Kaiso being the West African word for what since 1925 has been known as calypso.

Like their descendants, these chantuelles had high sounding names, such as “Hannibal the Mulatto”, and lived very sheltered lives, considering the times in which they lived.

After the departure of the French the troubadours sang for the amusement of everybody, not just his patron. He became an indispensable figure at all parties. His songs became more and more topical and at one point extremely bawdy. As time went on, calypso singers multiplied all over Trinidad and throughout the Caribbean.

At first the Calypsonians, as they became known much later, sang in patois. They had splendid names Like Maxwell Greyhound, Richard Coeur de Lion, and Duke of Marlborough. Later came “Lord Executor”, a real master of contemporary verse. He was a remarkable chap and the sole exception to the rule that Calypso singers are coloured. He made his bow in 1897 and was at once a sensation – a white-skinned man singing Kaiso, dressed in a cultural way. Coat and Windsor tie. Picong or satire was his forte and when he was challenged by young “Attila the Hun” (real name Raymond Quevedo), he smacked him down with the following calypso:

“I admire your ambition; you’d like to sing,

But you will never be Kaiso King

To reach such a height without blemish or spot,

You must study Shakespeare, Byron, Milton and Scott.

But I’m afraid I’m casting pearls before swine.

For you’ll never inculcate such thoughts divine.

You really got a good intention,

But poor education.”

The crowd roared with approval and another upstart was demolished.

The Calypsonian is given the right by the people to attack, condemn, and praise without interruption. When it was rumored that the American troops in Trinidad were being sent to Europe, “Roaring Lion” at once proceeded to remind the local girls of their partiality for the company, and that he intended to get his own back. He created a character whom he called Pam Palaam, and addressed her as follows:

“Pam Palaam, you too smart

But know I’m no rubbish cart

And if you enter my bachelor

You’ll be paid a penny in silver paper

Etc.etc. etc.

By the nineteen sixties, the Calypsonian was a cheapy eye wrinkling kind of lavatory humour with the sex angle predominant.

Carnival depends on calypso as a symbiotic twin for its survival. There is fierce competition among Calypsonions for the cherished crown of Calypso King. Even Aruba uses calypso rather than the tumba which Curacao uses, and believe me Calypso is better. Even when singing in Papiamento but using the calypso style it gives a certain feel to the revelry of Carnival. We all know what Carnival is about. There are other thoughts on the issue which I would like to quote Charles Graves on.” As I left the hotel a grubby little tract was handed to me by a coloured boy. It proved to be the religious pamphlet most unlikely to succeed anywhere in the world. For it attacked carnival. Here is one of the choicer extracts:

“The Oxford dictionary states, ‘Carnival is a riotous revel’. Revelry means ‘loose and clamorous and noisy merriment’. The Bible teaches in Galatians 5:19 that is sin and warns that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. God means what he says. He will not change His standards. He will not excuse the people of Trinidad and Tobago, if they do not repent and obey. It is recorded that God has destroyed cities and countries and nations for disobedience. He has even destroyed the world of Noah’s time. What He has done once He can do again. Tobago’s judgement should be a warning to everyone.

We are not tourists to this country. We were born in it. We know what Carnival gives. We may try to dress it up as we like but it is bacchanal. It is the time of rum and women, jump-up and caiso. Do you know where Carnival started and how? It was the pagan worship of Egypt, Greece and Rome, marked by sex and drunkenness in honour of Bacchus, the god of wine (note the word bacchanal), and Venus, the goddess of love. The calypso, one of the medieval developments, (Trinidad did not invent it), is relished most if it is disguised and obscene. Do we not know how many acts of sin are committed during Carnival-adulteries and fornications, everyone having a so-called good time? If God were to bring immediate judgement, we should all perish, but He is giving us time to repent. No one can defend it as a harmless pleasure. In Brazil, a Carnival country, it is reported the highest illegitimate rate for the year results from conception at Carnival time.”

