Golden Grove and Nabaclis: the Works of Leopold Duncan Sarrabo Traveller, and Letroy Cummings.

Golden Grove and Nabaclis – A Review of the Transition from Cotton Estate to Agricultural Community - the works of Leopold Duncan Sarrabo Traveller, and Letroy Cummings.

This article is not intended in no way shape and or form an attempt to discredit Leopold Duncan Sarrabo Traveller, and Letroy Cummings. On the contrary, this descendant of the shareholders admires their work. This Sancho is grateful they made efforts to research and document the history of Golden Grove and Nabaclis. Their works must be reviewed, and considered foundation, for a comprehensive effort to document the history of the village district. Therefore, this is an attempt to add on that foundation laid down by those three writers. Scholars, will access the articles, use the sources of data, and produce the working-class people’s perspectives in a form that is honourable to those who gave service to community development in the district.

Letroy Cummings, Traveller, and Leopold Duncan Sarrabo produced articles on the history of Golden Grove and Nabaclis. Their works are understood, and appreciated. Their understanding of naming the cotton plantations Golden Grove and Nabaclis are not exact. They did not consult the records of the era of the Dutch. They did not examine the early nineteenth century records of the cotton estates. I am positive they did not research articles in the newspapers of beginnings of the nineteenth century. It appears they wrote the musings of Africans who were resident in those locations. In fact, Sarrabo mentioned consulting the January 1893 edition of the official Gazette of British Guiana. The writers never mentioned accessing publications, which detailed showing the cotton plantations. It is accurate to assume the Dutch were the first European colonizing force in the location. Perhaps, Sarrabo consulted the colonial administration records of the buy of the cotton estates. I make the following pronouncements after consulting the Royal Gazette of Essequebo and Demerary, the official organ of colonists, as early as 1807, and Emília Viotti da. Costa, Brazilian scholar, whose composition, Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood, describes afro centric perspectives of the enslaved peoples’ struggle to achieve a measure of self-determination, known as the Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823.

An announcement published in the Public Vendues section in the Royal Gazatte of Essequebo and Demerary tells us African slaves were running away from the plantations in Essequebo and Demerary, dated 10th October, 1807;
• Africans brought from Barbados and enslaved in Demerara.
• Slave masters placed rewards for recaptured Africans
• There were bounty hunters in Guyana
• The estates known as Plantation Nabaclis and Golden Grove.
Plantation Williamsburg does not appear in any of those texts. Thus it Golden Grove may have been so named during the Dutch phase of the colonial experience, and the name was obsolescent by 1807.
The esteemed Letroy Cummings, presented historical perspectives from the era of the village movement to the recent past. Those on Golden Grove and Nabaclis community impresses on readers the socio-economic of community development of the village district. Mr. Cummings work attacks the accepted propaganda that refers to Africans in Guyana as shiftless Negroes. It pointed out Africans did not sit around hoping and praying for the arrival of messianic figures to present them with handouts. The emergence of Burnham and his platform, the PNC was not a blessing to Africans. This concept is embedded among other ethnic groups, in the Guianese society, during the post independence era. Such grossly blatant and outrageous misrepresentations of the contributions of peoples of African origins have always been a source of discomfort with me, during my sojourn in my adopted homeland. Paraphrasing the most honorable truth seeker, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, the Africans in the Guyanese experience must repair and offset.
Cummings tells us, the vacant plot of land was acquired in 1852 and christened Nabaclis. Unlike golden Grove, two schools of thought exist to explain how the name Nabaclis was arrived at. One source suggested that the name was derived from an ex-slave whose name was Naba. The other explanation contends that during a name searching discussion an argument broke out over a list circulated by the colonial authorities and one person exclaimed Na-ba-ca-lis. However, amidst this uncertainty, Nabaclis was nicked named “Bucklish”.
The Dutch experience in the region is likely to shed light on the origins of the name Nabaclis. The Essequebo and Demerary Royal Gazette, mentions several variants of what appears to be that of Nabaclis. They are the following;
1. Nabachlis
2. Nabacles
3. Neibachles
4. Nabaclis

