Showing posts with label La Pastora. Show all posts
Showing posts with label La Pastora. Show all posts

Sunday, 14 July 2019

Cocoa

Cocoa estate. Watercolour © Peter Shim.
Reproduced with the kind permission of the artist.
The Cocoa Economy in Trinidad

The Inca regarded cocoa as a drink of the gods, and it was reserved for the high nobility of this empire that once existed in the cloudy mountaintops of the Andes.
South America’s great jungles with their vast river systems of the Orinoco and the Amazon are the true home of the ‘Golden Bean’.
In Trinidad, cocoa has been cultivated since Spanish times, with varying degrees of success. After the abolition of slavery and the collapse of the French planters’ cane economy, the planters turned to cocoa cultivation so as to save the day. In the 1840s, when the nearly bankrupt planters, who were by now in their second generation, moved deeper into the valleys of the Northern Range, Grand Couva and the Montserrat Hills, cocoa was only moderately successful.
But little did those ‘cocoa pioneers’ know how right their timing was! Within another decade cocoa became a staple in Trinidad’s export market. Cocoa is a different crop than sugar: whereas cane is only viable with vast acreages, people with small plots of  land were able to participate in cocoa cultivation. 
The effect this had on the structure of the society was very positive: the middle classes of all races became if not wealthy but really very comfortable. Country people, the Hispanic-Amerindian population, also benefitted from the cocoa economy, clearing the forest and cultivating with loving care the cocoa fields. 
The cocoa industry in these islands played a key part in the socio-economic development between the 1860s and the 1920s. It was driven by the manufacture of eating chocolate which had been introduced by the Cadbury Brothers in Great Britain, as well as by technological advancements made in the production of cocoa as a drink.
The industrial revolution and the emergence of Europe’s middle class with its predilection for the ‘finer things of life’, served to create a very large market for cocoa and chocolate. For nearly three-quarters of a century, the Afro-Franco creole culture, together with its older ‘cocoa pagnol’ cousinage, boomed. Many small and medium businesses blossomed as a result of exporting cocoa and importing and distributing goods. Many families of the coloured lower and middle classes were able to own small cocoa estates, live comfortably, educate their children, and maintain the values and morals of that respectability so vital in colonial life in those years. In fact, the cocoa boom is what is referred to as the ‘good old days’, the longtime days of the collective memory of Trinidad as it has come down to us over the years.
Hon. Arthur Hamilton Gordon C.M.G., who was governor of Trinidad from 1866 to 1870, encouraged the opening up of crown lands for the cultivation of cocoa. As much as two thirds of the land were utilised, and by the 1870s, cocoa exports exceeded that of sugar. By 1884, with the depression of sugar releasing land, labour and capital, cocoa development increased in profitability.
In Port-of-Spain and the other main towns, development became increasingly apparent. New neighbourhoods came into existence. One could even say that the pretty little gingerbread houses of Woodbrook, Belmont, in San Fernando south of the Paradise cemetery, moving towards Rushworth Street, at St. Joseph and in Arima came about as the result of the ‘Golden Bean’.
The ‘cocoa pagnols’ were in fact the pioneers of the industry. They established the estates in two ways: one approach was for a family to acquire crown lands, fell the trees and plant the cocoa. Upon maturing of the trees, the family would sell the estate at a good profit, and go to repeat the process somewhere else. In so doing, they were making a small fortune over two or three genereations. 
The other approach for plantations to be established was through the contract system. These contracts would last about five or seven years, with an agreement made by the owner with peasant families to develop an area of forest into a plantation. The family had free usage of the land, with the stipulation to plant and care for a certain amount of cocoa trees per acre, and plant and sell their own market garden crops. When the trees reach maturity, the owner would take over the land and paid an agreed amount for each bearing cocoa tree to the family.


Cocoa served to develop Trinidad in those years in a variety of ways. New villages came into existence, with schools, churches, chapels, masonic lodges and friendly societies, post offices and warden’s offices, markets and shops. Old towns like Arima and Sangre Grande, Princes Town and San Fernando became active, busy and prosperous. The island’s population moved out of the original centres of settlement which had formed after emancipation. There was prosperity in the countryside. A new verve in the folk arts of the patois-speaking people expressed itself in dance and song. For the first time, it became possible for people of all races and combinations of races, to enjoy the benefits of the economy.

Historical and Statistical View of the Island of Trinidad  
This excerpt from Daniel Hart was written in 1890  

