more tidbits from Cus

i have just found some old notes, including some of her stories told to me years before her death in the latter part of the 1990s.

Her birth name was Rhoda. She was raised with five siblings by their father, Daggy Isaacs, their mother having died in childbirth when Rhoda was two years old. She was born at Queensbury where her father sometimes worked, when not travelling around the area on his donkey or his white stallion named 'True Blue', in order to treat sick people and animals as he was a 'bush doctor' of renown. Rhoda and her siblings were his 'guinea pigs' from an early age, having to sample the bush concoctions which he brewed.

Daggy fathered many children throughout the Leeward side of the island, leaving his current mistress, Lena for extensive periods, to take care of his children, then numbering eight. Cus recollected the bad treatment they received. Her only possession from her mother was a string of beads and an empty trunk. She briefly attended school before running away to live with an older sister in a nearby village, where she stayed for about three years!

Her adolescence seems to have been no happier. She vividly recalled her father hitting her on the head with a cutlass upon hearing she was working on the Estate. She felt that this lash was the cause of her bad eyesight! Her first job was in the cocoa fields where she picked out the pods eaten by rats. When she was about eighteen years old, she bought a sow from her sister, paying her a little each month. Unfortunately, her sister took back the pig as Cus missed a couple payments. This did not deter her, and soon she was able to buy another. From that day until not long before her death, she was never without a pig!

The overseer of Queensbury was named Mr Lockhart, and she became pregnant by him. Upon hearing about this, Cus's sister put her out of the house, in disgrace. A woman in the village gave her shelter until Mr Lockhart designated a plot of land on the Estate, on which she could put a tiny stick house! Unfortunately, the baby was stillborn. She lived for two years in the stick house, before meeting Willie who was a carpenter. She obtained breadfruit wood with which Willie built her a stronger house. Her sister became very ill so Rhoda looked after her five children while continuing her work on the estate. Her tasks were varied - picking cotton, weeding arrowroot, driving a small gang of workers, and 'throwing out' manure. After four years of life with Willie, she had enough of his laziness and womanizing. "one day", she said, "as she was sharing out his lunch'" she said to him, "Willie, you ain't decide to marry me?" He replied, "Rhoda, you really expect me to marry you?" Her reply was, "thank you." Thus, the romance ended, despite her father asking to give him another chance. Soon after this, a new overseer arrived, named Samuel, who soon started showing interest in her. She did not encourage him, she said. Cus turned down Samuel's marriage proposal at that time, and so he then married someone called Ruth with whom he had 6 children. i think that they formed a relationship during his time with Ruth! As previously written,Cus continued in a relationship with Samuel for many years until his death.

This has been lengthy! Until next time.
brenda