PLACE+MEMORY: CHACACHACARE
PEOPLE OF CHACACHACARE
PEOPLE OF THE COLONIAL/PRE-LEPROSARIUM PERIOD
The famous Venezuelan revolutionary, Santiago Mariño (1788-1854), who later joined forces with Simón Bolivar and was instrumental in the liberation of Venezuela from Spanish rule, used Chacachacare as a base for his successful 1813 invasion of Venezuela with a tiny band of 45 "Patriots"
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Concepción Mariño (1790–1854) was a heroine of the Venezuelan War of Independence.
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Fr Hyacinth Bariou (Parish Priest)
Louis Bertrand
Emile Birotte (Landowner)
Bolo (enslaved woman who the Bolo rocks to the southwestern point of Chacachacare are named after)
Geraldo Carry (AKA Geraldine Carige)
Atanacia Carige (married Santiago Santiago Marino de Acuna, a Spaniard from Spain, in 1797)
Marie Alcina Carey (Carry/Carige)
Dr LF Chittenden (bought land established island's first sanitorium)
Joell (Whaler ca 1828)
Llanos (Cotton Planters)
Maria de Ortega (wife of Geraldo Carige)
Vessigny (Cotton Planters)
Louis Bertrand
Emile Birotte (Landowner)
Bolo (enslaved woman who the Bolo rocks to the southwestern point of Chacachacare are named after)
Geraldo Carry (AKA Geraldine Carige)
Atanacia Carige (married Santiago Santiago Marino de Acuna, a Spaniard from Spain, in 1797)
Marie Alcina Carey (Carry/Carige)
Dr LF Chittenden (bought land established island's first sanitorium)
Joell (Whaler ca 1828)
Llanos (Cotton Planters)
Maria de Ortega (wife of Geraldo Carige)
Vessigny (Cotton Planters)
PEOPLE OF THE LEPROSARIUM PERIOD (1921-1984)
Sister Marie Benedict Sister Agnes.Sister Marie Benedict, right, died in Trinidad in 1994; Sister Agnes, left, died in 1998 in Guadeloupe.
Sister Marie Purification Chatelaine, the first nun to die at Chacachacare
Sr. Hedwige Dobrowolska
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Sister Rose de Sainte Marie Vebert. In 1927, Sr. Rose de Sainte Marie Vebert, had already contracted leprosy. She suffered with the disease for 18 years and lived in the women’s compound at Sanders Bay instead of the convent. The disease had taken away her sight and had hideously distorted her once attractive face. Her tongue was so swollen she could barely speak. (Catherine Gillo).
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Dr. Louis de Verteuil the mayor of Port of Spain noted in 1857:
“Leprosy is, unfortunately, very prevalent, and, of late years, appears to be even on the increase. It is much to be apprehended that the malady will continue to spread, and thereby entail an increasing amount of misery. An asylum was established under the government of Sir Henry G McLeod, and is still maintained at the public expense, for the reception of lepers who are not in a position to support themselves. But as it is generally left to their option to enter the asylum or not, those only who make application are admitted, and, of course, lepers, who prefer a mendicant life, are seen going their rounds and begging, not only on the highways, but in the very streets of Port-of- Spain. Surely this ought not to be tolerated.”
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DOCTORS
Dr. Wilfred Urich Dr. Ferdinand De Verteuil Dr. Welch (1926 to ?) Dr. Robert Archibald (1936-39) Dr. Cook, 1939 Dr. Ernest Muir (1940-43) Dr. Michael Corcos (1950s) Dr. Van Crosson (1952) Dr. Young-Lao (1950s) Dr. A. Peat Dr. Huggins (1960s) PRIESTS & PUNDITS
Most Reverend Louis Joachim Gonin, OP Msgr. Patrick Vincent Flood, O.P. Msgr. John Pious Dowling Father Reginald Barry , OP (1952) |
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PEOPLE OF THE POST-COLONIAL/LEPROSARIUM PERIOD
Sister Marie Therese at the Resource Centre, Holy Name Convent, Port of Spain, where her research continues. Photograph by Catherine Gillo
