Blyden Family – Lewis Street – Excerpt from “Pictorial History and Memories of Nassau’s Over-The-Hill”

By Rosemary C. Hanna

The Percival (Percy) Blyden Family lived on the south side of Lewis Street opposite St. Agnes Church.  Mrs. Sybil Blyden was a member of the Nicolls family from Tin Shop Corner in Grant’s Town.  She was the third of eleven children in her family.  The Blydens later moved to Farrington Road.  The picture at left was taken at their sixty-fourth wedding anniversary.  Mrs. Blyden was baptized at Wesley Grant’s Town Methodist Church where she was actively involved until in 1964 she became a founding member of St. Michael Methodist Church, where she was also involved in every aspect of the Church.  Mr. Blyden was a member of St. Agnes Church.

I knew the Blydens all of my life and attended Sunday School with their children at St. Agnes.  However, I got to know Mr. Blyden better when we were part of a church group that travelled to the Holy Land in the early nineties, and we became good friends.   Percy and Sybil were married on 29^th April 1943. When I visited with them a few years prior to their deaths, Mr. Blyden very proudly showed me the original framed “visitation” letter that he received from Mr. Nicolls giving permission for Percy and Sybil to be engaged and setting visiting hours at two evenings per week from 8:00 – 10:00 p.m.  The Blydens had six children:  Veta Brown, Calliope Williams, Persis Hepburn, Dr. Gershwin, Louise and John.

Percy was a carpenter and he worked for a number of the large construction companies, including McAlpine, Sunco Builders and, Cavalier Construction where he held the position as site foreman. He was a quiet gentleman who grew just about everything in the dense garden on the eastern side of his yard at Farrington Road including rose bushes, other flowering trees, avocados, breadfruit, plums, bananas, sapodillas, citrus and many others.    On a few occasions I rambled through the garden with him as he showed and shared his crops with me.

Sybil initially worked as a seamstress, and later as an Assistant Teacher at Woodcock Primary School.   However, at the age of 38 years, with six children, and with the full support of her husband, she undertook to become a fully qualified teacher.   This meant that after a full day’s work teaching she got on her bicycle and went to evening classes in order to prepare herself.  It did not bother her that she was the most mature among the many young students.  She successfully obtained her professional qualifications at The Bahamas Teachers’ College and the Maria Gray College in England, and rose to become the pioneering Principal of the Stapledon School for the Mentally Retarded.   A special site was designated on the Stapledon School grounds for a building to be constructed in honour of Mrs. Blyden in 2008, prior to her death.  The building was subsequently constructed, commissioned and officially named in April 2010.  She received the Queen’s Certificate of merit and the Victor Sassoon Golden heart Award in 1971.  One of the streets in the Millennium Gardens Subdivision is also named in her honour.

Veta is a Health Management consultant.  She is married to Granville Brown and they have two children, one daughter and one son: Gravette and Gerard.   Calliope is a High School Guidance Counsellor in New York.  She is married to Darwin Williams and they have no Children.  Persis is employed at the Eugene Dupuch Law School as a secretary.  She is married to William Hepburn, Sr. and they have two sons: William II and John, two grandchildren twins, Kyle and Katherine.  Gershwin is a medical doctor practicing in Miami, Florida specializing in Hematology and Oncology.  He is married to the former Donna Russell and has one son Gershon. Louise is employed as an Accounts Supervisor at the National Flag Carrier, Bahamasair.  She has one son Lamon and one grandson Jaden.  John is employed at Chekard as the Office Manager.  He is married to the former Princess Butler and they have three children: one daughter Johnneice Blyden-Williams, two sons Percy “PJ”, Prince, and one son-in-law Robert Williams.  John is a member of the Senior Choir and a soloist at St. Agnes.

Mrs. Blyden died on 11^th May 2009 and Mr. Blyden passed away on 6th October the same year.

ADDENDUM:  You can see the original “Visitation” letter and learn more about the Nicolls family in the special exhibit in the Pompey Museum, Bay Street, Nassau, N.P., which includes the family links to the last known documented slave ship to land in The Bahamas. 

© Copyright Rosemary C. Hanna 2013