<center>The Way It Was, 1975</center>

1975

William Eugene "Gene" Barber, Artist, Instructor, Historian & Genealogist authored a series of articles for the Baker County Press entitled "The Way It Was".

His articles covered all aspects of Baker County pioneers lives in a colorful, entertaining, as well as, educational manner. At an early age, Gene possessed the desire and ability to interview the 'Old Folks'. He was as talented in the use of the pen, as he is with a brush, choosing his words and expressions in a way to paint an exciting and interesting story.

The following are Gene's articles as published in 1975.

Local Newspapers Here Through The Years

Minor Role In The Revolution

The Early Days At Sanderson

Margaretta (An Interlude)

Capt. Dave Miller ... An Indian Fighter

Settlers Versus Seminoles

The Slaughter At Tiffens' Pond

Early Episcopalianism In Baker County

The Story Of The Macedonia Methodist Church

The Plague In Darbyville

Georgia's Claim To Baker County

A Genealogy Of The Taylor Family

Possum Trot Written From Local Experiences (Harwick)

The Pre War Years In Baker County

A History Of The Macclenny Postal System

The Shuey - Sessions House, 'Hainted By The Past

Harvey Thomas And 19th Century Red Tape

"Elisha Green; Pioneer Citizen"

The Harvey Family Of Baker County

Three Persons Who Could Have Named Glen St. Mary

The Early Days In Baldwin

John W. Jones - Planter And Secessionist

THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, June 26, 1975, Page Two
Baker County History
Local Newspapers Here Through The Years
By Bill Jessup

What do the Baker County Standard, the Baker County Reporter and The Baker County Press all have in common? The answer is that they were all names for the newspapers in this county. The history dates back to the early 1900's and the paper has had many owners since its beginning.

The first paper in the county was the Baker County Sentinal, but in those days the newspaper business was a very long and many times unprofitable venture. The Sentinal soon folded. The next paper to come to the county was the Baker County Standard, started in 1904 and run by B. F. Helvinston and edited by Mott Howard. In 1923, Helvinston left and the paper was run by Avery G. Powell. The paper was printed weekly all this time and the only thing really needed to publish and print a paper back then was type and a press. During this early history, all the typesetting was done by hand, which meant that whoever was the typesetter had to take each piece of type by hand and put it into place. This was a very time-consumming and tiresome task. Later a machine was invented that did this job for the newsman.

In 1923 the office of the Standard caught fire and was destroyed. The paper was not restarted right away after the fire, but the rights to it were given to Mrs. Iva T. Sprinkle of Lake Butler. She started printing the Baker County Reporter there. In 1929 The Baker County Press was established in Macclenny and run by Tate Powell, Sr. and his son Tate, Jr. The Powells kept the paper in their family being published later by Tate, Jr. and his son Ray.

They put out the paper until 1962 when the ownership of the rights were sold to the Bennett-Hahn Company. The Powells continued to print the paper and during the 1960's the ownership of the paper changed hands several times. In 1969 the Press was again taken over by Tate Powell, Jr.

The weekly Press is now employing a staff of three full time and two part time people as well as two college students to work during the summer to help them gain experience in the newspaper field. The Baker County Press is printed in Callahan and has a distribution of over 3100 papers a week. The present owner and publisher of The Press is James C. McGauley. Some of the latest computized composition equipment is used to help get the news to the people fast and accurate. The Press is looking to the future when it hopes to be able to publish two times a week.

As the picture indicates, The Press started out as a small paper, staffing only a couple of people, but just as the county has grown so has the newspaper. Gone are the days of one man doing all the work, sometimes with no way to find out what had happened during the week. Now newspapers like The Press rely on other people as well as its own staff to gather and present the news to the people. The work that once required many man hours can now be done by machines in minutes. This is just one of the historical places located in the county and with the upcoming celebration of our nation's 200 birthday, The Press will be featuring more on the history of Baker County.
Note: Picture omitted here.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, July 3, 1975
THE WAY IT WAS-Gene Barber
Minor Role In The Revolution
[Ed. note: Beginning this week, local historian Gene Barber will write weekly columns on the history of Baker County and its people. The series will often be accompanied by photographs from his personal collection and is scheduled at this time to run a full 52 weeks culminating with the celebration of the nation's 200th birthday next July. Generally considered the county's foremost historian, Barber was chief author of the memorial book published at the time of the county's 1961 Centennial.

While Florida was also a British colony in 1776, she did not choose to revolt against the crown. And, although our area was not in the main Revolutionary War zone, it, was not completely without its activity.

Thirteen years before the colonies Declaration of Independence, Great Britain received Florida from Spain at the end of the Seven Years War. By 1765, the British had begun to move into East Florida onto grants that ranged from the St. Mary's River south to New Smyrna and from St. Johns's River to the Atlantic marshes.

The future Baker County territory was within the northern limits of the hunting grounds assigned to the Seminoles by Governor James Grant and Supt. of Indian Affairs John Stuart at a conference with the Indians at Picolata. As a result of this arrangement, Baker County was not open to settlement however it was fair game for whatever traders who could buy their ways through the governor.

Among these traders was James Spaulding whose Indian trading post was situated on Ocean Pond. British maps and later U.S. Army maps name Ocean Pond as Lake Spaulding. There is a possibility that the later American Post Road that ran from north of Ocean Pond to the present Macedonia section and along the old Plank Road toward Jacksonville was laid over an older trading trail from Cow Ford (Jacksonville) to Spaulding's.

Some maps of the 1776 era show a north-south route along Trail Ridge and through the eastern part of the Present county. As activities heated up for Tories in the Carolinas and Georgia, they might have used this road in seeking a haven among the loyalist colony, especially since the King's Highway to the east was a frequent target of American raider and renegades from all nations.

A small battle at Thomas Swamp in neighboring Nassau County in 1778 was the nearest known Revolutionary action in our area, as well as the southernmost major action of the war. Skirmishes between Georgia and South Carolina Patriots and Florida Loyalists continued in northeast Florida through the end of the Revolution, at which time the colony was returned to Spain.

So, if in Revolutionary War history, Baker County will never command the same attention as Bunker Hill and Concord Bridge, she did have a minor part. Many of the Patriots are represented within the county today by their descendants. These are the people, and their deeds, who will be the basis for these Bicentennial articles.

Data for this series comes from census rolls, church minutes, family records, courthouses, military records, and scores of other sources. The series is open to corrections, additions, and suggestions.

The compiler, a native Baker countian, has been an amateur historian and genealogist since 1952. He has contributed articles to regional history magazines and lectured before genealogical organizations. And, he requests much help from his readers.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, July 10, 1975, Page Two
THE WAY IT WAS-Gene Barber
The Early Days At Sanderson

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Sanderson's growth was phenomenal; from nothing to a county seat of perhaps a hundred souls. Prior to the railroad, the site that was to become Sanderson had no roadway to or through it except a north-south settlers trail.

The main Jacksonville to Tallahassee route lay north on higher ground never closer to today's Sanderson than three miles. It left the Macedonia section in the east, made a fairly direct line by Cedar Creek, and dipped back close to present U.S. 90 just east of Olustee.

Since its settlement, Baker County has continually shifted its population east, gravitating toward the city of Jacksonville. Olustee (Ocean Pond Community), which originaly lay on the pond's north east shore, was already a mature little village of about thirty years, and was the center of population between Alligator (Lake City) and Deep Creek. When, in 1859, the raiload opened an area several miles east of Olustee, where much of the timber and land was virgin, settlers searched for the greener pastures there) And, to this area called Johnsville, milling companies sent in buyers to acquire the timber lands.

Preparations were made weeks in advance, according to the recollections of Aunt Ladd Harvey (1852-1939), to see the train come to Johnsville Station. Baskets of food were packed in the wagons with the children, and many began their trips long before dawn. As the engine approached, children became fretful, horses shied, and women backed away. When the whistle blew, children screamed, horses bolted, and bedlam broke loose among brave men and little ladies alike.

In 1858, Johnsville had been selected as county seat of the now dissolved county of New River (created out of Columbia and comprising the present counties of Baker, Bradford, and Union). Three years later, Baker County was formed and the seat of government was transferred from the temporary courthouse in Long Pond School House at Johnsville to a few miles south on the railroad to the newly created community of Sanderson. The new little town was named in honor of a director, and later president, of the rail company, John P. Sanderson. Mr. Sanderson was also a former resident of the area, representing his neighbors in various Columbia County public offices. He was very adept with the pen, and is considered one of the prime influences, through his newspaper articles, in gaining public support for the railroad.

On February 10, 1864, as night fell, a brigade of infantry led by Col. Guy V. Henry and a detachment of the 4th Massachusetts Mounted Infantry moved into almost empty Sanderson and occupied it for the United States. Col. Henry's victory was a hollow one; the citizens had aided Confederate Gen. Finegan's Lake City-based troops in removing, hiding, or burning all supplies of value. A later invader, Pvt. Milton Woodford, USAR Cavalry, described Saunders (Sanderson) as a depot, tavern, and one or two houses. He commented, in his letters home, that "....the houses between these places are few and far between, in-fact, it is a brand new country, and for my part, I can't see what there is in here worth sending an army after"

By the light of the still blazing barns and warehouses, a small group of ladies gathered in front of the hotel-courthouse area (approx. site of Tommy Fraser home) to greet, but not welcome, the intruders. They were, in the words of Col. Henry, hoping to prevent further destruction of their little town. He reported they were polite, but nervous, and made it clear they were faithful to the Rebel cause. Their hungry features and bravness persuaded him to spare the town.

Col. Henry's troops were joined by Gen. Seymour, and they advanced toward Lake City. By the night of Feb. 20, and through the following morning, Union troops streamed in disorderly retreat toward Jacksonville following their defeat at Olustee. The sick and dying were taken in by Sanderson Rebels and Union sympathizers alike to nurse back to good health and to bury the dead.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday July 17, 1975 Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
Margaretta (An Interlude)Part Two

Four years of Civil War and the additional ten years of reconstruction's confusion prevented a properly functioning government. The structure housing the courthouse (thought to have been Mr. Francis Pons' store) burned in 1877, destroying many records which had been transferred from Lake City. The independent Democrats(un-reconstructed Rebels) accused a coalition of Republicans, Unionists, and 'scalawags' of setting the fire. The same charges were returned, and even though Reconstruction was coming to an end, life was still uncomfortably uncertain in Sanderson, and its growth was at a standstill.

The Margaretta-based construction firm of Drake and Gurganus (loyal Democrats) was awarded the contract to erect a suitable courthouse that same year. The frame building was small and lacking the usual Victorian embellishments, but was suitable and efficient. It's site was south of the railroad and Jacksonville-Lake City Road and a little west of the intersection of that route with the present state road 229.

