"The Way It Was" Newspaper Column on Baker County, Florida History, 1978 part 2 File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Gene Barber (no email address), through Carl Mobley (cmobley@magicnet.net) USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. This file may not be removed from this server or altered in any way for placement on another server without the consent of the State and USGenWeb Project coordinators and the contributor. *********************************************************************** THE WAY IT WAS ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 written in 1978. Contents: * Mr. Cone's Testimony - Parts II & III (in part 1) * The Founder Of The Godwin Seminary (in part 1) * The Daugharty Family (in part 1) * The Reilly Crews Place (in part 1) * The Great Macclenny Fire Of '23 (in part 1) * More Historical Potpourri (in part 1) * 'Downright Strange' Place Names In County - Four Parts (in part 1) * The Community Of Highland-Trail Ridge (in part 1) * A Southern Incident (in part 1) * Area Routes In 1815 (in part 1) * Some Notes On The Johns Family (in part 1) * The Sylvester Lyons Story (in part 1) * Baker County's Position On Maps Of The Past - Three Parts (in part 1) * Baker County Ancestors In The War Of 1812 (in part 1) * The Soldier's Story (in part 1) * Westberry Griffis Story (in part 1) * The Mose Barber Story - Four Parts * Gleanings From The Standard - Two Parts * News Items From The County's Heyday - Two Parts * A Two Party System In Baker County - Two Parts * Of New Jersey, Nostalgia And Downtown Revitalization - Two Parts * The Crackers * A Sampling Of Baker County Politics Through History * More News Items From The Good Old Days * Ghosts, Haints And Boogers * Notes On The Wolfe Family * Early Area Roadways * Various Early Raulersons - Four Parts * Wedding Customs In 1907 * Old Fashioned Christmas Thoughts * Sharing A Few Choice Christmas Memories Of Home * The Twelve Days Of Christmas And Cracker Folk _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday June 29, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber The Mose Barber Story - Part One This month marks the third anniversary of this column and that it has been rather well accepted is a continual source of amazement to the writer. Our response letters and calls have been good. One frequent question is, "you write about all the other families...how about telling us something of the Barbers...if you dare. " So, having been careful to avoid mention of our own family during the past three years, remembering that July is the month in which the family moved to this area in 1829 and learning that this July will also be the 97th annual family reunion, here is the story of Mose Barber. Moses Edward Barber was born in 1800 in northeastern Georgia, a son of a North Carolina native and a grandson of a Revolutionary War soldier. His grandfather, William, typified the Barber fortune story - began the war as a Lieutenant, was captured three times, and ended the war a slick-sleeve private. Mose married in 1826 to the beautiful Maria Leah Alvarez Davis, a native of Georgia but a descendent of Spanish-Minorcan Floridians. The black haired, black eyed Leah was an expert with a musket, tall, resourceful and sharp of tongue. In 1820 Mose made a trip with his brother William and friends to Florida to determine if the Spanish territory would be agreeable to settlement. Within a year, the Spanish colony slipped into American hands and for some reason Mose's fascination with the territory faded for several years. It was in the summer of 1829 before he decided to make the trip for settlement. For three months he and his brothers Samuel and William and their families drove the oxen, cattle, and sheep from the country south of Augusta down the red roads and paths of Georgia to the gates of Fort Alert near Traders Hill on the banks of the St. Marys River. At Fort Alert the Barbers met with friends and relatives and planned the final leg of their journey. Two of their number had experience in Florida as soldiers during the First Seminole War and the Creek War. One had been a former resident. After much discussion it was agreed that the land to concentrate on was a stretch of pine lands between Trail Ridge on the east to the beginning of the high rolling lands near Alligator Village on the west end from the St. Marys River down to the start of the Alachua sinks and plains. Mainly, because nobody else had seemed to want it. On the first day of July, 1829, the little wagon and cart train pulled out from Ft. Alert. Leading was Elisha Green, a veteran of the War of 1812. The advance scouts were Willam and Mose Barber. Others in the train were William Driggers, Daniel Mann, William Richardson, William Wester, Elisha Wilkerson the Elder, and Elisha Wilkerson the Junior. All the oldest boys and Samuel Barber were flank and rear guards. They camped first at Fence Pond, now know as Toledo. The second night was spent atop Trail Ridge. They rapidly crossed 10 miles the third day and, spent their last night in Georgia near the present Stokesville site. The impetuous Mose Barber announced on the fourth day as they girted up for the day's slow journey, "find me a spring on the other side of the river and I'm a'stopping." The wooden axle carts floated across the stream, the animals swam, and about one mile east of the confluence of the Big St. Marys with its South Prong the intrepid little band of pioneers set foot in Florida sand. Mose was as good as his word. On the east bank of the South Prong just south of the presently named Dick White Branch they found a good sized spring. He stopped his oxen and began unpacking in spite of warnings by his brother William and Elisha Green that he was "smack kadab in the middle of an Indian trail." He was called a fool, but within thirty years Mose carved out, whipped, shot, sweated, and loved his way into a little empire that loosely stretched from that headquarters near the present McClenny down to the Everglades. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday July 6, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber The Mose Barber Story - Part II Mose and Leah stretched a tent between giant pines and settled in with their two small children. The other families decided to camp on the hill also, at least for the remainder of the summer. By the first chill of fall a one-room log dwelling had been erected. It had only one entrance and a loop-hole on each side of the doorway. A small crop had been gathered and most of the other pioneers had moved on to their choices of settlements. The Barber community was joined by another of Mose's brothers, John, that fall. Later in the winter, he and his children were victims of an Indian massacre. Only his wife was spared because the Seminoles thought she was part Indian. The murders triggered a long standing personal war between Moses Barber and any Indian within his gunsight. In 1832 Mose and Leah purchased their first slave. A powerful intelligent man, Jason quickly learned to handle a musket and almost matched his mistress as a sharpshooter. As more blacks were subsequently added, Jason assumed command of the little plantation and made it prosper. He was accused of being a harsh taskmaster and sometimes alleged used undue force to prevent the other slaves from running away with the Seminoles. When the Indians began attacking frequently at the outbreak of the Second Seminole War, Jason had plenty of practice and soon was the best shot on the hill. The other slaves were assigned the duty of reloading the muskets, Mose supervised it all between shots, and Leah was busy having her first Florida born child. When attacking in the early years of the war, the Redmen came singly, fired a flame-tipped arrow and then retreated. The arrows seemed to never catch on the peeled green pine logs and they changed tactics. With a lighted splinter held between their teeth they snaked up on their bellies toward the house from the Glen St. Mary side of the river. When a shot from the Barber cabin resulted in the flaming splinter being dropped and a loud, "Wah!" coming from the struck Indian Mose hollered out, "Jason, you old S.O.B., you got another one." Although Mose was a vengeful Indian fighter, he gave orders that the dead or wounded Indian's rescuers were never to be fired upon - reasons unknown. Such an attitude seemed strange for a man who had ordered an Indian skinned alive and hung upside down in the middle of the Seminoles' trail. The increase in his family necessitated the construction of a commodius double-pen log house, having a wide breezeway between the sections. He fortified the yard by erecting a stockade of peeled sharpened pine logs set on end. At first this fortification was connected to the house and extended only to enclose the back yard, but was later enlarged to encircle a wide area around the house, slave quarters, and farm outbuildings. The Barber fort became a haven to the surrounding families during the ever increasing Seminole raids. In addition to the stockade, Mose kept several dogs for protection, including seven fantastically large bulldogs. A Starling from the Georgia Bend was engaged to tend to the dogs. The late Mr. Manning Starling recalled his grandfather telling him that it took a beef a day to feed the ever hungry pack and if any decided to break the line or "tie up for a fight" one cut of Mose Barber's cow whip changed their minds. His most valuable dog however was a small unattractive cur. He could smell an Indian from a great distance and signaled their presence by raising the hair on his back and growling low. One day during a lull between raids when he and Jason were in the present Pine Top area searching for a lost shoat, Jason began to be nervous. "Mas' Mose, I think we best be getting back to the house." The little dog raised his back hair and began to growl. Too late. Mose received an Indian ball under his shoulder. As he stumbled he dropped his "over and under" rifle-shotgun, splitting the barrels apart. He grabbed his damaged weapon and the dog, and Jason, seeing the lost shoat, took a second to retrieve the pig and away they flew to the stockade. The Indians, on very fast ponies, almost overtook them, but they made it to safety. The fighting continued all night. When the morning mists and gunsmoke had lifted every Indian, alive and dead, had disappeared. And...Jason enjoyed a very special status from that day on. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday July 13, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber The Mose Barber Story - Part Three The Seminole War dragged on for seven miserable years. Mose lost two brothers and much valuable livestock and crops before Bolech (Billy Bowlegs) and his warriors retreated south. He and Leah took in some of the orphaned relative kids and added them to their own growing family. The federal census of 1840 showed that Mose and Leah had 8 children and 11 slaves. Ten years later, another child had been born and several Blacks added to the slave quarters. In addition, four white laborers, a clerk and his wife lived at Barber's Station. The clerk, Jonothan H. Davis, was born in 1770, was a famed Baptist minister, and is believed to have been the progenitor of most of the area Davis clan. Mose took advantage of the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 which opened former Seminole territory to any white settler who would take 40 acres for each adult member of his family, improve it, and defend it. Mose counted up his kids, upped the ages of some, added his wife, included his adopted nephews and nieces, and tried to slip some slaves in too. As a result he wound up with some sizable grants of land that loosely stretched from Fort Christmas on the St. Johns to the marshes of Brevard County and over into Hernando County and as far south as Ft. Bassinger in the upper Everglades. He eventually had to return all his grants except for a vast area in the present Osceola County district (including Disney World). But that acreage was sufficient for the grazing of his cattle every winter. The family made two cattle drives each year, to Kissimmee in the fall and back to the Barber Plantation on the St. Marys in early spring. The giant drives followed Trail Ridge to Lake Geneva and then to Hollister where the first cowpen was situated. The second day's route lay between Lake Kerr and Lake George to the second cowpen stop at Astor. The third day took them south of Lake Monroe to the prairies of Kissimmee. The young men and boys along the drive trail enjoyed going down to the Barber camps to hear the fireside tales and to watch the cow whip practice. Mose was handy with the plaited whip and he could cut down a large sapling with it. He often lined up his sons and directed each to follow suit. If one missed he took the sapling's place while Mose practiced on him. It was also during these long drives (in bad weather the drive lasted five to six days rather than the usual