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PM's Family Tree
Published: Friday | January 6, 20124 Comments
Warmington
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AN ELDERLY woman embraced Portia Simpson Miller on election day, December 29, 2011, in South West St Andrew and told her she had relatives with the surname Simpson.
The People's National Party (PNP) president responded by asking her a few questions about her relatives.
"We are related," Simpson Miller concluded on hearing the answers, holding the old lady close while fitting names to the family tree.
That was a feature of Simpson Miller on the campaign trail, especially in St Catherine and Clarendon where she was the human version of the website www.ancestry.com.
In Spaldings, Clarendon, for example, Simpson Miller told Comrades that her roots run deep there.
"I am sure you don't know that I have some strong Clarendon connections," she said during a meeting in Spaldings.
"My grandmother, Latiesha Burrell, was from Rock River in Clarendon. My grandfather, Thomas Tulloch, was from Clarendon, and my great-grandmother was from Crofts Hill in Clarendon."
She added: "My aunties and my uncles - John, Peter, Lyn - all of them are from Clarendon. My mom was born in Clarendon."
"When St Catherine boasts, and South West St Andrew, that they gave to the party the first female leader and to Jamaica the first female prime minister, you can take credit, Clarendon. My mom was a Clarendonian."
In South West Clarendon, she made the similar pitch, urging Comrades to "support my cousin, (Noel) 'Butch' Arscott".
Arscott has been returned to serve as member of parliament for the constituency and joins North Central St Catherine's Natalie Neita-Headley and the Jamaica Labour Party's South West St Catherine MP Everald Warmington as Simpson Miller's cousins in Gordon House.
Admires her
Neita-Headley, who is related to Simpson Miller by way of the Tulloch branch of the family tree, said her admiration for Simpson Miller was not because she is her cousin, but because of what she stands for as a person.
"I love her as the Comrade leader. Growing up, I did not know her, did not know we were related. It was when I got older that my grandmother told me we are related," Neita-Headley said.
She said Simpson Miller has "given her entire life to the service of the people".
She added: "That is the only thing she knows and she has always worked to ensure the lives of the people are improved."
Warmington, who will be sitting on the opposition benches, said his father and Simpson Miller's father are cousins.
"I am elated. I would have loved to have had my leader elected, but a family is elected to such high office and I am elated," he added.
daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com
Published: Friday | January 6, 20124 Comments
Warmington
1 2 3 >
AN ELDERLY woman embraced Portia Simpson Miller on election day, December 29, 2011, in South West St Andrew and told her she had relatives with the surname Simpson.
The People's National Party (PNP) president responded by asking her a few questions about her relatives.
"We are related," Simpson Miller concluded on hearing the answers, holding the old lady close while fitting names to the family tree.
That was a feature of Simpson Miller on the campaign trail, especially in St Catherine and Clarendon where she was the human version of the website www.ancestry.com.
In Spaldings, Clarendon, for example, Simpson Miller told Comrades that her roots run deep there.
"I am sure you don't know that I have some strong Clarendon connections," she said during a meeting in Spaldings.
"My grandmother, Latiesha Burrell, was from Rock River in Clarendon. My grandfather, Thomas Tulloch, was from Clarendon, and my great-grandmother was from Crofts Hill in Clarendon."
She added: "My aunties and my uncles - John, Peter, Lyn - all of them are from Clarendon. My mom was born in Clarendon."
"When St Catherine boasts, and South West St Andrew, that they gave to the party the first female leader and to Jamaica the first female prime minister, you can take credit, Clarendon. My mom was a Clarendonian."
In South West Clarendon, she made the similar pitch, urging Comrades to "support my cousin, (Noel) 'Butch' Arscott".
Arscott has been returned to serve as member of parliament for the constituency and joins North Central St Catherine's Natalie Neita-Headley and the Jamaica Labour Party's South West St Catherine MP Everald Warmington as Simpson Miller's cousins in Gordon House.
Admires her
Neita-Headley, who is related to Simpson Miller by way of the Tulloch branch of the family tree, said her admiration for Simpson Miller was not because she is her cousin, but because of what she stands for as a person.
"I love her as the Comrade leader. Growing up, I did not know her, did not know we were related. It was when I got older that my grandmother told me we are related," Neita-Headley said.
She said Simpson Miller has "given her entire life to the service of the people".
She added: "That is the only thing she knows and she has always worked to ensure the lives of the people are improved."
Warmington, who will be sitting on the opposition benches, said his father and Simpson Miller's father are cousins.
"I am elated. I would have loved to have had my leader elected, but a family is elected to such high office and I am elated," he added.
daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com