In 1923 a Myrie sent for his Parchment wife & children in Calabash Bay to emigrate to Costa Rica, where they remained & have many descendants. One of those children, Clifton Myrie, is now 94 years old & recounts stories of living on & leaving Calabash Bay. His father Samuel was born in Jamaica in 1880 & worked in Cuba before settling his family in Costa Rica, undoubtedly related to the banana trade.

Of the three Myrie families in Costa Rica, one is said to have come from Savanna La Mar. We don't yet know exactly whether the others also came from Savanna, but they seem to've been closely related to each other.

Anyone out there who is a Myrie or Parchment w/ roots in Calabash Bay, Pedro Plains, or Savanna La Mar? We'd love to learn about Samuel Myrie's or Emily Parchment's brethren.

I don't have any info on Myrie or parchment roots, but I do want to tell you that I really enjoy hearing family histories like these and encourage you to post what you find here.

I'm especially interested in the changes in the area and how it was 'back then'.

Thanks!

there was a mr myrie who owned a shop in great bay years ago, and there still is a clyde parchment living there. that was great info you gave, and you know, these two familys in great bay, live next door to one another.

Believe it or not, we take our Jamaican geography from an old 1848 map that's filled w/ traditional names of each bay and cove. Is "Great Bay" another name for Black River Bay?

no, it is one of the bays that form the treasure beach area. it is the one that has the great pedro bluff at one end

Mr.Rodwell Myrie from Great Bay is now deceased but he has a daughter who is the owner of the shop. They might be related to the Myrie's and Parchments that you are referring to , since Mr Myrie was from Pedro Plains and I think he had a brother who use to live in Westmoreland.Mr Myrie's wife maiden name is Parchment.

SO IF THAT'S THE CASE THEN IT'S DEFINATELY GREAT BAY THAT'S THE ONE WITH THE BLUFF.

Hi Ellis, my maiden name is Parchment.When I saw your post I called my father and ask him the name of his Aunt that went to live in Costa Rica and he said Emily.He also mentioned the names Clifton, Lenox, and Sedley his cousins. He also mentioned an Aunt Rosetta and an Uncle Charlie.He said our Aunt Julia was the only one that came back from Costa Rica.She was the only one we knew. My father's name is Earl His father's name was Thomas. It would be wonderful to finally be in contact with family members we have been wondering about for so many years. Looking foward to your response.

If anyone out there can tell me if Aunt Emily has children and they are living in Costa Rico, I would be happy to know. I was just doing a survey on Costa Rico the other day and would like very much to visit that country one day.
It would be so nice to meeet some of our families we do not know.

I'm not sure if any one from Costa Rico frequently visit this site so, that might not be possible. I would have to find out first of all if she was married so, I can look up her married name.
(HELP)

Wonderful news! Emily Parchment was my wife Olga Myrie's grandmother. Her children are the three already named (Lennox, Clifton, & Sedley) plus four more (two men, two women) born in Costa Rica. Sedley & my wife's father Aubrey have passed away. Olga remembers her granny; she must have passed away around 1970 (this is a guess).

Along with the Myrie/Parchment family, two other Myrie families established themselves in the Caribbean region of Costa Rica (we call it the "Atlantic Zone"). The earliest arrival we know of is Mr David Myrie who seems to have arrived in 1910. He left behind a son Melford Myrie who later looked for his father & after finding him stayed in Costa Rica and started a family.

I'm new to using this service so will try to leave my e-mail address with this post. I think if you click on my name the e-mail address will appear. Thank you, Rebecca & TreasureBeach.Net! Some of us -- my wife & kids & perhaps a few more Myries -- will plan a visit to Calabash Bay soon. Please feel free to send questions via e-mail; maybe that's the best way to communicate instead of taking up the TreasureBeach space?

Please, keep taking up space on the forum. I can't speak for anyone else, but I love being a voyeur to this wonderful family reunion.

Wishing you continued success in this venture and we look forward to your visit.