three) that Mose began to become acquainted with the ladies along the route. Before long he had one established at each cowpen. He met a Miss Margaret Cook of New Smyrna and St. Augustine and soon Miss Cook presented him with a daughter and later a son. (In fact, this writer was often confused at finding so many Barbers along the east coast and in central Florida who knew they were descended from ol' man Mose but did not know how. Further research cleared it all up and taught him that the birds and bees did not recently begin.) Back home, he benevolently took in a young lady, Rebecca Clements, who had been orphaned over in Columbia County by a Seminole raid. Miss Clements was comely, intelligent, and a shrewd business person. When the rigors of frontier life caused Leah to pass on at only 55 years of age, Rebecca took over running the plantation without a hitch. A shortlived pony express system had used the Barber place as a horse changing stop and the stage coach service kept up the practice after it began in 1835. Miss Becky Clements, of whom folks said there was nothing slow, set up a tavern and inn for the convenience of travelers. She ruled the slaves with an iron hand but did not do so well with Mose's children. One by one they left the old stockaded home much, it might be added, to Becky's satisfaction. Becky presented Mose with five children. At the start of the Civil War he enjoyed a reported worth of $135,580 in Florida and enough in Georgia to give him a total of a quarter of a million dollars. His slaves numbered 54 in 1860 and he added several more until the emancipation set the total 100 free. His female admirers were a legion along the St. Johns River. In fact, the whole world was going his way. However, one should not think of Mr. Barber as a money-hungry, lecherous, cruel Simon Legree type. When church Sundays rolled around, Mose blacked his mustache with smut from the fireplace, loaded his family into a wagon, and attended the Baptist Church. His church-going habit lasted through the remainder of his life. And no matter what other habits he might have picked up during his colorful life, he was never known to have taken a drink of whiskey. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday July 20, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber The Mose Barber Story - Final Part In the 1840's and through the following two decades Mose Barber served his area of Columbia and New River Counties as Justice of the Peace and as State Representative. He worked hard for the creation of Baker County and assisted the rail company in securing rights-of-way from private land owners in order to give the new county economic strength. The dockets of New River County showed that Mose was involved in a number of suits in which he was usually the winner. Some of the losers would return in a few years after the Civil War in an amazing turn of fortune. The Barbers were not especially fond of the idea of secession from the Union, but, as was the case with most other Floridians, when the time came Mose sided with the Confederacy. His sons, adopted sons, and nephews enlisted leaving him and the slaves to tend to the farms and cattle. As a major Florida supplier of meat to the Confederacy he was allowed to keep one son, James Edward, as his chief drover. As the war progressed, and not in favor of the Confederates, older men were conscripted and Mose began his tour of duty. He removed his family to Columbia County north of Lake City when word came that the Federals were approaching Baker County in the late winter of 1864. On the 11th of February Col. Guy Henry skirmished with Rebels at Mose's plantation on the banks of the Little St. Marys River (then called Big Creek). Until the 23rd Barbers Station was in the hands of the enemy. At the time Mose was ill in the CSA hospital at Lake City. He slipped out of the hospital to take his family farther away from the conflict. After securing them at a cousin's rice plantation near Hazelhurst, Georgia, he returned to Lake City where he was arrested as a deserter. Gen. Finegan realized that Barber's knowledge of the country and his uncanny ability to bull his way through anything and anybody would make his imprisonment foolish. Mose was released and given orders and permission to cross the Yank lines for the purpose of obtaining intelligence. Just before the fall of Richmond the following year the Confederate administration framed a letter of commendation and appreciation for his efforts in spying on the enemy. At the end of the war he found that his Baker County place had suffered neglect and vandalism. He installed his widowed daughter-in-law Lizzie (her husband Isiah had been lost on a retreat in S. C.) in the Baker County home and settled Becky and the children in Columbia County. He headed south to inventory his cattle and horses and found that most of them were scattered and falling prey to hungry deserters. Hoping to get in on the rebuilding boom, he turned to his timber resources but in the latter part of 1866 lumber prices dropped drastically. His trusted son and assistant James Edward died in 1868 after attempting to swim the Savannah River in the dead of winter, and after spending a rather riotous evening in an Augusta tavern. Members of an influential family, the Mizells, had secured several appointed offices in the Kissimmee territory, including judge and sheriff. The envy and rivalry between the two families that had begun in the 1830's in south Georgia and north Florida was brought to the fore and the Mizells thwarted every effort of Mose to hold his land in south Florida. Taxes continually ate up his holdings and court cases lost him his livestock. He announced to Sheriff David Mizell after the Sheriff had entered the Barber herds just once too often to collect court costs, "enter into my herds one more time, Dave Mizell, and you'll leave feet first." The Sheriff entered once more, arrested one of Mose's nephews, Jack, on a trumped-up charge, bragged about it, and Mose informed him, "this day, Dave Mizell, you've started on the road to hell." The Sheriff was found dead. A posse in retaliation killed Mose's son Isaac (twenty men unloaded their shotguns into his already dead body), weighted down another son, Little Mose, and dropped him into Lake Conway in present Orlando. A powerful man, he broke his hands free and tried to overturn the boat but his killers beat his hands from the sides with their gun butts. Back in north Florida George S. Wilson sued Mose for payment of a mortgage in the amount of $111,166. Old enemies got into the act and brought suits against him and he lost every case. Broke, disillusioned, and branded an outlaw, Mose prepared to go to Texas or Mexico. He told the few survivors of his family good-bye and, "...to hell with Florida!" On the east bank of the Suwannee one last yield to concupiscence proved fatal. The young lady with whom he had shared the evening conspired with her husband and the two poisoned the old gentleman and eventually tossed his body into the Suwannee River. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday August 3, 1978 THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Gleanings From The Standard - Part One The Baker County Standard edited by Tate Powell, Sr. was a chatty and informative weekly newspaper. From the issue of October 13, 1911 come the following items. Under the title was this slogan: "Grows best Sea Island Cotton of any county in the belt - Lands unsurpassed for general farming and truck growing." Situated just under that was a photograph of the John O. Thompson house. It was newly built and presented an impressive appearance. A large frame structure, it was much larger than now (present home of the Cherril Mobley's). The big news was of the Glidden Tour. A caravan of automobiles was making the long trip from New York to Jacksonville and was regarded as "the greatest automobile touring classic in the world." The Standard believed that the presence of the thirteen Florida cars ...lifts the event above a professional contest into one of something of a sociability-reliability run." "The Florida men who have entered the tour, and the cars they will drive are: W. J. Hillman, Live Oak, Cadillac; Herbert B. Race, Jacksonville, Cole 30; Dr. W. M. Stinson, Jacksonvile, Locomobile; J. R. Sandlin, Live Oak, Cadillac; R. D. Drysdale, Jacksonville, Cadillac; D. H. McMillan, Jacksonville, Cadillac; R. S. Hall, Ocala, Cadillac; H. P. McNiel, Jacksonville, Cadillac; P. D. Sandlin, Jasper, Cadillac; Roberts Motor Company, Jacksonville, Flanders 20; Jacksonville Metropolis (through Julian Howard), White Gas; L. C. Denmark, Jacksonville, Cadillac; Mayor Russell S. King, Arcadia, Cadillac. The tour, which began in New York 14 October passed through McClenny on the 26th (the final day of the run). McClenny's Mayor received a letter from the AAA of New York informing him that the route would be marked through his city by a trail of paper shavings to guide the tourists through. An important local item was "Will Build Town Jail". Readers were informed that the town council would begin the erection of a suitable structure at once. "This lot was donated to the county by the town about two years ago for the erection of a new jail at the time of the building of the new county court house (the present library, ed.). The town appreciates the good will of the county in reciprocating this favor. The lot for the building of the jail runs from Sixth Street toward the county jail fifty feet and also fronts on McIver Avenue (the concrete foundations of the little calaboose remains near the corner of the two mentioned streets ed.). "We believe that the town government is now making some of the most important improvements ever undertaken in the town. The drainage operation will not only result in better health conditions, but add greatly to the town's general appearance." (For those of you who keep up with such things, you might be interested in knowing that our last week's column on Westberry Griffis prompted lots of response and we are gathering a much more complete story which will be presented later. In correct order, his wives were Penny Butler, Eliza Wilkinson, and Laura Blitch.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday August 10, 1978 THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Gleanings From The Standard - Part II Continuing the notes taken from the Baker County Standard of the 13th of October, 1911, we find that the state auditor reported to Gov. Albert W. Gilchrist that he had examined the files and records of the Baker County offices on 22 August, 1911, and found all to be in order. Apparently those who preferred to not work but allow the rest of society to support them is not peculiar to any one period of American history. An article entitled "Jax is After the Vagrant" said, "aroused to action by reports of shortage of labor throughout the state, the Jacksonville Board of Trade has instructed a special committee to take a campaign for a rigid enforcement of the vagrancy law in Jacksonville..." An added comment: "We will always have an unemployment problem as long as people refuse to work." As was the habit of newspapers of that day, the Standard carried a number of stories, including one serial. The "Prince's Ambassador" concerned Russian royalty and nobility. "Pancakes and Pumpkin Pies" was the title of one of the stories, and the serialized work "Elusive Isabel" could pass for the narrative of a modern TV secret agent had, it (Elusive Isabel) been a little less well written. In the advertisements, the Baker County State Bank gave a formula for "the road to success" - Trade at home, get married, live simply, carry life insurance, pay the cash, keep an expense account, cut out the luxuries, have a bank account, bank the savings. W. Branch Cone, attorney at law, advertised in this issue and Mrs. J. W. Hodges, successor to Mrs. Nellie Sayles Brown, of Starke advertised high grade millinery. Patent medicines offered were herbine for a "torpid liver", White's Cream Vermifuge for worms in children, and Chamberlain's Cough Remedy. Oxidine (it worked in three hours) would "get busy" with a torpid liver, sluggish bowels and kidneys, and a weak stomach. It would also cure malaria and chills and fever - all for only 50 cents. A timely article compared the modern kitchenette with a more spacious kitchen. The writer speaks of her high school boy who whistles, uses slang, and sings popular songs. He also had an interest in modern aeronautics and wireless telegraphy. Some interesting bits of philosophy are "the lucky aviator is the live one ..most of the women who put on bathing suits this summer will get them wet...there are microbes on a dollar bill, but dollar bills do not fly about to alight on one...the sweet girl graduate has deserted the fountain of learning for the soda fountain...aviation heroes are becoming too numerous to be counted on one's fingers...the government owns 30,000 reindeer in Alaska, and