Tuitt Family papers

1931 - 2005 [bulk 1929 - 1971]

The Tuitt family hailed from Harris Village, Montserrat, but certain members also lived in the Caribbean and United States. Represented in the collection are New York residents Charles Alexander Tuitt and his sons, John and James; Charles's sisters, Jane Tuitt Allen and Molly Tuitt Daley, who lived in Montserrat; another sister, Victoria Tuitt James, who emigrated to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and her daughter, Gertrude; and two of Charles's other nieces, Ann and Beatrice, who moved to Trinidad and Antigua before landing in New York. Born circa 1894, Charles Tuitt arrived in New York in 1914. He worked as a janitor in midtown Manhattan and, like many Caribbean immigrants of the time, resided in Harlem in an apartment on 100 West 143 Street. He had two sons, John (born June 16, 1919) and James (born November 17, 1921), with Sarah Gage Tuitt, who died in November 1944. Charles Tuitt passed away in October 1965. After serving in the army during World War II, John Tuitt worked as a postal worker and, in the early 1950s, helped his cousins, Frances and Beatrice, immigrate to New York. When he and his wife Mirty purchased their home in Brooklyn, Ann and Beatrice moved into the apartment the Tuitts had shared with Charles on 100 West 143 Street. This led to a suit from landlady Jennie Batkin who charged that Charles had effectively subleased the apartment without giving her prior notice. John Tuitt died on October 20, 2005, in Barbados, where he had relocated with wife in 1993. Like his older brother, sailor James Maxwell ("Nicky") Tuitt fought in World War II's Pacific theater. After his discharge, James was a firefighter in New York City's Fire Department for more than 20 years; he served as an aide to the Commissioner in his last five years. James Tuitt died September 1991. Victoria Tuitt James and her husband, Isaac Gatewood James, a chemist and entrepreneur credited with introducing canned juices and grafted mangoes to the US Virgin Islands, owned a "5 and 10 cent" store in St. Croix.