Family History of the Jolly's
Found on Rootsweb:
"In a conversation with Evelyn [Jolly] Ingram, a granddaughter of App, she told of how a group traveled to Florida. There were more than just App and Rhoda in the group. Evelyn said, 'The women and very small children drove the buggy. The men drove the wagons carrying the household goods and farm equipment. Some of the men and boys drove the herd of horses. At night, they would camp wherever they were."
"Jane Williams wrote: 'William James, Margaret Elizabeth, Marshall and Charles Franklin were born to Absalom and Rhoda while they lived in Nichols, South Carolina. Anyway they loaded the children and their meager possessions on an oxcart and came to the Orange Heights district in Alachua County. It was said the trek took about three months, as the trip was hazardous and App, as he was called, being a shoemaker by trade could ply his trade along the way to make some money. He must have had good advise, as the section they homesteaded was choise property. Some of the best in that part of the state."
"The children had the fair skin, very light complexioned, blue eyes and golden red hair, except Marshall. Children born to the couple in the log cabin constructed on the land were Louisa, Mary, Andrew, Martha Susan, Amanda, George Washington, and Lillian. The two latter children died as infants."
"The Jolly house is still standing, the old place is East of Orange Heights. This is not the orginal log cabin but a two-story frame built before the turn of the century. Buried in the family plot in the Melrose Cemetery are: Absalom, Rhoda, Mary Jolly. Rhoda died August 24, 1910 and Absalom died on October 13. 1918. He and Mary were lving in Ocala then. App and Rhoda belonged to the Methodist Church and App was instrumental in building the Orange Heights church. It was a spacious and attractive building and at one time boasted a large congregation. I think Frank and my father probably, at least, helped to build it. I know my father built the schoolhouse and the architecture was very much the same. App always supported whatever preacher they had and he was almost always a guest at his house for Sunday dinner."
"The dinner table at Grandpa's was at least twelve feet long, there were a dozen hide bottom chairs and a bench the length of the table on the side next to the wall. There was always a crowd on Sunday and the children ate at the second setting so the grown ups could eat in peace. Grandpa allowed no chatter among children t the table. Gigglers were sent outside to calm down."
"Grandma had lots of old time flowers, periwinkles, four o'clocks, etc. Some of we kids were allowed to pick the four o'clock bloom and make chains but left roses and the other plants alone. I never knew Amanda but heard some one describe as her hair being very straight and honey colored. The others and App's hair was quite curly."
"App was always taking in people to help those who were in trouble. I know my parents were living in the family home when my brother Robert and brother Charles were both born. I think all six of Rhoda's daughters returned to their mother's home to have their babies, at least the first two or so births. App's orange grove survived the 1894 freeze to some extent, the grove was completely lost about 1912 or so. This was shortly before he died. He was lively and alert until the end, cutting wood for the kitchen a few days before. He died from stomach cancer they thought."
"One interesting story about Grandpa, he was so very generous, especially to the preachers who preached in Melrose and Orange Heights, Methodist. One preacher Rev. Jones, living in Melrose had borrowed $200.00 from Grandpa and never paid it back. Years later the man was holding a revival meeting in Dunellen and Long Goodyear met him. (Lang was Louisa's son). He knew about the debt and confronted Preacher Jones, telling him to fork over the $200.00 or he would get up in the next meeting and tell all. Grandpa got his $200.00 at the next mail."
"Rhoda and App raised the family with the highest moral standards. It built over into later generations. All ofdescendants had faults I am sure, but dishonestry or trickery was never tolerated. Families were much in evidence while they lived at the home place near Orange Heights. The dining table must have been 12 feet long, a long bench next to the wall where children sat and about twelve adults could be seated at one time. Often on Sundays the children waited until the adults finished as there was not room to serve everybody at one time. As a small child I was glad to wait as the second table was not so sedate and we could be a bit more relaxed."