strange to relate no syndicate has tried to grab them...any new ball players who may be purchased should be insured for at least six months against wearing out." Remarks by the editor. Baker County will give the Glidden tourists a grand old time...Capt. McClenny comes out in favor of straw roads. He is one of the state's oldest citizens and should know whereof he speaks...The Glidden tourists who will be entertained for a short while in Baker County will give us a good boost in the way of advertising... Pine straw roads are becoming more popular every day. They are roads for the county or town that is not able to put down hard surfaced roads." "Which would be of the most benefit to this country: A good system of national highways or the Panama Canal? The money spent in deepening the water in the habor of just one of our Florida cities by Uncle Sam would build a system of good roads over the state." All this in the Friday the 13th October, 1911, issue of the Baker County Standard for $1.00 a year. _____________________________________________________________________________ THe BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday August 17, 1978 THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber News Items From The County's Heyday Baker County, Florida, of the 1920's through the mid 1950's was a different time and place. It was then that she gained her reputation as quaint and wild. "Famous for chicken dinners" proudly claimed the well-known Hotel Annie. "Chicken coop capital of the world" facetiously remarked the Greyhound Bus drivers as they rolled along the main drag of McClenny. "The morest and best 'shine anywhere in the world." Observing and recording it all was the perceptive and analytical gentlemen Tate, Sr. and Avery Powell. Some of the news notes they passed on to their readers might seem dated (as well they should), non-relative (they would to anyone who didn't live those times), and funny (strange you'd think that---many were meant to be). "September 27, 1940: B.R. Dinkins, president of the Dinkins Motor Co., announces the showing of the new 1941 ford cars in their show rooms today. "Will Knabb was honored Tuesday evening with a chicken supper given on the lawn of his Macclenny home...Macclenny Cash Store has installed a modern refrigerated fruit and vegetable show case. "A. J. Mobley has shown us that wheat can be grown with success in Baker County and says he is going to plant more this fall...N. E. Dorman, prominent Sanderson farmer, states that he is much interested in growing Sea Island cotton again in Baker County and thinks it will pay off." "July 29, 1938: Judge A. Z. Adkins has ruled that the new law providing for deer hunting in Baker County by residents of the county is unconstitutional...The law allowed residents of Baker County to kill deer on Wednesday and Thursday of each week from July 14 to August 31. The law has been in effect for two weeks. "E. R. Rhoden and wife have bought the 167 acre old McClenny farm tract in north Macclenny from the owner, Mrs. Edith Cox. L. B. Williams, father of Mrs. Cox has been farming the place for several years. "Miss Nellie Hart has been transferred from the Civic Center of Baker County to the Dioramic Art Department of Jacksonville." "December 2, 1938: The Entre Nous Club had an outing at Osceola Lodge on Ocean Pond from Thursday to Sunday of last week...Jean Boyd, reporter. A sweeping reduction of rates, effective Dec. 1 for customers of the Florida Power & Light Co., was announced by Keith Robertson company manager (read that and dream for a while)." October 7, 1938: SANDERSON SCHOOL: Prof. Sweat says that every time he tries to think of something that could be called school news this week, he thinks of the pay checks the teachers are expecting. Clara Jones wore stockings one day last week and the waitress in the lunch room had mistaken her for a teacher and served her a teachers lunch before discovering her mistake. We note that Clara continues to wear stockings with the possible hope that the same mistake will be made again. "County Commissioners met Monday, Oct. 3, with Bryant Davis, J. S. Groft; C. M. Barber, J. I. Harvey and J. M. Hurst, members present." "The Earle Theatre will open Thursday, November 6, to the theatre-going people of Baker County. The new Earle building is said to be one of the best constructed buildings of its type in the City of Macclenny and will seat an audience of 509. There are 100 seats in the balcony Mr. Chessman stated and these will be used for the colored trade...The first feature to be shown in the new Earle will be "Blood on the Sun" starring James Cagney." And, lastly, from the March 25, 1938, issue of the Baker County Press: "The Lions Club with the cooperation of the County Commissioners graded the streets of Macclenny last week. The condition of the streets were deplorable and neither the Commissioners or the Town Council were in a financial condition to have this work done." My, how the times do change. Or do they? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday August 24, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber News Items From The County's Heyday - Part II From the Baker County Press of April 3rd, 1936: A party of 35 students and faculty members of the Macclenny-Glen High visited the Florida Farm Colony, Gainesville, Girls Industrial School and Gulf Atlantic Ship Canal and Sliver Springs...The Baker County Council of P.T.A. was organized at the Glen St. Mary School Saturday...J. E. Combs, Baker County Conservation Officer, stated today that it was illegal to shoot or dynamite fish, and warned all persons accordingly," Sparkman Branch enjoyed a closing term with a fish fry Friday. Graduates were Hubert Raulerson, Myrtis Raulerson, Gerald Brown. Teachers were Miss Frances Buchanan and Willard Finley. C. H. Yonn thought he was the champ oyster eater until Dan Reynolds arrived and put him in second place..The Senior Class announces its annual play "Silas Smidge of Turnip Ridge" Thursday, April 9th." The cast was composed of Lucy Mikell, James Stephens, Jessie Green, Lawrence Hiers, Candler Strickland, Dorothy Steele, Rubye Elliot, James O'Hara, Paul Rhoden, Morris Reynolds and Dot Reynolds." "Mr. and Mrs. B. J. Padgett have added a new front porch to their home." From the Press, July 10, 1936: "Work on Macclenny's much talked of community center will begin this week...located north of the highway in what is known as West Macclenny...G. D. Fish, leading farmer of the Taylor section and certainly the biggest, was a business caller at the Press office Monday. "The annual meeting of the Glen Community Associatlon will be held Friday night at the center...I. D. Stone of Sanderson announces this week for senator from the 29th district. J. I. Harvey, commissioner for district 4 announces this week for re-election. J. M. Brown announces for constable. John R. Williams of Sanderson, states that he will be a candidate for commissio er district 1. J. A. Burnett announces for re-election as clerk. J. M. Hurst seeks commissioner job from district 5. Walter Dykes asks for election as representative. R. O. Robb wants to be elected commissioner for another term from district 1. D. F. Dobson of Sanderson announces for superintendent. J. D. Dugger announces for the senate district 29. E. V. Taylor asks for election to the school board from district 2." The Press April 9, 1943: "We all want to say that we have especially enjoyed the Press during our absence from home", writes W. A. (Arlie) Ruis from Bedford, Ind. "Blanche says the worst thing about the people up here is they don't know anything about grits." So this was a pitiful state of affairs...John J. Crews., Cpl., U.S. Marine Corps, is being moved to Dallas, Texas this week. "Paul Crews, Supt. of the Ice and Storage Plant, says he has to hand it to C. H. Yonn of Baxter for high pork production. Paul says the hog dressed out 396 lbs.; ham 113 lbs., sides 161 lbs., shoulders 100 lbs., jowls 22 lbs." And from the Baker County Press of March 26, 1937: "There are approximately 379 needy persons in Baker County who will benefit from the assistance program...The total benefits in the county will be $57,420... Children eating in the Olustee school cafeteria were delightfully entertained Tuesday afternoon by Mrs. C. N. Kirkland, Mrs. N. C. McConnell, and Mrs. Floyd Howell acting as hostesses...M.C. Brown of New York City, writes his father, J. M. Brown, that Horace Rhoden has entered training at Madison Square Garden for pugilistic honors...The Press has received a copy of the Ocean Pond Trade Wind, an interesting publication of the CCC Camp 451 Olustee." "The Taylor school will close Friday with dinner on the grounds, according to Owen Finley, principal. Taylor school closing is always an enjoyable affair." Hitler was rattling Europe. Lots of illicit whiskey was flowing out of the backwoods of Baker County. Bridge parties were big in the local communities, matched by all-night shindigs in the country. FDR, WPA, CCC (those were the days before federal bureaus' and projects' initials always spelled out cutesy words) were busy rebuilding the country. And everybody in Baker County knew everybody else in Baker County. Folks were Just overing "Hoover Days" and making the county a solid one-political-party area. Would you believe that Baker County once had a healthy two-party system? Read all about it next week in The Baker County Press. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday August 31, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber A Two Party System In Baker County - Part One Each election in Florida from 1870 through 1876 was a tense and sometimes bloody affair. The election in 1868, the first after the close of the War Between the States, caused no excitement because of lack of concern. But when Radical Republicans and Carpetbaggers began moving in and mobilizing the Blacks the unreconstructed Southern whites and the Crackers (who had known very little enthusiasm for the rich man's war) joined forces with the more conservative Republicans (both transplanted Northerners and Unionist Southerners..) for what they thought was their mutual protection in jobs and political power. It is to the credit of the majority of the officers of the U.S. Army stationed in Florida to preserve the peace that they tended to be color blind and did not pay much attention to sectional differences, but usually tried to implement the late President Lincoln's and his successor President Johnson's rather lenient measures of reconstruction. Some soldiers, of course, demanded blood from their erstwhile Rebel enemies. Practically all of the Freedmen's Bureau (a post Civil War institution which helped the ex-slaves adjust to freedom) officials meddled in politics. Opportunist businessmen from everywhere, North and South, rushed in to make money and support whichever candidate who could scratch their backs. Thus were the warring camps formed. In Baker County all the Blacks who had not left there after freedom were registered as Republicans whether they wanted to be or not. All the newly arriving Blacks from the North and other states of the old Confederency were Republicans. Several native old line Whigs (old-fashioned isolationist conservatives) became Republicans. Locally one would need a program to tell who was what in the white community. Aaron Driggers, for instance, who had been a Whig and was opposed to secession (although he was a Confederate soldier) became a staunch Democrat after the war. The Cobb brothers, L. C. and W.C., had been Secessionists, Confederate soldiers, and Democrats, but turned to Republicanism after peace was declared. Sam Williams, a Whig who had been forced by the brutality of the Federal troops to switch to the Confederates just prior to the Battle of Olustee, once again joined the Republican ranks when Lee surrendered. Neal Drawdy, an anti-secessionist, joined the militant Democrats after the war. His father-in-law Ed Rowe remained a Whig and refused to join the Confederate Army but later became a member of a secret Democrat club dedicated to ending Republican rule at any cost. The election in November, 1876, was farcical, violent, and quite confusing. Republican Governor Marcellus Stearns appointed a state canvassing board consisting of 2 Republicans and 1 Democrat. On Monday the 27th of November the three met in the Secretary of State's small office with 10 representatives from each party and observers composed of Gov. Stearns, Democrat governor candidate George Drew, and General John M. Brannan of the U.S. Army. The following morning the first returns were opened, all counties reporting except Dade. As each of the 38 reporting counties were opened and announced each was promptly and ritually protested. Democrat Samuel Pasco protested the larger counties with Republican majorities (9) and Republican Malachi Martin protested the 28 with Democrat majorities. One of the little counties surprised the representatives of both parties - Baker County had gone Republican. At first the, room was briefly silent save for the turning of heads toward one another in disbelief. Representative Pasco then leaped to his feet and shouted out his challenge of the figures of 130 Republicans and 89 Democrat votes. Knowing that the presidential electoral college would meet on the 6th of December and that time was very short Pasco allowed the figures to be recorded but subject to subsequent argument. The state presidential returns were then 24,337 for Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and 24,294 for Democrat Samuel Tilden. