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The Crooks Family Descendants of the African Ami Djaba |
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Nkrumah |
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The Story of an
African Caribbean family From Africa
to Europe |
Going Back To Our Roots Tracing Back Through Our Father Line |
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The Krobo
People of A Political
and Social History by Louis E
Wilson Monographs
in International Studies ISBN
0-89680-164-0 The quotes from this page are from the book Louis
E Wilson’s book. For
the full History of the Krobo People
of |
“The All the Twi-speaking or Akan
peoples were originally one tribe. However, from the 1600s to early 1800s warfare
shook the region. It had been triggered by political expansion and slave
raiding among the Akan states. As time went on, small
Akan groups and families fled southward - some to the “The
presence of slavers and especially the chronic Akan wars of the late eighteenth
century restricted Krobo trading and stifled Krobo economic growth and
territorial expansion” “The
lucrative Atlantic slave trade in this part of “The Krobo's
defensive strategy is impressive. They withstood attacks from the Akuapem in
1755 and 1758 and from the It was from 1892 that places and
the families once located on Klo Yo shifted towns within the Klo
YO: Our Ancestral Home?
“The Krobo's record of their past is a composite of all family and
clan traditions… Every Krobo belongs to three social units-the wetcha, the kasi, and the we. The largest, the wetcho (family tree), unites a number of patrilineal
kin groups, not all usually claiming descent from the same ancestor, under
one name… For this reason the wetcho may be classified as a sub tribe rather
than a clan.” 12 Wetcho’s that exist in the land of the Krobos.” Akan refugees are remembered as
Denkyira Krobo (although evidence tends to suggest that they were mostly
Akyem). Denkyira Krobo arrived in the early 1700s from the Central Region.
These immigrants formed clans which became grouped into 4 of the 12
subtribes. They were named Nyewe, Plau, Okpe and Bunase. Plau - like all the subtribes -
consisted of smaller social units or clans (kasi). Members of Klans
are believed to have descended from a common ancestor or from an immigrant
kinship group. Plau has four primary
clans: Lamsanya, Tsatsuk-plenya and Nakpe/Plau-kpom. Clans names were
usually: “derived from the location of either their settlement on the Note: Marriage outside of the clan
was uncommon amongst the Krobo. The
Djaba house descends from Djaba through the male line. The original house was
located on the The Djaba house, continues to be
ruled by the most senior male member, the we-nokotoma. The heads of the
smaller units-the asafo-tse (subchief) Sub Chiefs successfully
maintains a civilized order with elders (male and female) and the male head
of his clan, and of the heads of the respective families at the centre of
decision-making on secular matters affecting the clan (lineage/house). The
order is based on citizenship and ancient customs and traditions (the Dipo
ceremony being the most renowned of female rights of passage ceremony). Ami Djaba Held in Bondage
Expansion
of farming achieved by purchasing land from neighboring Akan tribes particularly
the Akyem was the major preoccupation with the Krobo. Most of the Krobo
economic activity would have been in the plains around Klo yo at the time Ami
Djaba was born. It was in the plains where the Krobo were vulnerable to raids
by external tribes such as the British trade in Africans was
conducted from the Ami was born in 1777. She was born of the Djaba clan tracing
their ancestry along patrilineal lines. The name Ami means born on Saturday.
