The Crichlows

Cyril Crichlow, front right with other UNIA leaders.  Many think that his grandson, Forrester's son Martin resembles Cyril.

Cyril Crichlow and Marcus Garvey

A Historical, Genealogical Memoir  

by Marietta Stevens Crichlow and Linda Crichlow White

Marcus Garvey

Marietta became a Crichlow when she married Martin Augustus Crichlow, son of Cyril A and Lillian Warnick Crichlow.   Cyril Crichlow was a native of Trinidad, British West Indies and immigrated to the United States in about 1905 to attend a Seventh Day Adventist School in Nebraska.

After Cyril and Lillian married in 1909, they became Seventh Day BAPTISTS.   Whenever we mention Seventh Day Baptist, folks say, don't you mean Adventist?   Well, the book describes, with the help of Nicholas Kersten, Seventh Day Baptist Church Librarian Historian, how Cyril and Lillian became involved with the Seventh Day BAPTIST Church.

After he finished undergraduate school at Howard University in Washington, Martin's brother Luther Warnick Crichlow attended Alfred University, in upstate New York.   Alfred was founded in 1830 by Seventh Day Baptists as a non-sectarian college.  

Martin's father, Cyril, became Garvey's Resident Commissioner in Liberia.  Noteworthy, Garvey himself, never traveled to Africa.    After Cyril engaged in disagreements with Liberia's leaders, he distanced himself from Garvey, becoming government witness against Garvey.   Linda met one of today's UNIA members recently who described Cyril as a very knowledgeable and capable leader.  I would have guessed that today's UNIA members would see him as a traitor to the cause. 

The grandchildren did not know of Cyril's involvement with Garvey until many years after Grandpop's death (1965).    More of our learning about this piece of history is in Back There, Then.  Like many of the families featured in Henry Louis Gates' series, African American Lives, there were just things that families didn't talk about.   In Cyril's case, it could be that, as a government witness, he was sworn to secrecy...or maybe he was ashamed of his involvement.

Interesting also is that Cyril left his wife and children in Harlem to travel to Africa in 1921--which was probably scandalous to Lillian's family and others!  In the book, we include images of some cards and letters that Cyril wrote to Lillian while he was traveling.

Just in case there are readers who do not know who

Marcus Garvey was, read one encyclopedia entry here.

For another version, see this site posted by the United Negro Improvement Association, Garvey's organization that still exists in 2014.  Another of many Garvey biographies is  here.

In short, Marcus Garvey was the leader of an early 20th century "Back to Africa" movement.   His movement attracted thousands of Negroes but also was controversial-- much like the similar "back to Africa" movement begun by Whites in the American Colonization Society 100 years prior to Garvey's movement.  Why Garvey thought his movement would work is an interesting question.