At the end of the war, the related families of Drake and Gurganus left their homes in North Carolina for north Florida, and by the end of 1865, they were settled about three and a half miles east of Sanderson near a train stop called Newburg. Mr. W. A. Drake's home was near the tracks, and Newburg was renamed Drake's Station. Mr. B. H. Gurganus' plantation, named Margaretta in honor of his wife, was situated a mile north.

Mr. Gurganus soon won the confidence of his adopted fellow citizens, and was elected state representative running on, among other planks, a platform to return local and state government to the people. His reputation as a distinguished officer and doctor in the Confederate Army, his financial stability, and his shrewd business acumen strengthened his campaign.

His opponent, an independent Democrat, Mr. George Canova, contested the election. After a lengthy and bitter period, the board of canvassers declared Mr. Canova the winner. Due to the circumstances by which he was declared winner, Mr. Canoa, as reported in the Florida Assembly Journal of 1877, appeared before an assembly committee and relinquished his seat, believing himself unfairly elected. Mr. Gurganus was seated.

A doctor by profession, a naval stores distiller by trade, and a politician by choice, Mr. Gurganus was rapidly becoming a rich and popular man. Margaretta Plantation was enlarged and several families, including many of the recently freed blacks, were employed. An Episcopalian, he aided the Rev. Mr. Charles Snowden establish the Chapel of the Holy Cross on his farm in 1875. Within three years, it boasted a membership of 60.

Not only did Margaretta grow, but The Gurganus family was added to. A brief record of them is: B. H., born in 1820 in North Carolina; Margaret, born 1837 in North Carolina; their children John, born 1864, Jacksonville; Carry, born 1866, Baker County (did not marry), James W., married Catherine "Kate" Roberts, a daughter of Ben J. and Mary Jane Oglesby Roberts.

Almost as soon as it got started, Margaretta's days were numbered. Walter Turner (later post master in Macclenny), a neighboring youngster to the north, accidentally shot and killed one of the Drake boys. The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1888 took its heavy toll until over ninety percent of the Holy Cross congregation was wiped out. The little cemetery began to fill.

When, in 1924, the Jacksonville-Lake City Road right-of-way was being prepared for paving, the Margaretta Cemetery had to be moved. Most of the interments were removed to Jacksonville cemeteries. A Mr. Thomas Taylor (1830-1870) was reburied in Woodlawn.

The lone last inhabitant of Margaretta was Miss Carry Gurganus, who, when old, was moved to Jacksonville by her relatives.

THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, July 24, 1975, Page Two
THE WAY IT WAS-Gene Barber
Sanderson, Part Three
"Growing Up"

In 1867, an officer of the occupying forces of the United States Army wrote, in a personal letter, of a lack of enthusiasm among the citizens of Lake City and Sanderson in celebrating the Fourth of July. Other officers and governmental officials deplored the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, which were at a peak in the area.

The year 1870 marked the founding for the Masonic Order in Sanderson, and in that same year, William D. Bloxham stopped in Sanderson to preach his political platform of returning to old-time Democrat rule. He visited every county in the state, and was the first known major political candidate to speak in Baker County.

An ex-Confederate, Charles A. Finley, returned to the area where he had fought ten years before, and established a newspaper, the first in Baker County. When the county seat was moved to Macclenny several years later, he chose not to follow the courthouse, believing that the area's future was in Sanderson. A strong opponent of countyseat removal, Mr. Finley soon faded from the Baker County scene.

Sanderson lost the courthouse in 1887. In Macclenny, the records' and officers' arrivals were greeted with fireworks, but in Sanderson, there was almost armed rebellion in the streets as the citizens saw their major income source depart.

As Sanderson began to settle down into a more mature community, she did not do so without growing pains; Mr. Cobb, Mr. Pons, and Mr. Canova were shot, and Sheriff Cooper Herndon, investigating the murders, was stabbed in the back for his efforts. As was the usual case in most early Baker County killings, the killers were hardly ever apprehended, and, when they were, they were seldom brought to trial.

Sanderson's first known school was on the site of the former LDS Church on the north edge of town (on state rd. 229). An 80 year old gentleman by the name of Professor Carr took the school under his charge as principal and teacher.

There was one legitimate saloon, conveniently located across from the courthouse between the railroad and main thoroughfare. Across the tracks were the depot and depot agent George P. Canova's house. Nearby Mr. Canova's home stood his cotton gin.

Mr. Canova shared a mutual interest with his neighbor Francis Pons; they were store owners, and very likely the only two stores before about 1918. Mr. Pons was a politician, postmaster, and, like Mr. Canova, a Minorcan descendent. His store and the community's post office were located in the county court house on the south side of the street not far from Canova. Both men were big land owners at the time, Pons' holdings south of the railroad, and Canova's on the north.

The Sanderson Hotel and an undercover 'cider joint' shared the same block. A hitching post and watering trough remained many years after the hotel burned, and the cider joint came to an abrupt end when its proprietor was shot through the window of his home.

Killngs were easing off in the early 1900's. Mr. Canova's widow donated land for a Masonic Hall, and Baker County entertained a Florida 'first'; the first conference of the LDS (Mormon) Church for the state of Florida was held in Sanderson in that new Masonic building sometime around 1900. Sanderson was truly growing up and settling down.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS Thursday, July 31, 1975 Page Two
THE WAY IT Was-Gene Barber
Capt. Dave Miller ... An Indian Fighter

Young Dave Miller moved, with several relatives, from his native county of Bulloch to Ware Co., Georgia about 1830. He settled near the community of Waresboro which was so new and small that he had to trade at St. Marys and Traders Hill.

He and his wife Loanza Dyer, through their daughter Mary, are ancestors of many Baker County Yarboroughs and Thrifts. Mary married Ben 'Gosh' Yarborough, a son of William and Elizabeth 'Betsy' Handley Yarborough of Ware County, and they later settled on the 'Old Train Road' on the Baker County side of the swamp.

The Millers had hardly settled when the first alarms sounded, signalling the Second Seminole War. Early in the war, an English immigrant family named Wildes was massacred in Ware. The Secetary of War authorized a force to be raised, composed of volunteers of Ware, to pursue, capture, and remove the Indians from the Okeefeenokee area.

Dave joined the local militia and was elected captain of a company of volunteers from Ware and Columbia Co., Florida (part of which later became Baker). Capt. Miller's first lieutenant was Hampton Harris, another progenitor of many area citizens.

Among the first of the young captain's exploits was one less than daring, but, nevertheless, it left its permanent mark on south Georgia history. Capt. Miller's company was camped on the banks of an unnamed creek three miles west of present Waycross. Needing a proper utensil in which to boil their coffee, they found a kettle embedded in the creek sand. Thus, 'Kettle Creek' received its name.

Another incident of interest in Capt. Miller's military career involved his legendary human attitude toward even his enemy. Generals Floyd and Hilliard captured two adolescent Indian girls near the Okeefeenokee, but, since they could not be controlled, Capt., Miller volunteered to take them home to his wife for taming.

The girls remained with the Miller family for three months, learning only to fetch in firewood, and had to be locked in their room at night to prevent them from running away.

The captain held a family conference, and, hearing no objection, he and some of his recruits went to Waresboro and hired Jim Cobb to take the girls back to their people. Billy Bowleg's group was camped near St. Augustine and it was decided to entrust them to his care.

Some thought the depredations were over due to a quiter interlude after the death of Chief Sam Jones in neighboring Florida, but his successor Chittotuste-nugge (a resident of Columbia and Baker prior to the war) proved to be as belligerent as old Sam had been. Combining his tactics and forces with Billy Bowlegs, the surviving son of Georgia's Chief, Cowkeeper, they had a surprise in store for Col. Thomas Hilliard after he wrote to the governor, 18 October 1836, ...the company raised under your orders . . . has been discharged, believing as I do that the Indians are done passing through, and the most of them gone to Florida ..."

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, August 7, 1975
THE WAY IT WAS-Gene Barber
Settlers Versus Seminoles

You will note, beginning paragraph three, a lack of punctuation and some strange spelling. The letter was copied as it was written with no editing.

There were two major Indian routes through Baker County, and two along its borders. One left Blounts Ferry on the Suwannee below Fargo and cut across the county from the upper west side (entering between Big and Little Gum Swamps) to the lower southeast boundary, where it joined the Trail Ridge-Alachua Trail Road. Known as the Jacksonville Road (and the Tallahassee Road to Jacksonville), it was barely more than wagon ruts in 1835, but it had been in use, perhaps, for millenia. Pre columbian Indians, Spanish soldiers and priests, American settlers, and, in the period 1835-42, the United States Army and Georgia-Florida Miiitia Volunteers utilized the trail.

Among those riding the ancient path was Gen. Zachary Taylor, later President of the United States. Having left Ft. Heilman on Black Creek (near Middleburg), the general wrote from his headquarters on the Suwannee at Blounts Ferry, 13 July 1838, ". . . I was informed that a party of Indians had taken refuge in the Okefenoke Swamp within the limits of the State of Georgia; that they had passed up through the settlements from the regions around the Ocklawaha, but without committing depredations of any sort on the persons or property of the inhabitants . . . I learned that the volunteers had pursued the hostiles (no doubt refugee Creeks), and supposed to be 40 or 50 men with their families, that they came up with them on two occasions, in each of which after a slight skirmish, two or three white men wounded, the volunteers retired to their homes . . . one of militia Just organized and mustered into the service, along the dividing line between Georgia and Florida, to act as guides to the regular troops, I flatter myself will afford ample protection to the inhabitants around the swamp. . . "

Since neighboring Ware Co., Georgia Militia officers tended to be especially fond of writing reports, we have a relatively realistic picture of Indian troubles. I have received information that a considerable number of Indians have left Florida and are at this time in the limits of this county the number I have not bin able to correctly assertain but suposed to be one hundred warors by those who have been engaged with them it appears that thare are different ages of thare sign and it is believed other companys have come before them and have taken up thare residence in the Okafanoka Swamp two battles have been fit by them and our citizens on the 27th and 28th May last the paticulars of which I have not bin able to ascertain.

"Two of the whites ware wounded one suposed mortally no Indian kild or wounded as has been known the last battle ware in the limits of this county on the Sawanna River."

"The citizens are leaveing thare homes several familys have already left and many more will leave in a few days as they are hourly exspecting the indians to fall on them they have reached those deep and dense swamps of the Okafanoka and from my knowledge of those swamps it wil be almost impossible for them to be removed . . .

" (letter to Gov. George R. Gilmer from Col. Thomas Hilliard of Waresboro). In passing, it might be interesting to know that Col. Hilliard's son Cuyler was responsible for the town of Hilliard in our sister county of Nassau.

In the typical Victorian prose of his day, Alabama's historian Mr. Pickett writes, regarding the Indian War in our area, " . . . the Indian sky still remained darkened by scenes of murder and robbery. The Chehewa and Creeks, instigated by William Burgess, a trader in the Spanish interest, plundered the store of Robert Seagrove, at Traders Hill upon the St. Marys river, killing Fleming, the clerk, and two travelers named Moffet and Upton. They most cruelly beat with sticks a woman residing there named Anne Grey.