COCOA
The principal articles of produce exported are sugar, cocoa, coffee, rum, molasses, and cotton. Indigo is also exported, but not raised in the island; it is brought from Venezuela for exportation, but in 1783, there were plantations and manufacturers of the article established  in the island. The number of sugar estates does not exceed from 152 to 155, and those of cocoa and coffee, 700. The total extent of land under cultivation is as follows:—canes, 36,739 acres; cocoa and coffee, 14,238 acres; provisions, 9,914 acres; pasture, 7,356 acres. Total, 67,247 acres.
The correct name of the cocoa is ‘cacao’. The cultivation of cocoa, with the exception of a small quantity grown in the island of Grenada, is peculiar as an article of British production to Trinidad. With the exception just mentioned, Trinidad is the only colony throughout the wide extent of the British Colonial Empire producing the materials for this wholesome and palatable beverage. In 1827, the number of cocoa trees amounted to 3,091,945, and the quantity exported that year was 3,696,144, valued according to official returns at £57,851. The value of each tree being then taken at two dollars, or eight shillings and four-pence.
After 1827, a sudden depression in the price of the article reduced the cocoa proprietors, at once and without warning, from a state of affluence to one of comparative—nay, in many cases, real—destitution. For the last ten years, however, the article has maintained a fair and remunerative price. The culture of cocoa is the only one of our Tropical productions at all adapted to the constitution of Europeans. The cocoa tree itself of some 20 feet in height, and affording a grateful shade from the blaze of the sun, is again shaded in its turn by the bois immortel, whose protecting services have justly obtained for it among the South Americans the appellation of La Madre del Cacao. The weeding of the soil, picking of the pods, husking them, and carrying the produce to the drying house; in short, the whole of the agricultural operations and all but the last stage of the manufacturing process is carried on under this impervious and ever verdant canopy; the air gently agitated and refreshed by the river or mountain stream, upon whose vegas or banks these plantations are invariably established.
Here, and here only, the European may measure his strength with the descendants of the Africans and derive direct from the soil without the intervention of the latter, the subsistence which in every other kind of agricultural pursuits seems denied him by his own physical exertions. Under the double shade of the cocoa tree and the Madre del Cacao, the European feels himself as in his native climate. By official returns made in 1842, there were 182 small plantations having from 100 to 500 trees; 147 having from 500 to 1,000 trees, and 268 having from 1,000 to 5,000 trees; 55 having from 5,000 to 10,000 trees; 29 having from 10,000 to 20,000 trees; 28 having from 20,000 to 50,000 trees, and I above 50,000, making a total of 710. Upon a general average, each cocoa tree ought to yield annually two and a half pounds net of cocoa. The distance at which cocoa is planted in this island differs from four to five varas. I have taken the latter as the basis of my calculations. At that distance, there are about 800 trees in a quarrée, which is the old Spanish measurement of 3.1-5 English acres.
Consequently, 40,000 trees occupy fifty quarrées, and the average yield bring something near 2 ½ lbs. per tree, 22 fanegas per 1,000 trees, and $12 (with few exceptions) to be the highest price obtained in the market in 1865. Pruning is an essential operation. Five years would be sufficient to intervene between the pruning; and on an estate of 40,000 trees, I would do it by using the knife to 8,000 trees only in one year, and continue at such rate until the whole shall have been pruned-to re-commence again by the first 8,000 trees. Forty-eight dollars is put down to be expended in that operation, not that the whole of that amount would be expended (for the pruning should be light), but because in that sum is included the cleaning of trees from moss, parasites, ants, and guatepajaro—a work which, though strongly recommended to both men and women (for on many estates picking is performed by women) employed in picking pods, it is, nevertheless, very imperfectly done, or not done at all.
Hence, at the proper season, which is immediately after the December crop, say, in March and April, a skilful gang should be employed to trim and clean the 8,000 trees apportioned for the season. The expenses and net revenue of cocoa estates are subject to  variation, according to extent and locality:—an estate of 30,000 trees requiring almost the same establishment as one of 40 or 50,000—hence the increase or decrease of the net revenue and cost per bag of cocoa on different estates. The amount paid for cutlassing 100 trees varies from 30 to 60 cents. Some estates in the quarter of Maracas, not having labourers located on the property, are in the habit of cutlassing their estates by ‘gallapa’, a system much preferred by small proprietors, though it raises the expense to the ruinous amount of $1 20 per 100 trees. The 2 ½ lbs. that I have put down as the yield which each tree in the present imperfect state of cultivation can produce; but I am quite certain that with increased care and attention, a cocoa tree at 13 feet apart can be made to yield double that quantity. As a proof, on the estate of Mr. Victoriano Gomez, in the Ward of Maracas, there are 200 trees planted at 22 feet apart that yielded 6 lbs. per tree.
A quarrée planted at that distance holds 288 trees, giving a total of 2,128 lbs. At 13 feet, a quarrée, as already stated, contains 800 trees, at 2 ½ lbs. per tree gives 2,000 lbs—a difference of 128 lbs. in favour of wide planting. But is wide planting more profitable? The following particulars will show. Cocoa planted at 22 feet apart require 139 quarrées for 40,000 trees, at 6 lbs. per tree would give 24,000 lbs.; 139 quarrées planted at 13 feet apart would contain 111,400 trees, which, at 2 ½ lbs. per tree is 278,000 lbs.; planted at 22 feet in 50 quarrées there are 14,400 at 6 lbs. is 86,400; at 13 feet, there are 40,000 trees, which, at 2 ½ lbs. will give 100,000 lbs. Difference in favour of narrow planting in 50 quarrées, 13,000 lbs. or 123 ½ fanegas, which, at $12, would give a total profit of $1,480. In addition to the foregoing remarks, it is necessary to state, that on every well-regulated cocoa estate, there should be a nursery of cocoa trees of the best quality, in order to supply ‘fallos’ or missing trees. The following is a statement of the expenses of a cocoa estate of 40,000 trees, and cost per fanega (110 lbs.) or bag:—
It is worthy of remark that a cocoa estate by the planting of provisions and the raising of Stock ought to considerably tend to decrease the expenses above given, because the labourers are only required to pick twice in the year:—June and December. Each estate of the size herein given should also be provided with 8 or 10 good donkeys for crooking, and 25 good steady labourers would be sufficient to carry on the working of an estate of 40,000 trees. It is necessary, however, to state that for the last 3 or 4 years cocoa has been disposed of in the London Market from 65s., 70s., 80s., 90s. and as high as 110s. per cwt., nor has it been under nine dollars in the Trinidad Market. Indeed as much as 13 dollars the fanega (110 lbs.) has been paid, hence the net annual income should be much more than is herein given. There is however, a want of energy on the part of the cocoa planters in regard to planting provisions and the rear of stock. It is, at the same time, just to remark that they labour under great difficulties in the way of procuring labourers. A Negro can live for 24 hours on a sugar cane. Hence, he would rather work on a sugar estate for one shilling a day than for two shillings on a cocoa estate. In former years when the price of cocoa was low, little or no attention was paid to the cultivation; the increase of price has, however, acted as a real stimulus to the planters of the article, and greater attention is now paid both to the cultivation and to the curing and preparing of the article.

