Tribute to the Mortons and Grants

THE EDITOR: At a time when we are celebrating “arrivals” with the attendant festivities, the men and women who have changed the lives of a people by their presence must always be fondly remembered.

John and Sarah Morton, Kenneth and Elizabeth Grant were pioneers of the Canadian Mission whose arrival here in 1868 must not be forgotten for the values they developed in the lives of the East Indians here in their pastoral sojourn to these parts. The changes brought about in their lives by the presence of these missionaries and by adherence to the Christian faith and upbringing can be measured only by values that have come out of this experience. Jane Rookmin Go-bin was her name, born in the old Spanish town of St Joseph in the adjacent rural holding called at the time “Lajo — day see day” and known today as Elizabeth Gardens. Jane was the eldest daughter of Chinta and her husband Gobin, two simple souls whose parents came out of the indenture experience to find comfort in the hills of St Joseph and the rustic rural surrounding.

At the time, John Morton the Canadian missionary, on his second visit to Trinidad, heartened by the problems of these simple folks, thought of introducing into their lives the values best understood by him in the Christian faith. In the village, John Morton walked, cycled tirelessly with hope and compassionate understanding, and like the biblical fisherman set about to win souls to the Lord. Morton’s approach was simple and abiding and at these homes he would counsel with the parents and guardians and with fatherly love bring into the hearts of his listeners the good word of compassion and love. From the Gobins, John Morton took young Jane, among others, to his home and sanctuary at Tunapuna to continue with the learning process in a new and friendly environment. Sarah Morton, wife of John Morton, became the compassionate “mother” and teacher to whom they paid the greatest respect with good manners and abiding obedience at their new home.

It was at the home of the Mortons that the girls were taught primary school subjects and in addition, handicraft and skills. Values developed in the new environment had an abiding effect on the girls, indeed Jane, as it served to benefit them in the years of family life. It was in the early nineteen hundreds Jane was introduced by Morton to be the wife of a Sangre Grande businessman. In 1909 the newly wedded couple arrived by train at the Guaico village station after a wedding ceremony held in St Joseph. It was at Guaico all the children were born of the wedded couple. In a family of sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grand and great grand children there are teachers, school principals, public servants, doctors, dentists, lawyers and an architect. To those of us whose parents came under the influence of the Canadian Missionaries, John and Sarah Morton, Kenneth and Elizabeth Grant, we must always be grateful to them for the love, compassion and selfless service they extended by sharing with us their experiences that changed our lives and others in a new environment that had been created in a Faith that they have embraced with fulfilment and love. Jane Rookmin Gobin Benjamin (deceased) was my mother. May her soul rest in peace.

W H BENJAMIN
Valsayn