Here's the story as Clifton Myrie tells it:

Around the 28th of December 1923 Emily Parchment Myrie packed up her three boys Clifton (who was nine), Sedley, & Lennox to set sail for Costa Rica. As Clifton remembers it (his mind is usually razor-sharp on details), an ice storm in New Orleans (could it be New York?) delayed their boat from arriving for a day or so. They arrived in Cristobal, Panama, & then took another ship for Port Limon, Costa Rica, arriving "the next year" on 1 January 1924.

In those days the Costa Rican currency, a colon, was worth a quarter-dollar. Emily's husband Samuel Myrie sent 176 colones (44 dollars) to cover each passage at 11 dollars apiece. They obtained passports.

When the Myries arrived to Port Limon Uncle Charlie Parchment met them & they boarded the train in pouring rain. The train made it about 20 miles before meeting a flooded river bridge where it couldn't proceed across. Emily & baby Lennox may have crossed the river on a line-&-pulley system outdoors adventure fanatics today call a zipline! The Myries settled in a railroad/banana company town called Germania about 35 miles inland. Mr Samuel Myrie eventually became a farmer further inland in a place called BalsaVille or also Parismina Branch.

Mr Myrie passed away in 1953, at about the age of 73. His widow Emily outlived him by about 20 years; do you know what year she was born? Their two daughters now live in San Jose, the Spanish-speaking capital. Clifton, Lennox, & the baby of the family Wilbert (a spry 76-year-old) live in their old hometown of Parismina Branch. Sedley died young in 1963. The second-youngest, Aubrey Myrie (my wife Olga's dad), died at 66 in 1995.

The other two Myrie families settled along the coast, in Port Limon and Old Harbor. It's interesting that our Myrie/Parchments came from the coastal town of Calabash Bay but left the beach to become inland farmers. River fishing was excellent in the old days; they didn't need the sea for fishing. Old Mr Myrie probably worked for the United Fruit (Chiquita Banana) Company for awhile, but the family became independent farmers and businessmen, running a sawmill & gasoline station in particular. Cash crops grown are/were cassava, corn, cocoa, yams, coconuts, dasheen, & nampi. Of course we have ackee, sorrel, jackfruit, mamey, star apple, custard apple, & other fruits as well. Oldtimers still make "bammy" from grated cassava.

Some second-generation Myries are farming. Many became educators. Others run or rent out small-town food establishments. A conservative guess is that Samuel & Emily Parchment Myrie have between fifty & seventy grandchildren in Costa Rica. Who knows how many great-grandchildren?!

Because the Spanish custom is for persons to carry two surnames, that of mother and father, it's easier to trace both sides of families. Charlie Parchment & Steven Parchment both were buried in the old family area, & some Parchments appear in the San Jose phone book, but we don't know yet how or whether they are related.

I would really like to know when Emily Parchment was born. An elderly lady, not a relative, once told us about a sharp-dressed lady named "Rose" who could be the Aunt Rosetta you've mentioned. And Clifton recently told us about an "Arturo" (Spanish for Arthur) who seemed to be another brother (son of Emily?) who died young in Jamaica before they left. This little Arthur was supposed to be very precocious & a big talker as a very small child. We don't know what exactly happened to him.

And a last question: Why did Julia Parchment return to Jamaica? This is the first time we've heard about her. My father-in-law suggested we name our daughter Julia 25 years ago, & we did!

Thanks Keith for all the time you took out of your busy day to answere my question. Now I have got some homework to do. I will find my relatives and I will be sending you an email also.
It might be some time before I will make that trip to Costa Rico but, when it happen I will have all the info I will need.
Thanks a million.
Bye for now,
God Bless.

I am very happy to report the reunion took place!


Olga and Keith


Olga and Earl Parchment (1st cousin to Olga's father)

After lots of communication and emailing, the two Parchment families found each other. Olga and Keith Ellis came into Treasure Beach a few days ago and have been wonderfully overwhelmed with the success of finding Olga's relatives. Olga told me of seeing her father, auntie, etc. in many of the faces of the new relatives she met.