Santa Cruz, Trinidad. Originally the property and residence of Don Antonio Gomez, Senior Judge at the time of Governor Sir Ralph Woodford, 1813 to 1828. La Pastora was later acquired by Hippolyte Borde, Esq. This picture was originally published in J.H. Collens’ “A Guide to Trinidad” and was redrawn by Peter Shim in 1987, © Paria Publishing Co. Ltd. 

The largest cocoa estate in the island is the ‘La Pastora’, situated in the Ward of Santa Cruz, and belonging to Mr. H. Borde. On this estate there are 50,000 trees, but this estate, like others, in 1837 (a year also that the cocoa planter laboured under very great disadvantages for the want of labour) only yielded a crop of 70,200 lbs. In the year 1727, the cocoa trees were greatly injured by the severity of the north wind—a disaster which the priests represented as a judgement upon the inhabitants for their enormity in refusing the payment of tithes. Alcedo relates this ridiculous story—‘The production of the greatest value in this island’, he says, ‘is the cocoa which from its fine quality, is everywhere in request, in preference to that of Caracas, and the crops were even bought up before they were gathered, so that the person to whom they belonged refused to pay their tenths to the clergy, and strange to say, that, as it should seem, Heaven in chastisement of their covetousness had entirely deprived them of this means of emolument in as much as, since the year 1727, the whole of their crop have turned out fruitless and barren, with the exception of one that belonged to a certain man named Robles, who had continued to pay his tithes and whose estate is the only one in which that production is now furnished.’ Unfortunately for the theory of the monks, and the faith of Alcedo, the crops of cocoa have been, and I hope they ever will be, exuberant since Trinidad has been cultivated, as the tables of exports herein given fully proves. It is worthy of remark that the ‘Robles’ mentioned by Alcedo was the father of Christoval de Robles, who inherited from his father the San Antonio and Santa Catalina estates in the Ward of Santa Cruz.

A lovely old cocoa tree (from: http://sweetriot.com/riot/cacao-fun/cacao-story/)

Cocoa, the Golden Bean
Cocoa and the Second Frontier (1870-1920)
by Bridget Brereton
from: The Book of Trinidad

Trinidad was first opened up for plantation development and large-scale settlement in the 1780’s with the influx of French speaking immigrants after the Cedula for Population of 1783 was promulgated. (There were 1,093 European French people in Trinidad and 2,925 French speaking Afro/French people in Trinidad in 1797. The total 'Free' population was 7, 536, enslaved Africans 28,000) The first phase of rapid development—the first frontier—was dominated by the expansion of sugar production and could be said to have lasted from the 1780’s to the 1820’s. Yet, even by the 1830’s, Trinidad was still an undeveloped country. Vast amounts of potentially fertile land were still untouched by human enterprise. In 1838, only some 43,000 acres were cultivated out of a total acreage of 1.25 million. Much of the island was still in the hands of the Crown and under its original forest cover. Only a fairly narrow band of territory stretching west to east from Chaguaramas to Arima and north to south from Port of Spain to San Fernando was extensively settled and cultivated. The southern half of the island, the north coast and its hills and valleys, the whole of the east coast and much of Central Trinidad were virtually untouched and unpopulated. Trinidad was still a frontier colony by the middle decades of the nineteenth century. (In 1838, at emancipation, the population was:
Whites………………………………………..4,326


Free Black and people of Colour…............. 16,412

Carib…………………………………………   727

Slaves………………………………………22,436
                                                                                             Total  49,721)
The second phase of internal colonisation of the island began around 1870 and was associated above all with the expansion of cocoa, though later on (after 1910) the development of the oil industry was also important especially for the southern half of the island. But it was cocoa which dominated the second frontier; settlement and population followed the cocoa trees into the newly opened up districts.
Cocoa is indigenous to the New World—it was the Aztecs’ chocolate, Moctezuma’s favourite drink—and it had always been cultivated in Spanish Trinidad. By around 1850, it was quite insignificant as an export crop. Its take-off into a period of rapid expansion can be dated to around 1870. As eating chocolate, and cocoa as a beverage, became items of mass consumption in the industrialised countries, demand for cocoa in Europe and North America expanded tremendously; this was the most important single reason for the expansion of cocoa in Trinidad.
Locally, the opening up of Crown lands through a change of government policy in the late 1860’s and the gradual improvement of internal communications after 1870 (roads, railways, bridges) had the effect of removing serious obstacles to the progress of settlement and cultivation. Capital, labour, and some land became available in the years between 1884 and 1903 because of the sugar depression in that period. For instance, workers retrenched by the sugar estates might enter cocoa as wage labourers or as peasant growers, money received through sale of small, marginal sugar estates to big firms could be invested in the establishment of cocoa plantations, and in some cases, abandoned sugar land could be switched to cocoa. Since the establishment of a modest cocoa estate did not require a massive outlay of capital (unlike sugar), many local families could mobilise their personal resources and finance the gradual building-up of a cocoa property.
While the market situation remained favourable, therefore, and it did right up to 1920, all the ingredients for a rapid expansion of production were present. Exports had averaged 8 million lbs. a year in 1871-80; by the decade 1911-20 they averaged 56.3 million, a seven-fold increase. By the turn of the century, cocoa had overtaken sugar as Trinidad’s most valuable export; King Sugar had been dethroned.
The new King Cocoa, during his short ascendancy, profoundly influenced many aspects of Trinidad’s social and economic development. Previously inaccessible areas which had been barely populated at all were opened up  to cultivation and settlement, especially the valleys of the northern range, the country between Sangre Grande and the east coast, and parts of central Trinidad and the deep south. New villages sprang into life, with their churches and chapels, schools, lodges and friendly societies, post offices and warden’s offices, markets and shops. Old towns like Arima took on a new lease of life as cocoa marketing centres. The population spread out from the original centres of settlement along the Eastern Main Road to Arima and from Port of Spain to San Fernando. People of all races were involved in this movement:—the Creole blacks, the peons who had been the first pioneers of cocoa, the African and West Indian immigrants, the ex-indentured after 1870.
Cocoa, however, was never exclusively an estate crop. Thousands of peasants of all races cultivated the cocoa trees as contractors (raising trees on land belonging to estates) and as small producers on their own land. Cocoa contributed very significantly to the growth and prosperity of Trinidad’s peasantry, and these small farmers created new settlements and new social and cultural institutions all over the country. To take just one example:—parang and the culture associated with it are inseparable from the cocoa peasantry. As cocoa prospered, some of the profits filtered down to the labourers and small producers, and many of them were able to educate their children, contributing to the growth of the middle class and the general spread of literacy and modernisation.
King Cocoa fell, in his turn, in the 1920’s and 1930’s; but not before he had played a key role in opening up the island, strengthening its economy and enriching its social and cultural development.