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday September 7, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber A Two Party System In Baker County - Part Two Both parties knew that Baker County was traditionally Democrat and even more strongly so after the war. There were very few negroes in the county and only a handful of northern Republican opportunists had seen very little there to attract them. In fact, there might be another return from Baker since the Republicans had expressed seemingly genuine surprise at the announcement. He pressed Republican Secretary of State McLin who also gave out several dilatory comments and then finally confessed that there both parties knew almost exactly the number of votes they should have received. At supper after their day's work the Board discussed the Baker County returns and things soon heated up and began to get out of hand. Democrat Pasco suspected that was not only another return but that there were three returns and that all three were different from one another. To no Democrat's surprise the Republican Secretary of State had announced the one that favored his party. Not only were the three returns different from one another but none were completely in accord with the law which required the returns to be signed by the County Judge, County Clerk, and a Justice of the Peace chosen by them. One return dated 10 November and signed by the Clerk of Court and JP but not by the County Judge included all 4 precincts with a total of 238 Democrat and 143 Republican votes. The second return was identical with the first but dated 13 November. A third return was also dated November 13th and was signed by the County Judge, the Sheriff, and another JP (appointed by Gov. Stearns on November 10th, three days after the election). The third return showed only 2 precincts with 130 Republican and 89 Democrat votes. Without authority to do so the improperly constituted Baker County Canvassing Board had thrown out 2 precincts because the members had heard that a qualified voter was prevented from voting in one and that they had heard rumors that 7 illegal votes were cast in the other. A long argument ensued, but the Republicans, a little worried about the possible results of one of their numbers fraudulently withholding the Baker returns, agreed to record the Democrat version, giving the Democrats a slight edge in the state Governor's race. However this was too late for the national election. The first return had already been published nationally and the scales were tipped toward Republican Hayes when the presidential electors met on the 6th of December. Dade's returns, by-the-way, changed little when they came in - all eight voters went Democrat. This writer was once responsible for saying that the vote of Baker County had caused the election of Hayes. Further research has added to the belatedly acquired common sense knowledge that such a small political area would have to be but a negligible part of an over-all big picture and could not possibly change a national tide. The Republicans of 1876 revised returns and threw out 1,800 votes until they finally achieved a Republican majority for the presidential election and Baker's returns were not so necessary. However Secretary of State McLin's folly of trying to finagle returns cost his party dearly and little Baker County's returns did ease Florida back into the Democrat ranks by its tardy returns in favor of Suwannee County Businessman George Drew. Nationally, the conservative Republicans began to cotton up to the disgruntled white conservatives of the Democrat party and to shed itself of southern blacks who were becoming less dependent on the party for protection and guidance (some Republicans of that day thought they were also becoming a very expensive burden). By the late 1880's the Republicans found themselves labeled the "Lilly Whites". In the South and in Baker County the Bourbon Democrats (unreconstructed but believers in political expediency) began to court the Negroes. Baker County still had a rather strong Republican or Republican-sympathising element for several more years, strengthened by a strong immigration from northern and border states into her area in the 1880's. A few Negroes tried to hold on to their old freedmen's party and a couple ran for public office as late as the 1890's, but many were intimidated away from the polls or either were satisfied to be taken in by the Democrat's protective " Hand-out" mantle. Forgetting their sordid history of bloodshed and lawlessness after the Civil War, the Democrats kept alive the equally sordid fraud and graft history of the post-war Republicans. Successful propaganda by the Democrats during and after the Big Depression laid all the blame on the Republican Party for the nation's worst economic crisis ever and the death knell for the Republicans in Baker County, begun in a small crowded Tallahassee room in November, 1876, was probably completed. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday September 14, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Of New Jersey, Nostalgia And Downtown Revitalization - Part one On a recent trip north we stepped back into time and had a date with nostalgia. There were general stores that put us in mind of Uncle Nathan Hurst's Glen Saint Mary emporium of 40 years ago (these were genuine century-old business establishments). Dates of construction throughout the 1700's were common and if a house was built after 1825 its youth didn't warrant an historical marker. Meat was still individually cut, bread baked on the premises, and cheese sliced and weighed on scales the type we haven't seen here since WWII. Whitetail deer and Canada geese hold up traffic between the little villages. Cider is pressed while you watch and wait and the locals still cluster and eyeball strangers who enter this charming country. Where is it? A thousand miles from Baker County and but an hour drive from New York City. Would you believe Sanderson is more influenced, indirectly of course, by the "Big Apple" than tiny Schooley's Mountain, N. J.? Poor Mendham, N. J. doesn't even have a plastic and glass hamburger chain outlet dispensing cardboard and soybean hamburgers. In case the indulgent reader wonders what this "foreign country" has to do with "The Way It Was" here, its because the writer felt a warm ambiance reminding him of his youth in Baker County. He found shelves stocked with "soda crackers" instead of "saltines" and butter that tasted like butter instead of salted wax. There were grits mills in operation and a lumber mill that cut your boards to specifications. We found store clerks who actually thanked us for their patronage (see there...it isn't always true that the customer has to thank the clerk for waiting on him), and only once did we suffer the obnoxious, insincere, tape recording phrase "have a nice day" droned out of an unsmiling face. The people might have talked in a clipped manner but the pace was rural and the smile ubiquitous. Maybe it all means nothing of importance but it did take us back to the pre-McDonald's, sterile, grim-lipped world we have slipped into and have become so satisfied in. Do you remember when someone died in our county and all the county knew it within a couple of hours? And we cared? Remember when churches were Christian first and denominational second and were not fearful of holding joint services other than at Easter? Can you recall when the store keeper had to move the sleeping cat from the peanuts bin to fill your order but you felt safer with a few cat hairs than with possible traces of deadly rat poison? How about the friendly gossip sessions as the dry goods clerk measured off yard goods and the extra she threw in for good measure? For those of you kind readers who are mumbling stuff about "people who live in the past" let us hasten to say that we are not suggesting a sweeping revolution of life style or a step backward. But we do' suggest that a look at the past can give us hints as how to best live the present. Happiness shouldn't be the exclusive property of the past. We have watched folks set up beautiful little shops in our county geared to the customer and handled with down-home courtesy and then fail becaause we passed them by for the chrome and glass, TV-hoopla-ed chains out of N.Y. and Phillie. Now that we have so successfully killed those little enterprises we are working on longtime locally owned businesses and, have frightened away anybody who might have wanted to to anything in the critically ill downtown McClenny. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday September 21, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Of New Jersey, Nostalgia and Downtown Revitalization - Part Two We can pretty up downtown McClenny (it wouldn't hurt), install benches, set out a few tubs of Ilex, asphalt in a block or two of parking spaces (by all means, tear down some potentially useful old buildings to do so), and then have an attractive dead downtown with lots of empty parking spaces. Long Valley, N.J., by the way, has only one pot of red geraniums sitting in the middle of its intersection and has but two dozen parking spaces but the cars wait patiently in line for those few spaces and the downtown is always lively. People are not going to anybody's downtown to look at park benches and flowers. It's going to take an attitude change for us, not a "things" change. It is hoped the city fathers and downtown merchants clip out this paragraph and read it again in five years: We maintain that there will be no active downtown in McClenny nor renewed pride in Baker County as long as there is television addiction, money to ride out of town, lack of cooperation (and sometimes cordiality) among downtown merchants in promoting a going home-owned business sale, refusal to tap the Jacksonville dollars by not inviting its crowded residents out for weekend visits (hunting, hiking, chicken dinners), and neglect of the tourist trade. How about something other than a garage-painted plywood sign saying "Spend an Hour in Baker County-It Could Be the Most Relaxing Stop in Your Trip." A few things to ponder: did you know that Baker County is one of the very few counties in Florida minus an historical marker telling its residents and visitors about its creation? That the old Hotel Annie once carried a nationwide reputation for fried chicken and that there are still people beyond our borders who prefer the home-fried type of bird to that In a box? That Baker County is one of the few remaining counties continuing old-fashioned political rallies and that a lot of outside folks would like to visit one? That there are places to hold flea markets, dinners, and rallies other than "Regency Square West" out on south 121? That many writers still place the Battle of Olustee in Columbia County and that the majority of this county seems quite happy about it and doesn't mind missing the dollars during the weekend re-enactment in February? Baker County, you're sitting on a gold mine. It's called your heritage. You're also sitting on something else. We won't go into what it's called. We know, however, we're whistling in the wind. How can we compete with satisfaction (satisfaction and happiness are not the same things) that's sitting in the middle of a $300 a month house payments, color TV, a motor home, late model auto for each kid, annual trips to Disneyworld and to the commercialized mountains of North Carolina, and once a week whoopee time in some Jax hot spot? So what's wrong with all that? Nothing, we suppose, as long as you also like the hard lines in your faces created by the anxiety of paying for it all, the rush for the good times and luxuries we never knew in the past, and fearfully wondering when it's all going to end (and it will). We have watched your faces change in the past decade, Baker County, and it's a bit boogerish. So that we don't end on a cynical or pessimistic note we'll refer you back to the little area we encountered in N.J. in Part One. If we made the Jersey scene sound unreal and backward we certainly didn't intend to. We're pleased to report that they are civilized up there too. A few beer cans were noted in the east branch of the clear Raritan River, a squashed six-pack carton was seen on an otherwise neat country, road, a used disposable baby diaper was found in a state park, we saw some vandalized tombstones, and discovered several nice four wheel drive tracks starting gullies along once out-of-the-way and unspoiled creek banks. It's refreshing to know that, in spite of popular opinion and advertising, Redneckism is not the sole phenomenon of the South. We only wish we could warn them up there before it's too late. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday September 28, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber THE CRACKERS Plant young peach slips, Some live, some die, (Damm this dirty sand), Tote dirty young'uns, Some laugh, some cry, (Damm a miserable land)- Grub up 'meter fans, Some come, some won't, (Damm this dirty sand), Heel out 'tater vines, Some give, some don't, (Damm a miserable land)- Here come a Indian bunch, Some kill, some trade, (Damm this dirty sand), Here come the screamin' sun, Skin leathers, clothes fade, (Damm a miserable land)- Cedar headboards in the field, Some last, some rot, (Darmm this dirty sand), Traipsin' in from the fields, Some preach, others sot, (Damm a miserable land)- Use'm all, 'cept the squeal, Some pore, some fat, (Damm this dirty sand), Litters of young'uns crawlin, Some runnin', some flat, (Damm a miserable land)- Crappin' collards, frost bit, Hands sweaty, neck burned, (damm this dirty sand), Thoughts of headin' back up north, Some stayed, some turned, (Damm a miserable land)- Cuss the winds, watch for rain, Some quiet, some loud, (Damm this dirty sand), Hope to prosper, but may die, Some straight, some bowed, (We'll stay, Miserable Land)- _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday October 5, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber A Sampling Of Baker County Politics Through History Baker County politics have been turbulent, fun, funny, shocking, and sometimes embarrassing, but never dull. Gathered from various offices in our local courthouse and from the files of the Florida Times-Union, Baker County Press, and Baker County Standard, here is just a sampling of the more sane and happy elections and election business. In 1878 Baker County was permitted, by the withdrawal of the Carpetbag government, to hold its first free elections (for free white adult males, of course) since 1866 (when very few voted). Many survivors of the first election held in 1861 were returned to office but the school officials election was a bit of a shocker to most folks, Superintendent A. J. W. Cobb, and members of the Board J. M. Burnsed (chairman), Elias Wester, and W. C. Cobb were Republicans in the midst of a strongly Democrat county. However almost all trustees and teachers appointed were Democrat. Voting for courthouse removal from Sanderson to McClenny was held 92 years ago last month. The Times Union said, "No official returns have been received from Johnsville precinct, but the election for the removal of the county seat is conceded to the town of McClenny - as on the former election. They are rejoicing and firing their guns...The Canvassing board for the returns of the election of the 30th for the removal of the county seat of Baker County concluded their work today. The vote resulting in a majority for the town of Macclenny of 34 votes. There is no prospect so far of a contest. The commissioners go to McClenny by invitation to select a site for a new building.." October 2nd, 1886, the Times Union also stated, dateline Sanderson, "The adjourned Democratic Convention for Representative for Baker County held today, nominated W. A. Drake upon the fourth ballot, which was made unanimous." From the Baker County Standard of June 16th, 1922: "In a recount of the first and second choice votes at the court house Monday, Jesse Raulerson won out for commissioner from the Taylor-Baxter Districts by a majority of three votes. Raulerson's vote was 43, Lee Taylor 40, and Hugh Brown 28." In August of 1938 no candidates were directly running but several felt their offices might be at stake when the freeholders decided to build a new courthouse. The votes for bonds were 277, and 77 against. The bond issue called for $50,000 county bonds with a government grant of between 40 and 50 thousand dollars. Political notes from the Baker County Press in 1940: "Edwin G. Fraser announced that he was opening State headquarters for his campaign for State Comptroller in Macclenny this week.... Joe Dobson of Sanderson is the first candidate to announce for a high bracket office in Baker County. He is running for Clerk Circuit Court Supervisor. Wesley Moody states there are 2985 qualified voters in Baker County for the May 7, 1940 Democratic Primary divided by precincts as follows: Sanderson, 557; Olustee, 262; Macclenny 3 and 8, 1017; Taylor, 401; Glen St. Mary, 507, Baxter, 194; Manning, 47." A breakdown of Baker County voters by families in 1942 showed that the Crews clan was the largest with 86 voters, the Harveys had 80, there were 77 voting Rhodens, the Davis family had 68, 54 Combs voted, 44 of the Williames voted, the Taylors and Johns families tied with 40, 36 voting Burnseds, the Duggers had 34, and the Dormans were 23 strong. And, in August of 1922 Avery Powell sagely stated in the Baker County Standard that "nothing but a snake can make both ends meet these hard times." What does that have to do with a column about politics? Everything - think about it. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday October 19, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber More News Items From The Good Old Days In response to several requests we will once again feature the chatty news from old copies of the Baker County Standard and the Baker County Press. And then we will let the "good ol' days" rest for a while. Standard, 1922: "It is stated that the Macclenny high school will open here on the 11 th of Sept. in the two buildings where it was taught last term until the new building is completed. The corps of teachers this year will be Prof. B. J. Padgett, principal; Miss Lillian Watkins, 1st assistant (Miss Watkins, among the first stockholders of the Baker County State Bank, is now living in Green Cove Springs); Mrs. R. L. Knabb 2nd assistant; and Miss Catherine Duncan, primary...Macclenny was indeed fortunate in securing Prof. Padgett to teach the school this year as he is one of the most capable teachers in the state.. "Shelton Wells, Audrey Powers and Frank Wells motored to Olustee last Sunday for the Day... Bryant Reddish of Lawtey was attracted to Macclenny Sunday...Buy a Ford and Spend the Difference. One ton truck chassis $430 FOB Detroit." Press, 1944: "Macclenny schools cafeteria reports that they are serving over 300 meals daily at 10 cents each...More than 75 guests enjoyed a peanut boiling at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Rhoden of Taylor last Wednesday evening." Press, 1945: Macclenny's first high school football team was organized this month with Jimmy Mott, coach, and Senator Edwin G. Fraser number one booster and organizer." Press, 1933: "Sheriff Joe Jones, Jr., reports the county jail empty...Macclenny Motor Co. is advertising a Chevrolet standard six coupe for $445 FOB Flint, Mich." Press, 1943: W. C. Gilbert and family have moved to their farm home north of Margaretta to get away from the noise and bustle of the City of Macclenny. One hundred members of the Greyhound Bus Line of Jacksonville had dinner at the Hotel Annie two nights this week. The company paid for the feed...Russie Thrift lost one of his fine milk cows this week. The cow made a mistake in drinking kerosene from a bucket the boys had left in the field after using it to wash off a tractor. Russie didn't know a cow would drink kerosene - but he does now." Standard, 1923: "The following Thanksgiving program was given last Wednesday afternoon at the school by Mrs. Mildred H. Mahood and Misses Sparta and Lola Rhoden (Mrs. Mahood is currently going strong in south Florida and Mrs. Lola nee Rhoden Johnson lives in McClenny). Three Jolly Pumpkins, Helen Worley; The Rabbit Boy, J. W. Hiers; The Birth of Thanksgiving, Effie Thompson; Thanksgiving Time, Audrey Thompson; The Letter "T", Edith Rowe; and What We Learn, Rosalee Shaw.... Mrs. Georgia Wolfe has started work on her new home on College Avenue." Press, 1940: "With Attorneys B. R: Burnsed and W. C. Minger the Press reporter visited the new airplane landing field being built on the Raiford Road south of Macclenny...Tate Powell, Jr., was the speaker at the weekly luncheon of the Jacksonville Kiwanis Club in the Mayflower Hotel, as president of the Florida Press Association... Baker County's long heralded health unit will begin operation Monday, fifth, with Dr. T. W. McDonald in charge D. B. Murphree sanitarian, and Miss Olive Gause, nurse...Census figures for Baker County are 6,510 for 1940, against 6,273 in 1930. Macclenny's population is given as 771 for 1940, compared with 519 for 1930...J. J. Dowling reports coming on the carcass of a cow on Huckleberry Island that had been killed and eaten by a large bear. He said the bear had torn off the hind quarters and eaten all the meat to the bone...This is a very happy time of the year when our good farmer friends remember that even editors must eat and bring in corn, peas, okra, melons, tomatoes and other good edibles that are plentiful this time of year. Press, 1941: "In conversation with W. F. Wells, auditor for the Powers interests here we obtained some important information regarding the expansion of this industry - whose specialty is chicken dinners. Mr. Wells stated that 5,000 chicken dinners were served in the Hotel Annie dining room in 1940. Ten thousand chickens were used in the preparation of the dinners." And just to make you dream a bit, here are some grocery prices from some 1933 Press ads: 24 lbs. flour, 49 cents; potatoes 10 lbs., 14 cents; tomatoes no. 2 can, 5 cents; white bacon lb., 6 1/2 cents; whole grain rice 5 lbs., 13 cents; sliced boiled ham lbs., 23 cents; hamburger 3 lbs., 29 cents; butter lb., 25 cents; sugar 5 lbs., 23 cents. Remember these prices the next time you go grocery shopping and you can better understand why they were called "the good ol' days". _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday October 26, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Ghosts, Haints And Boogers Baker County never had the classic haunted houses and enchanted geographical areas of other parts of the South, but we are not without our share of seemingly supernatural phenomena. As the Halloween season approaches we shall present some of our ancestors' favorite spooky happenings and beings. Possibly best known is the traveling lights. Sometimes they were little more than flickering flames in the woods and fields foretelling deaths. Ocassionally they were large glows that moved across rooms and yards to signal the end of a bad experience. One aged local minister told the writer of a huge ball of fire that decended from heaven and stood before him one afternoon to warn him of impending tragedy. His young daughter died that night. The late Mrs. Thelma Combs McDonald, a devout woman not given to foolishness, often related tales of her youth involving the distant moving lights. "Not like a lantern and not like a lightening bug", they wandered down lanes and waited there for several minutes before extinguishing themselves. She said the lanes were examined in the light of morning and no fresh tracks were to be found. It has been the fashion of spook-hunters to explain away the mysterious lights with glowing fungus and marsh gas. Old timers in Baker County knew about glowing fungus and they knew fungus didn't move. And the writer has waited in vain with the skeeters for hours and many times hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous ignited or luminescent marsh gas. Two Baker County invisible hail storms separated by 2 century have been related to us, the latter by the man involved. The first took place soon after the Civil War near present McClenny. Mrs. Elizabeth Barber kept a traveler's inn and on a particularly clear winter night her one and only guest was a gentleman from the North. The children were in bed and Mrs. Barber, as was her custom, sat by the fire tending to her needle arts. Her trusty ax leaned near by. As they chatted, the evening silence was shattered by a rain of what sounded like small stones or buckshot. Mrs. Barber, ax in hand, and her guest took firebrands outside to investigate. No tracks other than theirs then nor in the cold light of morning were to be found in the vast grassless, freshly swept yard. One hundred years later a visitor to McClenny arrived at the writer's home, visibly shaken. Twice, just inside the Baker County line on I 10 his car had been pelted by what he described as small stones or large hail. Both times he had stopped and found no pellets or damage to his car. In the strong light of the following day we could find no traces of the missiles' damage nor of bugs. The visitor's fearful expression and tremulous voice were most convincing that it was all more than imagination. What 19th century Baker County child of bad behavior was not threatened with the appearance of old Raw Head and Bloody Bones? This rather loathsome spectre often manifested himself to children swimming without permission, run-aways, chore-shirkers, and other naughty deed-doers. Mrs. Molly Crews and Mrs. Georgia Jernigan were among those who claimed to have actually seen old Raw Head and Bloody Bones. Against their father's will they had slipped away to the "wash hole" on a little stream near their house on Trail Ridge. "It just riz up out of the bushes", said Mrs. Crews. "All bloody and - I don't know how Daddy done it, but it was the realest most horrible thing I ever seed." "Daddy ain't done it", countered Mrs. Jernigan, "That thing was real or I'll pay for lying." The two sisters then engaged in an argument leaving the writer to wander off in his own thoughts wondering about old Raw Head and Bloody Bones. There are many other "ghostes, haints, and boogers" in Baker County, and perhaps they are all just superstition or products of imaginative minds. But it makes life a little more interesting to try to believe that there are delightful chilly things out there in the dark that we can't quite cope with - that make the fireside seem warmer - that make mommas and daddys just a bit more secure and comforting. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday November 2, 1978 THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Notes On The Wolfe family Daniel Black Wolfe was born in 1832 in Butts County, Georgia, a son of George W. and Mary Eliza (nee Goen) Wolfe. At 18 years of age he married Nancy Jane, a daughter of Elias and Ada (nee Lewis) Bryant of Dooley County, Georgia. The young Wolfe couple lived in and near Andersonville (later the site of the Confederacy's military prison) until the summer of 1865. Mr. Wolfe was a cultured gentleman of many talents and although his main occupation has not been learned by this column it was known that he made considerable money in timber and worked with various railroads at different times. He followed the timber trail in west and south Georgia while Nancy remained at Andersonville. Everything went well for them until the deaths of their two first born children. Daniel was one of six brothers who volunteered for Confederate service, and was the only one known to have returned. The Wolfe family believed the others had simply decided to settle elsewhere after the war. When he returned home, Daniel left his devastated home and farm and moved his family to Winchester and later to Montezuma. Both little Georgia towns offered no more than Andersonville and he removed to Florida, settling in Live Oak in 1871. In late 1873 Daniel returned to Georgia for a short stay but chose to come back to Florida, living in Lake City, Baldwin and Three Mile Branch (now Jacksonville's present Willowbranch neighborhood). While in Jacksonville the Wolfes became acquainted with the Cohen brothers of later mercantile fame. The Cohen boys were not so wealthy then but were beginning to make their fortune by extending credit to the newly rich and rural Crackers alike, offering goods heretofore upknown and unavailable to Floridians, and just being plain nice folks. Besides becoming close personal friends with the Cohens, Daniel also moved among the circles of the officers of the railroad. There was a fraud scandal in the railroad in the late 1870's and in the reshuffling and reorganization, Daniel, who worked for the company at the time, received the opportunity to relocate (he was not involved in the scandal). So, In 1883, Daniel and Nancy, some of their married children, and Nancy's parents moved to a little community that everybody was talking about as being the next boom town. The real estate partnership of Coloney and Talbott and a man named McClenny were planning the community on paper, platting, naming streets, talking about opera houses, and even building a college. In fact, everybody who wanted to be somebody was moving to Darbyville. It would have been great had it not been for a yellow fever epidemic three years later. Darbyville was wiped out and all that was left was a little turpentine village called "McClenny". Nancy lost her parents in the fever and they were buried in Woodlawn in an unmarked grave. A daughter Josie died the year later with fever complications. A granddaughter Georgia Mae suffered the horrible black vomit but miraculously lived for 92 more years. The little grandaughter, like all the other members of the Wolfe family, received all the advantages and finishing possible in a little impoverished town like McClenny. She became an accomplished pianist and organist and in 1903 united with the First Baptist Church which her parents James and Georgia and her uncle J. W. Bryant had helped establish. For the next 75 years, except when hindered by poor health, Miss Mae neatly attired in black, with parasol and dainty hat, walked the two blocks to her church. When there were schisms, she attended. When the folks "got mad at the preacher", she was in church. When others left to form new churches or unite with other denominations, Miss Mae quietly went to church. She played the organ and then the piano, taught in every educational function of the church, held offices, and never wavered or faltered. When she died, only a handful, not including the writer either, attended her last function at the First Baptist Church - her funeral. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday September 1, 1977, Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Early Area Roadways Based on knowledge gathered by the U.S. Army engineers, this 1865 map contains many familiar names. In the present Baker County area and environs, note the inclusion of Gum Swamp, Cedar Creek, Ocean Pond, Olustee, Baldwin, Hog Pen Branch, and New River Swamp. Different but readily recognizable are Sanderson Station, South Branch of St. Mary's River, and the Big Bend of St. Mary's River. Some community names gave way to others - Rollinson's (Raulerson's) Ferry became Baxter; Newburg was replaced by Margaretta; South Prong Pond is now known as Palestine; Swift Creek Pond was later listed as Dobson Lake; Barber's became, successively, Williameburg, Darbyville, and McClenny. Ft. Moniac simply died out and was resurrected in the 1880's across the river in Georgia. The Old Settlers' Trail from Ft. Gilmer (Council) on the southwest of the Okefenoke to Raulerson's Ferry on the St. Mary's is now hwy 2. Ga. 185 closely follows the route of Raulerson's Ferry to Smith Bridge (about 6 miles north of McClenny). The route that ran from Baldwin to above Gum Swamp was part of the Jacksonville or Tallahassee Road (the name depended on to which you were traveling). Far to the south dipped another route known as the Lake City Road. Parts still exist and are now named Smokey Road, Glen Nursery Road, and Woodlawn Cemetery Road. The 1865 Olustee to Lake Butler Courthouse trail is presently labeled Highway 231, and was once one of the area's most heavily traveled routes. Other equally important trails, such as the military road from Raulerson's Ferry to Camp Pinkney - Centre Village - Traders Hill - (Folkston area) ceased to exist in the late 1880's. Several factors bore a direct or indirect influences on the location of the routes - dodging swamps easily fordable sites along streams, concentrations of settlement, and the convenience of earlier Indian trading and hunting trails (in turn mostly based on animal trails). Note cwm: Map omitted here. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday November 9, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WASY - Gene Barber Various Early Raulersons One of our very frequent requests is to write something on the county's very large and long-standing Raulerson family. Truth is...we just don't know much about them. We brought out our file of Raulersons and, although it is about an inch thick, we cannot get it all together to make any conclusions about that clan. Baker County's foremost and very competent genealogist Mrs. Loyce Knabb Coleman, a Raulerson descendent, once told us that there are three distinct branches here by that name. We cannot, in this column, separate them according to their branches, but we can list some of the early Raulerson pioneers. From the Federal Census of 1830 through 1860 we reconstructed the household of William Raulerson who was born in 1788 in Georgia. According to the Hon. Folks Huxford, genealogist of Georgia, William's wife was Elizabeth, a daughter of Caleb and Unity Braley Moore. She was born in 1786, in North Carolina. Some descendants say that William "Bill" and Elizabeth lived at several sites in Wayne and Brantley Counties, Georgia, before moving into the area of Ware in 1823 or 1824. Elizabeth became a member of the High Bluff Primitive Baptist Church in Brantley County in 1824 (please note that at that time, however, the Baptist Church had not separated into "Primitive" and "Regular"). About 1828 Bill and Elizabeth moved into Florida, settling near Fort Moniac. Bill operated a ferry near their farm to enable travelers to cross the frequently flooded St. Mary's River. His home site has been variously described as a one-room cabin, spacious double-pen log house, and a fortified blockhouse that sat anywhere from the present North Prong Church area northward into the edge of the Okefenokee. Known children were Frances "Fanny", born in 1809, and married James Albritton; Westberry "Wes", born in 1818, and married Elizabeth, a daughter of John Canaday. Living in Bill's household (probably children, grandchildren, or nephews and nieces) were Noel, born in 1799, and married Elender Moore; William, born about 1800; Isabelle "Hon", born in 1827, and married Jessie Johns; Elizabeth "Bet", born in 1833, and never married but had four children; and another, William, born in 1834, and married a Mary A. In 1850 a Nancy Dees, born in 1770 in Georgia, was also living with Bill and Elizabeth. Nimrod Raulerson, relationship to the above William is unknown by this column, was born in 1795 in either the Nassau or Columbia County area. He is believed to have been a son of Noel Raulerson (not to be confused with son of the aforemontioned William). In 1850 he was in that part of Columbia County which became Baker with no wife listed, but with the following children: Nancy, born 1823; Harriet, born 1831, married Samuel Crews; Michael (believed to be a misspelling of "Mitchell") born 1833; Matthew, born 1838; James, born 1847; and Martha, born 1849. Bill's son Noel (born 1799) evidently did not come to Florida with his father, but remained in Brantley County (buried in High Bluff Cemetery). Several of his children and grandchildren did move south into Baker and Columbia Counties. More on them and other Raulersons next week. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday November 16, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Various Early Raulersons - Part Two Herod Raulerson was an extraordinary man who excelled in farming, was a tough Indian fighter, and served in the Florida House of Representatives - all of which was not easy in Florida's early days. He was a son of Jacob and Mary (nee Boggs) Raulerson and was born in 1803 in Georgia. In 1826 he married Nancy, a daughter of Eudicy Gibson. Nancy was born in Wayne County, Georgia, in 1804. The Raulersons lived in Wayne County until about 1848 at which time they moved into Columbia County, Florida. Their home and farm contained 360 acres near the present Needmore on the west boundary of the Osceola National Forest. There was an important route from south Georgia into east Florida which ran by their homeplace and through Baker County's Socum Section. That road took several of the Raulerson children and grandchildren of marrying age to Baker County's established families to seek mates. Herod and Nancy's children were Emily, born 1826 and married (1) Elisha Green (2) Jeff Sistrunk; Caroline, born 1826, married James Hugh Brown; Martha, born 1829 and married George Combs; John, born 1835 and married Mary Edna Wandell; William J., born 1835, married Mrs. Mary N. Carmen, Courtney, born 1838, married William J. Williams; Mary, born 1842, married John Fraser; Samuel, born 1845 and killed by Indians at an early age; and Sarah, born 1848 and married Mott Howard. Among the many descendants of Herod Raulerson are notably the Hon. Edwin G. Fraser and the Hon. T. J. Knabb, Florida statesmen, and the Messrs. Lucious and William Knabb, financiers. Another Raulerson who remains an enigma to most researchers is Elizabeth who was born in 1810 in Georgia. She moved into the present Baker County section about 1834 or 35 with her infant daughter Sidney. After she had taken up residence in the northern area of the county she increased her family to James, born 1838, Emily born 1840; Pelestra (female), born 1842; and John, born 1845. Some Raulerson descendants believe she had other children and that she was called "Bett". After 1850 she slipped from