The mention of Tobago is a direct reference to the hurricane of 1963 which, indeed, killed quite a few people and knocked down thousands of coconut palms. As for the illegitimacy in Brazil, it is true that the Trinidad birth rate in October or November, according to the date when Easter falls, is two or three times higher than that of any month. Known as “spree children”, they are differentiated from ‘yard children’, ‘own children’, and the less common legitimate child.

A spree child is one whose father metaphorically did not take off his cap. A yard child’s father is one who is vaguely known to the mother, because he has been hanging around the yard or area for some time. An own child is one who is actually acknowledged by the father, whether or not he provides the customary sixpence-a-week maintenance. It is not at all unusual for a man to sire eight children by six different women inside two years. Quite clearly (a) he cannot marry them all; (b) he cannot support them all. What is unusual is that many mothers have no desire to marry. They say that it is bad enough to bring up children without having to look after their fathers as well. In any event, if they were bound in lawful wedlock, the husband would probably beat them and certainly treat them like children. And if they went to Court the Judge would tell them to go back and patch things up. Whereas if they were unmarried they could take up their abode somewhere else, with no strings attached. In other words, the seventh commandment has absolutely no meaning in the Caribbean”.

My friend Lord Brynner (Kade Simon), born in Erin, south Trinidad, was a popular calypsonian from the late 1950’s to the 1970’s. He moved to Jamaica to join the West Indies Regiment during the time of the West Indies Federation and performed there for a while before returning to Trinidad after the collapse of the Federation. In August 1962 at the age of 25, he won a calypso competition held to celebrate the Independence of T&T, beating the Mighty Sparrow, Nap Hepburn and the Mighty Bomber into second, third and fourth places, respectively. His winning calypso, Trinidad and Tobago Independence, earned him a cash prize of $1,000. The other eight finalists were Lord Pretender, The Hawk, Mighty Power, Mighty Dougla, Lord Cristo, Chang Kai Chek, Mighty Striker and Lazy Harrow, chosen from a field of 35 who had auditioned at the Radio Trinidad Studio on August 9, 1962.

Lord Brynner recorded 50 seven-inch records and 13 LPs. On at least one of his calypsos, Bob Marley was a back-up chorus singer. Brynner died at a relatively young age, destitute and lonely.

When I knew him I was a heavy drinker and moved around with like fashioned lovers of bacchanal. I remember in one of his performances an older friend of mine was hackling him during his act and he did not appreciate it at all and when in verse he attacked back, my friend the aggressor in this case was not amused. We remained friends throughout his visits to St. Maarten. On his last visit that I remember he asked me if he could borrow my manual typewriter while I was at work. From there he was going on to perform in Bermuda. As he would be leaving during the time I was at work we said our goodbyes thinking that we would surely be seeing one another in a matter of some months. When I got home after work Mrs. Bertha my landlady told me that Mr. Brynner had left my typewriter with her and with a letter addressed to me. Thinking it was a thank you note I left it sitting for some days on the typewriter. Finally one morning I decided to open it and saw that it was two pages long. Mainly it was advice from a recovering alcoholic telling me that he was concerned that his friend Will was going overboard with the drinking and that I should consider stopping. I have a friend on Statia who often told me that his father’s advice to him was “Don’t stop, as if I tell you to you will drink more. All I am asking you is to SLOW down.” Well after Lord Brynner’s letter I neither stopped nor slowed down for a number of years. I often wondered what had happened to him. I thought that perhaps he had become so successful in other places that St. Martin was too small a market for him. I was busy putting my own life in order and setting my own course in life’s turbulent waters. A couple of years ago I was mentioning to a friend that I knew Lord Brynner way back when and my friend told me that he had understood that Lord Brynner had took up drinking again. I never heard about his problems and neither did I hear that he had died. While reading this book I came across the passage with him lying across the bar and concluded that it had to be after1964, as a recovering alcoholic, that I met him at Captain Hodge’s Guesthouse and we became friends for perhaps five years or so. When I Googled him and saw his photograph I remembered the letter which he had written me and regret that along with many other letters from well known personalities I had met that I had lost it while moving around through the islands before settling down.