San Juan Estate, Gran Couva.
Country residence of Francis Agostini, ca. 1900.
Illustrated by Peter Shim from a photograph by Hélène Farfan.
© Paria Publishing Co. Ltd.


Excerpt from the List of Trinidad Cocoa Estates 
in C.B. Franklin’s Year Book 1916

Arima Ward Union
Mon Repos, La Reunion Hrs L. Centeno
L’Espérance, Verdant Vale          “
Willow Vale, Trinidad Cocoa and Coffee Co. Ltd.
St. Patrick, La Razón,
San Mateo, Cedar Hill
Mount Pleasant Hrs. de Lapeyrouse
El Retiro Hrs. De Martini
Mon Plaisir F.J. Le Blanc
La Compensación S. De Gannes
San José          “
Buena Vista Hrs. Jules Cipriani
La Victoria, Belle Vue Wm. E. Foster
Prospect J.S. McDavid
Oropuna H. Machado
San Antonio A.M. Tinoco
San José A. Harry
Torrecilla M.S. Strickland
Santa Rosa Hrs. C.G. Seheult
Sin Verquenza, Hermitage F.A. Neubauer
La Ressource Robt. J. Miller
Mausica & Trianon Hrs. C. Cleaver
Valley Vale F.W. Meyer
San Francisco, Orange Hill C. Leotaud
El Ricon, San Felipe
Mon Repos C.O. & L. Robertson
La Retraîte L. Hamel-Smith
S. Carlos de Caigual West Indian
St. Patience Trustees
Agua Santa C. Blasini
St. Adelaide L.A. Riley
Spring Bank, El Socorro Gordon Grant & Co.
La Solidad, Prosperidad
Sta. Isabella, La Soledad
Santa Crux S. Bercon
Felipé C. Pamphile
San Carlos C. Stollmeyer
Candelaria L.A. Sellier
Experanza A.D. Brown
Santa Cruz Jos. N. Maingot
San Antonio Heirs of Garcia
Santa Maria, Glencora, Perseverance F.A. Neubauer
Piedmonte, La Fertilité Paul Caracciolo
El Carmen, Monte Cristo
Jouvence, Santa Barbara Hrs. of Hospedales
El Combata, La Concepcion H.J. Delisle
La Horqueta Hrs. Joa. Ribeiro
Belle Vue J.R. Metivier
Jouvence P. Stevens
San Rafael A. Angeron
Los Armadillos C. Faustino
Sta. Catalina Thos. Lacon
Santa Rosalia, San Gregorio Manuel Luces
San Rafael          “
Prosperite Hrs. C. de Verteuil
Havering W. Carpenter
Laventille Heirs of Llanos
Monte Cristo Paul Caracciolo
San Jose M.J. Roach
L’Agnesia Dr. R.C. Bennett
New Providence G. de Verteuil
La Cruz P.R. Pierre
La Soledad Carmona
El Regalo, La Corona A. Giuseppe
La India M.A. Vignale
La Esmeralda George F. Huggins
Arizona H. Monceaux
San Bartolo, Providence H.K. Viera
Murray’s Vale Henry E. Murray
Santa Maria Hy. Court
New Providence, Val de Cacao Alb. H. Cipriani
La Romancia Dr. A.H. Burt
La Marouna Heirs of J. Payne
C. Stollmeyer San Juan J.A. Aquie
Paradise C. Luces
Santa Maria, Spring W.S.E. Barnardo
Dios Me Ayudes A. de Matas
La Ventura, Good Hope Alfred Mendes
La Providencia M.D. Smith
El Carmen, San Antonio Heirs C. Lange
La Concepcion, San Juan
El Carmen A.V. Stollmeyer
Prospect Madoo Lala
Santa Rosa Chas. Cleaver
Spring Hill F.W. Meyer
La Prospérité, San Antonio N. Cowlessar
San Antonio T. de Soublette
Melton R. Hamlyn Nott
Brothers F. Léotaud
El Cedro M. Quesnel
Naranjo Hrs. J.A. Rapsey
San Frederico & La Violeta C.O. & L.N. Robertson
La Trinidad S. Thannoo
Mon Bonheur, Providence G.R. Alston & Co.
San Expedito A. Albert
Mt. Hope H. Josse Delisle
San Salvador A.C. de Verteuil
Perseverance C. de Verteuil & J D’Abadie
La Conformidad A. Gómez
Buena Vista M. Martinez
La Gloria Jos. de Verteuil
St. Ann P. Pampellonne
Prosperidad A. de Verteuil
Talparo T.H. Warner
Spring W.E.S. Barnardo
Santa Ignalis, Santa Barbara C.A. Pollonais
Spring & Armonica Hrs. Edgard Borde


