Relatives of the King and Rawlins family enjoyed a day of togetherness when they recently attended their first and what will be an annual family reunion at Red Tree Hill, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael.
The inaugural family reunion was conceptualized by Jan Gooding and her cousin Marcia Clarke-Toppin due to them wanting to strengthen their family connection.
“We decided to have a family reunion and invite everyone because since Covid-19 we have not been able to keep in contact with family members, we have hardly seen them in 2021 and most of 2022. So, we decided that this occasion would allow us to see members of the family that we have not seen before. So, I am happy that it is turning out well as I am seeing persons that I have not seen in like 15 years. This is our first reunion, and we are pleased with the turnout of it because we would have planned this in two months,” Gooding said.
Gooding who is the cousin of former Member Of Parliament and Special Advisor on Culture and Cultural Heritage Senator John King gave a brief synopsis of how the family came to be.
Co-organizer of the event Jan Gooding.
“My mom is the King, her parents Sibert Oswald King and Beatrice Rawlins, that was the union that formed into the King and Rawlins connection. So, it stretches really far and wide from St Phillip, St John and St Andrew. We have not been able to gather all of the data from the family branch in Martin’s Bay, but we know we are related to persons from that area. Our grandfather was the first train driver in Barbados back when trains operated in the 1930s,” she said.
Gooding said that she wanted the family members to recognize the importance of family and fostering strong family connections as they play a very important role in society.
“I want persons to take away from this inaugural reunion that we can get together more often as we usually only meet at a wedding or a funeral. In the last two years, we have been meeting at funerals online via online streaming platforms and a lot of our older members have died. So, these reunions are important for us as we seek to learn our family history and foster our family ties whilst having a good time,” she said.
Reflecting on her childhood growing up with her cousin Senator John King she said that her grandmother Beatrice Rawlins was a disciplinarian who was stern yet loving. However, one of her fondest memories was running from who she thought was the “heart man”.
“It was the era of the heart man and as a child, you believed that it was real. One night my aunt took my sister and I out walking, and a car passed, and everyone decided it was the heart man and it was a mad scamper to get home before the heart man got us,” she said while chuckling.
“Historian” of the family Geoffrey King said the King family were whalers who came to Barbados from Ireland and then decided to settle on the island making Barbados their home in the 17th century.
“The family was whalers, they used to whale here in Barbados off where the Hilton is, there was a whaling station in the 17th century. The family followed the whales to the South-Western part of Barbados to Bequia in Saint Vincent and The Grenadines and some settled there, and some came back to Barbados. They settled in a place called Mount Pleasant where they have a stream of running water and it is called Ravine Bay. I was born in Bequia from the King’s family, and I came to Barbados when I was twelve years of age and stayed with my aunt Wilsie Gooding,” he said.
King, who is a retired seafarer, said that he has travelled the world as a captain and navigator and that he was pleased that at eighty-four-years-old he could attend the family reunion and meet some of his family members whom he has never seen. He thanked Jan and Marcia for conceptualizing the event and said he looks forward to participating in the future reunions.
Co-organizer of the inaugural King and Rawlins family reunion Marcia Clarke-Toppin.
(Write Right PR Services)