Since Carnival is coming up I thought that I would share this with my readers and May Lord Brynner continue to rest in peace.

*********************************************************************

1780 Population List of SABA

Since only the names of white residents of the island were mentioned I will suffice with listing their names only and at the end of the article list the totals of children of these people and also a list of the numbers of slaves and if possible who owned them, as the census does not include their names. So the names are either a white male resident of the colony of Saba or a widow. This is when Admiral Sir Bridges Rodney captured St. Eustatius and along with it Saba. He had a complete census taken of both islands. As it is evident all of these people with one or two exception had names from either England, Scotland or Ireland. This goes back to two important events in Saba’s history. In 1629 when the Spanish fleet captured St. Kitts several Irish settlers there, because they were Roman Catholics, were allowed to leave peacefully and they came to Saba and settled on that part of the island. They named their villages Middle Island and Palmetto Point, names identical to two villages in St. Kitts from where they had come. In the twentieth century people started calling the latter village “Mary’s Point” as a woman there named Mary had a large number of children and people started calling it Mary’s Point. However in the old property records and other official documents it is always referred to as Palmetto Point, and also in the various census records it is referred to by the same name. There were also reports of the Irishmen fleeing from St. Kitts to Saba when the French and the British were at war there when they jointly owned that “mother colony of the West Indies. Again the Irish being enslaved Catholics by the British refused to take sides or to fight the French Catholics for the British who had enslaved them, fled in small boats during the night and ended up on Saba. I may have read somewhere that the Bay from which they fled was called “Back Off Bay.”

The other historical fact is in 1665 when pirates from Jamaica captured St. Eustatius and Saba. Edward and Thomas Morgan, uncles of Sir Henry Morgan the famous pirate and later Governor of Jamaica took a census of the population and came up with heads of households being 29 Englishmen, 26 Irishmen and 9 Scotsmen and French. When women and children were added the total population was around 226.They were supplemented by 90 pirates who abandoned ship and thought that Saba would be a good place from which to start a new “low key” pirate base. The Dutch were deported to St. Martin and some also carried back to Jamaica as indentured servants, while 10 of them took allegiance to the English flag and remained on Saba. The slaves were taken as booty back to Jamaica, and were later replenished gradually with new slaves brought into St. Eustatius which was a big Jewish Dutch slave market at the time. I have already proven that the census of 1699 was not correct. The census taker was a Dutchman who could hardly read and write. Those he interviewed could not write their own names and spoke with heavy English, Irish and Scottish accents, so that the census taker wrote down the names as he thought he heard them so they look Dutch, but in 1705 just six years later a new census show the correct names and they were nearly all English names. Most Dutch “historians” have looked at the 1699 census and just accepted it without question even though the names listed don’t make any sense either, so the 1705 census as well as that of 1715 and 1728 are the correct ones.

There are those who quote “historians” and provide false information to our people and to the world. What is a “historian”? Are they more well informed than I am? Native people’s are always discriminated against in whatever knowledge they have accumulated. So called researchers come in and get paid to end up treating us like curiosities. We have been lied about, mocked , laughed at to the extent that we question the motives behind them “helping” us to accept a false history. I have been doing research on my islands people and their history since I was a little boy growing up here. I have read hundreds if not thousands of books on the history of the West Indies and of Saba in particular. I have many rare history books in my large collection of books about the West Indies. I have visited the archive centers on Curacao and in Holland. Since the internet came into existence I have intensified my research. I have proven to be true much of the oral history handed down to me by my forebears and others on Saba who were interested in passing on stories of their ancestors. Give me a break! I have written several books on the history of my people, and numerous articles based on oral history coupled with proper research. And yet, let some ignoramus write about Saba without ever having visited, or from his own fanciful idea of how Saba’s history should be and they will be quoted widely even by my own local people as if their knowledge of Saba’s history is more extensive than mine. Give me a break!! I only object because I cannot except history by substitution and one recent settler from Holland claiming that Saba people contributed nothing to their own history.

