One hundred five years ago last October 5 Bertha Lawrence boarded the steamship Curityba to travel to Cuba where she would study Spanish and then teach at the Banes, Cuba, mission school. Her work there was under the auspices of the American Friends Board of Foreign Missions and Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends.

She was twenty-eight years old and not married when she arrived in Cuba. She had no way to predict the events coming in the next eight years.

She taught for two years before poor health required her to return to Indiana.
She returned to Cuba a few months later after she and Joseph McCracken were married in September 1913. Joe was the manager of a sugar company in Cuba.
She gave birth to a daughter (my Aunt Ruthanna) on March 9, 1915.
She gave birth to a son (my Dad) on August 28, 1916.
And then on November 23, 1918, in Soledad, Cuba, she became one of the millions who died in the 1918 influenza pandemic.

That’s a thumbnail view of my paternal grandmother’s Cuba connection. My grandfather lived in Cuba longer than my grandmother. Joseph McCracken was 19 when his family moved to Cuba to help with the Friends Mission. He went to work as a young man on a sugar plantation and over time advanced to the position of manager. After the death of his wife, Joseph’s sister (Bertha Haworth) helped him raise his young family. He continued to live and work in Cuba until 1923 when he moved his family to Scotts Mills, Oregon.

I’m curious whether I might be able to make a connection with the country of my father’s birth with a cup of Cuban coffee. This curiosity led me to discover that Cafe Cubano is espresso that is sweetened during brewing with raw cane sugar. Since I no longer drink sweetened coffee, perhaps I’ll go to Chapters and have a Cafe Cubano without the sugar. I’ll have to explain to the barista the reason for the departure from my usual Americano.

Eight Years in Cuba

Bertha Lawrence McCracken: Eight Years in Cuba

McCracken