Above: PERSEVERANCE ESTATE HOUSE
Perseverance estate house at Moka in Maraval, was the home of Jeanne Besson, born 1822, and her husband Louis Latour. Jeanne was the daughter of François Besson III and Marie France Olivière. She took into her home the children of her husband, Louis Latour, and Léonide (Lorraine) Besson, as teenagers, upon the death of their mother who may have been a person of colour. It is likely that Louis Latour and Léonide, also called Lorraine Besson may have had a plaçage relationship over several years. The children’s names were Frederick Louis Latour and Louise Ultima Latour. I have not been able to discover the parentage of their mother. In her will she leaves them, as teenagers, in the care of their father, Louis Latour. Louise Ultima Latour married Jules Cipriani, also known as Cipriani de Rose or Jules De Rose Cipriani, reputed son of Léon Cipriani and a woman of colour by the name of Rosalie Labastide, (she may have been a relative of the Bessons and de la Bastides). One of their children was Michael, “Mikey” Cipriani, sportsman and pioneer aviator. Jules de Rose Ciprianis’ sister, Marie Alix, married Charles James Milne.This house and its extensive grounds, gardens and cocoa fields was eventually bought by Albert Henry Cipriani (Baba), son of Albert Henry Cipriani, brother of Emmanuel Cipriani, who had married Lucy Ganteaume, whose mother was Theresa Adèle Besson, the second wife of Pierre Alphonse Ganteaume.Albert Henry’s (Baba) brother was Captain Arthur Andrew Cipriani, several times Mayor of Port-of-Spain. He was a labour leader, and champion of the poor. Perseverance estate passed into the hands of the Battoo family and was used as a music hall for several years, until it was eventually abandoned, and destroyed by fire in the 1980s.
Illustrated by Peter Shim after an old photograph. © Paria Publishing Co. Ltd.


CEDROS WARD UNION
Annandale, Buenos Ayres, St. Michael L.F. Ambard
La Ressource, Providencia West Indian Estate Co.
Sta. Barbara, El Pilar          “
Bon Aventure, Santa Isabella          “
L’Union, La Stella and Buena Vista Edwin Clapham
St. Joseph Mrs. Solano
San Francisco Hrs. Mejias
Villanueva Malze Bros.
Erin G.F. Huggins
El Perial, San José and El Cocal Carmen Anduze
La Victoria G.F. Huggins
Good Hope Donatien Gervais
Sta. Maria A.S. Kernahan
Denmark Chs. Ker (Trustee)
Enterprise Geo. Grant
S. John A. Attin
Industry The Industry Est. Corporation of N.Y.
Monte Cristo L. Tanwing & Sona
Penbury E.C. Skinner
El Puerto P. Collington

COUVA & CHAGUANAS WARD UNION
Cocoloco J.B. Todd
Montrose Dr. A.P. Lange
Rich Ville A.B. Richards
Ednavale Geo. Bancroft
Edinburgh Hrs. S. Henderson
Esmeralda Gordon, Grant & Co.
Sta. Emilia Hrs. of Joyce Ltd.
La Providencia Fritz L. Boos
Henksdale Hrs. Hendrickson
Félicité Smith Bros. & Co.
Souvenir A.V.M. Thavenot
St. Marie Hrs. de Boissière
Roupell Park Dan McD. Hart
Bon Aventure Hrs. C. Robertson
St. Jules Jas. Stewart
Murrayvale Onnarey & Robertson
Eva’s Hope Heirs Langton
Waterloo Kleinworth, Sons & Co.
Pays Perdu, S. Madeleine J.R. Tom
Målaga Heirs H. Stone
St. Margaret J.W. Fletcher
Sta. Philippa, Hillandale W. Mills
Orange Field Beatrix A. Lange
La Soledad & Sta. Isabella E.W. Savary
Uquire, Las Lomas & Elibox E.L. Agostini
Palmiste Miss Léotaud
Tcarridonum Carr Brothers
Mes Voeux & Bon Accord Heirs of Smith and Langton
Friendship Hall Black and McLeod
St. Charles & Esperanza Heirs Hoadley
Verdant Vale Heirs Penco
Philippine Hrs. L. Preau
Balmain J.P. Bain
La Rosalia J.A. Ortiz
Belle Vue Boodhin
Peking Numa Nathaniel
Williams Nuseban
Good Luck Satuarine
Enaree Beddoo Bhagat
Sitar-i-Hind E.M. Madoo
Hope E.V. Downey
Carolina Agostini and McLelland
Prospect F. Isaac
Perseverance J.E. Bonneterre
Don José F.A. Gómez
The Hope & St. Luke Dyett & Grant
Bon Aventure & Mon Plaisir Heirs W.C. Dyett
St. Vale, Lee Vale C.P. Lee
L’Argenville Dr. A.B. Duprey