the Baker, County scene. Westberry, called "Wes", Raulerson was a son of William and Elizabeth Moore Raulerson. He was born in 1818 in Georgia's Brantley County and married the beautiful Elizabeth Canaday, a daughter of French Huguenot descendent John Canady Their children were Martha, born and married Calvin Johns; John M., born 1845, married (1) Serene Catherine Yarborough Crews; Williams M. "Pink", 1858, married America Dinkins; West, born 1849, Mitchell, born 1846; Henry, born 1847; and Sarah, born 1848. Wes had moved with his father Bill into the North Prong vicinity about 1828 or 29 and lived in that section all his remaining life. Several of his descendants moved over into Charlton County and his clan also now numbers greatly among Baker County's population. A Jacob Raulerson, born in 1829, lived with Wes' family in the 1850's and nearby was a Nancy Raulerson, born 1825 in Georgia. Children living with her were Joney Ann, born 1852; L. (Male), born 1854; Lillie, born 1855; Frances, born 1857; and Addie, born 1865. Sincere apologies to those who have written for answers regarding local history and genealogy and have received none. Your old writer teaches an average of 55 students a week for over 30 hours, paints for a living, conducts workshops and judges art shows all over this state, writes, renovates his house, donates time each week to worthwhile organizations, and occasionally sleeps. Searching his poor filing system for any answer takes hours. Not being a genealogist complicates finding answers for questions of that sort. Hang in there - we will get a response off to you yet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday November 23, 1978 THE WAY IT WAS Gene Barber Various Early Raulersons - Part Three As a judge in a recent art show in Sebring this writer was privileged to have a very attractive Raulerson lady as his hostess. It reminded us that members of the Raulerson clan were among the first pioneers to south Florida. Many, if not all, stopped over in that part of old Columbia County which became Baker. Some who stayed and some who went follows. Russell Raulerson was born about 1875. His wife was Lydia J. Waldron. Their one offspring, which we have record of is Almira. She married James Riley Dowling. Across the line in Charlton County was Elias Raulerson who was born in 1821 in Georgia. His wife Lavinia was born in 1825. Their children were Polly, born 1846; Joseph, born 1849; and an unknown son who died young about 1859. In the Elias Raulerson household were Berry Beasley and Elizabeth Register (Thought to have been orphans) Jacob Raulerson was born in 1823 in Georgia. He and his wife Dora Ann had Ledia Ann in 1846. They moved into Baker County in their middle age and disappeared from this writer's researching. Bryant Raulerson, born in 1826 in Georgia, married a Nancy who was a native of South Carolina. They lived in Baker and Charlton Counties in the 1850's and 1860's. There were several David Raulersons in our area but three are believed to have been the same person who moved and married quite a bit. In the 1840's and early 1850's a David, born in 1826 or '28, was living with his wife Candace in the south end of the New River section (Branford County). Their child was possessed of the quaint name "Telethan". Jackson Raulerson, born in 1829, lived with them in 1850. David, remarried to Evaline, was living in Charlton County, Georgia, in 1860. Their children were Richard "Dickson", Emily, Elizabeth, Noah (or Noel), and Jacob. In 1880 David was living at Traders Hill in Charlton with his wife Mary. They had Louis, Sidney and Easter Ann. John was a popular Raulerson name and a certain John, born in 1828 in Georgia, was living in Columbia County, Florida in 1850. His wife was Esther and their daughter's name was Anny. Another John was a son of Noel and Elender. He was born in 1829 and married Levicy Roberts. Their children were Rachel Ann, Mary Ann, Syndah Ann (there are several variations of her name and she married Ben Crawford and Jim Johnson), James M., John Oliver, and Wade Hampton. Although this John lived mostly in Wayne County, his descendants are numerous in Baker County. William, born in 1828 in Wayne County, was a son of Nichabud and Lucretia (nee Franklin) Raulerson. His wife was believed to be Elizabeth Thomas. They lived near Wes Raulerson at the old Raulerson Ferry on the St. Mary's River. Their children were Emeline, James, Julia, William, Rosetta. An Elizabeth Raulerson, born in 1795, was in their household in 1870. Elizabeth 'Bet' who was born in 1835 to William and Elizabeth Raulerson moved into Baker County with her parents about 1828. She had the following children: Mary Ann, Dixon, Nancy Jane, William J., and perhaps James C., and lived near Raulerson's Ferry. When her father reprimanded her for continuing to have children out of wedlock, she is reported to have answered, "you run your ferry the way you want to and I'll run my --- the way I want to" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday November 30, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Various Early Raulersons - Part IV It has been recently suggested to this column by an emminent genealogist that a genealogist must sometimes make assumptions. Most genealogy teachers maintain that there is no room for guesses in this science. This writer knows through 27 years of researching public and private records that anything repeated by genealogists, historians, essayists, etc., unless they were witnesses to or knowledgeable participants of, can be nothing more than educated guesses and rumors. As anticipated, we received a few calls, mostly from non-Raulersons, telling us how incorrect we were in our last three articles. Please refer back to Part 1 and also understand that we were only repeating and reporting items we found in public records and from members of the Raulerson family. For, those more interested in this clan we suggest you contact Lt. Col. Mace Harris, 930 Tappan, Orange City, FL. He is thinking about compiling a book on the Raulersons but needs some response from the public before beginning the awesome task. James Raulerson, a son of Elizabeth, Sr. was born in Florida in 1830. He and his wife Lucretia Eugenia, parents of Andrew J., Robert D., Sarena, Florence and Idela (all born in Florida's Baker Co.). John M. Raulerson was born in old Columbia, County (Baker) in 1845, a son of Westberry and Elizabeth. His first wife has not been learned. She died in 1867 a week or two after the birth of their only child, James C. John's second wife was Serene Catharine Yarborough Crews. Children born to John and Serene were Elizabeth, Martha, Noah J., Mary, Owen, John, Dan, Annie, Ella, Etta, a daughter whose name this colunn has not learned, and Nancy who was a daughter of Serene before her marriage to John. John was a Confederate soldier who fought at Olustee. He moved to the Bend just before the turn of the century and lived near Moniac. Joe Raulerson was born in Georgia's Charlton County in 1847, a son of Elias and Lavinia. He married Laura Butler, an orphan from the Traders Hill section. All but two of their 16 children lived to maturity and several entered advanced age. The children were Curtis, Harlan, Elias, Louisa, Ida, Hance, Alice, Easter, Nieshi, Ola, Phoebe, Arzilla, Mary, Sarah, Virginia, and an unnamed infant. Joe was also a confederate soldier. Dixon Raulerson, a son of David, married a Nancy Jane. They lived near the present Baxter and their child was Sarah E. Living in their house in 1880 were Anna and Mary E. Lewis and Benjamin Joyner. Close by was Joney Raulerson and her family of Charley, Rodella, and Minnie. She sometimes made her home with Rebecca Crews and Rebecca's son Thomas near the Mack Raulerson farm. There are hundreds more Raulersons but we just have so little information on them that we will have,to leave them until a later date. However, one who merits some attention is James C., son of John M. His mother died soon after his birth and his father took him to Mrs. Buddy Johns' for wet nursing. His three wives were Mahaly Yarborough, Sally Crawford, and Mrs. Winnie Bowen. There were 17 children born, including John D. who served in France during World War I. He was the only private to see the signing of the Peace Treaty at Versailles. James C. built a concrete block home in the Bend costing thousands of dollars when most folks were happy with a thrown-up log cabin or a sawmill shanty. One more tale and then we'll let the Raulerson's rest for a while. Not mentioning which were involved, one of the Raulerson gentleman was visiting the girl-friend of his Raulerson cousin. They were resting in bed when the regular boyfriend knocked on the door. The lady hid her visitor under the bed. When all was quiet and dark, visitor slipped into what he thought were his britches. By mistake, he had put on the regular boyfriend's pants. He sneaked out thinking he was safe. Next day, the regular boyfriend caught him regarding the incident. "Give me back my britches and stay the hell away from my woman!" _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday December 7, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Wedding Customs In 1907 We are grateful to Mr. and Mrs. E. B. Godwin of Gainesville for the following item from The Baker County Standard of January, 1908. Although the writer tries to avoid too many mentions of his own family, this reported incident of an old-fashioned charivari in honor of his great uncle and great aunt is too good to not share. "Turkey Creek Item's" "For some months past it has been noticed that the book-keeper of the Barber-Frink Co., has found it necessary to very promptly get the afternoon mail, often necessitating a special trip to Macclenny. And, latterly, it has also been quite evident that he had important business in Alachua County, which called for several trips, usually on Saturdays." "This was all explained by this last trip to Alachua, whence he went on Friday, December 20th, and from whence he returned Sunday, December 21st. For, to the surprise (?) of some of his friends Mr. J. Edward Barber had taken unto himself a wife." "Mr. J. Edward Barber and Miss Winona Godwin were united in Holy wedlock on Sunday, December 21 st, by Rev. D. C. Andruss at Hawthorne." "The bride is one of Alachua's charming young belles, and also quite well and favorably known in society in Baker County, and the groom is one of the prominent young business men of Macclenny." "Only a few of the close relatives of the bride and groom were in attendance, but notwithstanding this there were a number of nice presents. Among them might be mentioned three sets of solid silver teaspoons, a butter knife, a sugar spoon, one set of tablespoons, a silver tea set, salad and berry spoons, a set of pearl-handled knives and forks, a beautiful fruit bowl, a water set, a carving set with stag handles, a finely embroidered bureau scarf and a center piece, also towels and handkerchiefs, and a handsome vase, and, last, but by no means least, the time-pieces - two beautiful clocks, and a couple of elegant Ingersoll Dollar watches. Accompanying these watches was a large placard bearing the following verses: "Here's to the new made Bride and Groom; May their wedded life always be free from gloom, and every form of strife. On the seas of life, encounter no squalls; A good long course may they run, and measure time by their Ingersolls: These two, now made into one. And sometime right about Christmastide, they can expect a charivari long and loud, to break the slumbers of the Groom and Bride, by serenaders from the Turkey Creek Crowd." "And, last Tuesday night, December 31 st, the serenade promised in the verses duly arrived. The bride and groom had made ample preparations for the serenade on several different occasions and as it did not happen they had given it up as a false alarm. But, to anyone within a couple of miles last Tuesday night, who does not die when they sleep, it was very apparent that the promised serenade had arrived - there were about a dozen of the serenaders, with shotguns, revolvers, old plows, bells and a horn, all of which were vigorously used. But, the groom, if you please, had to be shaken during the serenade to waken him. However, the bride and groom finally appeared and served refreshments of a liquid character, which were very much enjoyed by the serenaders." And, by the way, the Turkey Creek boys opened wide the large patent iron gate near the office, thus leaving the road open for rough-riders should any come hurriedly. "Here's to the Bride and Groom - May they live long and happily together." To which we may add 71 years later they did live long and, to our knowledge, very happily. It all seems terribly outdated and disgustingly romantic, but we believe it beats the heck out of a $1500 ceremony, trip to Disney World, and divorce two years later. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday December 14, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Old Fashioned Christmas Thoughts As jingle bells are more and more lost in the plastic clicking of charge cards and the spirit of Christmas continues to degenerate into shouting matches in department stores, it behooves us to look backward to when this season was a little easier to handle. To some folks Christmas was a simple thing in the past. "I got an orange, some penny candy, and a cheap toy" said one gentleman. "I ate the candy, threw the Orange at my sister, broke the toy, got my bottom whipped, and Christmas was over by 9 o'clock that morning." "Christmas used to not come around but every two or three years", claimed another of our older citizens. "Now", he grinned, "it seems to be here every month or so since I'm on the paying end." Santa Claus (known to lots of Crackers as "Santy") was around in Baker County in the 1880's but relatively unknown here during the Civil War, making us believe that he might have been a Yankee introduction. The "better sort of white folks" usually exchanged gifts before old Santy entered the picture. The Crackers were satisfied with acquiring a little fresh fruit and store-bought sweets. The Blacks were quite happy with being free from labor on Christmas Day. Boozing it up on Christmas is not a modern addition to the holiday season. Baker Countians, rich, poor, all colors, and all faiths (even Baptist and Methodists) partook liberally of spiritous liquors from Christmas through New Years. Crude fireworks and shotgun discharging were common and was a holdover tradition from our old pagan days of frightening away bad spirits while we imbibed of good spirits so that the New Year would start off right. The writer remembers many folks who now pass out at the mere suggestion that they even smell a little communion wine but who used to stir up a mean batch of eggnog laced heartily with homemade shine. "At Christmas", they often explained away, "it's alright." Christmas trees were used throughout the South during the 19th century but gained popularity in Baker County, to the best of our research knowledge, after the Civil War. The tree was not put up the day after Thanksgiving as it is now. Instead, and even into the years of Depression, that task was left to Santy. Along with his other chores he had to also take time at each house on Christmas eve to decorate (Crackers never "trimmed") the tree. We have, among our collected history items, Christmas cards dating from the turn of the century, proving Baker Countians exchanged that form of holiday greetings at least 80 years ago. All show evidences of individual hand work and very few exhibit the now familiar Christmas colors of red and green. Some Baker Countians know of a legendary frightening personage who was the opposite of Santa Claus and he was called "Santy Bogus". Old Santy Bogus delivered to naughty chlidren, a bundle of switches being his favorite gift to them. Santy Claus eventually took over the entire job and Santy Bogus has been almost forgotten except as a standard for a wild and tacky appearance. Now, even Santy Claus has quit delivering switches (bad for personality development) and spends his time rewarding all children, good and bad, with Star Wars robots, remote control autos, mopeds, Farah Fawcett dolls and all the other items no kid should grow up without. A lady stopped by this week saying, "Whew, I know I must look like Santy Bogus. Christmas wears me out. Everything is so high. I don't know what we're going to do if something isn't done about this high cost of living." As she dragged back into her station wagon loaded with discount store goodies and drove out of sight, I wished her a Merry Christmas and an inflated-economy good night. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday December 21, 1978 Page Two THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barber Sharing A Few Choice Christmas Memories Of Home Although, Dear Reader, your writer does not consider himself old, he must admit he did come along at the tail-end of what are remembered by many folks as "the good ol' days". During the holiday season this column is going to get very personal and relate some Christmas memories. Read and remember with us. I remember when McClenny had 4 strings of colored lights across US 90 - one at each city limit cattle gap and two criss-crossed at our one traffic light... Mrs. Day's all-blue-light tree in the Suwannee Store window.... Mrs. Mae Powers' outside lights being among the first in town... hampers of almonds and brazil nuts in Uncle Ira Walker's and Mr. L. W. Dykes' stores... overall-clad embarrassed gentlemen in the dry goods section of the Cash Store buying dainty things for their wives...the clerks in Mrs. A. P. Holt's shop gift-wrapping FOR FREE, and, doing it cheerily...the town marshal racing from one end of the city to the other chasing firecrackers-using kids...free movies at Mr. Chessman's picture show...the Lions Club fruit and candy handouts. I remember making Christmas cards in Sunday School for, "the boys overseas" and wondering,if my only purpose in growing up was to be fed into the millhopper of war...the handmade Christmas cards from my fellow second graders under the supervision of Miss Lola Rhoden when I was hospitalized...screaming "Away in a Manger" with the other 5th graders to drown out the competition across the hall...Mr. Thomas collecting our pennies (believe it or not - pennies) each year to decorate the school tree in the "low-building"....Miss Fay's Christmas pageants and the year I was a little star and the beautiful Voncile Dopson was the moon... being amazed that Miss Jeeter knew more carols than the five we had been reared with...room mother parties...the year somebody siced a dog on us when we were strolling the streets a caroling. I remember Pop finding the most wondrous things for Christmas - white and black raisins Still in clumps on the stem and little candies with American flags inside...my grandfather bringing home oversized lollipops, whole stalks of bananas, and real coconuts...Grandmother Barber decorating with red-berried smilax and making gumdrop trees with branches of trifoliata...tree lights in the shapes of Little Orphan Annie, Sandy, and little houses...ropes of blown glass beads around the tree and stacks of sparklers...becoming emotionally attached to the turkey being kept for fattening and being unable to eat a slice of him on Christmas day. I remember that before needy folks were buying frozen eclairs with food stamps we had "drives" and brought cans of food and toys to several locations for distribution in baskets to the poor and that I was the only nut who included coloring books and crayons in my sacks of beans...Aunt Lee Knabb spending fortunes for books and toys for poor kids and Mrs. Ida Knabb delivering loads of food and clothing under cover of darkness so that her right hand wouldn't know what her left hand was doing...my first lessons in charity when my grandfather said, "Let's go to McClenny and buy some stuff for ol' ----'s younguns. He's out of work and sick and they ain't going to have Christmas"...my first lessons in humility when Grandma Chesser advised, "you younguns enjoy and appreciate this Christmas. There's a lot of younguns out there who don't even have enough to eat." I remember the Church Christmas tree programs, when Santa sounded marvelously like our Sunday School superintendent ... attending services at the Baptist Church, rushing over to listen to the Methodist music program, and making it to mass at our new St. Mary's and thinking, "we must all be doing something right because I feel the same response inside." I remember the Turkey Creek Christmas parties when my tee-totaling mother discovered champagne and rode a bicycle through the place...when my good friend "Miss Lou" Randolph sang Silent Night for us and there was hardly a dry eye in the house...Uncle Clem Fraser handing me a bill and saying, "feed ol' ----- over there and tell him Santa done it," and spying a politician or rich man in the crowd, "and buy ol' ----- a cup of coffee out of the change and tell him it's from Scrooge." And I remember, just last week, when I found three strangers digging a cedar tree in my back yard. They became very indignant when I suggested that they change their bumper stickers from "Praise the Lord and honk if you love Jesus " to " Praise the Lord and steal a Christmas tree if you love Jesus." Some folks lose their sense of humor during the holidays. That's THE WAY IT WAS among my own personal Christmases. I hope yours were as good and will be even "gooder" this year. _____________________________________________________________________________ THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS, Thursday December 28, 1978 THE WAY IT WAS - Gene Barbar The Twelve Days Of Christmas And Cracker Folk What we know as Christmas was to our Baker County ancestors but one of the multiple days of Christmas. In spite of their anti-Pope, reformation attitudes, most older conservative heads, even as late as the turn of the century, fondly remembered the 12th day, or Old Christmas. Advent, Epiphany, and other church terms meant little or nothing to fundamentalist Crackers but the 12 day period lifted out of the pagan mid-winter practices of our northern European forebears of 15 hundred years ago (only about 23 overlapping lives back) were still clung to. Our pre-Christian ancestors in the deep woods of present Germany, France, Scandanavia, and the British Isles were familiar with astronomy and they knew the year, as measured by our trip around the sun and the attendent seasons, was about over at some point in mid winter. With drunken, joyous, and noisy celebrations (not unlike Baker County celebrations of the past) the old year was booted out and the new one welcomed in with a feast of roasted or boiled boars head (today's hog jowls-rhymes with "bowls") and stored vegetable roots and fruits (notice the similarity to our dried black-eyed peas.) Honeyed sweets were a necessity as well as a treat in the harsh cold climate. Magical mistletoe was brought in to spark up certain physical desires and practices (necessary and nice but not to be printed in a family newspaper.) The twelve day mid-winter period was not all mirth and merriment. The more agrarian-minded among our ancestors transplanted choice fruit trees from the wilds to their homesites. They knew the sap was at its lowest and slowest and the young trees chances of survival were better. Later on, our Christian ancestors could not help attaching a bit of superstition to the process, believing the 12 Days of Christmas gave success to almost every venture. Some Baker Countians still do much of their tree transplanting on Old Christmas (January 6th). After all, it does represent largesse, fruitfulness, giving and generosity as practiced by the Three Wise Men when they found the infant Jesus in Bethlehem twelve days, as many believe, after his birth. And on the subject of the visit of, and recognition by, the Wise Men (themselves representing millennia-old magic and astrology studies), we should remember an old legend born among our early Christian ancestors - the paying of homage to the God, King, and Son of Man Jesus by even the animals. How many Cracker young ones, in childlike faith, have secreted themselves in barns and feed lots hoping to see the cows and horses kneel at midnight? During this writer's youth he remembers that few would take down the family Christmas until after New Year's Day for fear of ill fortune in the year ahead. Some even retained a certain wreath or other green decoration until the 6th of January. We've also heard from old-timers that some of our past generations never exchanged gifts or had their big Christmas dinner until Old Christmas. Others never let Old Christmas pass without tying up all loose ends of business, preparing potatoes for February planting, shelling seed peanuts, gathering a fresh supply of firewood to last the remainder of the winter and making amends to those they had wronged during the past year. Hardly anybody wanted to be caught doing something on New Year's Day he would not want to have to do all the coming year. And the most rational, non-superstitious soul would not dare neglect eating the Cracker traditional New Year's Day meal of hog Jowls, black-eyed peas, and rice to insure joy, peace and riches for the next 365 days. 1978 was a great year for Baker County. It has also been one of our most tragic. We've had more than our share of young deaths, slanderous politics, maltreatment of hungry and sick animals, and a bumper crop of trash along our highways and in our woods. But Baker County has suffered like years (some perhaps a bit worse) and is still existing. Perhaps if we can continue to utilize our beautiful combination of Cracker acceptance and optimism, Yankee ingenuity and industry and Black patience and soul we'll make it through 1979 and maybe even pick up a little extra desire to improve. Happy, peaceful, prosperous and secure New Year.