[Editor1]
On tThe Dixie
A Humorous Account of Growing Up in Kemp’s Bay, South Andros, Bahamas
Mina E. Miller-Dawes
To the memory of my parents, Thomas William Miller and Eva Augusta Forbes-Miller.
Acknowledgments
I sincerely thank my brother Charles, who encouraged me to put in writing the stories we seem so much to enjoy telling over and over again.It seemed that we never got tired of repeating them because each time we did, there was true laughter and enjoyment.
I thank my sister Hazel, who reminded me of many of the residents of Kemp’s Bay that I had long forgotten and who kept asking me when was I going to write the book.Even when I seemed to stall, she would voice how anxious she was to read the book while she still had a “enough sight” to do so.She currently is experiencing challenges with her sight.
Special thanks also to my husband, Byron, who challenged me to complete the book.He did not mind me sitting up at night with the lights on at the computer, in the bedroom,while he tried to sleep.
Last but not least, I thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave me the memory and the fortitude to put in writing things that happened in some instances over sixty years ago.Thank Yyou, Lord.
Mina Elizabeth Miller-Dawes
Introduction
Most times you can choose your friends. You can even choose your life’s partner. However, you definitely have no power of choice when it comes to who will be your father, mother, or siblings. This statement bodes true for all mankind—, rich, poor, black, white, brown, or yellow.
Sometimes as life goes on, we may wish we had the opportunity to choose, but God in his infinite knowledge and wisdom, even though he gave us the power of choice, did not allow us to choose into which families we were to be born.
More times than not, God provides one special sibling on whose shoulder he places the burden of carrying on the family legacy in times of diversity. In the Miller family, when our father passed away, the torch of responsibility seemed to naturally pass to Charles, the brother who was fourth in line.
He was not the most educated, but he exhibited wisdom in making decisions way beyond his age and educational status. He seemed to be the glue that held the family together—. Ffrom making sure that our mother was taken care of to seeing to it that his two younger siblings were doing their part in the process.
God has blessed us all, and we know that, as our father quoted many times, “I was young, and now I am old but I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread.” (Psalm 37:25Holy Bible).
And now, on the Dixie !!!
On The Dixie
A Humorous Account of Growing up in Kemp’s Bay, South Andros, Bahamas
[Editor2]
Doom! Doom! Doom!!Boom! Boom!Boom!!
Can you hear it?Can you see it in your mind’s eyes?I can!!Why can’t you?Can’t anyone else hear it?If you grew up in Kemp’s Bay, you surely can!!I know you can!
These are the sounds of feet running on the Dixie—. Ssounds of the feet of little children, sounds of the feet of adolescents, and sounds of the feet of adults;, male and female with bare feet!Hard feet!Dusty feet!Feet that wore shoes only on Saturday or Sunday, depending on which day was the chosen day of worship.These are the feet that I saw and heard growing up in Kemp’s Bay, South Andros, Bahamas.
My father, Thomas William Miller, was an industrious but humble man.So much so that he even named his fishing boat “The Industrious.”As a young man, my dad traveled far and wide seeking employment.He believed in supporting his family and taking care of his children.One such journey landed him and his wife in Key West, Florida, where his second child, Puritan Elizabeth, was born.He worked on the railroad and had experience with the South Dixie Highway in South Florida.Thus, when he returned home to Kemp’s Bay, he decided to name the trail that connected the community,“Tthe Dixie.”
The Bay Road stretched from Johnson Bay to the post office that was run by ‘Bulla Phillip,’ the postmaster.It connected to Tthe Dixie, which stretched from the post office, to ‘Ung Joe’ and ‘Ccousin Krish’ in the north and continued into the next settlement, Smith’s Hill.Other than the Bay Road and the Dixie, the inhabitants of the South Andros communities used the beach to get from one area to another.These were all sandy trails that connected the community from one end to the other.The beach and the Bay Road both contained fine, white sand.Sometimes the walk on the beach would be dry and sometimes completely wet, depending on the rise and fall of the tide.The walk on the Bay Road would be hard in some areas and soft and boggy in others.The Dixie, on the other hand, was mostly sand packed and hard, but the sand was graeyish in color and very dusty.Most people walked on the Dixie.
Everyone knew everyone in the settlement of Kemp’s Bay.The older people could see a footprint on the beach and know who had walked there.People would say that if they did not want anyone to know they had walked by the beach, they would walk in the water.