"Six miles further on they killed families of men, women, and children moving in wagons."

"Another murder took place at Fence Pond. This place was twelve miles below Traders Hill (between Toledo and St. George on highway 121). A train of wagons stopped there for the night, and the next morning when the travelers were ready to continue their journey, the Indians made a raid on them, killing one of the men, robbing the wagons, and taking all that they could carry with them."

The Seminole was getting closer to this area, and there would be no escaping him for many a settler and his family.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, August 14, 1975, Page Two
The Way it Was-Gene Barber
The Slaughter At Tiffen's Pond

South of Sanderson is a small swampy area known as Tiffens' Pond. As is the case of all place names, there is a story behind the naming. In the early 1830's John Joshua Underwood Tippens, originally of North Carolina, brought his wife Nancy and three children into Columbia County (that part of which later became Baker). Due to the Cracker speech habit of substituting 'F' for double 'P' when located within a word, the locale became known as Tiffens rather than Tippens.

Mr. Tippens was a son of Phillip and Mary Underwood Tippens of North Carolina. His wife was a daughter of David Mizell from Camden (Charlton) Co., Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Tippens were married in Camden County at Traders Hill on the 22nd of January 1825. She was sister to ancestors of many Charlton, Baker, Union, Columbia, and Union citizens as well as many families in south Columbia. Her father, David, had recently moved to an area in south Columbia County, Florida (thought to be present Union Co.), and Mr. Tippens attempted removal of his family to the Mizell fortified home during an Indian alarm was the beginning of the incident which is related in this excerpt of a letter written by a neighbor to a relative in St. Marys, Georgia.

"It is again my painful duty to inform you of a most shocking Indian massacre - I mean the murder of Mr. John Tippins and family. Mr. Tippins was bringing his wife and children out of Florida to see her parents, and when within a few miles of her father's house, was fallen in with about seven Indians, between 10 o'clock, A.M. and 12 o'clock. Mr. Tippens was shot from his horse, the Indians then made an easy capture of his helpless family and vented their savage spleen by beating them on the heads with their tomahawks. Mrs. Tippins lived (senseless) about forty hours, but did not speak; her skull was smashed in many places by the tomahawk. She died in the arms of her father, Mr. David Mizell. Her children are not yet dead, although the skull of each is factured in many places by the tomahawks. This melancholy occasion took place in this county last Monday not far from Ocean Pond.

We are most critically situated. The Indians on the north of us close to the Okefinokee Swamp. On the south in the nation our market road leading from here to any market accessible to us passes through their gateway & we are here exposed on the border of the Okefinokee down both sides of the Indian gangways to the nation and no protection whatsoever from the army."

The letter writer, in addition to almost waxing poetical regarding the unfortunate family's slaughter confused a few of the facts. The Tippens were not intending to leave Florida, but, according to the Mizell Family and the Green Family who found them, they were headed toward Mrs. Tippens' father's place to the southwest of them. Mrs. Elisha (Elizabeth Driggers) Green discovered the bloody scene, and left an eyewitness account.

Mr. Tippens evidently died on the spot where he fell, shot from his horse. Mrs. Tippens was scalped, and left to bleed to death. The children, the youngest six months old and the eldest three years old, were chopped in their heads with tomahawks, and slung to the ground.

Mr. Green was away in the army on a campaign against the Indians in the Alachua area. Mrs. Green and the children found Mrs. Tippens and the three year old Cornelia still living the next morning. Mrs. Tippens died soon after she was discovered. Little Cornelia survived, and died in 1926 at the age of 88.

Mrs. Green buried the dead in one of her wagon bodies in presentday South Prong Cemetery (the Green family burial grounds). This 137 year old grave of John Joshua Underwood and Nancy Mizell Tippens and their two infants is located immediately north of Mr. Joe Jones grave.

Cornelia was reared by her uncle and aunt, Byrd and Sarah Ann Mizell Sparkman of Alachua County. She married a Mobley in 1861.

It would be quite appropriate to have the grave marked in honor of the little family during this history-minded year.
Note cwm: Cornelia married William L. Mobley, settled in Hillsborough county and raised a large family.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, August 21, 1975, Page Two
THE WAY IT WAS-Gene Barber
Early Episcopalianism In Baker County
Part One
The Pioneers

When relating county history, one sees many surprised faces as a rather impressive list of Episcopal Church is recounted. As a matter of fact, Baker County was a strong Episcopal stronghold in the quarter century following the Civil War.

We can imagine Several romantic reasons why the ground was fertile for those early missionaries of this faith (remnants of English Tories, unchurched Minorcans searching for rites familiar to them, etc.), but the two primary, and simple, facts are that (1) many of the post-war settlers were of Episcopal and Church of England stock, and (2) the priests were hard-working and tireless.

The earliest Florida churches of that faith near the Baker County area were in Jacksonville, Fernandina, and St. Augustine. These congregations, with their sister Florida chuches, met in Jacksonville, in 1838, for their first convention. Evidently, the needs of the territory's interior for the the church was discussed, because the missionaries began moving inland soon after. Rev. O.P. Thackara traveled from his post in Fernandina to the wilderness toward the west in the 1840's, and reported no churches of any kind existed. Rev. Thackara traveled the conventional paths, and missed the half dozen Methodist and Baptist congregations scattered through that area.

At the close of the War Between the States, several displaced ex-Confederates from the Carolinas and Virginia sought new fortunes in the wilds of the newly created county of Baker. They were joined by former Union soldiers who had become enamored of the land when they were stationed here, and a handful of Reconstruction officials. Many of these were Episcopalians, especially the Virginians. Added to these were the several English and North Irish families, of the Church of England, who had come in which the railroad prior to the war and the various 'colonization' companies (read 'real estate').

When Bishop Young entered this new field in 1875, he found no church along the rails between Jacksonville and Lake City. At the end of 1877, he reported four congregations of nineteen families.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross was established at the new community of Margaretta and boasted 60 members. At Cedar Creek, St. Mary's Congregation numbered 102 in 1880. The other two churches at Darbyville and Glen St. Mary were also growing, but trailed behind the missions in the west of the county.

These Baker County Episcopal Churches, as well as others in Baldwin, Lake City, and Columbia City, were the results of a dedicated, persevering young minister's efforts. Rev. Charles Stevens Snowden (rhymes with 'cow'-den) was appointed missionary on the Florida Atlantic and Gulf Coast Railroad. He was young, and his zeal defatigable.
(Next Week: Part 2, Rev. Snowden)

THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, August 26, 1975, Page Two
THE WAY IT WAS-Gene Barber
Early Episcopalianism In Baker County
Part Two-Rev. Snowden

"Mr. Snowden's devotion to his work has been beyond all praise." Seconding this laudatory comment by Bishop Young were the Baker County congregations, both humble and great. The Rev. Mr. Charles S. Snowden and his wife Maimie B. arrived on their mission field soon after the Civil War, but realized no results until 1876, at which time he had brought a relatively sizable portion of the county's population into the Episcopal folds.

Young Mr. Snowden served for a while in Jacksonville where his enthusiasm and sincerity caught the eyes of the elders. When the church, prompted by the morale and physical devastation of the war, instituted a novel mission, the length of the Florida Central and Gulf Coast Railroad, Mr. Snowden was the pioneering type for the job.

Columbia City, included in the were his western limits, Baldwin the eastern. ". . . Columbia and Baker Counties, included in the eastern division, are supervised by the diligent and enterprising missionary, the Rev. C. S. Snowden, Cedar Creek, Margaretta, Glen St. Mary, McClenny." Note the change of the town's name from Darbyville in this church communication. Mr. Snowden often served two churches in one day, occassionally assisted by Mr. Williams, the Bishop's chaplain.

From the beginning, Rev. Snowden preached education, especially for the neglected female. Girls attended school, but little serious work was done with them by the few country schools in the county. In 1881 his girls school was established with four teachers. In 1886, his efforts received this word from his superiors, "the Rev. Mr. Snowden has for some time been engaged in mission work of a high order. At great personal sacrifice he has established at McClenny, St. James Academy for Girls. This work should receive hearty encouragement from the Diocese."

St. James Academy and Boarding School for Girls, after a desperate struggle for three years, in McClenny, had at last become an institution of the Diocese. On April 22, 1885, Mr. C. B. McClenny was persuaded to begin erection of buildings suitable for the purposes of such an enterprise at a cost of about $8,000. Mr. McClenny was also persuaded to donate the buildings and land by the young minister.

On August 9th, Yellow Fever was declared epidemic in Jacksonville. It spread to Baldwin and McClenny. Rev. Snowden was among its first victims. It was rumored that he had suffered a mental derangement as a result of the fever while working earlier as a volunteer in Savanna's epidemic. Others claim it was his "untiring zeal and strong sympathy" which took him, literally, from his death bed on a rainy night to one of his dying parishoners. Whichever, Bishop Weed said of "the brave Snowden. . . Never was there a greater promise for the Church, and never did a servant of God show more unselfish devotion to the cause of Christ."

The Rev. Charles Barbour, with great difficulty, obtained an engine and traveled to McClenny to hold funeral services for Rev. Snowden. Rev. Barbour had to leap from the moving train when it slowed at the water tower east of town to throw off provisions, and, after committing Rev. Snowden to the grave, he contracted the disease and died.

No sooner had the church begun its recovery (the entire Cedar Creek and Margaretta congregations were wiped out), when two successive freezes immobilized the area's growth. In fact, the county's population was at it's lowest since its beginning. Ninety percent of the Episcopal congregations was destroyed by the fever. The school fell into the decay of disuse, and the orginal McClenny church (the county's lone surviving church of that faith) closed in 1932.

Mrs. Snowden served as post mistress in Macclenny for several years. She later remarried Charles C. Archibell, and died in 1921.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday September 4, 1975 Page Two
The Way it Was-Gene Barber
The Story Of The Macedonia Methodist Church

There was a saying years back that everybody had two church memberships; his own and Macedony. And, before strong denominationalism set in within our boundries, most natives did enjoy returning to Macedony's services and homecomings. Not one of our oldest churches, it is one of our most interesting. It was funded by the northern rather than the southern conference of the Methodist Church, it was co-established by part-time Baptist, the owner of the lot on which it stands was Episcopalian, its first interment was a black man, and its grounds originally hallowed by a family whose background was 'pagan'.

Since English colonial times, and certainly before, an important north-south route traversed the length of the 'Bend Section', crossed the South Prong of the St. Mary's River, and, miles later, joined the Alachua Trail near Trail Ridge. When, in the 1820's, the American government established a post (mail) road approximating the route of the old defunct Spanish Trail, a small farming community grew where the two crossed.

