When reading what I wrote in the pages Estate Coble, Estate Whim and The Vieques Connection, please keep in mind that I am describing things as I remember them. Some of the "memories" could have been from things other relatives have told me over the years and which have become part of my "memories". What I have corrected, updated or told to me by someone else usually appears in [brackets]. If you read something that does not make sense or you think happened some other way, please feel free to contact me. |
Mother tells me I was born on a Monday, about 6 a.m. in Estate Coble. I was delivered at an aunt’s house and lived there for about 5 years. My aunt, Titi Guilla (Guillermina Nieves, deceased June 1997, St. Croix), who lived in Estate Coble, would have raised me if I had given her the opportunity. I had everything at my disposal. From what Ma tells me, every time she and my siblings visited her place or Estate Whim (La Granja), I would bawl every time they left. That bothered my aunt so much she decided to return me to Ma to live in town. [I was delivered by a midwife, Doña Carmelina Lanzot, who was an aunt of Titi Moncha’s husband’s, Don Paco. Titi Guilla became my godmother and Don Carmelo, Titi Paca’s husband, my godfather. Midwife is known as comadrona.] I cannot remember at what age I began to live with Ma. However, we continued to visit Titi Guilla in Coble or we met at Mamá Lola’s residence in La Granja (Est. Whim). Keep in mind that when I was born, Ma already had 5 children to raise. The youngest at the time of my birth was about 3. It was hard for Ma to make ends meet so her sister was willing to assist her. In those days, it was very common for children to be raised by a relative until the parents were in a position to take over. It was a time when everyone helped each other. At the time of my birth, I had 4 sisters and 1 brother. A year later I would have another sister. My siblings and their dates of birth are: Carmen Lydia (a.k.a. Min, born 1941, place of birth Vieques), Gloria Sofia (Glory/Glo, 1942, Vieques), Lillian (Lee, 1945, Vieques), María (Mery/Mary, 1946, Vieques), Francisco Junior (Paco, 1948, Vieques), and Nilsa Yvonne Belardo (1952, St. Croix). Ma was born in July 1922 and died on June 18, 2010. [A recent review of Ma’s birth certificate would make your head spin. Her name is listed as Carmela and the date of birth shown is October 1922. Why the discrepancy? Children were not registered as soon as they were born. Parents had to leave remote areas to get to the registrar so this was done at their convenience. It is rumored that Papá Leo would make these trips and get drunk. By the time he got to the office he would not be able to remember the child’s name. At other times the name would be written on his hand or sleeve and all the drinking would erase what was written. Whatever name popped into his head would be the name on the certificate. Dates usually related to an event. People would say that so and so was born before or after such and such a storm or before or after such a saint’s day. The date closest to what they recall would then appear on the certificate. Titi Guilla, the record keeper of the family after Mamá Lola died, emphatically recalled that Ma was born on un Dia del Carmen which is in July.] My in-laws, nephews and nieces follow. The children of my nieces and nephews are listed in parenthesis. Min married Francisco Javier Rivera and begot Francisco Jr. (Mida Ibelize), Daisy (Yaira) and Rodney (Giovanni); Glory married Leopold Fredericks and begot Leopold III (Le Ann), Jorgito (Alex), Phyllis (Jason), and Maritza (her father is Emile “Solly” Pedro; Romar, Raissa); Lillian married Hernan Santos and begot Hernan Junior (Jaime, Denisha, Omar), Ivelisse (Leana), Lizette (Steve Jr., Shane), Jaime (Jenee Milan, Jenelle Elyse), Louie (his father is Louie Bryce); Maria married Ronald Davis and begot Marc (Jordan Kai); Francisco married Ida and begot Bernissa; Nilsa married Wilfredo Morales and begot Nelson (Tarique, Kaylah, Nelson Josiah), Jessica, and Eric (Liliana Ceri), with Carmelo Rivera she begot Rene. Mother was born in a time when females were not respected much by men. Men felt that women should remain “barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen”. Girls rarely went to school in poor families due to a lack of resources. Girls were usually “rented” out to richer families. This brought income to the poor families. At times these girls lived with their employers so the poor families had one mouth less to feed. Boys had to work but had more “freedom”. Most boys were allowed to get some schooling. For this reason, Ma is illiterate. Being illiterate she took whatever job she could find. She was a seamstress for some. For others she was a laundress. She did whatever was needed to keep food on the table. Though she lacked a formal education, she has the intelligence of a college-educated individual. She was also smart enough to make sure we all got a good education. Now she is retired and enjoying her grand (17) and great grand (18) kids. (At the time this was written.) Estate Coble was a quiet little community. It was not too far from the sugar refinery in Estate Bethlehem. I can remember the scent of coffee every morning. I remember helping grind the coffee beans in the morning. The house looked humongous but was only two rooms. I remember