Ann Myrtle Hibbert
Pictured here is Aunt Queenie who was born on May 6, 1908 at 122 Oxford Street as the fifth child of Solomon and Elizabeth. She had ten siblings, namely: Robert Herman (Herman), Huntley, Hazel (Mother May), Lucille (Cullu), Joslyn, Theophilus, Rudolph, and Sydney (Munez). She also had two half sisters named Violet and Icilda on her mother’s side who were 13 and 15 years her senior. She was quite close with her sisters Lucille and Hazel not only in their relationship, but also in their age. Hazel was the eldest of the three being born in 1904, then Lucille who was born in 1906 and finally herself. The interesting thing about these three was that both Hazel and Lucille were very short. I don’t even think that Lucile cleared 5 feet but Hanna towered over them. If you ask many family members her proper name, they would say Hanna. However, after viewing her birth record, I found that her name was actually Ann. I could only assume that Ann became Anna and with the Jamaican accent that tends to replaced A’s with H’s, it morphed into Hanna. Maybe someone can confirm or deny this.
Like many of our ancestors who were members of lodges, friendly societies, freemason or mechanics orders, which was the culture of that time, she too was a member of a lodge called The P.O.R.A. If anyone can recall what those initials stood for, please do share. She had a beautiful singing voice and sang on the St Ann’s Church Senior Choir. She also attended St Ann’s Elementary School. She always wore a wig. She was the best curried goat cook in the neighborhood and for that matter, maybe in all of Jamaica. In fact all three sisters had their own specialty when it came to cooking. Mother May made the best oxtails, Aunt Cullu made the best stew peas and everybody knows about Aunt Queenie’s legendary curry goat! She used to cook and sell curry goat every Friday at North Street from lunchtime through dinner. Many of the grandchildren used to sit at home and wait patiently for them to come home with her curry goat that she would bring in a white cardboard box. Unfortunately, as a child, you would never get your own box. One box would have to share between three or four people. Nevertheless, you were so thankful to get your little share because it was so full of peppery flavor. We were told by Andrew Hibbert at the family forum, and I quote…”Everyone knows about the curry goat, but Aunt Queenie’s rice and peas alone could eat by itself like a meal, it was that good.”
She had five children with Eric Moncrieffe, namely: Clement, Elaine, Arthur, Maurice and Frederick. From a prior relationship, Aunt Queenie had a child named Patrick Alphonso Stewart, who was born in 1927 but died as a child in 1935. During those years, many children died from typhoid fever. She suffered from hyperthyroidism which caused her to have a goiter under neck. She died in October 1976 from complications of diabetes at the Kingston Public Hospital. Her legacy lives on with family members is New York, Jamaica, Maryland, New Jersey and England.
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