Hawthorne · Gaynor family crest — Stronger Together

Est. Jamaica · 1879

DiFamilyTree

Stronger Together.

DiFamilyTree is the private, invitation-only family website of the Hawthorne and Gaynor families. Approved family members sign in with Google to explore the family tree, share photos and stories, and stay connected across the world.

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Banana carriers posing with their bunches outside a packing house, Jamaica, around 1890 — Banana men · c. 1890 — produce was the family business

Celia and Cutie at a dinner table — Celia & Cutie

The island, then · the family, then

Jamaica as the founders knew it. The family as it grew.

Enid and Vee on a wedding day — Enid & Vee

Fred and Jenny with children on the porch steps — Fred & Jenny

Hand-tinted lantern slide of three market women carrying baskets on their heads, Kingston, early 1900s — Market women on the road — Pepper’s own trade

St Ann's Bay, Jamaica, photographed around 1900 — sepia shoreline with wharf and hills — St Ann’s Bay, the family’s parish · c. 1900

King Street, Kingston, looking north, around 1900 — King Street, Kingston · c. 1900 — where the truck rolled home from

Victor in a suit beside a car, September 1972 — Victor, September ’72

A waterfall near Ocho Rios, St Ann, photographed by A. Duperly & Sons — The falls near Ocho Rios, St Ann

Merle seated with her handbag — Merlyn “Merle” Hawthorne

A quiet cove at Runaway Bay, St Ann, around 1890, with canoes and children at the water's edge — A cove at Runaway Bay, St Ann · c. 1890

Island photographs c. 1890–1910 by A. Duperly & Sons, H.S. Duperly, and Dr James Johnston of Brown’s Town — the family’s own market town; public domain. Family photographs from the family’s own album. The pictures change each visit — come back and turn the page.

Jamaica · two houses

It begins in two places at once.

In Friendship, the Gaynor line begins with Alfred — Ma’s Fred, to the family — born 1879, whose nine children carried the name into the world. And in Buxton, the Hawthorne line grows around Frederick Hawthorne and the children who carried his.

The union

Then two lines became one tree.

Merle Hyacinth Gaynor married John Vincent Hawthorne — the green house and the gold house, two lights becoming one tree.

From the island to the world

Browns Town. London. Atlanta. Home.

Seven generations on, the branches reach across oceans — and every leaf knows where its roots are. The tree holds our names, our faces, our voices, and exactly how each of us belongs to it.

Hear the founding story

The elders

The ones who started it.

This wall carries those who have passed. Gone ahead — not gone.

Photograph of Horace Victor “Cee” Hawthorne

HawthorneHorace Victor “Cee” Hawthorne

Photograph of Azariah “Maas Azzie” Gaynor

1913 – 1996Azariah “Maas Azzie” GaynorFelt hat, spectator shoes.

Photograph of John Vincent “Vin” Hawthorne

The unionJohn Vincent “Vin” HawthorneTwo lines became one tree.

GaynorEvans “Brooks” Gaynor

1934 – 2016Enid LynCookEveryone remembers the barrels.

BuxtonDavid & Francis HawthorneLearned their letters under threat of death, and taught by candlelight.

Friendship · b. 1879Alfred “Ma’s Fred” GaynorNine children carried the name into the world.

Photograph of Merlyn Hyacinth “Merle” Hawthorne

The unionMerlyn Hyacinth “Merle” HawthorneTwo lines became one tree. New York, Nov ’68.

“I opened the tree and found my grandmother’s mother’s name. I never knew it until that night.”
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“At the reunion we didn’t argue about how we’re related. We just looked it up.”
— a place for a family member’s own words (placeholder, to be replaced)

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