DIEGO MARIN & ST. ANN’S WARD UNION
La Chaguaramas & Mt. Hazard Chaguaramas Estates, Limited
Crystal Stream Heirs of J. Dickson
Fond Palmiste & St. Sophie J.C. Benlisa
St. Lucien Croney & Co.
Richplain Enroll & A. Artfield
Les Fontaines, La Ressource, Bagatelle Michael P. Maillard
Cedar Hill F. & J.A. Jones
Hermitage, Esperanza Anna Lange
La Puerta Dr. J.L. Senior
Tucker Valley T’dad Ltd. & Finance
Haleland Park Co.,  Ltd.
Moka W.G. Gordon
Val de Oro J.C. Benlisa
Mon Espoir, Cascabelle & Vineyard Trinidad Produce Company
Belle Vue L.E. Bernard
River and Cascade Trinidad Government
Mt. Carmel Pitman & de Suze
San Diego & Victoria George G. Brown
La Ressource Catherine R. Rist
La Ressource Jean Isidore
San Carlos W.T. Campbell
Perseverance L.S. Disney
St. Emelia L.D. Alcazar
Mon Repos Edgar Borde
Covigne E. Hamel-Smith
St. John & Grand Fond Madeleine Joseph
Jamson J.A. Brown
La Fromage Mrs. C Fitzwilliam
Mount Catherine Louis Julien
La Oferta André de Verteuil
La Sagesse, Zig Zag Hrs. J.E. Coryat
Santa Barbara, Prospéridad          “
Santa Carolina, La Madeleine          “
La Pastora, Tranquilidad J. Ribeiro
Maracas Bay Hrs. de Lapeyrouse
Paradis Terrestre, Mon Repos J. Penco
Perd Mon Temps          “
San Antonio Sir J. Needham
Soconusco Wilsons, Limited
El Castillo S. Bissessar
San Patricio François Tomasi
El Carmen Henrietta Kavanagh
La Soledad (Guanal) J.S. de Bermudez
Concordia Marie Duprey
Brasso Toco J.C. Poyer
North Laventille Morvant Gordon Grant & Co. Ltd.
South Laventille Earl of Dundonald
Beau Séjour J.A. Antoni
San Miguel Emma Dreyfus
San Antonio & El Corosal Joaquim Webster
Providence Louis de Gannes
San Carlos Mrs. Jul. Borde
L’Eugenie G. Ferrari
Union F. D’Heureux
Belle Air Heirs of B. Mussio
Hermitage Arthur Cipriani
La Regalada, San Rafael, El Guamal C.F. Stollmeyer
La Deseada C.C. Stollmeyer
Mon Valmont, La Fortunée A.V. Stollmeyer
Clydesdale, El Ordo & Sta. Ann’s          “
St. Luce & Mon Desir Mrs. C. de Verteuil
La Soledad Smith Bros. & Co.
El Socorro, Concord F. Herrera
Barataria & Aranjuez Hrs. J.A. Rapsey
Coblentz Carlos Rovedas
La Trinidad Solomon Dreyfus
Belle Fleur Ed. Manuel    
Ste. Marie H.F. Figeroux
La Ultima Jos. J. Ribeiro
Champs Fleurs M.M. Gransaull
Brothersville Jones Bros.

LA BREA & OROPOUCHE WARD UNION
Alta Gracia Albert A. Sobrion
Patna Boodhoosing
Nelson J.J. McLeod
La India Partap
S. Martin & S. Philip Hrs. of Allum
Santa Maria T. Geddes Grant
Perseverance C.C. Stollmeyer
El Socorro & El Kola W.C. Robertson & Others
Canton & Santa Cecilia Geo F. Huggins
Esperanza Mrs. Felix Smith
San Francisco & Good Intent A.M. & R.A. Low
Adventure J.B. & S. Waith
La Fortunée De Wolf & Mathison
El Campo Beatrice Huggins
Pluck Tennant’s Est. Ltd.
Common & Kingsland Shadrach Medford
La Siparia, La Tranquilidad Trinidad Properties Ltd.
Kimberley Geo. Blake
Cura John Bleasdell
La Pastora Smith Bros. & Co.
St. Mary, Paradise Pierre Bartlett
La Virgin y Tierra Linda Albert Mendes
Eureka and Cura E.D. Clarke
Otaheite Hrs. Clem. Lange
Boa Ventura Hrs. Joaq. Ribeiro
La Fortunée, Clifton Hill United Brit. Oilfields
St. Valentine Harold Fahey

MANZANILLA WARD UNION
La Josephina F.A. Neubauer
Sta. Estella General Pacheco
Windermere Croney & Co.
S. José de Comparo L.P. Pierre
St. Joseph Mrs. O. de Gannes
La Concordia, San Antonio C. Allard
La Union E. Hernandez
Brooklyn Percival Stevens
Barcelona J.B. Robinson
Non Pareil, St. Marie & Santa Rita E.A. Robinson
Concord A.P. Maingot
El Reposo Hrs. C. F. Sellier
St. Privat Dr. de Gannes
Santa Rita Geo. Jonson
Errolvale Thomas Lyder
Perseverance George McLean
St. Elizabeth Henry A. Reid
El Palmito A. Protheroe
St. Joseph J. Riley
Mt. Taldon B. Romney
La Mascotte R. Vignales
St. John John F. Wallen
Sta. Clara J. Jacelon
Santa Anna Ms. C. Kirton
St. Patrick Heirs of Logan
Montrose E. Damian
Williamsville George Williams
El Recuerdo Murray and Wake
May Vega Dr. C. F. Lassalle