To this section came William 'Bill' Garrett, his wife Henrietta 'Henry' Murry, and several children. Soon, they were joined by Bill's brother George W. and his wife Louvilla Mizell and their family. The Garretts were from Traders Hill in Charlton County, and these two Confederate veterans hoped to find easier living than in Reconstruction Georgia.

And, although there were several other families (to be treated in seperate articles later), the area became known as the Garrett Community.

Many of the settlers were Methodists by profession or practice, but George Garrett spent as much of his time a member of the Baptist Church at Sardis (Charlton Co.) as he did his new faith. His second wife Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Simmons from Traders Hill finally convinced and converted him. Feeling the need for a communication of worship, they held services in private homes until a sufficient number was added, making a call for assistance necessary.

In 1889, two ministers of the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church were invited by members of the community to come over and preach to them, echoing the Bible story of the Macedonians. Bros. J. B. Wilkins and R. C. Bramlet accepted the invitation and held a protracted meeting of a few days during which several persons were enlisted in that particular faith and order.

During the winter of 1890, the Georgia Conference sent Rev. E. F. Dean to serve as Pastor. Under his guidance a building program was launched. After the location was chosen (the old Hicks Cemetery in the Garrett Community), a Board of Trustees was appointed and approved by the first quarterly conference of the Church. The Trustees were schoolmaster John R. Barnes, Willis A. Hodges, George W. Garrett, W. E. Phillips, and Sylvester Middleton Lyons.

The tract of land selected belonged to Mr. Carr B. McClenny, and consisted of two and one half acres. In 1841, Bryant Hicks, Jonothan Thigpen, William Barber, and an unknown black slave had been buried on a rise above the South Prong, their deaths resulting from an Indian attack. Their coffin was an ox cart body used to carry them there. Later, the Hicks family, themselves half Indian, used the plot for family burials. The spot seemed sacred enough, and with its giant water oaks and live oaks, it served its purpose well.

The lot was purchased, and a deed made January 12, 1892 to the Board of Trustees in trust for the Methodist Episcopal Church. An application for a donation of $100.00 and a loan of $100.00 more was made to the Board of Church Extension of the M. E. Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which was granted. After the lumber and other necessary materials were paid for, there was little left for labor, but with the men of the community aiding Rev. Dean who was a carpenter, the building soon went up. Built in the traditional simplicity of the area, it featured double doors, tall clear windows, a steep shingled roof, and horizontal weatherboarding. It was one of the few churches in the area to receive a coat of paint. Later, the section of land in which the church lot stood was sold without reservation for the lot, which nessitated procurring a new deed. When this was done, an additional two and one half acres were acquired.

Rev. Dean received $1.00 per day and community board for four weeks service, donating his carpentry skills, and, from his later letters, he seemed to count his days at Macedony among his finest. The church experienced remarkable growth for several years, but its final story is best told by lines written by the 91 year old preacher in 1944.

"Congregations filled the house on ordinary days. Many precious souls found peace with God, and many were added to the church and a large membership was enrolled, but death and removals have reduced the membership to a small few who still hold the old home place sacred because of precious memories . .

Among those holding the community church sacred was the late Mr. George Garrett, son of charter members Bill and Henry Garrett. For many years this public-spirited gentleman, with his wife, Sarah, drove his vintage Ford out to Macedony to faithfully repair and tend graves when seemingly no one else cared.
NOTE cwm: See entire letter from Rev. Dean on the Baker County Churches page.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS Thursday, September 11, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
The Plague In Darbyville

Since Europeans first set foot on the New World soil, Malaria, the dreaded 'Yellow Fever' has come and gone along the southern reaches with a fury. Particularly in the late 1880's, the southeastern coastal cities felt its fatal hand. The Charleston earthquake of 1886, felt as far south as Baker County, seemed to be the aminous warning. The fever began breaking out and traveling down the coast, striking Savannah early in the summer of 1888. On August 9th, it was declared epidemic in Jacksonville.

"I shall never forget that empty train which carried me, and the crowded trains which I met as I drew near the city. The roll of death increased daily, and soon our hearts were shrouded in sorrow", were the words of Bishop Weed returning to his duties.

Hundreds fled Jacksonville daily in the beginning; the more affluent going north, and the less fortunate taking the trains into the supposedly less susceptible interior. Before the citizens of the new village of Darbysville had discovered the potential danger and refused to permit the passengers to detrain, the yellow death and black vomit was in their midst.

Several years prior (the end of the 1870's), a community had begun to grow around Col. John Darby's naval stores operations. By 1885, many fine homes had been built by northern immigrants and a foundation laid for a religious school. The roads and lanes were dirt, and wide, and a pretty and peaceful cemetery had recently been established for the new town.

By the beginning of August 1888, the first isolated deaths occured, and soon a pattern was recognized by the townspeople. Chills and fever were usually followed by the terror-striking black vomit. When that stage was reached, there was only one stage left; Woodlawn. By the end of August, Darbyville was completely within the grips of the plague, and the surrounding country began to feel its brutal attack also.

The air was believed to be so polluted by fever germs, that it could be seen, some swearing that, its shade was a dismal green. Doors, windows, and flues were kept tightly shut, and rags stuffed in chinks and cracks to ward off the putrid air. Some built bonfires and others hung quarters of beef about the town to, respectively, burn off and absorb the fever germs. It would be noted next day that the raw beef had turned green. (in August, that should not have been surprising).

Train crews refused to stop in Darbyville except to unload the barest provisions for the dying town, and then the stop was at the water tank and wood rack on the east side (approximately behind the John M. Brinkley Funeral Home). A doctor and a nurse were let off there, and they, alone, were the professional care through most of the epidemic. There were several brave volunteers who usually succumbed to the disease as they attempted to assist. Most, however, were busy doctoring their own families.

People were dying so fast that funeral services were discontinued, and from coffins, interments went to simple boxes. From boxes, the ever mounting dead were laid in bare dirt graves, and from single graves, burials were made in community ditch-graves. Woodlawn was rapidly filling. Wagons hauled 24 hours a day, especially at night, since most deaths occured then, and survivors dared not allow the bodies to lay longer than the length of a trip to the cemetery.

Bodies were not bathed and prepared because of lack of time and energy, and fear of contamination. Gravediggers were hired at dear prices, and, often, families dug for their own. Under the camphor tree at the northeast corner of South 5th St. and Michigan Ave., according to old-timers, is the grave of two Thigpen infants, victims of the fever. Graves like these are reported to exist throughout the area of present Macclenny.

Darbyville's sister communities along the railroad fared no better. Sanderson and Olustee lost much of their populations, and Margaretta was wiped out. Conservative estimates claim that 90 percent of Darbyville, Cedar Creek, and Glen St Mary were lost to the fever.

With no editorializing, the following incident is related as was told by the witnesses Mrs. Mary Thompson and Mrs. Victoria Williams. At the southeast corner of Macclenny Ave. (U.S. 90) and 4th. St. in Macclenny stands one of the few remaining Darbyville houses. At that time it belonged to a victim of the fever who miraculously escaped its final grip even though racked by the black vomit. His mother and grandmother, tired from nursing the ill, were breaking in their hot stuffy bedroom located in the southwest corner of the house. As they tried to rest a glow appeared on the floor in the northwest corner of the room. As they watched, it floated upward and across to the fireplace, where it rose and disappeared. The fever subsided, and all in the family were saved.

In the waning months of summer, the fever eased off and finally died away, but Darbyville was a vacant town. The northern survivors returned north and the natives removed to the country. When the little community was eventually revitalized in 1890, it returned as 'McClenny'. Darbyville was no more.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, September 18, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
Georgia's Claim To Baker County

In 1817, William Cone (ancestor to Florida's Gov. Fred Cone and the late Macclenny attorney Branch Cone), as a member of Georgia's legislature, claimed a mistake had been made in establishing the headwaters of the St. Marys River. In 1819, the Georgia government authorized a special survey, known as the Watson Line. The legislature investigated the findings, and decided that the 1795 decision by surveyor Ellicott had been correct. That is, the beginning of the St. Marys River (the Fla. - Ga. Boundary for several miles) was in the southeastern corner of the Okeefeenokee Swamp.

Many Georgians, were displeased regarding the decision, they pressed for another survey, hoping to establish the St Marys headwaters on the South Prong (in the south part of present Baker County). Had the line been run from the South Prong's beginning to Ellicott's point on the Apalachicola River, Georgia would have received 1,507,200 acres of Florida cotton and timber land.

A United States surveyor named McNeil was called on to re-survey the line, and he drew the boundry 14 miles in Florida's favor. Being from Florida might have influenced his report, but whatever the case, Georgia requested still another survey.

In answer to the Georgia request, congress authorized a fourth survey and marked the boundary as indicated in Ellicot. Georgia's governor ordered his state's participant to suspend the survey until the head of the St. Marys could be accurately determined. This happened before the federal survey was completed.

By the time of the federal survey in 1862, settlers were already in the area, including many relatives and descendants of the one who had begun the dispute, William Cone. Their mother state was quite unhappy when a congressional committee sustained Eilicott.

Again, the true source of the St. Marys River was investigated in 1828, and, again Ellicott was sustained.

No sooner had Governor Gilmer entered office in Georgia than he also began to stir up boundry disputes. In 1831, he appointed a Mr. Crawford and a Mr. J. Hamilton Cooper as a committee to ascertain the true boundry line between the states of Georgia and Florida. They met near the Okeefeenokee Swamp, and employed, as guides, Israel Barber and his son Obadiah. Isreal, who was later a shortime resident of the present Baker County area and Nassau County, claimed to have been the first white settler living on the northern edge of the swamp. He further claimed to have been a resident of the vicinity since 1805.

During the difficult time when both Florida and Georgia claimed the disputed area, the lack of status courted lawlessness. It was in this period that many malcontents and fugitives from the law made their ways into this section. It was also during this period that Grandison Barber, another son of Isreal wore out his cart and wife moving back and forth between Ware and Columbia Counties. Each time Georgia announced that the territory in question belonged to her, Grandison moved down and settled. When he was convinced that Florida was the owner, he moved back to Ware, because he often exclaimed that he would "be damned to hell rather than Florida".

The final line was run in 1859, again sustaining Ellicott, and, in 1866, the Georgia reconstruction legislature accepted the decision. Baker County could have been cut to one-fourth its present size if the final decision had been in Georgia's favor, or, more likely, we would be part of some neighboring county.

Grandison Barber eventually learned to live with the final boundry. He built his house on the state line, half within each state. When cattle rustling got him into hot water with the Georgia sheriff, he walked into his Florida side, and reversed his residence whenever the Florida authorities served arrest papers on him. Mr. Barber's unfortunate end came on the fateful day when the sheriffs of both Florida's Columbia County and Georgia's Ware County arrived at his house at the same time.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, October 9, 1975 Page Two
The Way it Was-Gene Barber
The Pre War Years In Baker County

The spring of 1860 seemed to promise nothing but success for the little area of northeast Florida known as 'New River' (now Baker County). The editor of the Cedar Key Telegraph, after a May trip around the state, reported abundant crops. The weather was near perfection. New rail lines were growing out of and into Lake City and Baldwin.

