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deCordova comes 'home' to Jamaica's rich heritage
Published: Friday | February 10, 2012 Comments
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
DAVID VANN deCordova Jr wants to walk the old Jewish cemeteries, feast his eyes on the historic Spanish Town where his ancestors lived and glean the pages of the most dominant newspaper in the English-speaking Caribbean - The Gleaner.
He has already whet his appetite for ginger beer.
"I have read so much about the Jamaican ginger beer, I really wanted to taste it," he told The Gleaner during an intimate luncheon in his honour hosted by the newspaper's director, Winston Dear, and wife Denise.
David deCordova was on a 'doctor's call', having docked at the Montego Bay cruise-ship terminal earlier that morning.
He had <span style="font-weight: bold">six hours</span> <span style="font-style: italic">to delve into the rich cultural heritage that his ancestors had contributed to.
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By mid-afternoon, the great-great-great-grandson of one of the founding fathers of The Gleaner, Jacob deCordova, who was born in Spanish Town in 1808, and one of three men who laid out Waco, Texas, from 1848-49, was sampling jelly coconut, jerked chicken and soursop juice.
He also had time for Denise Dear's signature cake, yellow yam, steamed fish and a host of authentic Jamaican food.
"This is like putting your toe in the water. I am coming back for the big swim," he promised, awed by the beauty and diversity of the island.
"<span style="font-weight: bold">At no time did I envision Jamaica to be such a large island;</span><span style="font-style: italic"> neither did I realise how mountainous, lush and diverse the country was</span>," he said admiringly.
Ready for portland
The 50-year-old attorney had only got a sneak preview of the resort town, Montego Bay, visited the haunted Rose Hall Great House and was ready to unearth the unspoiled beauty of Portland.
"It's a pity Portland is so far away. That is the type of place I like to visit, those that are off the beaten track."
Having spent the last 16 years in Hawaii, Jamaica fits in perfectly with his liking. "There is so much similarity between the two countries," he stated.
<span style="font-weight: bold">David deCordova did his homework</span> <span style="font-style: italic">before coming to the island of his ancestors and before long it was serious business as he opened a large leather pouch and presented several replicas of a file complementing his extensive research of his genealogy</span>.
"If not preserved, we will lose it. I have been fascinated with my family history since my early teens," he revealed, as he unveiled the deCordova family tree and a book tagged Land Merchant of Jamaica, a scholarly work on the founding father of The Gleaner.
The book, he said, is a gift to the Jamaican people who visit The Gleaner's library. "I wanted to make this available to the college kids doing history."
deCordova said his sincere hope is that the book in some small measure will contribute to the preservation of the country's motto, 'Out of Many, One People'.
The Gleaner presented deCordova with the replica of a newsprint which was published in 1891.
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<span style="font-style: italic">so he did extensive research YET him neva realise dis an dat bout yaad...surely dat is a contradiction dat smaddy should a notice n leff out fi no mek him come cross how I is reading him...F E H</span>
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