Mrs. Jobson is a former science teacher at Hampton High School and Bethlehem Teachers' College.
Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer
HER HAIR is snowy white, but standing over six feet tall, Scharlie Jobson is an Amazon who runs the affairs of her farm in much the same way that she taught science at high school and college levels: with a giant's arms-span of practical wisdom and a heart full of passion.
The former science teacher and her husband, Cecil Jobson, are owners of the property New Goshen in Lucky Hill, St. Mary which was once a part of a spread of 1,400 acres stretching all the way to Moneague in St. Ann.
New Goshen was previously owned by the Ropers, but was sold not long after the family house was burnt down under curious circumstances it is said that a plane flew over and dropped an incendiary device and the owner debunked to quieter climes.
A task of their own
In 1988, the Jobsons were looking for their own farm. Cecil Jobson, a native of Brittonville St. Ann, had spent 30 years of his life managing farms for Reynolds Bauxite company until these farms were taken over by the Government.
It was time, the couple believed, to do something of their own.
Shortly after Hurricane Gilbert, they became the proud owners of New Goshen, although the storm had departed with the roof of the family home. Today, cows are their main business, though the property has its own share of citrus and other crops.
Although her students at Hampton and Bethlehem Teachers' College may remember her as a science teacher with more than her share of bombast, the truth is, caring for cattle runs more forcefully in Scharlie's blood. Her paternal family, the Fulfords, first came to the island as indentured workers on the coffee farms of Manchester and were to own farms running from Manchester, in the south and centre of the island, to Old Harbour in St. Catherine, in the east.
Titillating tale
Today, having sorted out the cows earlier in the morning, Scharlie makes herself available to her guests. With the vistas of a St. Mary valley behind her, she is in the mood to tell what we find is a tall and titillating tale.
The first Fulfords were from Yorkshire England. They arrived in the island in early 1840 with their 15 children, attempting to escape the labour crises caused by the industrial revolution.
While some stayed in Manchester, others emigrated to the United States. Charles, the oldest of the sons was given into the care of one Reverend J. Robinson who was in charge of the Gilnock church. Charles was a coachman and general factotum who would later marry Isabella Dennison, one of three orphaned girls who made bread and sold it in Dawkins Hill, Manchester. .
Charles, showing a surprisingly enterprising streak, took the girls' inheritance and bought the property of New Hope in Manchester. Charles Fulford could read and write, unlike his parents and perhaps that was what made the difference for him.
In 1849, the young man moved the bread-baking business to New Hope where the family also started a shop which traded in agricultural produce, coffee, pimento, ginger, honey and the big seller of the time logwood.
"New Hope is still in my possession. it is a very quaint little house" Scharlie Jobson says in an aside.
The Fulfords moved to Mayhill in 1865 and Charles expanded his business activities to include transporting goods from ships at Alligator Pond to the Town of Mandeville and communities in between. The entrepreneur also bought land all the way from New Hope down the coast and went into the haulage business with oxen carts.
He also constructed a foundry at Mayhill.
Charles Fulford did very well, buying more properties from Alligator Pond to Spring Ground and all the way up the Manchester plain. He became the owner of Spring Plains, Bodles Pen as well as Kelly Pen in Old Harbour where he died in 1896.
The enterprising Fulford left a property to each of his living children. Some were bequeathed two and others three. However, the stage was not set for further prosperity but for a bone chilling battle between some of the sons and grandchildren. The family was also troubled by what is now known as tuberculosis but was then called Phthisis or consumption and many were to die from this disease.
A source of strength for the family was its Moravian beliefs.
George Dennison-Fulford, Scharlie's grandfather was sent to the Moravian School at Fairfield and then on to Letits in Pennsylvania where he completed his Christian education. Returning home to Jamaica, he married one Susan Irene and had Charles Dennison, Scharlie's father.
Susan, her grandmother, was the daughter of a homeopathic doctor and a pastor, was very empathetic. She began a tradition of community work which has prevailed in the family to this day.
Her son, Charles is remembered by Scharlie, his daughter as always helping. "It was more important to help some poor person than to get something himself."
Scharlie remembers being denied a new pair of shoes because a neighbor needed a new roof. The proceeds from the family's dairy farm in Old Harbour were eked out for both the needs of their three children and anyone in the community who needed help.