War Hawks harangued the populace regarding the inevitability of conflict resulting from 'northern fanaticism', 'modern Republicanism', and 'rabid and radical Unionists'. There were well-attended meetings in Jacksonville, Gainesville, Lake City and other north Florida cities making declarations of freedom, deploring "the critical state of national affairs", and accusing neighbors of traitorous activities.

In Fernandina, a company of volunteer militia formed and began training in January of 1860. In November of that same year, citizens of Waldo met and pledged themselves "to march to the assistance of the first state that may secede". The following day, they burned Abe Lincoln in effigy.

Four days before Christmas of '60, South Carolina's Secession Convention unanimously declared "that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states under the name of the United States of America is hereby dissolved". The fever caught and on the 22nd of December, Florida elected her Secession Convention delegates. Sixty-nine men were chosen twenty-five of whom were considered 'cooperationists' ("let's try to (1) remain in the Union with reservations, (2) part without war, or (3), at least, let's wait and see what our neighboring states are going to do before we act').

The Clay County delegates, Messrs. Hendricks and Lamb, were delayed because of bad road conditions. Our neighboring county of Duval sent one rich man and one not-so-rich man to the convention. Mr. Sanderson, an attorney whose name is perpetuated by the Baker County community of Sanderson, was originally a Vermont Yankee. Columbia County sent Georgia-born Green A. Hunter and A. J. T. Wright, a merchant and later Confederate Army officer, to the convention, but John W. Jones, a wealthy farmer from present day Baker County, challenged and unseated Mr. Wright. Nassau's delegates were James G. Cooper, a planter, and Joseph Finegan, later to command the Confederate troops at Olustee. General Finegan was Irish-born, lived at Fernandina, and later retired to Sanford.

New River (Baker) County selected a physician of modest means, Dr. Isaac S. Coon. Alabama born Dr. Coon, along with the delegates from Suwannee and Clay, was a cooperationist, showing that these small, rather poor counties depended on Georgia's economy and dared not make a move before seeing what that state would do.

Even before the Secession Convention, which opened in January of 1861, had made a formal decision, a company of local volunteer militia marched on Ft. Marion (Castillo de San Marcos) in St. Augustine. The single soldier guarding the old bastion surrendered.

When a telegram from Florida's United States congressional team was read by Gov. Perry to the convention stating that "Federal troops are said to be moving on Pensacola forts", the convention acted. " Every hour is important', ended the wire. On the 11th of January 1861, Florida severed her ties with the old Union, and became a free and independent nation.

Hardly anybody noticed, in the excitement of the times on 8 February 1861, that the assembly of the 'Nation of Florida' took time out from its girding for war and economic legislation to create a county from the north end of New River County. Named for circuit court judge of the Suwanee Circuit, and later senator to the Confederate Congress, James McNair Baker, has the distinction of being the only Florida county created by an act of a nation rather than one of the United or Confederate states.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, October 16, 1975 Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
Part I Of A Series
A History Of The Macclenny Postal System

American settlers had begun to drift below the St. Marys River during the early years of the 19th century. Their most trustworthy mail delivery came by settler wagon trains and chance riders from Traders Hill (south of present Folkston, Georgia).

The English-inherited desire for communication and ties necessitated a "more organized and regular mail service for the Americans. The pony express rider, in the late 1820's and early 1830's, was the first U. S. mail carrier through the north Alachua County area, later to be known as Baker County. From Jacksonville, he made his way across this sparsely-settled section toward Tallahassee along the Old Spanish Trail (first American Post Road).

S. Augustus Mitchell of Philadelphia caused a survey to be made of the Florida Territories in the late 1820's, and his published map of 1834 showed the east-west mail route to be far south of present U. S. 90 through much of East Florida. This followed the more expedient route from the East Florida capital of St. Augustine to Pensacola, capital of West Florida. The north-south mail route came down from Traders Hill via Trail Ridge and present State 228...This very old thoroughfare was called 'the Alachua Trail'.

However, the center of settlement near the St. Marys and the begining of Seminole hostilities prompted a new east-west stage line just north of present-day MacClenny. THE JACKSONVILLE COURIER announced that this line, owned by James M. Harris of Jacksonville, began in January of 1833. THE FLORIDA TIMES (parent paper of the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION) reported in November of 1844 that the U. S. weekly mail arrived at Barbers' every Monday at 7 o'clock P.M. This schedule remained in effect until the disruption of services during the Civil War.

Throughout the conflict, mail service was sporadic in the new county of Baker. For a while, the United States mail service continued to handle mail for the rebellious state, but later in 1861, Florida confiscated all the U. S. Postal Department's equipment except mail bags and a few other items. Occasionally, arrangements were made between the opposing armies to permit mail to pass battle lines and naval blockades.

From THE FLORIDA TIMES came the announcement, "proposals will be received at the contract office of this department until 3 p.m. of October 31, 1865 for carrying the mail of the United States from January 1, 1866 to June 30, 1867 in the State of Florida on the routes and the schedules of departures and arrivals herein specified.

" The schedule was "from Jacksonville to Baldwin to Barbers and Ocean Pond to Lake City, 60 1/2 miles and back 6 times a week or daily if connecting routes so run".

The end of the war triggered a new flow of settlers, composed of northerners and displaced southerners, into the county. Among these was Captain Carr B. McClenny (note the family spelling is different than the present city spelling). Capt. McClenny had come from Virginia to cut timber for the post-war boom in the north. He found that the tiny site of Williamsburg, just east of the St. Marys River on the railroad, had lost its crude postal service to the new little settlement of Darbyville.

Capt. McClenny found that a turpentine distillery and a store, with mail facilities, were run by Colonel John Darby. And, there, in the late 1870's, he found the Colonel's daughter Ada attractive, and the two were soon wed, becoming heirs to the Darby holdings.

Although dubbed Darbyville in the early 1870's, the 1880 railway itinerary of the Florida Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad used the name 'MacClenny' (note spelling change due to railroad mistake). The postmaster continued to use the name 'Darbyville' until 1882. Little by little, the name 'MacClenny' became more popular until it became official at the end of the 1888 yellow fever epidemic.

Col. Darby had been postmaster in his 'big store', a huge two story frame structure facing the railroad just a few feet to the rear of the present post office. General merchandise was sold on the ground floor, and the second story was used for clothing. A large hitching shelter was on the rear, facing present-day Florida Avenue.

THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, October 23, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
Part II Of The Series
A History Of The Macclenny Postal system

Capt. McClenny's office which stood at the site of today's Standard Oil yard, served as the post office under make-shif conditions, and McClenny served as post master. His brief service was terminated by his death during the 1888 yellow fever epidemic.

Immediately after the epidemic, the first official post office was established, named 'McClenny', and it remained at this site until about 1890, at which time it was moved into a small frame buliding on the south-west corner of 5th St. and Railroad Ave. An interesting, although unfortunate, incident occurred in this location in April of 1898, Francis Pons allegedly shot and killed Sheriff Job W. E. Driggers, ending a long-standing personal feud. The coroner's jury never figured out how Mr. Pons shot the sheriff once in the front and THREE TIMES IN THE BACK. Mr. Pons eventually went free.

During the period from 1890 to 1896, there were two post masters. The first was northerner J. D. Merritt,. who was a corpulent man using words sparingly and answering with a set face and a shake-of-the-head 'No'. The second was Mrs. Mamie Snowden, widow of the Rev. Charles S. Snowden, builder of the local Episcopal Academy. A short, sandy-haired, pleasant woman, she always asked, "something wanted?"

The next post master, Walter Turner, was the son of a former New York soldier-of-fortune and Mexican War veteran. Republican, Mr. Turner was appointed in 1886. He was known as the man 'you could set your watch by'. His schedule and punctuality in opening and closing the post office became legendary.

On the south-east corner of College Street and Railroad Avenue stood a two-story frame structure. This building stood directly on the street, with its corner cut off. A post supported the corner of the upper story, and double doors opened on either side of the post into the ground floor. A milliners shop was run by the Miller family on this ground floor, and MacClenny's first permanent arrangements for dentistry was soon to move into the second floor. Mr. Turner purchased this building in 1896, and moved the post office into these quarters.
In 1908, the first examination was given for rural carrier. Taking the examination were Lee Wester, Owen K. 'Bud' Garrett, Earnest V. Turner (son of post master Walter Turner), and C. M. 'Roe' Barber. Mr. Garett was appointed as first official rural carrier, and remained a 'horse and buggy' mailman until 1912. A number of temporary carriers were used until the next permanent appointment, including a man named 'Buggs'.

Another feature of the MacClenny carrier service was the delivery to Stokesville in the Georgia Bend. George Garrett with his horse and buggy made the trip along the Georgia Road (121-228) to the Thrift Settlement, then right to Stokesville on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of each week. He made deliveries along that route from 1912 to 1916.

James S. F. Stephens, a minister, was appointed as rural carrier on the 15th of March 1913. Mr. Stephens was the first local carrier to make motorized delivery. Unaccustomed to the new machine, he drove a brass upholstery tack into the steering wheel to make himself a rudder. He used this tack-rudder to keep a straight course until the 16th of October 1917.

In 1916, Walter Turner died, and his son Earnest V. "Earnie" was soon appointed. This term was for two years duration.

1918 saw a new appointment to post master. He was J. Oliver Milton. During 1922, the Powers Building, later destroyed by fire, was used for a post office. This structure was in the west mid-block of South 5th St. between MacClenny and Railroad Avenues. Mr. Milton built a masonry building to the west of the Turner Building, and into this fourth building on this site, he moved the post office.

On September the first, 1918, Earnest R. Rhoden was appointed rural carrier. He started his service with a Model 'T' Ford; a service to last almost 31 years.

THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, November 6, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
Part Three Of A Series
A History Of The Macclenny Postal System
(and other comments)

The final installment of the history of the Macclenny postal system appears this week. It was held last week for the special Halloween feature.

A fire in the Milton Building caused new postmaster Gus O. Rhoden to move the post office to his house which has the present address of 245 N. 6th St. He built a small room onto his house for the purpose of mail business.

Another move back to the Turner building was in 1931. A number of temporary post masters served until 1933, when another fire, which destroyed the Turner Building, forced a move into the west mid-block of College Avenue between Macclenny and Railroad Avenues. More temporary post masters saw this inconvenient situation through until the facilities were brought back to the Milton Buliding about 1935.

Eva Jones was appointed post master on October 25th 1935. She received her permanent appointment on June 25th 1940. Miss Jones and her staff moved into the brick Stokes Building on east Macclenny Avenue (Baker County Farmers Feed and Supply site) Jul 1st, 1942.