And so once again I feel called on to list another census, that of 1780 (Seventeen hundred and eighty) to once again prove that the Saba people with very few exceptions can trace their ancestry back to England, Scotland and Ireland.

B.

Beakes, John. His household consisted of himself, his wife 1 son and two daughters, and 8 adult slaves and 8 slave children under 16.

Beal, Thomas. His household consisted of he, his wife and one minor son. He owned 2 adult slaves and 1 child slave.

Beakes, Mary (widow)  her household consisted of 2 adult males, 3 females, 2 boy children, and 2 girl children. Also 1 coloured slave. 16 adult black slaves and seven slave children.

Baker, Johanna, household consisted of 2 adult males, 3 adult females, and 1 boy. She owned 2 slaves (mother and son).

Beakes, Thomas, household consisted of 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 1 female child and 3 adult slaves.

Bonyea, Catherine , household consisted of 1 adult man, 1 adult woman, and 1 female child. and 1 black female slave and 1 black slave boy child.

Beakes, Edward,  household 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 child female. slave 1 coloured female and 1 black female.

Bonyea, Charles, household 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 slave woman and 1 slave boy.

Beakes, Ruth, 1 adult female,  adult slave man, 1 adult slave woman, 1 slave boy and 1 slave girl.

Beakes, Johanna (widow), household 1 woman over 60, 1 adult male, 1 adult coloured slave woman, 1 coloured slave girl, 1 black slave man over 60, 2 black slave women over 60, 9 adult black male slaves, 7 adult black female slaves, 2 black slave boys, and 3 black slave girls.

C.

Carter, Ester, household, 1 adult female, 2 boys, 2 girls, 1 adult black male slave, 1 slave boy.

Collins, Peter, household 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 boys, 1 girl. No slaves owned.

Carter, Joshua, 1 adult male, 3 adult females, 2 boys and 1 girl, 1 adult male slave, 1 adult female slave and one slave girl.

Carter, Mary (widow), household 1 female over 60, slaves 3 adult male slaves, and 1 adult female slave.

Carter, Henry, 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy. slaves: 1 adult female, 1 boy and 1 girl.

D.

Dinzey,Thomas, household; 2 adult males, 2 adult females, 3 boys and 2 girls slaves; 1 adult coloured slave, 1 boy coloured slave. 2 black male slaves over 60, 1 black female slave over 60, 14 adult male slaves, 15 adult female slaves, 9 slave boys and 4 slave girls. Thomas Dinzey was the Vice Commander or Governor of Saba at the time and owned a small sugar plantation running from The Bottom to Middle island.

Dyett,William, household, 1 adult male and 1 adult female. No slaves owned.

Davis,Abraham Jr., household 1 adult male, 1 adult female. Slaves owned: 2 adult males, 3 adult females, 4 boys and 1 girl.

Dinzey,Thomas Jr., household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 boys and 1 girl; Slaves owned; 1 adult coloured slave 1 coloured boy slave, 3 adult black male slaves, 4 adult black women slaves, 1 boy and 1 girl.

Dinzey, Johanna  widow, household 1 adult female, 1 boy. Slaves owned: 1 black slave girl.

Davis,Abraham, household:3 adult males, 1 adult female, and one girl. Slaves owned: 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 1 slave boy and 4 slave girls.

E.

Every, Catherine, household:1 adulated female. Slaves: 1 female over 60, 1 adult male, 1 boy and 1 girl slave.

Every , Peter, household:1 adult male, 1 adult female, 6 boys and 1 girl. Slaves: 1 boy slave.

Every, Ann, household: 1 adult female, 2 adult males; Slaves 1 adult female slave.

