Five generations ago, a hardy group of men and women took off from the “transit point” in which their forefather had been made to languish for over two centuries, to return home. They would come to be known as the Croziervillians (or, move affectionately, “Cora’s kids”).
By Dr. Kettehkumeh Murray, Contributing Writer
On 6 April 1865, a mass immigration of British subjects headed to Liberia on the promise of getting a citizenship and land to farm and breath the sweet air of liberty from which their fathers had been separated for two centuries; and they, generations later, could only dream of. The arrangements were concluded between the British Governor-General of Barbados and President Daniel Bashell Warner (third president of Liberia), with Liberia’s secretary of state (now minister of foreign affairs); a group in Barbados known as The Barbados Company and The American Colonization Society (ACS), whose financial support made the journey possible, were all involved.
They arrived here (Monrovia) on 10 May, some five weeks later on the Brig Cora having departed the city of Bridgetown (Barbados), carrying 346 passengers (that included 16 stowaways). Hundreds of others who had expressed the desire to immigrate had to be left behind on account of the lack of accommodation for more people.
The advance party facilitated by government, immediately chartered a boat down Waterside, and made the journey up the Saint Paul River passing Providence Island, Bushrod Island, Stockton Creek, Gbanjoh, Virginia, Caldwelll, Harrisburg and White Plains. The government surveyor showed them the commencement of their settlement’s metes and bounds, and gave the name, “Crozerville” (so named after the Crozer brothers who were helpful in the Liberia Colony as a whole and especially in the funding of the Cora). The government had a couple of makeshift structures on the order of the locals, but nothing substantial to host the hordes of settlers.
The total number of families were fifty (50), two hundred sixty of which were settled in the area we now call Crozierville, (the 86 others relocating themselves in far and near corners of Liberia).
The government of Liberia was as helpful as much as possible, assisting many families who brought the tools of their craft and other memorabilia, and personal effects. The advanced of age and women and children were taken on boats; local canoes were hired to take machinery, while those of the “soldiery ilk” walked the distance, being guided by members of the local militia and scouts.
In 1965, one hundred years later, the Civic League of Crozierville, in conjunction with the government of Liberia, celebrated the century of the settlement’s founding. President William V.S. Tubman was guest of honor and paid tribute, eulogizing the repatriates.
He recounted that the initiative to encourage “The emigration from the Island of Barbados in the Caribbean was the result of the Legislative Act of 1864, which authorized president Warner to adopt measures to encourage emigration to Liberia from the British West Indian Islands.” This was a tall order, as the ACS’s charter would only support persons resident in the United States for expatriation to Liberia. The Rev. Dr. Edward Blyden (himself of West Indian descent) had used his oratorical skills and power of persuasion to woo the people. Now, the government had to convince the ACS to make an exception, which was granted relying heavily on the patronage of John P. Crozer, brother of the first agent and physician of the society, Dr. Samuel A. Crozier, deceased.
Over the decades, descendants of this motley group of individuals without any presumption to power, produced at least two presidents and two heads of state (Arthur Barclay, James Edwin Barclay, Amos Sawyer and Gyude Bryant) and numerous other high echelons of officials, as ambassadors, ministers of government, generals, bank governor, university president, entrepreneurs, newspaper publishers, and a host of others in public and private life.
All of this highbrow came to a halt with the onset of the civil war. Crozierville, like settlements and townships and villages across the land, lay in ruins. Hope and despair walked hand-in-hand, until a fourth generation descendent, doing some research sparked off by his daughter, reignited the flames of a renaissance of sorts.
Here comes Ambassador Lewellyn Weatherspoon, who organizes a visit back to Barbados, and finds hundreds of the original emigrant families eager to make the trip with him. This sets in motion an official program with Her Excellency, the Prime Minister of Barbados, and high officials of her government, hosting a week-long conference of reacquaince, remembrance and reflections.
On Saturday, 10 May, Crozierville will once more be abuzzed with resounding celebrations unseen since 1965, when its hundredth anniversary was heralded across the whole of the Left Bank of the Saint Paul. Ambassador Weatherspoon and Croziervillians of all walks of life, are expected to lead an impressive array of guests including President Joseph Nyuma Boakkai and his counterpart, The Most Honorable Dame Sandra Mason of Barbados, in commemorating the occasion.
KE Murray
THE CROZIERVILLIAN