On May 2nd 1949, Mr. Rhoden retired as rural carrier, and was immediately followed by Lonnie Jones.

In 1961, Macclenny's growth demanded a more satisfactory housing for its postal facilities. In that year the contract was let for a structure of contempory design. Designed by Alfred G. Remmerer of Jacksonville, and constructed by Rochester and Jackson of Macclenny, the post office moved into the new quarters December 30th 1961. A grateful public attended a dedication ceremony at 10 a.m. May 5th, 1962.
Some Answers . . .

Since this week's article runs short, it might be an opportune time to answer a few questions and make some comments on Bicentennial and related topics.

The most frequent query in each week's mail is "where do you get your information?" 'Beginning first at Jerusalem, we turn to the people who made this history, or, at least, watched it being made. Starting amost 25 years ago, many of the people mentioned in the articles were visited and gleaned of information.

Next, come letters and trips to the National Archives, U. S. Congressional Library, and any other national repositories which might contain pertinent regional data. State libraries, land offices, and museums offer great assistance, as well as church, university and local and personal history collections.

Long hours searching grave markers and interminable sessions among clerk of courts' and judges' records in southeastern counties bring our ancestors to light.

Since we began this series, many have offered ancient deeds, tintypes, Bible family records, and family histories to be copied. In fact, we are behind in collecting and copying, but with a purpose; we don't wish to get behind in returning material.

Out of Bicentennial work, there are some laudable, and past due, projects which might be materializing. Among this is the marking of graves of victims of the Second Seminole war. A small group plans to begin digging this fall to determine sites and routes of historic places within our area. There is even talk of a time capsule to contain copies of our collected material for the citizens of 2176, providing they are here.

Now might be the best time ever for you to remember your relatives unmarked graves and give them a memorial, no matter how modest. Take a day, and write on the backs of your photographs who are featured in them. Take copies of anything of historical value and distribute them around to relatives and libraries and museums. Best of all, decide not to live in the past, but determine to be familiar with it; a knowledge of the past is the best possible foundation for the future.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, September 25, 1975, Page Two
THE WAY IT WAS-Gene Barber
A Genealogy Of The Taylor Family

John Taylor, the progenitor of many southeast Taylors and related families, was born about 1760, and migrated, with his father, to this country prior to the Revolution. Although neither is authenticated, his birth place is thought to be Wales, and his father's name James.

A John Taylor served in Capt. James Jones' Volunteer Militia Company in South Carolina during the Rebellion. Whether that John was the ancestor of the Baker County Taylors is not known, but it is certain that their ancestor served from Georgia in the War of 1812.

His first marriage is yet to be uncovered, but in 1821-22, in Bryan County, Georgia, he married Mrs. Matilda Grey. Matilda was the widow of a Captain Grey, a British seaman. The Greys had lived in Virginia and points north. Between her first husband's death and her marriage to Mr. Taylor Matilda had a daughter by a brief marriage to Vincent Handley. Born in 1820, Elizabeth 'Betsy' Handley was a beautiful spirited girl who married (1) William Yarborough, (2) Charles Willoughby Cason, and (3) Henry Beal. Many Ware, Columbia and Baker County families of those names are descended from her.

In 1810, John Taylor was a juror in the Liberty County inferior court. In 1812, he was listed as a member of Beard's Creek Church (near Glenville) in Tattnall County.

Mr. Taylor was too old for a third team of service when Indian hostilities broke out in the late 1830's, but his sons Lewis and William volunteered from Ware County. Their unit, Capt. David J. Miller's company of mounted volunteers, saw service in and around the present-day Taylor community here in Baker County.

After the second Seminole War, the Taylor children began to migrate to Florida. Mary Ann, by his first wife, married Col. Richard Bourn. The Bourns moved to Jacksonville where the colonel was an influential citizen. Mary Ann Bourn died on Amelia Island near the end of the Civil War.

Lewis Tillman married Tobitha Lee, and moved to Columbia (Baker) County, Florida, and, later, to Polk County, Florida. Some of his children married and remained in Baker County particularly the descendants of Benjamin D. Mann, and Jesse and Levi Mobley. Some O'Neals of Nassau County are his descendants, and Confederate veteran Gideon Hayes (a mystery grave marker for many who visit the Taylor Community Cemetery) was a son-in-law.

James married Leannie Lee, a sister of Tobitha. Matilda married James McQuaig, and they are the ancestors of a large number of south Georgia and north Florida public officials and ministers.

William 'Bill' was a participant in the Second Seminole War.

Isaiah married Mary Lee, a sister of Tobitha and Leannie. He died in 1863 in the Confederate Army.

Gordon Stewart married Eliza, another of the afore-mentioned Lee sisters. Soon after the Civil War, he removed to central Baker County where he became a farmer. In the 1870's and 80's, he was Justice of the Peace for the north-central section of the county. His large farm was south of the old Johns Settlement near the intersection of the Sanderson-Socum-Raulerson's Ferry Road, and in later years became known as 'Taylor'. He died in 1902. and he and his wife are buried in Taylor cemetery.

Another Taylor, J. Ben, might not have been a son of John, but he was surely a nephew or other close relative. He lived in Ware near Waycross, where the other Taylors had lived, and he married still another of the Lee sisters, Sophronia. His son Thomas came to Baker County as a young man, and was a barber in MacClenny for several years.

The father John Taylor died about 1850 in Ware County, and is buried in an unmarked grave, probably in Kettle Creek Cemetery.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday October 2, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
'Possum Trot' Written From Local Experiences

Although born in Jacksonville, and now making her home in Boonesville, Virginia, Miss Anne Harwick's maternal families span four generations of old New River County (Baker, Bradford and Union). Her grand mother Nellie, while still at home on her father Mose Barber's plantation, killed an Indian in 1840 by pouring burning bacon grease on him. Only 12 years of age, she saved her father's important bossslave Jason from being brained by the Indian attacker. Miss Harwick's grandfather Joe Hale was the ancestor of many Union County citizens of that name.

Miss Harwick is a graduate of Florida State University and Tulane University, and was a member of the first U.S. Women's Olympic Team, in Paris the year 1922. In that same year, she broke the world's record in javelin throwing for women.

Among her first jobs was medical social worker for Baker County, and was greatly responsible for helping eradicate the tuberculosis problem here. She wrote a sports column for a weekly Jacksonville newspaper, and from 1952 to 1966, she was medical social worker at Blue Ridge Sanitorium in Charlottesville, Virginia.

When she retired, she fulfilled a plan made with Mr. Willard Finley of Baker County to write a book based on her experiences among her friends, relatives and cases in the county. In 1968, "Possum Trot" was published. A small, absorbing book, there are few morals taught, no seat gripping plot, but it is thoroughly readable and entertaining. The dialect is the truest southern "Cracker" and Black speech, ever attempted to date and "Older heads" will have a great time identifying the characters who are weaved, colorfuIIy and believably, throughout the story.
...and The Dr. Shuey Home

The Dr. Shuey House was built before the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1888 and the survivors sold out to T.W. and Ina Sessions Williams. After Mr. Williams' death, his widow sold the house to Mr. Tom Carroll.

Originally from South Carolina, "Uncle Tom" effectively and honestly executed his duties of public office and church for many years. There were two families of northern-born Shueys at Macclenny. Only Shuey Avenue stands as a reminder of them. The house is now the home of Mrs. Cecil (Alma) Geiger.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, October 30, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
The Shuey - Sessions House, 'Hainted' By The Past
A Special Halloween Feature

South of MacClenny stands a fine example of pre-fever architecture. Known by various names, among which are the Jake Sessions Place, the Shuey House, and the Fever House, it is 90 years old, and seemingly haunted by tragedies and controversies from the past.

The austere two story structure stands abruptly on a rise among pecan trees. Its' upper floor was never completed and is closed. Among the spacious white plastered rooms are six fireplaces, plus one in the wide entrance hall, a unique feature in area architecture. A boarded up dormer window once over-looked the vacant field in front.

Some neighbors claim to have seen 'Haints' about the yard in the past; long-skirted ladies gathering firewood by moonlight to warm their fever chills. But, no ghosts, real or imaginary, can be more fearsome or pathetic than the true ghosts of the house's past.

Prior to the Civil War, Samuel Neil Williams, a timber buyer for the Eppinger and Russell Company, settled in the north end of the land section on which the house was to be later erected. Mr. Williams (more on him in a later article) was an official of the original rail company which began the railroad through the county. Although loss of records has made authentication almost impossible, it seems certain that Mr. Williams lost his land to the reorganized rail company during the notorious Swepson Littlefield Fraud (and more on this in a later article.)

In Deed Book C, page 435, dated 6 January 1871, is information that the land was ordered sold to Mrs. Williams (Mr. Williams was incompetent by this time, broken financially and emotionally) by Judge Thomas T. King of the 5th circuit. The deed holders were Lewis I. Fleming of Olustee and Green H. Hunter of Lake City, trustees for the Florida Atlantic and Gulf Central Rail Road. The special master appointed by the judge to convey the deed was none other than James McNair Baker, the man for whom Baker County was named.

The land (SW 1/4 of Sec 5, township 3, S. R. 22E) Mrs. Williams bought cost her $240.00, and when she, as a widow in 1886, sold it to Harriet D. Shuey, she made a profit of $160.00. Later, in 1886, she gave Harriet Shuey's husband, Charles F., power of attorney in regards to her property. A year later, her son Roland died in a freakish accident. As a fireman in Jacksonvilie, a fire hose carriage fell on him breaking his neck. The ravages of fever took its toll on Mrs. Williams, and she died in 1889. The widow of the county's once most powerful and rich man left a meager estate of $250.00.

The Shueys, in 1886, began to construct their new house midst the county's new found land boom. The new Yankee invasion brought prosperity to the little rural community of MacClenny, and the new home reflected it.

The rooms were large, light, and decorated with imported mantles. The roof was steeply pitched in fine Yankee tradition. Heavy Victorian furniture was shipped in from Jacksonville, orchards were planted, and the Shuey's world went well for two years.

Then, late in the summer of 1888, the worst known disaster ever to strike the county moved in rapidly and fatally. Yellow Fever laid waste town and country.

Dr. Shuey came out from MacClenny and set up a hospital in his brother's new house, ministering to the sick until he and most of the household, it is said, succumbed to the illness. The big house was full of patients, but the fever emptied it quickly and surely.

Tales by the older folks claim numerous graves surround the house, many in the yard, and although Woodlawn Cemetery was close by, it is possible that, toward the end, some interments were made in the field and yard.

The Shuey's residence was over in September of 1888. Fever had finished the family in the county hardly before they had begun. Sheriff Charly Pons sold part of the land to an Addie Benson in 1890 under execution of the circuit court of Baker County, dated 14 September 1888, levied on and sold as property of Edwin S. Shuey. In 1903, for 176.49 unpaid taxes, Clerk of Court James D. Chalker sold the house and property to Jacob E. Sessions, late of Lawtey, Florida.