An entry styled and dated “Lord's Day Oct 10” found in the diary of the Reverend John Smith, who adherents of Eurocentric indoctrination commonly and naturally mistakenly identified as the Demerara Martyr, informs readers as follows, “ The catechising went on as usual, only with this difference, that Mrs. S left the women to Mrs. Mercer, and taught the girls herself. At 12 I preached from 2 Cor.13.14 to an overflowing congregation. Blessed be God I enjoyed much liberty of thought and expression, both in the pulpit and at the Lord's Table. A Mr. Sackett from Golden Grove desired communion with us to day which was granted after proper enquiries. It appears he was a member of Mr. Young's church at Margate. After the service in conversation he gave me to understand that he is much ridiculed for favoring religion. He told me that he had been informed, and had every reason for believing it, that Mr. Hughes of Paradise kept his slaves at work on Sundays on purpose to prevent their coming to our chapel.

Bibliography:

Allen, James E. (James Egert), 1896-1980. 1975 The legend of Arthur A. Schomburg Cambridge, Mass. : Danterr Pub. Co. ; New York, N.Y. : Distributed by Ojemba Productions, c1975.
da. Costa, Emília Viotti 1994.Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood : the Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823 New York : Oxford University Press, c1994.
de Rivera Flor Piñeiro 1989 Arthur A. Schomburg : a Puerto Rican's Quest for his Black Heritage / his writings annotated and appendices,; foreword, Ricardo E. Alegría.
San Juan de Puerto Rico : Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, 1989.
Rodney, Walter. 1981 A History of the Guyanese Working People, 1881-1905 Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University, c1981.
Rodway, James, 1848-1926.History of British Guiana, from the year 1668 to the present time. Imprint Georgetown, Demerara, J. Thomson, 1891-1894.
Sinnette, Elinor Des Verney. 1989 Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, Black Bibliophile, and Collector: A Biography New York, NY: New York Public Library; Detroit: Wayne State University Press, c1989.
Wallbridge, Edwin Angel. (1848) The Demerara Martyr. Memoirs of the Rev. John Smith, missionary to Demerara, with prefatory notes containing hitherto unpublished historical matter by J. Graham Cruickshank ... Edited by Vincent Roth for the "Daily chronicle," ltd. Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana, 1943.
Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. The missionary Smith [microform] : substance of the debate in the House of commons on Tuesday the 1st and on Friday the 11th of June, 1824, on a motion of Henry Brougham, esq. respecting the trial and condemnation to death by a court martial of the Rev. John Smith, late missionary in the colony of Demerara. With a preface containing some new facts illustrative of the subject. Published with the sanction of the London missionary society. London: Printed by Ellerton and Henderson, 1824.
London Missionary Society (1824) The London Missionary Society's Report of the Proceedings Against the Late Rev. J. Smith, of Demerara F. Westley, London, 1824
Reprint Edition: Negro Universities Press, New York, 1969

Newspapers and Pamphlets

Golden Grove Celebrates Centenary As Village, in B.G. News - The Daily Argosy -Friday, May 7th. 1948: page 4 and 6.
Sarrabo, Leopold Duncan 1948 Historical Review of Golden Grove Village: Events, Improvements and Achievements, 1848 -1948, in B.G. News - The Daily Argosy - Friday, May 7th. 1948: page 3.
Cummings, Letroy Orwin Michael “A Brief Historical Review of Golden Grove and Nabaclis” Stabroek News Thursday, August 6th, 1998: Page 14.
The Royal Gazette of Essequebo and Demerary
Arrested Slaves Plantation Nabachlis 18150527DERG
Arrested Slaves Plantation Nabachlis 18150603DERG
Arrested Slaves Nabacles 18150408DERG
A List of Estates in Demerary Nabaclis 18150909DERG
Public Vendues. The Royal Gazette of Essequebo and Demerary. (No. 93. Vol. II.) Saturday, October 10th, 1807
Public Vendues. The Royal Gazette of Essequebo and Demerary. (No. 103. Vol. II.) Saturday, December 19th, 1807.