Every, Anthony, household: 1 adult male over 60, 1 adult female and 1 adult male. He did not own any slaves.

Every, James, household: 1 male over sixty and 1 adult female between 16 and 60. Slaves 1 male adult slave.

Every, John, household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 2 boys. He did not own any slaves.

Every, John, household:1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves: 1 female slave over 60 years of age.

Every, Catherine, household: 1 adult female, 3 boys. Slaves owned: 1 adult male slave, and 1 girl slave.

Every, Anthony, household:1 adult male, 1 adult female and 2 girls. Slaves owned: I adult male, 1 adult female and 1 girl.

Every, James, household:1 adult male, 1 adult female; Slaves owned: 1 adult male.

Every, James, household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 boy. He did not own any slaves.

Every, Anthony, household: 2 adult males, 3 adult females and 2 boys. Slaves owned: 1 coloured boy slave, 1 coloured girl slave 3 adult black female slaves, 1 black boy slave and 1 black girl slave.

Every, James; Household, 1 male over 60, 1 adult female under 60. Slaves owned: 1 adult male slave.

F.

Flora, household: Free black slaves: 1 adult female, 1 boy and 1 girl.

H.

Hassell, Joseph,  household. 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 girl. He did not own any slaves.

Hassell, Joshua, household: 2 adult males, 2 adult females, 4 boys and 2 girls. He did not own any slaves.

Hassell, James, household: 1 male over 60, 3 adult males, 3 adult females, 1 girl and 1 boy. Slaves own: 2 coloured slave girls under age 16, 2 black male slaves over 60, 1 adult male, 3 adult females, 1 slave girl and 1 slave boy.

Heyliger, Abraham, residing on St. Eustatius but   owing slaves on Saba so he is only listed because at the time he owned the Spring Bay sugar plantation which by the way is still privately owned by the heirs of Henry Hassell, Jr. and a handful of people who bought part of the inheritance of some of the heirs.

He had 2 male slaves over 60, 3 female slaves over 60, 16 male slaves, 12 female slaves, 2 boy slaves and 1 girl slave.

Hassell, Peter, household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 boys and 2 girls. Slaves owned: 1 adult male slave.

Hassell, Thomas, household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 girl child.  He did not own any slaves.

Hassell, Daniel. Household: 2 adult males, 2 adult females, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 adult woman and 1 boy.

Hassell, Henry., household 2 adult males, 1 adult female, 4 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 adult male and 2 adult females.

Hassell, Mary., household 1 female over 60, 1 adult male, 6 adult females. Slaves owned: None.

Hassell, Henry., household. 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 boy. Slaves owned: None.

Hassell, Peter., household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 2 girls. Slaves owned: None.

Halley, John., household:  1 adult male, 1 adult female. Slaves owned: None.

Hassell, Peter., household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy. Slaves owned. 1 slave boy and 1 slave girl under the age of 16.

Hassell, Peter., household: 2 adult males, 3 adult females, 2 boys and 4 girls. Slaves owned: 1 adult male over 60.

Hassell, Elizabeth (widow).household: 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 2 boys and 2 girls. Slaves owned: 2 adult females, 2 boys and 3 girls.

Hassell, Thomas., household: 2 adult males, 2 adult females, 1 boy and three girls. Slaves owned. 1 coloured adult woman. 2 adult black male slaves 1 boy and 2 girls.

Hassell, Ann (widow)., household: 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 1 boy and 2 girls. Slaves owned: 1 male slave over 60, 2 adult male slaves, 1 adult female slave and 1 boy.

Hassell, Hercules., Household: 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 slave girl.

Hassell, James (son of George). household: 3 adult males, 1 adult female. Slaves owned: 1 adult coloured slave. 1 black female slave over 60 and 1 boy slave.

Hassell, George., household 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 boy. Slaves owned: 1 adult female slave and 1 girl slave.