Mr. Sessions was plagued with financial problems, and once mortgaged the place to C. W. and Walter Turner. Finally, as a widower, he sold out to George Hodges and died the following year. A succession of owners led eventually to a Hungarian immigrant, Joseph Wiener, whose widow Mrs. Pat Wiener - Carter has renovated the house to a recognizable semblance of its former beauty.

Except for some of the homes on the Glen Nursery and the old Griffin house near by, the old hospital house is probably the finest residential architecture remaining in the county. Still somewhat melancholy in its stern lines and echoing in its whiteness the hushed bustle of a hospital, it stands as a monument to pioneers who wouldn't say die.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, November 13, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
Harvey Thomas And 19th Century Red Tape

Harvey Thomas made his declaration to obtain an invalid's pension in Charlton County, 26 May 1878, before John A. Johnson, Clerk of Superior Court. He claimed to have been a private in Capt. Knight's company, enlisting in June of 1837, and was honorably discharged at Camp Douglas, Georgia (near the Okeefeenokee). He also said that during the last of February, 1837, at or near Camp Douglas while scouting for Indians, he was thrown from his horse sustaining back and left shoulder injuries. His horse became unmanageable, due as he thought from smelling Indians, thus throwing him against a tree. He stated his doctor was Henry Briggs of Troupville, and that his post office, in 1878, was Darbyville, Florida. Uncle Harve received no compensation for his efforts.

Mr. Thomas was born in Bullock County, Georgia in 1817. He and his brothers and sisters were brought to the Lownde's County vicinity early in the 1820's by their Parents. After the 2nd Seminole War, they made their ways to Charlton County, and then, to Baker and Nassau Counties, Florida.

Because his first application was not acted upon, Uncle Harve tried again on 23 May 1881. He made an affidavit before J. C. Smith, Notary Public of Charlton County, stating that at the time of his enlistment, he was living near Troupville in Lowndes County, and that by occupation was a farmer. For 14 years after his discharge he continued living in Loundes, then (1852) moved to tne Big Bend Section of Charlton where he lived the remainder of his life. At one time, he lived near the Boones Creek Cemetery above St. George, and later moved near his brother Mitch near the present Farley Burnsed place.

He claimed to have always been exempt from public duty because of his infirmities, and had suffered chills and fever and colds every year since his discharge. He further stated that his doctor since removing to the Bend Section (referring to that pocket of Georgia just north of Macclenny), was F. M. Smith. When not being treated by Dr. Smith, he took "such remedies as the neighborhood used", and was compelled to do what he could to support his family. He swore to being unfit for manual labor ever since his injury. No action was taken on this second application.

From the pension applications of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, cemeteries, and the family, the following data was uncovered. Mrs. Thomas was, before her marriage, Mary Melvina Durrence of Blackshear (the Durrence, Thomas, Hodges, and Hurst families were interrelated and often migrated together). Harvey and Melvina were married in 1841 in Lowndes County by Justice of the Peace Daniel G. Hodges. The children, all living during Mrs. Thomas' application in 1893, were John, born 26 January 1845; Alfred, born 3 April 1846; Elizabeth, born 26 July 1847; Mima (jemima), born 31 March 1849 (all the aforementioned were born in Lowndes, and the following born in the Georgia Bend); Jane, born 14 April 1852; Keziah, born 2 July 1853; Eliza, born 22 January 1854, Jordan, born 23 July 1856; Nancy, born 23 March 1857; Margaret, born 18 May 1860; Rebecca, born 26 July 1862; and Daniel, born 30 March 1865.

The pension board evidently believed that Uncle Harve's enviable and impressive record as a father of 12 while an invalid for 47 years made the need for a pension doubtful. He was continually and consistently denied. The widow persisted, bringing in friends and relatives, among whom were Vinie, Dixon, and Susan Thomas and George D Motes of Nassau County. She even listed her husband's vital statistics, stating he was 20 years of age when he enlisted was 5 feet 3 inches tall, had hazel eyes, black hair, and possessed of a fair complexion.

Mrs. Thomas told the judge of Nassau County that Mr. Thomas had passed away in the Georgia Bend on the St. Marys River on the 25th of July, 1885. Someone in higher places finally and tardily took note of her plight - her pension was granted 11 February 1894. She was paid $8.00 per month retroactive to July 1892.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, November 20, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
"Elisha Green; Pioneer Citizen"
A Saga As Told By His Former Slave
The following obituary was taken from The Jacksonville Times-Union, and was the inspiration of a lengthy poem by Jacksonville businessman, Stationer, and writer Columbus Drew. It was included in the book Columbus Drew; Something of His Life and Ancestry and Some of His Literary Work compiled by Alice J. Drew; The Drew Press, Jacksonville, Florida, MCMX; library no. f 811; pp. 17-21.

Listed under the title "A Southern Incident" is this obituary of Elisha Green written by his former slave Samuel Spearing in Jacksonville 24 October 1875.

"Died, in Baker County, near Sanderson, on the 17th instant, Elisha Green, aged 85 years and 15 days.

"Mr. Green was born in South Carolina, near Georgetown; but father removed to Bullock County, Georgia, where he resided until he removed to Florida in 1829. He served in the war against England in 1812, under Gen. Jackson. He was with Gen. Jackson during the campaign through Florida. On Christmas Day, 1830, he commenced his settlement on the south prong of the St. Mary's River, which was then an unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by the Indians. He made a camp site at the root of a large pine tree whilst preparing a shelter for his family, consisting of a wife and six small children. On the breaking out of the Seminole War, he enlisted and served through the war during which he was twice obliged to send his family to Georgia for safety. His property was destroyed and buildings burned by the Indians, but he returned to begin again on the ruins of his home, collecting such remnants of his stock as had escaped the maurading savages. By hard work and careful management, he soon surrounded himself with the comforts of life. In 1840 he bought the first slave he ever owned, the writer of this notice, who regrets that he is not able in this sketch to do justice to the friendship which sprung up between master and servant, which lasted until death came between them. As a master he was kind and just; he never separated families, nor was he careless of their welfare in any particular.

Before the breaking out of the war he was comfortably off, and could have retired from active work; but he preferred not to be idle, he continued to take active oversight of his affairs until near the close of his life. There was no work that he required to be done that he was not always ready to take home of himself and lend a hand to push along.

"The unfortunate were never sent away from his door without relief from his own hands. And he often relieved others to his own hurt, and it can safely be said that there is not a soul living that can say that he ever did wrong to his fellow man. And the writer can testify to many acts of kindness done to himself. "Mr. Green was a member of the Baptist Church for thirty years, and died in that faith. His place will be hard to fill, and in the neighborhood where he has resided for forty-five years, he was universally respected and esteemed. He left a large family of children, grand children and great-grand children.

"The last time the author of this sketch saw him, he requested that two of his old servants should come and assist with his burial, if he died first. The promise was made, and at the death, the telegraph summoned them to the performance of the last act of love and devotion which could be shown to this side eternity. They immediately took the train and arrived in time to finish digging his grave and join in the last solemn rites of his remains.

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou has been faithful over a few things. Enter thou into the joys of the Lord."

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, November 27, 1975 Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
The Harvey Family Of Baker County

The first Harvey known to enter the area now known as Baker County was John Harvey, born 16 years before the Declaration of Independence in the colony of Georgia. His wife Mary, born 1763, was from North Carolina. It is possibly, but not authenticated, that this John and a brother Charles were the same as John and Charles of Richmond County, Georgia who were awarded bounty land in Franklin County, Georgia because of their Revolutionary War Service. Soon after the war's end, they sold out to a Samuel Wilson. Sometime soon after this transaction, John either moved or was cut into Bulloch County. In 1820, he was found in Bryan County, again either by moving or being cut into by the formation of that county.

About 1835 John and Mary moved to old Columbia county, Florida and settled on Cedar Creek. With him were John, Jr and Isaac, both of whom were undoubtedly sons. Also among the immigrants to the Florida territory was a known daughter Sarah who was the wife of John Daniel Williams.

The elder Harveys dropped from public records about 1845, possible victims of the Second Seminole War. Some of the older Harveys think they might have been buried in present day Cedar Creek Cemetery.
The daughter Sarah Williams was the ancestor of many of the county's Williams name. The compiler knows nothing further regarding Isaac, but John, Jr. became the ancestor of all the county's known modern Harveys. He was born in either Richmond or Bullock Counties (probably same site but different names because of county formation) between 1783 and 1787, and died in Baker County near the end of the Civil War. His wife Mary was from South Carolina (supposedly born on S. C. and N. C. line), and was born in 1795. She died about 1875 in Baker County.

The children of John, Jr. as best as can be determined were:
John H., who was born 1819 in Bulloch or Bryan Co, Ga, married Mary Ann, daughter of John A. and Ann Johnson. He was the first judge of Baker County, and was selected by his men as captain of a Confederate company from Baker County. He fathered many children in southeast Georgia and along the St. Johns River in Florina, was a famed Primitive Baptist preacher and organizer, and died at an advanced age in Putnam County, Florida.
James A. was born in 1823 in Bryan Couny. His wife's name was Rebecca Jane.
Richard was born in 1824, in Bryan County. He married Elizabeth, a daughter of Jesse Lee and Elizabeth Long. Richard died in 1904 and was buried at Cedar Creek.
Mary was born in 1824 or 25 in Bryan County and was the wife of John C. Davis. She died in 1893 and buried at Cedar Creek.
Levi was born in 1826 in Bryan County. His wife's name was Obediance.
Sarah Jane (called Sallie Jane) was born in 1828 in Bryan County and never married. She was crippled from birth and lived with her sister, Elizabeth Mary Johnson until her death in 1914. Sarah Jane was buried near the Johnsons in Cedar Creek.
Andrew H. 'Ander' was born in 1829 in Bryan County. His wife was possibly a daughter of Elizah and Cassandra Greek of Pennsylvania.
Alexander B. was born in 1830 in Bryan County. Alexander married Susan.
Jasper Isaac was born in 1831 in Bryan County and married (first) Eliza 'Missie', a daughter of George and Mary Ann Lowry Ellerbe Combs, and (second) Mary Jane Davis. Jasper Isaac died in 1915 and buried at Cedar C reek.
Elizabeth Mary was born in 1832 in Bryan County. She married Josiah H. Johnson, son of John A. and Ann Johnson. Elizabeth died in 1908 and was buried at Cedar Creek.
Jackson I. was born in 1835 also in Bryan County and died in 1919. He married Mary .
Martha married Noah Robinson.
George W. was born in Columbia County, Florida.

The elder Harveys participated in both the early Seminole Wars, serving here in the area that would soon be their homes.