1
In this section, I will attempt to enumerate the families as best I can, starting from the southern end, where Bulla Phillip and his wife, Ms. Madlyn, resided.Next door was Ung Johnny Deveaux and his wife, Cousin Blossom, and family.The next group was Cousin Ronald Deveaux and Auntie Mae and their family, Auntiey Gretel, Cousin Lilly and Hasting and their family. The families that lived next to them were the Miller families.This area was called Miller Coppit. There was dDaddy’s old homestead, Uncle T. and Miss. Maliann.., Uncle Dick, whom we all called Dada, and Auntie Marrie and their children lived next door.The patriarch and matriarch of the Miller family were Andrew and Augusta Miller.Auntiey Ellen lived next to Dada, and as I recall, she had a son who was called dumb James. Then there was Auntiey Missie, the midwife that delivered most of thechildren and thus was called their grannie. The next family was Uncle Gerald and Florceta, and next to them was Uncle Ervin and Auntie Norah and their family, who lived next to Mama Gusta and Auntie Gwennie. Auntiey Martha also lived in the area.
I will make a list of the other families as I remember them coming in this order:Goddie Mildred and her family;, Cousin Kate and her husband,Ccousin Dennis;, Uncle Austin and family;, Uncle Dudley and Auntiey Sybil and family;, Uncle Melvin and Nettie and their family;, Ung Melvin and Aun Rattus;,and Cousin Cephas and Auntiey Etta, their daughter Roslyn and grand daughter Lean.The grave yard separated them from Cousin Marcus and his family.Then there was Jack and Merl Miller and family;, Dumb Jim and Dellie and their family;, Uncle Tom Monroe and Auntiey Merl and their family;, Cousin Nell and family;, Cousin Drimmie and her family;, Uncle Joe and Aunt Eulease and family;, Cousin Ernest and Cousin Nolda and family;, Walbon and his family;, Uncle Mannie and Auntie Macie and family;, Uncle Alleck and Auntiey Teisha and fFamily;, Ung Toddie and Aun Stella and family;, Cousin Lou Miller;, Berneice and her family;,“‘Big”’ Donald and Elsie and their family;, Uncle Pad and Ccousin Mynedell and family;, Bulla Sim, his wife,Ccousin Esther, and family;, Mr. Richie and Annie and family;, Ellis and Johnnie Mae and their family;, Cousin Leon and Cousin Milda and family;, Cousin Winkie and my sister Mutalyn and family;, Cousin Lovely and family;, Ung Tussa;, my parents, Thomas and Eva Miller, and family; next to us, Cousin Hilton, Cousin Sally,and their family;, and last but not least, Ung Joe and Cousin Krish, with their daughter Ccousin Vera and family. The area where they lived was called Ash Town as their last name was Ash.
There were also two men that stood out in the settlement just by being there.They wereMr. Arnold Carr and Milton.
You may also wonder why I took time to give all of these names.Well, some of the stories revolve around these persons, and having seen the names beforehand would make the stories more real to you.Some names have been changed to protect the innocent, or the guilty as the case may be.You decide.
2
You may notice that there are names prefaced with ‘Uung’ or ‘AaunUN.’These colloquial words stood for uncle and aunt.These were not natural relatives, but as children in our culture, we were not allowed to address an adult by their first name, so these were respectful titles for adults even though they were not related to us.Some who were addressed as cousins were not cousins either, but the same rule applied.
At any rate, no one bothered Mr. Arnold Carr.Behind his back, everyone called him Onnie, but to his face, he was addressed as Mr. Carr. He had a way all his own.There were days when he would come by my parents’ little grocery store and hold a conversation with whomever was there, and then there were days when he did not want to be bothered with anyone.He would stand in the middle of the Dixie and rattle off curses at any and every one.
One day, we were doing our chores, which consisted of cleaning the weeds from around the pigeon peas trees, corn plants, and any other vegetables in the ‘sand’ (our large sandy garden).Mr. Carr happened to come home to the shack, which was near by, that he occupied as his home, and saw us working.The shack was formerly the home of Ung Tussa, but it was now burnt out and dilapidated, with just a corner where one could keep dry from the dew and the rain.
Mama usually acted like she was not afraid of Mr. Carr.However, that day, his anger seemed directed solely toward her.As usual, my siblings and I were afraid because he came home ‘cussin’.Suddenly he looked at Mmama and declared, “I’m goin’ to give Eva Miller one lick, and all she gon’ could say is ‘“O God in heab’n.’”
Mama immediately gathered her garden tools and said, “Y‘yinna, come, let’s go.”’
We quickly departed from that scene. To be sure, Mr. Carr was not really a menace. H, he was just an icon who could become belligerent and sometimes scary for us.Mr. Carr had saved the day for us.No more chores in the “sand” that day!!