TACARIGUA & BLANCHISSEUSE Ward Union
Glenside Commdr. W.H. Coombs, R.N.
Charles Vale S. Augustin
Redemption Hrs. B. de Lamarre
St. Michael Resal Maharaj
Mount St. Benedict Mayuel de Caigny
Trafford Marie Holler
Tumbason Dr. L Lota
Las Cabecerras Jos. Lota
Santa Barbara, San Pedro J.F. Alonzo
Santa Isabella J.M. Blanc
Mamoral Mrs. L. Johnstone
Magdaline, St. Antoine F.A.Neubauer
La Guadeloupe, St. Ignes
El Socorro, La Pastora
La Rosina, El Manacal
Concordia, La Florida, Avondale Windward Islands Estates Co. Inc
San Vincente Joseph Gomez
La Véronica Mary L. O’Connor
El Socorro Margaret Rapsey
San José Robert de Freitas
Homburg W. Holler
San José M.A. Prieto
La Reconaissance C.J. La Coste
Wardour Bridget Jardine
Mon Deisr Berenice Garcia
Santa Basilio, La Soledad Manoel Alonzo
Mundo Nuevo, Valencia Max Reimer
La pastora Gordon, Grant & Co. Ltd.
Algarabo Heirs of J. Philip
La Soledad E. Lezama
Montserrat, San Francisco, La Deseada J.P Zepero
La Realista Mrs. M.E. Olivieri
Des Consue, La Florida, La Victoria Wilsons Ltd.
San Francisco Geo. B. Geoffroy
Santa Ignes, San Joachim Heirs Nakid
Tierra Nueva Heirs C. Leotaud
Cautira, Guamal, Hope Well, San Pedro
Destin G. De Silva
San Domingo Josepfita de Léon
La Soledad Hrs. Of de la Rosa
Gonzales, San Isidoro Allan McD. Horne
Trafford Marie Holler
Redemption Edward Mohipath
Santa Rita Jos. Reyes
La Soledad Heirs Reyes
Maracas Valley, San Pedro Cadbury Brothers
Santa Barbara, La Sombadoura V.L. Wehekind
San Pedro del Valle J.B. Garner
Ortinola Tennants Est. Ltd.
Santa Rita D. Betancourt
La Providencia, La Fortuna A.A. Matas
Bickham Heirs of Wharf
San Lorenzo Fred Herrera
La Victoria, La Carola Caroline Borberg
Belle Vue Dhanoolall
Guiria Hrs J.V. de León
La Soledad E. Gonzales
El Retiro Heirs T.B. Meja
Buena Vista, San Miguel M.J. de Silva
San Antonio, San Juan, Santa Barbara Simon B. Pierre
Calcutta Cadamee
El Reposo, Esperanza Hrs. S. Castillo
El Discurso G.T. Brash
La Lucia E. Gabaira
St. Jena Xavier Hardy
Providence Margaret Hunter
San Juan, Rosalia Edm. Kelly
El Guamo C.A. Morrison
Santa Lucia Hrs. José Votor
Canaan Bennysingh and Rampersadsingh
La Belle View Hrs. Chinibas
St. Ann’s Rev. Dr. Maingot
El Choro, St. Helena Victor Adrien
Laurel Hill Juliana Bonair
La Soledad A.A. De Matas
St. Catherine, La Florida F. De Matas
El Broyo, Santa Margarita          “
La Merced, San Pedro Cadbury Brothers
San Miguel A.T. Eligon
La Soledad, Williams Field Fred Herrera
Lorete A.V.C. Gomez

Toco Ward Union
El Carmen, El Calvario, La Soledad W.G. Gordon
La Maravilla, Santa Barbara, St. John
El Toco, Mon Plaisir, Belle Vue
Susannah, Santa Teresa, St. Luke
Aragua, St. Pasqual, San Philipe
Cascabel, La Jalousie, Esperanza
Woodford Valley
Cumana Theresa Campbell
Sans Souci M.A. Bowen
La Soledad G.R. Alston & Co.
Buenos Ayres F.G. Scott
St. Antonio, St. Laurent, La Soledad Samuel Hosang
La Ardita, La Anicetta
San Antonio, Belle Vue, San Isidore L.J. Gransaull
La Palmiste, La Providence
La Juanita E. Paisley
Malgretout Mrs. M. Gransaull
Adventure Elizabeth A. Hosang
Diamond Field, Orphan, La Victoria Thomas Hosang
Nola Fana, California, Esperanza
La Prosperité, Belle Vue A. Besson
Poor Man’s Progress McBurnie