Hassell, Peter., household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves owned: None.

Hassell, James., household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned. 1 female over 60, and 1 adult male.

Hassell, James., Household. 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 5 girls. Slaves owned: 1 adult female slave.

Hassell, Jane. Household, 2 adult females. Slaves owned. 1 adult female and 1 boy.

Hassell, Henry. Household: 2 adult males, 1 female and 2 daughters. Slaves owned. None.

Hassell, James. Household 1 male over 60, 1 adult male, 4 adult females. Slaves owned. 1 adult male 2 adult females, and 1 boy slave.

Hassell, James. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 girl. Slaves owned. 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 girl slave.

Hassell, Henry. Household. 3 adult males, 1 adult female, 2 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 2 adult females, 1 boy and 2 girl slaves.

Hassell, George. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 boy.  Slaves owned: None.

Hassell, Richard. Household. 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 4 girls.  Slaves owned. 1 adult female slave.

Hassell, Peter. Household: 2 adult males, 2 adult females, 3 boys, 3 girls. Slaves owned:1 adult female, 1 boy and 1 girl slave.

Hassell, Peter. Household. 1 adult male, 4 adult females and 5 girls. Slaves owned: 1 adult male, 4 adult females, 2 boys and 1 girl slave.

Hasell, Peter. Household: 1 adult male, 3 adult females and 2 boys. Slaves owned 1 adult female and 1 boy slave.

Hassell, Peter. Household: 4 adult males, 2 adult females, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves owned 1 female over 60, 2 adult males and 2 adult females.

Hassell, Richard. Household. 2 adult males, 3 adult females, 4 boys and 4 girls. Slaves owned. 1 female slave over 60 and 1 adult male.

Hassell, John. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 boys and 3 girls. Slaves  owned 1 adult female.

Hassell, John. Household 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 3 boys and 2 girls. Slaves owned: 1 adult female slave.

Hasell, Daniel. Household 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 1 boy and 4 girls. Slaves owned 1 adult male.

Hassell, James. Household: 2 adult males, 1 adult females. Slaves owned:  1 adult  male, 1 adult female and 2 girl slaves.

Hassell, Mary. Household:  1 adult male, 3 adult females. Slaves owned. 3 adult females, 1 boy and 4 girls.

Hassell, George. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 girls and 2 boys. Slaves owned 1 adult female and 2 boy slaves.

Hassell, George. Household 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 boys and 2 girls. Slaves owned: 1 adult female.

Hassell, Catherine (widow). Household 1 adult female. Slaves owned. 2 adult females and 1 girl slave.

Hassell, Henry. Household: 2 adult males, 2 adult females 1 boy and 3 girls. Slaves owned:  1 adult male, 2 adult females, 1 boy and 3 girl slaves.

J.

Johnson, Peter. Household 2 adult males, 1 adult female, 2 boys. Slaves owned: 1 female over 60, 1 adult male and 1 girl slave.

Johnson/Elizabeth Household. 3 adult males and 4 adult females. Slaves owned: 1 adult male slave.

Johnson, Ann. Household: 1 adult male and 2 adult females. Slaves owned: None.

Johnson, William. Household 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 2 girls. Slaves owned: None.

Johnson, Susanna. Household: 1 adult female, 2 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 adult male slave.

Johnson, George. Household:  1 adult male, 1 adult female and 2 girls. Slaves owned: None.

Johnson, John. Household: 3 adult males, 1 adult female, 3 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 coloured boy slave. 3 adult black male slaves, 2 adult female slaves, 4 boys and 1 girl.

Johnson, Olivier. Household: 2 adult males, 1 adult female and 1 boy. Slaves owned. 1 adult male and 2 adult females.

Johnson, Cathrine. Household. 1 adult female. Slaves owned: None.

Johnson, Herman. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 2 girls. Slaves owned. 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 girl slave.

K.