Charles would also take it on himself to look after the sick, if no one else was willing to do the job. Young Scharlie was often drafted into this effort and recalls helping change the banana trash bedding of one man who was not loved by many in the community and who no-one else but her father would help. Her father did persuade his wife to sew the wrapping for a new mattress for the man who made a full recovery after Charles Dennison's doctoring act.
One aspect of farm life that young Scharlie loved was that of looking after the animals. In fact, she was also drafted into this as soon as she could walk and acquired not only her Dad's love for animals, but also, by age six, his colourful vocabulary of swear words.
Scharlie and her two siblings were nevertheless bought up in the strict tradition of Moravian household.
"Eat what was needed and do not ask for more" was her mother's credo.
Leftovers would also turn up at the next meal. "There was heavy discipline. No strong drink. No dancing. To clap one's hand to and sway to music was wickedness," Mrs. Jobson remembers.
The children were taught at home by an old retired school teacher until they were sent away to school. Scharlie was sent to Hampton High School in St. Elizabeth.
"I hated every minute of it," she recalls.
However, there she had teachers, including Doris Rainford, who would influence her life to a great extent.
Scharlie attended university for one year and she met and impetuously married her first husband, in the process losing a scholarship and the approval of her parents. But, after this brief fling with independence, the marriage was dissolved and she tied the knot with Cecil Jobson who then worked with Reynolds Jamaica. They had met when he came to her parent's home on business.
In the 1970s Mrs. Jobson taught Junior School at Hampton and then went to complete her studies at Bethlehem Teacher's College, completing the three-year programme in one year.
When her sons, Mark and Martin went off to university, one to the University of the West Indies and the other to Princeton, she then decided to complete her Bachelors degree and get her Masters at the University of Central Florida. The 70s, she recalls, were terrible times when one could not get money out of Jamaica. So, in Florida, she worked nights and attended school during the day. She also started her doctorate, but had to call a halt to this programme 15 credits away from completion as her father fell ill and died and her mother was left alone in Jamaica.
Scharlie was nevertheless happy to come back home. She had always had the idea that she could be principal of Hampton one day, a school which she had grown to love and where she taught science on returning from university.
But, this was not to be. Another applicant was given the position and soon she left to teach at Bethlehem Teacher's College for two years. There she taught science to many who are now school principals and making their names in local business.
She then moved on to Church Teacher's College. "This was never home," she said and when a senior executive at Reynolds told her that he would offer her a teacher's salary to stay at Trout Hall with her husband, she accepted with alacrity.
An even happier moment came when they discovered and were able to buy New Goshen, a farm of their own. Gilbert had trashed some of the buildings but this was no deterrent.
The dream of happiness on their own farm has been somewhat affected by Cecil Jobson's illness since the late 90s and the ill-fortunes of beef which in the last decade have taken their toll. Their son Martin is doing his best, his mother notes, but they might very well be the last Jobsons to farm the land in any fashion.
Not the least of their problems is the fact that farming is unable to compete with the wages for workers offered by manufacturing. On New Goshen, almost all the workers are older men. And what with hurricanes and drought, "the whole sum adds up to a negative", grouses Scharlie.
"Our days are literally numbered."
It's a miserable outlook, but the matriarch has found ways of relaxing that removes the mind from the problems. There are her birds and the dogs, much beloved. There is also sewing. Scharlie also reads a lot in the quiet country retreat. She also adores listening to serene classical-type music.
And there are the cows, of course, whose care is more than a matter of raising beef for money.
Up by six in the morning to water plants, feed dogs and birds and give Cecil his medicine; after breakfast its time for her darlings.
"Yesterday we did inoculation and de-worming. Otherwise we will lose them to Black Leg," She says matter-of-factly.
While she complains, "my battery is running down," husband Cecil who appears to be the quieter of the two states, "she (Scharlie) is strong both physically and mentally."
When she stops her story-telling to question Martin about his afternoon activities on the farm and to advise him succinctly on what to do, we see where the wind blows.
Scharlie Jobson may have had some disappointments, but she is queen of her country home.
Her weathered strength is apparent in everything she says and does. Her father would have been proud.
