THE HISTORY OF
KIRKCONNELL BROTHERS
William Kirkconnell came to the Caribbean from Scotland before 1840 by courtesy of the Royal Navy, becoming shipwrecked off the coast of Cuba. At the time he was shipwrecked it was customary for British ships on their return to the UK to stop at Grand Cayman for fresh turtle meat for the crew. William therefore took a Caymanian schooner from Cuba to Cayman to wait for a ship back to Britain. While waiting he worked for Caymanians who were building boats, and was persuaded to stay. He returned to Scotland to collect his wife Jane, and resumed sailing between Cayman and Honduras.
Regretably Jane died in 1844, but ten years later William’s son Walter Aaron Kirkconnell was born to Sarah Foster Ryan on Cayman Brac. William died at sea in a hurricane en route to Jamaica in 1880.
Walter and his wife Judith Margaret had 10 children who would carry the Kirkconnell name to new heights. In 1886 at age 42 Walter began selling certain staples such as flour, sugar, cornmeal, salt beef and kerosene from his house in Cayman Brac.
In the same year Walter found a large piece of driftwood which he correctly reckoned to be big enough to be a ship’s keel. In less than a year Walter built a 40-ton two masted schooner named ‘Evaswift’ after his eldest daughter Eva. Tragedy struck immediately, as the ship was wrecked on her maiden voyage; however Walter salvaged the remains from the beaches of Little Cayman and started rebuilding.
The construction of ‘The Angler’, a 28 ton vessel, took three years and the ship became a lifeline for Cayman, carrying coconuts and turtles to Jamaica. Son Ebert was lost at sea in 1902. In 1904, while working on the construction of the family’s third ship ”Walter K Merrit’, Walter was fatally injured while cutting timber. The ship itself was lost in a 1910 hurricane, claiming the lives of all on board including brothers William Lambert and Walter Shirley.
The family built and bought other schooners, but decided expansion was required to fulfill Walter Aaron’s wishes. Just at the close of the first world war, the 4 surviving brothers therefore moved themselves, their ships and their families to Tampa, Florida. Sister Gyda and her husband Captain Kenneth Ritch remained to run the store in the Brac.
The schooners of ‘R.B.Kirkconnell and Brothers’ carried pine lumber to the West Indies, and carried mahogany and cedar back to Tampa. Business was good for a while, but when the great depression struck the cargo business collapsed so the brothers relocated to Cayman Brac. The youngest brother, ‘Captain Charlie’ was the last to leave Tampa, but arrived home just after the hurricane of 1932 destroyed much of Cayman Brac including the house and store. Discouraged, he considered returning to Tampa, but was persuaded by the Brac’s commisioner Aston Rutty to remain to help rebuild the island.
1936 brought another loss at sea when the ‘Nunoca’ disappeared with the loss of all hands, including Moses Ithamar. The remaining three brothers Reginald, Nathanial and Charlie continued at sea, Charlie retiring through ill-health to become a farmer in 1944.
In 1954 Nathaniel set up Kirkconnell Shipping, based once again in Tampa and employing his sons and those of Moses Ithamar. Reginald and Charlie continued in the Brac until 1961, when they both died just two weeks apart.
The next generation took over, with Reginald’s children Dillon, Walter, and Barton, and Charlie’s children Charles, Alex and Eldon taking the reins; Charles, Alex and Eldon becoming equal shareholders in Charlie’s companies.
Eldon gave up the sea to manage the Cayman Brac businesses, but in 1963 decided that growth would only come from a bigger market, so set up Kirkconnell Brothers’ first office in Grand Cayman. His intention was to wholesale only, but this wasn’t profitable; so the partnership of Captains Charles, Eldon, Dillon, and Barton opened a supermarket and wholesaler named Kirk Plaza. To quote Captain Charles “Everything was sold there, from a pin to an anchor”.
At Kirk Plaza people purchased watches, diamond rings, perfume, shoes, linen, food, furniture, refrigerators, lawn mowers; even Cadillacs and Volkswagens! In 1973 Captain Eldon started Kirk Freeport, specialising in the duty free and luxury items, and turning over the day to day management of Kirk Plaza to Captain Charles.
A year later in 1974 Kirk Brothers constructed a new complex on Eastern Avenue for Wholesale Grocery, Home Centre, Lumber and Heavy Hardware. The Supermarket was built in 1989.
In 2009, with Captains Charles and Eldon wishing to be less involved in the businesses the operations of Kirkconnell Brothers were divided between Kirk Group and Kirk Enterprises, belonging to Eldon’s family and Charles’ family respectively.
In 2013 Kirk Supermarket underwent a brand and name change and is now called Kirk Market.