Tuesday, 8 November 2011

Conrad Frederick Stollmeyer


If you have ever entered the Santa Cruz Valley from Maraval on a cold night in the Christmas season, especially if there is a full moon, you may have an experience of true ethereal beauty. Blanketed in a rolling mist made silver in the moon beams, the valley appears timeless. The first we learn of the valley is that in the early Spanish period, about 100 years before the British took possession of Trinidad, the portion from the most northern part (now known as La Pastora) to the valley of Curracava, a distance of four and a half miles, was granted to an individual named Pedro Valmontes.
During the latter part of the 18th and early part of the 19th century, the Santa Cruz valley, along with those of the Maraval and Maracas was the first to be planted with cocoa. During the year 1825, the whole of the island’s crop was wiped out due to extreme drought, and many planters were financially ruined.
It was during this period that the valley was planted with new and more vigorous types of cocoa, such as Forestero and Calabaceo. Sugarcane was also planted and large acreage of coffee, chiefly, the Arabica coffee.
Amongst the several distinguished families to own lands and to live in the Santa Cruz valley were the Stollmeyers. Charles Conrad Stollmeyer remembered that his father, Conrad Frederick (1813 - 1904) bought land there in August of 1883. In his memoirs (1952), he wrote:
“At that time, there were between 25 and 30 separate owners and all doing rather well with cocoa.”
In those days, Santa Cruzians spoke Patois and Spanish. English was somewhat of a second or third language to the valley’s peasant inhabitants. The Stollmeyer family can trace their ancestors several centuries back to Venice in Italy. Out of Venice, they came to Ulm, a city in Germany on the river Danube.
In 1836, Conrad Frederick travelled to the United States like many of his countrymen, where he settled in the town of Philadelphia. Indeed, so many Germans went to that part of the world that parts of the countryside around Philadelphia is known as “Pennsylvania Dutch”, an Americanisation of the word “Deutsch” (German). Possessed of an adventurous temperament, Conrad went to England to experiment with a professor by the name of Etzler, who had an idea for a boat, driven by wind and water. The test runs for the boat almost cost Stollmeyer his life in the icy waters of the river Thames near Greenwich - the boat obviously did not comply with Conrad’s ever buoyant enthusiasm.
But it was the age of the railway, which were cutting edge technology at the time and all the rage. In 1845, people were almost mad about forming railway companies to operate in any part of the world.  Stollmeyer “jumped on the bandwagon” and landed himself a job of managing a railway company in the island of Trinidad. And being the enthusiastic character that he was, he not only went to the Caribbean himself, but feeling that others might wish to go out to the West Indies and Venezuela themselves, he avidly encouraged emigration from England to the tropics.
His grandson, Charles Conrad, wrote that his grandfather was a great talker. Conrad Sr. succeeded in several people following him out west, some going to Trinidad, others to Venezuela. Unfortunately, almost all who went to the latter country died there. Malaria, cholera and yellow fever took a deadly toll on Stollmeyer’s acquaintances. Those, however, who had opted for Trinidad, survived and by and large die quite well! Amongst them were the Rapseys, the Carrs, the Fowlers, the Tomlinsons and the Tuckers.
Stollmeyer arrived in Trinidad with his wife, Anna, and their four children. He always liked to say to his grandchildren: “I landed in Trinidad with five dollars in my pocket”. He had found himself in this state of penury largely because of the railway company. Instead of receiving his promised £ 1,000 per annum, Stollmeyer had to learn that they had gone bankrupt.
There was no turning back now. He had to make a living. Well educated, he had held a number of jobs before setting out on his Caribbean adventure. He had edited a newspaper in Philadelphia which strongly advocated freedom of the slaves in the southern United States. For this, he was almost hung by the southern planters! He made the acquaintance of Lord Harris, then the Governor of Trinidad, during this time of near poverty. Harris found him an interesting personality and a good conversationalist, and gave him a horse so that they both could ride out together to talk over many things.
Stollmeyer also obtained the job of doing all laundrywork for the regiment of soldiers through His Lordship’s kindness. The regiment was stationed at St. James Barracks. Stollmeyer also started to supply firewood to many other government institutions. This firewood was cut at Cocorite, which in those days was a vast forest.
As the land was cleared, Conrad planted coconut trees, and as these came into bearing, he started to sell coconuts in donkey carts to the city. Stollmeyer was a total abstainer, and obviously felt that the people of Port of Spain might be induced to drink less rum if coconut water could be gotten cheaper - and a bottle of rum cost only 10 cents!
A careful and frugal man, Stollmeyer was something of a visionary. When offered the job of looking after the Pitch Lake interest of the 10th Earl Dundonald, he gladly took it.
It has been said that when in the mid 1600s, English conquistador Sir Walter Raleigh chaulked his ship, the “Lion’s Whelp”, with pitch from La Brea, he inaugurated the petrochemical industry. It was, however not until some 200 years later, the 1840s,  that the Pitch Lake was first exploited commercially. Small quantities of pitch, chiefly in a crude state, afterwards some of it refined, were supplied to England and France, and in the 1860s to the United States and Germany. From very small beginnings, the export grew to a total of 200,000 tons per year just before the commencement of World War I in 1914. From then, there has been no looking back for the industry.
The pioneers of this unique industry were Thomas Barnes, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Conrad Stollmeyer and a French gentleman named Sagault. In the 1850s, interest in any area outside of agriculture was viewed as eccentric by Trinidadians. These islands, like all tropical colonies, were agricultural. The phenomenal fertility of the soil was almost an “article of faith”, as Professor Bridget Brereton puts it. Even Conrad was still carrying on the clearing of the forest and the planting and harvesting of coconuts. One day, he decided to take a trip to La Brea, where he met Lord Dundonald, and out of this meeting the enterprise to export pitch to Europe and North America was born. As the result of this, many old roads that you would drive or walk on in far away countries have been surfaced at one time or the other with Trinidad pitch!
Vicissitudes in business eventually allowed the company formed by these entrepreneurs, to lose the lease which of course reverted to the British crown.
The Pitch Lake belongs to the Government and cannot be acquired by anyone outright. From times past it has been rated as a natural savannah and according to the old Spanish laws not any of those may be sold. Hence the leasing of portions of the lake until 1897. After that date, the whole of it was leased to the Trinidad Asphalt Company, and so it continues to this time.
When the epidemic of cholera threatened to devastate Port of Spain in 1853, Conrad Stollmeyer brought pitch in barrels to the city which were burnt at street corners to “purify the air”. The chief medical officer declared that had it not been of this enterprising German, things would have been far worse! It was not known then that cholera is a water-borne disease, spreading quickly with cesspits dug next to wells in people’s backyards.
In 1883, Conrad decided to move his family out of Belmont Valley Road, where they resided. Driving in his buggy along the Santa Cruz valley, he saw a property that he liked, and bought it then and there for the large sum of $ 6,000 from the old owner, a retired inspector of prisons, whom he knew very well. He built a house called "Mon Valmont" on the property, into which his family moved. In 1894, they moved to "La Regalada", one and a half miles up into the Santa Cruz valley.
In the years that followed, both Conrad and later his sons bought up  many estates in the Santa Cruz valley: Petit Curracaye, Grand Curracaye, El Guamal, Landor, San Patricio, La Sagesse and Fahay's.
There is a anecdote in the Stollmeyer family. After Lord Harris had left Trinidad in 1854, his furniture was auctioned off. Conrad purchased a chair, which is called 'Harris Chair' and is still in an honoured place in "La Regalada" the beautiful old family residence in Santa Cruz.
Driving around the Savannah, the last and probably most charming of the "Magnificient Seven" on the Queen's Park's eastern side also was a Stollmeyer residence. It is called "Killarney", or, as most people know it, "Stollmeyer's Castle". Designed after a part of Balmoral Castle, it was built for Charles Fourier Stollmeyer