Kelly, Edmond Sr. household: 1 male over 60, 2 adult males, 3 adult females and 1 boy. Slaves owned: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 1 girl slave.

Kelly, Matthew., Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 3 boys. Slaves owned: None.

Kelley, James., Household: 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 2 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 girl slave.

Keeve, Thomas., Household: 3 adult males, 3 adult females and 1 boy. Slaves owned: 1 adult male.

Keeve, John, Household: 3 adult males, 3 adult females, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves owned: None.

L.

Leverock, Moses. : 1 male over 60, 1 adult male and 2 adult females. Slaves owned: 1 male over 60, 1 adult female and 1 boy slave.

Leverock, James Sr. Household: 1 male over 60, 1 female over 60, 2 adult males. Slaves owned: 2 adult males.

Leverock, John. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 2 girls.  Slvaes owne. 1 male over 60, 1 adult male and 1 boy slave.

Leverock, James Jr. Household. 1 adult male, 3 adult females, 4 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 2 coloured girls, 4 adult black male slaves, 2 adult females, 4 boys and 2 girls.

Leverock, William: Household: 1 male over 60, 2 adult males and 2 adult females. Slaves owned: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 boy.

Leverock, James: Household: 2 adult males, 2 adult females, 2 girls.  Slaves owned: 1 male over 60 and 2 adult females.

M.

Minos,  freed black slave.

Molosner, Matthew. Household. 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 adult female, 1 boy and 1 girl.

Mardenborough, Peter. Household: 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 male over 60, 3 adult males, 1 adult female and 2 boys.

Mardenborough, Peter. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 boy. Slaves owned:  1 boy.

Mardenborough, Elizabeth. Household: 1 adult male, 3 adult females, and 1 boy. Slaves owned. 1 woman over 60.

Markoe, Peter, freed black slave.

Markoe, Sara  freed black female slave.

P.

Peterson, Richard. Household:  3 adult males, 1 adult female and 2 girls. Slaves owned: None.

Peterson, John. Household: 1 male over 60, 1 female over 60. Slaves owned: 1 adult male slave.

Peterson, Johanna M. Household : 1 adult female. Slaves owned:  1 coloured boy slave and 1 coloured slave girl, 1 adult male and 2 adult females.

Peterson, John. Household; 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 3 girls. Slaves owned. 1 coloured boy slave. 1 adult black male slave and 1 boy slave.

Peterson, Daniel. Household. 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 boys and 2 girls. Slaves owned: None.

Peterson, Peter. Household. 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 4 girls. Slaves owned: 1 female over 60.

S.

Simmons, Jacob. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 boy. Slaves owned; None.

Simmons, Peter. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 boys and 2 girls. Slaves owned: None.

Simmons, John. Household: 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 2 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 adult male and 1 adult female.

Skinner, Richard. Household. 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 boy. Slaves owned: 1 adult female and 1 girl slave.

Simmons, Charles. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned; 1 adult female and 1 boy slave.

Simmons, James Sr. Household: 4 adult males, 2 adult females and 2 girls. Slaves owned: 1 couloured slave boy, 4 black male slaves over 60, 1 female slave over 60, 1 adult male slave, 3 adult female slaves, 2 boys and 4 girl slaves. (* I have the family Bible of this man with lots of family information in the old Bible as was customary back then).

Simmons, Abraham. Household: 4 adult males, 1 adult female. Slaves owned: 1 coloured boy and 3 coloured girls. Black slaves: 1 adult male and 2 adult females.

Simmons, John. Household:1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 girls and 2 boys. Slaves owned: 1 adult male.

Simmons, John Sr. Household: 1 male over 60, 1 female over 60, 3 adult males, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves owned. 1 male slave over 60, 2 adult male slaves, 1 adult female slave, and 2 girl slaves.

Simmons, Ann. Household: 1 adult female, and 1 girl. Slaves owned: None.

Simmons, William. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 3 boys and 2 girls. Slaves owned: 1 coloured girl slave, 1 adult male black slave, 2 adult female slaves, and 1 boy slave.

