Nellie Louise Lowe was born on September 18, 1913, in Green Turtle Cay, Abaco to Edwin Jerome Lowe (1871-1932) and Alice Missouri Roberts (1878-1946).

Her siblings included…

• Basil Ambrose (1896)
• Florence GENEVA (1899)
• Albert CECIL (1901)
• Willard Horatio (1906)
• Charles Francis (1908)
• Naomi Hannah (1910)
• Pauline Alice (1916)
• Floyd Orazio (1919)

On October 20, 1930, Nellie married William Augustus Cash (1910-1972) from Hope Town, Abaco. He is the son of Amos Livingston Cash (1875-1946) and Elsie Manier Russell (1876-19??).

Their children included…

• Vernon Augustus (1933)
• Roberta (1935)
• Carroll Jerome (1943)

A Peep into the Past with Nellie Cash

The Abaconian March 15, 2004

Mrs. Nellie Cash, a resident of Sybil’s House, recently celebrated her 90h birthday and has a lifetime of memories at her fingertips. She was born on Green Turtle Cay in September of 1913, the eighth child of Jerome and Alice Lowe. She remembers her school as being very small with just two teachers, one of whom was Maitland Malone of Hope Town.

The Amy Roberts School on Green Turtle Cay was named after her first cousin, Amy Lowe, whom she says was a very good teacher and married Mr. Albert Roberts. Unlike schools nowadays which have very long summer holidays, the school then gave only one month summer holiday and Mrs. Nellie would spend that time on Nunjack Cay with her family. There they grew citrus, sapodillies and soursop and gathered birds’ eggs to eat. As a child, Mrs. Nellie always carried her cat to the cay with her for the holiday. But one time when the family was ready to leave, the cat was nowhere to be found, so her father carried the family back home to Green Turtle Cay in their small boat and then had to return to Nunjack to find the cat.

Mrs. Nellie left school at the age of 14 and spent her time at home sewing and taking care of the other children in the family as was the custom for girls in those days as there was no other employment for women. There were no radios on Green Turtle Cay to help pass the time until Mrs. Nellie’s sister obtained the first one. Her family also had the first record player, which was called a Talking Machine, and one of the first oil stoves, thanks to her sister who lived in the United States and was able to send these “new inventions” over. Most cooking was done in the fireplace over a wood fire and salt was used to preserve food.

At the age of 14 Mrs. Nellie met a gentle man named Augustus “Gus” Cash from Wilson City, the first lumber camp in the Bahamas, and in October of 1930 when she was 17 years old they were married. The couple took up residence in the lumber camp at Milleville which was within walking distance of Sandy Point. The company built small wooden houses for its workers and had a store in the camp where most of the food staples and some clothes could be purchased. Gus Cash was store manager. They rode out the ’32 hurricane there where fortunately the damage was not bad. Sadly, the news was not so good from Green Turtle Cay as that was the place worst hit and two of Mrs. Nellie’s nephews lost their lives during the hurricane.

Mrs. Nellie tells this story. Her brother Basil and his family lived near the old decaying Methodist Church. When the storm started to get bad, he told his two sons to go to Dr. Kendrick’s house where they would be safer. While the two young boys went one way, their father and mother a little later went by another way thinking that their sons were safely at the doctor’s house. However, whilst the youngsters were passing the old church, a piece had flown off and hit and killed them both. Their bodies were found after the hurricane.

Cars were unheard of in the lumber camps or even on Abaco. There was a railroad track through the camp and the workers, and their families would go by train to the large dock where they would board the company boat for the journey to Nassau or the United States.

Mrs. Nellie bore three children: Vernon, Roberta (now deceased) and Carroll, all of whom attended school in the camp. The company also built a church building and Miss Nellie’s son, Vernon, was the first to be married in that church. The church was available for any denomination and Mr. Gus Cash was preacher, marriage officer and registrar of births and deaths.

From Milleville the couple moved onto another lumber camp, Cornwall No. 1 which was north of Treasure Cay on the south side. When all the pine had been cut there, they then moved to Cornwall No. 2 also on the south side.

In 1938 Mr. Gus left his job in the lumber camps and moved back to Green Turtle Cay where he opened a small grocery store. At the start of World War II business was very poor so in 1942 the family moved into Nassau. However, they had not been there long when the owner of the lumber camp enticed Augustus back with an offer he couldn’t refuse. So he happily returned to Abaco to Cornwall No.3. They later moved with the company to Pine Ridge on Grand Bahama and then on to Freeport.

After several years Augustus Cash left the lumber mills and returned with his wife, Nellie, to Marsh Harbour where he took up employment with the construction company, Sea Breezes Ltd., until his death in 1972. During that time, he also opened a dry goods store on Don MacKay Boulevard from which Mrs. Nellie enjoyed selling shoes, hats and other clothing. Augustus Cash, in conjunction with Chris Roberts, started the Brethren Church in Marsh Harbour in 1962 where Mrs. Nellie has remained a faithful member. Sadly, owing to physical limitations, she is no longer able to get out to church but she enjoys visits from her pastor and is thankful that she can watch many church services on her television. Mrs. Nellie now spends her golden years enjoying the visits of friends and family and reading her Bible. Although she declares that she feels her age, “Each day,” she says, “I depend on the Lord for strength.”

Mrs. Nellie loves to recall old times but, like all people as they grow older, she sometimes has difficulty remembering something that happened yesterday. She tells the story of how years ago she had to travel to the United States for major surgery. As she was ready to leave the hospital, the doctor suggested a medication for her to take for allergies which she was suffering from at the time. She told him that he would need to write the name down as she would not remember it. He told her, “Always remember that the brain is like a newspaper. When it is full, it cannot hold any more.” It should never be surprising then if Mrs. Nellie cannot remember something from yesterday as her brain is definitely full to overflowing with the wonderful memories of years gone by.

Nellie Louise Cash née Lowe passed away on July 20, 2005 (age 93) in Marsh Harbour, Abaco.