"I think I may be able to clear up the mystery about the child Rhoda listed on the census. In checking on the dates and ages of Martha and Mary, I think she was the one my mother remembered as Lillian. Knowing how grandma hated her own name, the child was probably named Rhoda Lillian. I was named for my two grandmothers Rhoda Jane and she made my parents promise not to call me Rhoda. Grandpa called her 'Rhody' and she despised the name. I don't think she had a middle name [it was Jane]. My mother could remember Lillian as a baby who was deficient in some way, never able to sit up or talk. Died very young. Then the other infant that died was named George Washington. I have no idea where either baby was buried, probably somewhere onthe homestead. Older family members are interred in the Melrose Cemetery. The last reunion we had I took many of the cousins and progeny to visit those graves. Also the Waldo Cemetery where my parents are buried as are your grandparents."
"App's orange grove survived the freeze to some extent, the grove was completely lost about 1912 or so. The pecan grove that is there on the property now was planted by the Parrish Family that I mention in my earlier letter. When Dr. Curtis obtained his property there were some native trees one of which was a very nice thin-shelled nut of excellent quality. He began grafting buds from that tree on seedling stock and developed the strain now known as Curtis Nuts, my special favorite by the way. He taught a Negro man, son of a slave named Elias Bellamy the art of grafting and the Curtis Nut was cultivated all over the region. I remember Bellamy quite well he was about half white and a very fine gentleman. His fore bearers had been slaves of the wealthy Bellamy family of Earleton."
"A letter from my mother, Ella Belle, to my sister gives insight into their life in Waldo during the early Nineteenth Century. It was dated February 11, 1959 and after personal comments: "When I was in my teens I always had a Sunday School Class and since I always lived in the same small town, I knew the parents, children and even the grandparents (who had watched me grow up). My own Grandparents had lived there and I had many relatives. One Uncle was the Doctor, another the druggist, cousins were railroad conductor's, and etc. Everybody was like one big family. My cradle roll Sunday School teacher, Carrie Wilkerson, was also my Mother's first Sunday School Teacher and also yours and Dorris'. I later became Primary Superintendent of the Sunday School, worked my way through the Jr. League of the Methodist Church (now called the Methodist Youth Fellowship M.Y.F.) and became the Superintendent. I also played the Church Organ and later the Piano."
"The entire Community would have picnics, etc. and with other Communities. The Town was quite different before the Seaboard Railway Shops moved away. That is where most of the population earned their livelihood. Then the people of working age and their families moved away. Mother was always trying to get Dad to move to Jacksonville where we could have more educational and financial advantages but he owned quite a bit of land and property which he could use to advantage but could not sell to an advantage."
"He was a good farmer and contractor and builder but was forty years old when he married and with a almost free for widows and orphans that he knew and he always kept a lot of work that the family could help with. "On rainy days, he stayed home and we would shell corn for the chickens and other odd jobs. He and the boys raised field corn and other crops, kept a good garden, pigs, chickens, cows, a horse, fruit and nut trees and he could build his own furniture and houses without restriction, cut down his own trees, racked his own wood -- so we did not have rent to pay, no fuel to buy, or many groceries."
"He provided ways for the boys to earn their own money. Except for the regular chores, he would pay them for hoeing, plowing, gathering crops, and etc., the same price as an outsider. They could do the work or he would hire someone else but he only provide the necessities and if they wanted better clothes etc. they could earn them -- which they did willingly. Chet was always earning money on the outside for he liked to run errands and do selling. He was always lucky at selling out his peaches, parched or boiled peanuts, grapes, etc. at the train and would run home for another basket full. We would watch for him and start filling bags and met him. When we had the railroad shops and a good railroad restaurant, the passenger trains would stop for at least fifteen or twenty minutes for fuel and water and longer if the passengers were in the restaurant."
"Dad also repaired our shoes and so many things. We polished and shined them ourselves. In the City and especially as he was growing older, I guess, he would have had more competition and with everything to buy and rent to pay out of his salary alone ($3.00 per day was tops for a ten or twelve hour day). We might not have fared so well. Also our Doctor and drug bills were small. We always knew the dentist, too, and there was a lot of bartering in those days and we had chickens, eggs, etc. to take to the store in exchange for goods."
"Also, when I was eighteen, I joined my mother's lodge. The Pythian Sisters Crescent Temple No. 1 (the first one in the state of Florida.) which turned over its membership to Gainesville in later years and now Gainesville has the honor of being "No. 1". My mother was a charter member. We could not have a meeting without a quorum (a certain number of members present). The members who could get over to the meeting in Gainesville remained members. The others were finally let out for non-payment of dues."