Any and all further information on this family's history would be greatly appreciated.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, December 4, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
Three Persons Who Could have Named glen St. Mary

When searching for the imaginative person or persons responsible for the romantic name of 'Glen Saint Mary', three names are most often mentioned; a postmistress by the name of Mrs. Theresa Cole, the founder of the Glen Nurseries, Mr. George L. Taber, and a retired sea captain by the name of J. M. 'Roger' Vaughn. To be certain, no southern cracker with the habit of labeling sites and areas 'Devil's Cup and Saucer', 'Possum Trot', and 'Breakfast Branch' is included.

Of the three, Mr. Taber, as a founder and developer of Glen, received the honor of the christening of Glen Saint Mary, and his story will be treated in a later article.

Mrs. Cole, the former Miss Theresa M. Tilton is the least Known of the three. She was from 'up north', and first appears on local records in 1883. She purchased several pieces of land in and around Glen in 1883 and '84. She sold land to Jesse E. Cole in 1887, and, later that year, became his wife. She was Glen's second appointment to the office of postmaster (22 September 1882), following D. Lansing Skinner. She was re-appointed as Theresa M. Cole on 20 April 1887. After that, the Coles slipped from the Baker County scene.

The last candidate for naming Glen Saint Mary could have qualified, but he arrived too late. He was sea captain Roger Vaughn. In May of 1883, a deed was filed granting him 160 acres of land for $3,000 from Carr B. and Ada McClenny, known today as the Eiserman Place. This was an extensive and well kept farm.

On the property was a huge doublepen log house which Capt. Vaughn converted into a showplace by filling it with his collected treasures from around the world. The cracker folk fortunate enough to visit inside, claimed it was a beautiful sight, full of crystal, china, and oddities. Statues and hunters' trophies decorated corners and walls. Great chandeliers brillantly illuminated the spacious rooms, and, a novelty in Baker County, carpets covered the floors. The captain was also an artist, and several of his oils hung among the many others he had collected from all over the world.

A neighboring widow, Mrs. Caroline (nee Kersey) Lauramore was hired by the Vaughns as housekeeper. She lived near by on the present Ponsell Nursery, and when the benevolent Capt. Vaughn died about 1895, she was retained to assist Mrs. Vaughn.

The Widow Vaughn continued to pay Mrs. Lauramore well until she (Mrs. Vaughn) 'fell into unfortunate company'. A doctor, described as unsavory and given to drink, moved from Jacksonville into her home and allegedly helped her spend her money. When her cash was depleted Mrs. Vaughn paid Mrs. Lauramore with paintings and other valuables from the house.

Almost weekly, objects of art and fine furniture were hauled away to Jacksonville to pay off ever mounting debts. Between unscrupulous lawyers and the doctor, the distraught widow was soon a pauper and died soon after.

'Vaughn's Wash Hole' and an occassional old-timer's, reference to 'the Old Vaughn Place' is all that remains. However, an ironic and happier epilogue to the Vaughn story concerns a son of Mrs. Lauramore. He is Mr. H. H.'Bruiser' Lauramore, soon to be 100 years of age. For many years he was gardener for Mrs. Nina Cummer, by way of his employ at Mr. Taber's Glen Nurseries, and recently retired as landscape artist of the famed Cummer Gallery of Art. More will appear on him later this month.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, December 11, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
Part One 'Settlement'
The Early Days In Baldwin

Jonothan Thigpen and his family moved across the Georgia-Florida line about 1830, and settled on a site in western Duval County where the Spanish Trail crossed the old River Road that ran down from Traders Hill along the east side of the St. Marys. By 1835, Thigpen's settlement was an important horse-changing station between Jacksonville and Alligator for the post and passenger stages. In 1842, Mr. Thigpen (with Bryant Hicks of Deep Creek, William Barber of Trail Ridge, and a negro slave) was buried in a wagon body in an oak thicket in neighboring Columbia (Baker) County. They met their deaths in an Indian attack on Bay Branch on the west side of Trail Ridge and their resting place later became the 'Hicks Cemetery', and, still later, 'Macedonia'.

Thigpen's Station continued in spite of Jonothan Thigpen's absence. Besides the east-west Spanish Trail, the well-traveled River Road from Traders Hill and Center Village (Folkston) passed by and forked there, one route going to Ft. Heilman and Gary's Ferry (Middleburg) on Black Creek, and the other going to the Alachua, deep in the Indian Nation. The River Road was the east bank equivalent of Trail Ridge and was rapidly becoming the more important of the two. By the end of the Civil War, the Trail Ridge route was seldom, if ever used, and, in 1865, was not even included on area maps.

In the late 1850's, with settlers seeking Florida's new opened interior (the Seminole Nation had been driven south) Thigpen's north-south route lost their value and were use mostly for local traffic. Settlers were utilizing routes on the west side of the Okeefeenokee an through western Columbia County. However, the station and its inn, a mercantile store and tavern attracted the local settlers' trade until the fateful year of 1859 when the Florida Atlantic and Gulf Central Rail road crossed Mr. Yulee's Florida Railroad tracks near by. Then the little community experienced a boom.

Renamed Baldwin in honor of Dr. A. S. Baldwin, a former member of the Florida Assembly and a member of the FA and GCRR Board of Directors, the iron crossroads soon grew into a lusty little town. Pvt. Milton Woodford, a cavalryman with the invading U. S. Army, described Baldwin, in 1864, in words less than laudatory, and later proved to be less than accurate, ". . . a depot, tavern, a half dozen shanties, three railroads, and a rail fence."

According to the 1860 census, the major occupations were farming and logging, cedar lumber being in great abundance to the north of town. Also in the little village were laborers, one teamster, a seamstress, a man engaged in maritime activities (20 miles from the nearest navigable water and thirty miles from the ocean!). and one who styled himself simply as a "gentlemen".

Soon after the outbreak of the War Between the States, Jacksonville fell into the enemy hands, prompting the 1862 Florida Legislature to pass a bill allowing Duval County's circuit court to be held in Baldwin. Much of the county's business was conducted there until July of 1864, at which time Union troops approached to destroy communication and transportation lines.

THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday, December 18, 1975, Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
Part Two - The War
Early Days In Baldwin

On Sunday, 24 July 1864, the Federals crossed the south fork of Black Creek south of Baldwin, and drove back the Confederates, destroying trestles beween Baldwin and Gainesville. While the Confederate skirmishers were worried and duped by their Union counterparts, Col. Morgan led his northern bluecoats on a 30 mile march around the Baldwin Rebel camp to the large trestle on the Little St. Marys (south of US 90 between present Macclenny and Glen St. Mary). There, he captured the guard and burned the trestle.

Part of the Confederate breastworks could be seen until the past several years' erosion and improvements destroyed them. The 'dig-ins'' prepared earlier to protect the bridge and entice the Union Army to Olustee in early 1864.

Col. McCormick, in command of the Confederate camp at Baldwin, was in a quandry; Jacksonviile was in enemy hands, Lake City and orders and supplies from Gen. Finegan were cut off by the destruction of the trestle to the west. His supplies were barely sufficient for a 24 hour period. With the Union troops moving in from both sides, and amid frequent skirmishes, a council of war was held and evacuation of the town was the only possible solution.

Anything of possible utilization by the Yankees was burned, excepting the buildings which were left to their destruction by the approaching Bluecoats. At 3:00 A.M., Tuesday, 26 July, Col. McCormick led his troops out of Baldwin, and, persued by the Union Calvary, he crossed the St. Mary's at Lang's Ferry to safety in Georgia.

On August 10th, of that same year, there was a skirmish near the Duval-Baker line when the Confederates attacked a Union rail-destroying detachment. Except for the burning of the town and railroads on 4 September, this was the last war action of note at Baldwin.

In the two decades following the war, Baldwin grew to a population of 250. The little community boasted two churches (Baptist and Methodist), a short-lived Episcopal mission, stores, telegraph and express office, and, of course, a post office. But, the writer's g-g-g-grandfather Mose Thompson was most happy and pleased that the progressive town had seen fit to include a well-stocked tavern.

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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday December 25, 1975 Page Two
The Way It Was-Gene Barber
John W. Jones - Planter And Secessionist

John W. Jones originally arrived in Columbia County, Florida from Liberty County Georgia about 1833, possibly a participant in the 2nd Seminole War. As many of the north Florida settlers relocated in central Florida after the war, the farsighted Mr. Jones moved back in 1843 and began to acquire some of the abandoned lands. By 1850 he had established a large plantation on the high fertile acres between Swift Creek and the headwaters of New River.

Living near him at one time along the Tallahassee-Garey's Ferry (Middleburg) Road was William Jones (born c. 1762) of Virginia. This William, a Revolutionary War veteran, is likely, But unauthenticated, candidate for the subject's father. The elder Jones had settled in old Effingham County, Georgia after the war, and later was found living in Liberty County of that same state.

John W. Jones' wife Sarah A. was born in Georgia in 1807. Their children were Mary J., born 1834; Eugenia, born 1837; Pauline, born 1844; Phillip, born 1846; and Joseph, born 1847.

In 1860, as a resident of New River (now the southern part of Baker County), he owned 42 slaves. His real property was was valued at $11,500, and his personal property was $26,000.

When the Florida Secession Convention met in Tallahassee in 1861, Green A. Hunter and A.J.T. Wright were elected from Columbia County. Mr. Jones contested Mr. Wright's seating, and was awarded Mr. Wright's place as a delegate from Columbia. Mr. Wright had already voted for secession, and Mr. Jones was too late to cast a vote. Whether or not he was in favor of secession is unknown but he became known as the "too late delegate".

A son John Paul is the ancestor of many of the area's modern Jones families. He was born 20 October 1835 in Georgia (probably Liberty Co.). He died on the 10th of June 1892, and was buried in the Greens Creek Cemetery south of Sanderson. His wife was Mary Rebecca Dowling, a daughter of Henry Tucker and Jane Ann Cleland Dowling. She was born September 20th, 1840, died June 21st 1923, and is buried by her husband.

John Paul was a Confederate soldier of Company D, 1 st Florida Calvary. Private Jones was transferred to the 8th Infantry, which, with the 2nd and 5th, fought in the 2nd Battle of Manasses 30 August 1862, and participated in the capture of Harpers Ferry. Back in the 1st Florida Cavalry, he was at Olustee on the 20th of February, 1864 to help stop the Federal advance through Florida.

John Paul was active in agriculture and cattle raising, and in addition, was an important and instrumental early member of the young county commission. In Folio 80 of the Book of Proceeding of the County Commission is recorded, 6 February, 1881, a BOND FOR RETURN OF DIGEST LAWS which carries the name of Mr. Jones as a co-signer with Judge Richard D. Davis and Com. W.A Drake of Margaretta, and Recorded by Francis J. Pons, Clerk Circuit Court.

An interesting fact about Mr. John W. Jones is that he kept two legal residences; one in Columbia County and another in the southern end of present Baker County, being politically, economically, and socially active in both.

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