Simmons, Peter.Household: 2 adult males, 3 adult females, 1 boy and 2 girls. Slaves owned: 1 adult female and 1 boy slave.

Simmons, Lucas.Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 3 girls. Slaves owned: None.

Simmons, Peter. Household: 2 adult males and 2 adult females. Slaves owned: 1 adult male.

Simmons, Isaac. Household: 1 male over 60, 2 adult males, 2 adult females and 2 boys. Slaves owned: 1 male over 60, 1 female over 60, 3 adult male slaves, 2 adult female slaves, 1 boy and 1 girl.

Simmons, Rebecca. Household: 3 adult males, 1 adult female, and 2 girls. Slaves owned: 1 adult female slave.

Simmons, Charles. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 girl. Slaves owned: None.

Simmons, Abraham. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 coloured boy. Black slaves: 1 adult male, 1 boy and 1 girl slave.

Simmons, James. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 2 adult women, and 1 girl slave.

Simmons, John. Household: 2 adult males, 2 adult females, 2 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 coloured girl. Black slaves: 2 adult men, 2 adult women, 2 boys and 2 girl slaves.

Simmons, Charles (son of John). Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 3 adult males, 3 adult females, 2 boys and 2 girls.

Simmons, James. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 boy and 4 girls. Slaves owned: 2 adult men, 1 adult woman and 1 girl slave.

V.

Vlaughan, John. Household; 2 adult men and 2 adult women. Slaves owned: 1 adult woman.

Vaughan, James. Household: 3 adult men, 1 adult woman, 3 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 adult woman, 2 boys and 1 girl slave.

W.

Winfield, Matthew Jr. Household:  1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: None.

Wood, Peter. Household: 1 adult male and 2 boys. Slaves owned: 2 adult men, 3 adult women and 3 girls.

Winfield, Charles. Household: 1 male over 60, 1 female over 60, 1 boy and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 adult male.

Winfield, William: Household: 1 male over 60, 1 female over 60, 2 adult males, 1 adult female and 1 boy. Slaves owned: 1 male over 60, 1 female over 60, 5 adult males, 2 adult females and 1 girl slave.

Winfield, William: Household: 1 adult male, 2 adult females, 3 boys and 1 girl. Slaves owned: 1 adult female.

Warton, Thomas. Household: 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 3 girls. Slaves owned: None.

Winfield, Thomas Sr. Household: 3 adult males, 2 adult females, 5 boys and 6 girls. Slaves owned: 6 adult males, 6 adult females, 3 boys and 7 girl slaves.

Z.

Zeagers, Salomon. Household: 2 adult males, 1 adult female, 3 boys and 4 girls. Slaves owned: 2 adult males, 4 adult females, 1 boy and 3 girl slaves.

There were a total European descended people consisting of 14 men over 60 living on Saba, 9 women over 60, 186 men between 16 and 60, 205 women between 16 and 60, 155 boys under the age of 16 and 161 girls under the age of 16. Bringing the total to 730.

There were 7 free blacks.

The slave population was broken down as follows:

Men between 16 and 60 years of age, 3,(coloured) women between 16 and 60 years of age 4,(coloured), boys below 16 years of age, 9, girls below 16 years of age 10.

Black slaves: Men over 60 years: 19, Women over 60 years: 20. Men between 16 and 60 years: 150. Women between 16 and 60 years: 164. Boys under 26 years: 84, Girls under 16 were 101.

Total population 1301, broken down as follows:

730 whites.

7 free blacks.

564 slaves of which 26 were coloureds.

By Comparison the island of St. Eustatius from which Saba was governed in 1780 had a total population recorded of 7.830 people. There were 2.375 whites, 296 free colourerds, there were 215 free blacks, 296 coloured slaves and 4.648 black slaves.

 

The person who took the census certainly had an excellent handwriting and leaves no room for error.