Keith has promised a full report to all of us once they return to Costa Rica.

What a wonderful story, eh?

This is what life is all about! Fantastic Story!

Rodwell Myrie Grandmother was Jessie Parchment and she married Charles Gordon.

Rebecca, I don't know much more to report other than that the next three days we spent at Negril were fun, but not half as delightful as the time spent at Treasure Beach! Your beautiful community is as family-friendly as anyplace could be. We're lucky to have met family there and hope to host Earl and all the rest of the Parchments over on this side of the Caribbean some time.

Note to Jessie Great Granddaughter: We met some descendants of Mr Rodwell Myrie but didn't know his grandmother was also a Parchment. Jessie Parchment must be your namesake? We still cannot be sure, but it feels like Rodwell could have been a close relative of Samuel Myrie. We met several friendly members of the Myrie family in Sav, at Orange Hill, and at Negril (couldn't find Saint Myrie at White House), but now are inclined to think our ancestor more likely came from the Pedro Plains area.

My name is Lloyd Leslie Parchment, My grandfather is Hubert Leslie Parchment by way of St. Elizabeth Jamaica I am trying to really get to know and find more of my parchment KIN and learn more about our family history any help would be great

I am also a Myrie who lives in United States and is looking to trace her family tree. My people came from Westmoreland, Jamaica. I am from a Caleb James Myrie branch of the family. Caleb Myrie had I think for four sons. Oscar Ferdinand Myrie and Lemuel Myrie. Lemuel went to England. Oscar stayed in Jamaica and had 6 child that left Jamaica and went to Canada and the US. He 5 boys and 1 girl. I am the youngest child, of the last child of Oscar Ferdinand. Were did the surname Myrie orignated. I really want to trace my family trees since no in my family is interested.

Monique -- good luck with your search. The Myries seem a bit more widespread than the Parchments. Our Samuel Myrie who came to Costa Rica (one of four families we know of) hailed from Sandy Bank, it seems pretty clear. The other Myrie families settled in Old Harbour, Port Limon (David Myrie and his son Melford), and Spanish-speaking San Jose (Mr Willy Myrie, well-known tailor).

I understand there was a well-known Myrie Building in California, San Francisco I think, but have never found a picture or online reference to the building. A family member from California relates that she once received a letter explaining that an oldtime Myrie travelled from Australia to California where he/they established a construction company and then moved on to Jamaica. I find the timeline hard to reconcile with that of my wife's family of Myrie/Parchments who had left Jamaica by 1923, but the construction company could account for the Myrie building in San Francisco.

It also seems some Myries likely worked in Cuba and Panama during the early 1900s. We've never found a connection in either place but the area near Guantanamo Bay is or was said to be English-speaking.

Hi everybody, I am the eldest son of Lemuel and cousin to Monique. I would rather have a dialogue outside of this forum so please provide email addresses so that I can join in our family tree conversation.

Regards.

Basa

Hello, My name is April Young, Emily Parchment is my great, great grandmother, Lenox Myrie is my great grandfather. I know of the Myrie family still in Costa Rica. If you want any details I can fill you in on them. Lenox Myrie just died this January and Clifton passed last year. There are plenty of family left to meet and greet.

Melford Myrie is my next door neighbor in brooklyn, nyc.

Hello again,

Basa here. I wrote on this forum on March 01 2012. My name was Paul Myrie but I changed my name to Ambasa Bandele to acknowledge my African history and origins. Monique is my cousin.

As stated previously, I am the eldest son of Lemuel Myrie out of Porters Mountain, Westmoreland, Jamaica. He left JA via Kingston in 1956 for Nottingham, England. He married Lily Brougham and had three sons, me, Richard and Andrew.

I don't know if there's any family connection with the Myrie's that have links with Costa Rica but if I ever get there or the next time I go to Cuba I'll be sure to find out. Peace and blessings. Basa