Milton, on the other hand, reminded me of the Bible characters who waited on the side of the road for Jesus to come by.Some days, he too was quiet and subdued.On other days, however, Milton would rise up from his sitting position and chase any child that dare to pass in close proximity to him.It was probably a good thing that he was unable to walk or run properly. We were all so afraid of Milton because he could not speak, and he was what we called a cripple.He would usually sit by the road leading up to the church, and one did not know when he would be inclined to chase you.He loved to sit on the ground with his knee up and hit his chin on his knee while he attempted to sing. Interesting character he was!
Contrasting Mr. Carr and Milton,: Mr. Carr was never seen without a pair of long pants and a jacket, usually black.He walked from one end of the community to another.He was loud and verbally abusive and knew how to intimidate a person.Milton, on the other hand, never wore pants but instead was dressed in a long beige robe that extendeddown to his ankle.He was unable to speak and usually sat on the sand in approximately the same area of the community.
School Days
As a young child, I loved going to school.My first recollection of school was the Mr. Toote’s” school, which was taught by Mr. Urban B. Toote.I vividly recall Mr. Toote sitting at the window of the building, which seemed to be where he lived, teaching the entire group of children gathered out front.He was a jovial man, and his mannerism drew the attention of his students.Sometimes he would toss handfuls of pennies and three penny pieces for the children to scramble for.Whatever you could gather was yours. I can still remember how he would take the entire school on a march down Tthe Dixie, and the parents would come out to watch.The older boys would beat the drums, and the younger children would hit the tambourines and shake the cowbells.Mr. Toote himself would blow the bugle or whatever brass instruments he owned.Along with the bugle and the drums and other instruments, the children would sing to the top of their lungs.One of the songs we sang was “We’ll Never Let Tthe Old Flag Fall.”The chorus states:
“We will never let the old flag fall
For we love it the best of all
We don’t want to fight to show our might
But when we start we will fight, fight, fight
In peace or war you’ll hear us say
God save the flag, God save the Queen
At the end of the world, the flag unfurl
We’ll never let the old flag fall.”
Those were fun days! Even though most of us had on no shoes, we loved the sound of our feet on Tthe Dixie!!
Later on, I recall the building that was erected in the pond near the Dixie. Oh wow!We now had a school building!!I can still hear the roaring sound of the rain on the tin roof and thinking,“Oh, great we get to take a nap!”You see, when it rained we were unable to hear the teacher, and thus we were allowed to put our heads down and go to sleep if it happened to rain for any length of time.It was in this building that we first experiencedsomeone sent from the mMission Ooffice in Nassau, specifically to teach us.It was also our first experience with having an assigned pastor in our home town.By that time, the last four children in our family were riding bikes to school.The school was approximately a mile from our house. My brother Charles carried me on the back of his bike and my sister, Hazel, carried my younger brother Cliff on her bike.4
This was the school that most of the Seventh-dDay- Adventist children attended.We sat in long rows of benches with the tables attached.The younger children sat together and were taught together.These were grades one 1 through three3.There was no kindergarten classes.The older children in grades four 4 through six 6 sat on the other side of the building.Since it was a one- room school, we could not help hearing what was being taught to everyone, s. So we were too exposed to knowledge far beyond our years.
Children came from the surrounding settlements.The Rahmings, Rolles, McPhees, and others came from Black Point.The Roberts came from Pure Gold. The Careys came from Little Creek.The Higgs and others came from Deep Creek. The Bains, Taylors, Johnsons, and others came from Smith’s Hill, and the Millers, Forbes, Rolles, and others came from Kemp’s Bay. The students coming from Black Point had to come over five hills on a rugged path to get to school, but they came anyway.The students from Little Creek, Pure Gold, and Deep Creek all came by ferry boat.They had to stand on one side of the creek and pull a rope to ring the bell for the ferrymen to pick them up.There were serious obstacles, but their parents were determined to send them to the ‘church’ school for a Cchristian education.
By the time the facility was erected, the older teenagers had moved on, some to further education at Bahamas Academy in Nassau and others to trade school.Many of these were my cousins, and some were even siblings of mine.I recall Rodney and Hazel, my siblings, moving on to Bahamas Academy and cousins Clarence Bain, Willie Minnis, Alpheaus Forbes, and others going on to trade school and to the United States to work on the “contract,” doing seasonal work offered to migrants in the United States.They would pick oranges in Fort Pierce, pick peas in Fort Pierce, cut sugar cane in Louisiana, and pick apples in New York.Many of the men in our community engaged in these seasonal jobs in order to make ends meet.