one room being full of beds of different sizes. Though Titi Guilla had a few children of her own, I cannot remember any being in the house while I lived there. When I looked down from the floor of the porch the drop to the ground looked like a fall from such a height would kill me. There was an outhouse in the back of the house and a shower on the side. Most of the year a vine covered the shower stall. I later learned it was passion fruit. There were usually a few animals being raised in the back of the house. Every morning Titi Guilla would wake up and begin her daily ritual. After a few hours a group of men would appear. They would all be given food and coffee. The food was carried in a fiambrera/cantina (a 3-part metal lunch kit in which the containers were stacked one on top of the other to keep the food warm/cold and then carried around by a metal holder that kept the containers together). These men would then leave and return in the afternoon to return the containers for washing to get them ready for the next day. I figured they all worked close by, possibly a farm or the Bethlehem Sugar Factory. At a later time, I found out some of these individuals were related to me. [In discussing this matter recently with Ma, I was informed that the men came in the morning and were given a bottle or jar with coffee. If the coffee was placed in a bottle a piece of paper was used as a cork. She informed me that at about noon, a man on a horse would visit Titi Guilla to pick up the men’s food and take it to the sugar factory, where the men worked. One of the men, Felo, was Ma’s uncle. At the end of the day, the men would return the food containers (fiambreras). Ma continued to tell me that Titi Guilla cooked, washed and ironed for most of these men.] Titi Guilla was married to Anastasio “Taso” Nieves. I remember him always sitting on the cover to the cistern that was on the porch. For some reason, I cannot remember him going to work. Maybe he did, but I can’t remember. [Ma tells me that Don Taso did work but mostly part-time. He, like most of the people in Coble, worked in the sugar cane industry. Ma tells me that he also had a vegetable garden to the north of where he lived. I remember seeing men heading that way but never knew why.] During our trips to Coble, we’d see a lot of gray smoke coming from various areas. Upon inquiring what the smoke was, we were told that coal was being made. This was called “coal keel” or “hoguera”. Wood was placed on the grown, grass thrown over it then dirt over that. Through an opening, the grass was lit then closed. I don’t know how long it was allowed to burn to produce the coal. As the wood burned, the gray smoke would come through the dirt and into the air. That’s what we saw. Some people made a living by selling coal. When I was in my 30s, I visited Estate Coble. What a disappointment. I left the place with a broken heart. The houses were small, most of the porches were enclosed, and the height I thought existed between the porch and the ground was almost non-existent. What the eyes of a youth can do to a person. I realized then and there that one could never go back home. I think that’s the expression. Being able to speak two languages made most Puerto Ricans very versatile. We were able to switch from Crucian to Spanish to English and back to Spanish or Crucian without problems. Most Black Crucians resented this. Whenever we spoke Spanish they assumed we were talking about them. Not so. Sometimes it was easier for us to express ourselves in Spanish to each other. Ninety-nine percent of the time we were not talking bad about any non-Spanish speaking person that may have been around. [We spoke “Spanglish” before the word became part of the modern day vernacular. On St. Croix we also spoke “Spancruglish” – a combination of Spanish, Crucian and English.] |
08/30/06, 05/23/20 |
Estate Coble |
Written by Jorge L. Rodríguez © Cru-Riqueño Productions, 2006 |
Written by Jorge L. Rodríguez © Cru-Riqueño Productions, 2006 |
The following are what the "original" houses found in Coble looked like. Over the years homeowners have added to the original structures to make bigger homes. Unfortunately, the house I lived in for a while with Titi Guilla has been remodeled into a larger home. The Coble I remember was made up of mostly Puerto Ricans. Most of the men worked in the cane fields or in the Bethlehem Sugar Factory. |
The white house would have been where Titi Guilla lived. It would have looked like the houses in the photos above but the balcony and kitchen would have been in the front. The balcony of the white house is approximately where the original one was. The original houses were built over a cistern. The old hinges for the doors and windows are still present in many of the homes even though the doors and windows may have been replaced with newer and more modern ones. Doors and windows in the original homes were wooden. Titi Guilla's home had a staircase on the southern side and it made the balcony appear to be extremely high. Over the years I realized that the staircase was not that high but to a child it appeared that way. I remember the shower being to the left side of the house and the latrine was in the back. |
I will refer to this house in the explanation after the last 2 photos. |
The number of the house on the left. Were the houses always numbered? |