She was born at the house located at Plau-kpom situated high up in the Ami was kidnapped from a location at the foot of the mountains
and taken to the From Ami gave birth to a daughter named Sarah Brown. Sarah’s father
would have been William Brown. Ami was sold to Richard Dickson the proprietor
of Cousins Cove Sugar Plantation (formerly Crooks Cove Sugar Plantation). The
transfer would have taken place prior to 1817 (the date of the first
submission of the slave register). Sarah transferred with her. Ami’s died in 1825 aged 47. Her name had been recorded in the
1826 register as Judy Brown. SARAH BROWN AND JOHN ALEXANDER CROOKS
AKA "AUGUST" The family
name Crooks is traced along patrilineal lines to John Alexander Crooks born
in The 1817
slave register records his old name August and his Christian name John
Alexander Crooks. Baptism register records that he was baptised on 3rd March
1813 with Richard (Dick) an African who was aged 51 and William James a
mulatto slave. John Alexander Crooks was one of only a few African (Black)
Baptists on the estate. A year later,
all the slaves of Cousins Cove had been baptised by Anglican reverend Daniel
W Rose. Sarah resided
within the slave village on the Cousin’s Cove estate. She would have been a
slave in everything but name. Sarah was not listed in the 1817 slave
registers. However, in subsequent updates of the register she is listed as
the mother of three children all classified as sambo (of “mulatto” and
“Negro/Black” parentage) - John, Sarah would
have been much younger that John Crooks' who was ten years Ami’s junior. African
family units where usually fragmented. Family members – men - were often
sold/traded to other property owners and away from their loved ones. John
Alexander Crooks was an exception. He was at the lowest echelon of slave
society. He was African and as such was classified as Negro. He was Black. He
was unskilled and deployed as field labourer. It was indeed an achievement
that his family unit remained intact by the ending of slavery. At the age of
47 John A Crooks was one field labourer for whom the owner of Cousins Cove
Sugar plantation (Neil McCullum) submitted a successful claim for
compensation. Neil McCullum received compensation to the tune of £70. As
executor of Alexander McCullum to the Cousin’s Cove Estate he received a
total of £10,080. It appears that McCullum won an appeal and in 1836 was
awarded £3,799 extra. The Royal Gazette 1934 published details of the
proportion of the compensation fund of £20,000,000 allotted to Slavery was
abolished in 1838. The former European owners often refused sell land to
ex-slaves. The intention was to tie the ex slaves to plantations as low-wage
workers. They would seek to charge the ex slaves rent that would exceed their
wages. Some remained on the estates because of their attachment to their
homes and provision grounds, because of the availability of certain services
such as medical treatment which was granted free of charge, and because they
hoped thereby to escape an uncertain future. A number of Cousins Cove Slaves
stayed behind. To this day there is still a clan of Crooks' descended from
the Cousins Cove community living in Many
ex-slaves had other plans. It is said
that these ex-slaves lit out for the mountains as soon as Queen John Alexander
Crooks was one who – with his family - abandoned the Cove heading for the
hills and over the However, the 1840
Co-operative
activity among ex-slaves stimulated the growth of the free villages. Whatever
the circumstances, like so many in his position, he would have been attracted
towards subsistence peasant agriculture. John may have grown fruit, root
vegetables, and sugar for the local market; ginger, pimento, and coffee for
the export one. There is a
death record for a Sarah Brown in 1853 in Westmoreland, coinciding with an
outbreak of cholera that is believed to hit parts of William was
the youngest child born to Sarah Brown and John Alexander Crooks. William was
born into bondage on the Cousins Cove Sugar Plantation in 1832. He and his
two surviving siblings (Sam Crooks died after just 28 days) were all baptised
together baptised on the same day 1 January 1834. He would have been 4
years old in 1838 the year when the slaves of the British colonies were
emancipated. William lived most of his life in the hills of Almost no
attention was paid to the formal education, or even religious instruction of
black people in the rural areas of Westmoreland, before 1850. William married
Ellen on 1st June 1856. The Reverend Henry
Clarke administered the ceremony. Rev. Henry Clarke may well have played
important role in the Westmoreland Crooks' changing fortunes.
According to oral accounts Ellen lived 100 years. William and
Ellen gave birth together they had five children. Robert Crooks was the
youngest. Robert and Caroline Crooks (nee
Dell) Robert's
birth was registered in Robert Crooks
was literate It’s possible that this could have been through the family's
association with Reverand Henry Clarke. Moravian and Methodist ministers were
known to have trained Africans in leadership of Sunday schools since the early
1800s before slavery. Education was always therefore seen by Africans in the Oral accounts
confirm his status as a teacher. He
held school in his home for his grandchildren. His children were all educated.
This would also have contributed to the family’s growth in stature locally
economically and politically. The family
grew to acquire status and land locally. There are other reasons, which are
detailed, in the following link to the Maitland’s of Westmoreland family. The loss one
leg and frequent bouts of ill health suggests he had and may have died from
diabetes. The oldest surviving relatives of the Westmoreland clan ie those
born prior to 1825 have knowledge of him. There are
records of a generation of Dells being born in the 1860s in Westmoreland but
none prior to. There is no record of Caroline's birth in Westmoreland. Oral
accounts are of Caroline as a very
dark, extremely beautiful with very long natural straight hair. Caroline
described as being Indian (“coolie”). She would there fore have been first
generation of East Indian immigrants to It is known
that the ruling Assembly had to fill the void in the labour situation after
emancipation. It was in 1844 that that regular immigration to Jamaica of East
Indian immigrants started to occur. East Indians were indentured servants
(“slaves”) working on estates where Africans born in Christopher
and
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George and Doreen (nee Cousins) Crooks
George was born and raised in
After two years National Service George married
Doreen Fay Cousins in
He was
one of many from the Caribbean to who left their homelands for the
promise of job opportunities in