"Of course, my father was a Knight of Phythias and both of us had joined "on him". He also belonged to the Masons and other lodges. Chet, Gordon, and both grandfathers are and were Masons with upper degrees -- one was a Shriner."
"Neglected to say, I think, that when the seaboard railroad shops were moved, most of the working population and their families moved away. There was no way left in Waldo to earn a good living or hardly a scant one. Bert and Chet both left home at fourteen and Gordon worked in New York and New Jersey some until he got on the railroad (before he was twenty-one which was supposed to be the minimum age). But people did not have to show their birth certificate then. He has his age straighten out now."
"People moved away who could, forty years ago or more. About the only ones who remained were property and landowners whose reimbursement was to use it themselves. In recent years retirees from other states seek small towns like that where people are friendly and they can take part in community life, buy property cheaply, own a car and go to Gainesville and Starke to shop. Pensions don't go far nowadays. The higher cost of living absorbs it so quickly. There they don't have high rents or zone restrictions and can own chickens, animals or have a garden, trees, flowers, etc. of their own and are near a good highway. It is a quiet enough place. There is no attraction there for robbers or prowlers etc. I know few people there anymore except the oldsters who are dying out fast, the ones in the P.O. and at the depot."
"Those jobs and businesses have been passed down to any relatives or friends who want them....I went to school with Merl DeSha and his wife. He is the agent at the depot. I know the operators there and the ladies in the Post office. One is my Mother's neighbor. My cousin, Robert Schenck's children and his wife's relatives (DeSha's) own most of the stores, restaurants, filling station, and etc."
"Most of my closer relatives left there long ago. Gordon's headquarters when he was single was there. Later he went to the shops in Jacksonville and in Miami. Louise Raulerson, Mother's cousin, teaches and Louise owns two or three homes there. She was Marcia's first grade teacher. My folks don't own any property there except Mother's home and that will go to the state at her death because she gets a small income from them (Welfare Department)."
"Dad had no Social Security. It has only been in effect since 1937 and he died in 1933. She has a good burial insurance. Chester has always been good to give her money all his life. Evelyn and Ott did things for her a few years and she lived with me. You see, Dad has been dead over twenty five years and she is now eighty five and..."
This was about the most my Mother ever told us about our family history. I remember a barn that was on the left side of the house in the back yard and as small as children, my sister and I would climb up on the barn roof to look for ripe bananas on the big banana trees that grew right beside it. The limbs would hang over so we could reach them. Of course, this was done when no one would see us as it was dangerous and we were not allowed to climb on high places. The roof was tin, and could be slick at times, as I remember. There was a several large banana trees growing at the back corner.
An excerpt from a letter by Rhoda Jane Williams, "There is a factory here [Jacksonville] that distills the pine oil from pine stumps. The stumps come in by the flat carload. The oil comes from the heart pine and is very aromatic. This factory makes all sorts of things from these oils, perfume, flavoring, etc. They claim that every organic element known can be derived from the pine roots. I remember Uncle Frank telling how he made pine oil by steaming heart pine to supply the family with the oil for use in home remedies." Her "Uncle Frank" was my grandfather.
My Grandfather many times, would take my sister and I with him to a crib house on some land a short distance from the family home. Grandfather owned several acres and grew food for the us to supplement his income. We helped him shuck and shell corn or would just play in the crib house while he worked. He seemed happiest there. I remember evenings by the fireplace and Grandfather reciting a long poem about a man in a black long-tailed coat. I must have been about three or four yeas old as I remember my sister being in a bassinet by the fire. I remember Grandpa Jolly with great affection, I always knew he loved us. He was a kind and gentle man.
The family home was originally owned by Rudolph Lanser, described in the deed as a single man. He must have been related in some way to Katie Harris, Hattie Jolly's stepmother. He died in Waldo and willed his house in January 14, 1914 to Katie Harris. Orville and Katie lived in Wisconsin, but they may have used the house as a summer home for awhile, When they stopped coming down, they had no need for the house, so Katie deeded the property to grandmother Jolly on July 30, 1926. Grandmother and grandfather lived in the house the rest of their lives. My sister and I were born there.
On March 6, 1961, Hattie deeded it to her son, Gordon Jolly, with a life estate for herself, so she could live there until she died and the house would stay in the family. Gordon deeded the house to his sister, Ella Belle Bonciday on March 6, 1961. She lived in it until she was unable to live alone and went to Texas with her daughter. Then the house was sold to someone outside the family. On the following pages are pictures (picture are not included) of the deeds and description of the land plot in Waldo where the house was built and shows the house as it passed from Mr. Lancer to Katie, from Katie Harris to Hattie Jolly, from Hattie to her son, Gordon from Gordon to Ella Belle.
Mr. Lancer had the swamp drained and built this house, on what date is not known to the writer. The porch was closed in later, sometime after Dorris and Marcia were born and this is how it looked until the porch was closed in and day it went out of the family. These I thought it might be of interest to some members of the family and also serve as a permanent record. The deed from Rudolph Lancer to Katie Harris was signed January 10, 1914. That was when the world was a quiet and peaceful place to live but about six or seven months later the whole earth would be engulfed in World War I.
The deed from Katie Harris to Hattie Jolly was dated July 30, 1926. It is not known how long Orville and Katie used the house but Frank and Hattie were living in it before 1924 as I was born there on January 18, 1924. They may have rented it for several years before it was deeded to her.
They lived there for seven years before Frank died on February 22, 1933. It is good that they had a home with no rent to pay as these years were very difficult. A great depression covered America. Many men were out of work, moving here and there in search of just a meager living and most not finding that. So to have a home free and clear, land to grow food to eat gave the Jolly family a better living than most. Frank was a carpenter but work during those years was almost nonexistent. Frank was born before the Civil War and was privileged to see a little of the Old South way of life and what it was like to be a pioneer in a growing land. He was about fifteen or sixteen when the Civil War started. He lived through not only the Civil War but also through the First World War. He died from complications of diabetes and is buried in the Waldo Cemetery.
Grandfather died sixty-three years ago but I can still remember it as clear as if it were yesterday. I can see the coffin in the living room, in the opposite corner from the door. I was nine years old and I loved him so much, he was the first loved one I had lost in death and it was a traumatic experience for me.
After his death, it must have been most comforting to Hattie to have the security of a home, free and clear, to live in. Her sons helped her through these bad years of depression until the Second World War started in December 7, 1941 by which time she had received a small pension. Her son, Bert, moved to Waldo to take care of his mother during the last two years of her life. Hattie lived twenty-eight years after Frank's death and died in March 2, 1961 in a nursing home in Starke, a few miles from Waldo. She is buried beside Frank in Waldo Cemetery."
LCrompton6615
LCrompton6615 originally shared this to Crompton Family Tree 22 May 2009 story
ABOVE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY:Find A Grave contributor Charlotte Ann Price
Found on Rootsweb:
"In a conversation with Evelyn [Jolly] Ingram, a granddaughter of App, she told of how a group traveled to Florida. There were more than just App and Rhoda in the group. Evelyn said, 'The women and very small children drove the buggy. The men drove the wagons carrying the household goods and farm equipment. Some of the men and boys drove the herd of horses. At night, they would camp wherever they were."
"Jane Williams wrote: 'William James, Margaret Elizabeth, Marshall and Charles Franklin were born to Absalom and Rhoda while they lived in Nichols, South Carolina. Anyway they loaded the children and their meager possessions on an oxcart and came to the Orange Heights district in Alachua County. It was said the trek took about three months, as the trip was hazardous and App, as he was called, being a shoemaker by trade could ply his trade along the way to make some money. He must have had good advise, as the section they homesteaded was choise property. Some of the best in that part of the state."
"The children had the fair skin, very light complexioned, blue eyes and golden red hair, except Marshall. Children born to the couple in the log cabin constructed on the land were Louisa, Mary, Andrew, Martha Susan, Amanda, George Washington, and Lillian. The two latter children died as infants."
"The Jolly house is still standing, the old place is East of Orange Heights. This is not the orginal log cabin but a two-story frame built before the turn of the century. Buried in the family plot in the Melrose Cemetery are: Absalom, Rhoda, Mary Jolly. Rhoda died August 24, 1910 and Absalom died on October 13. 1918. He and Mary were lving in Ocala then. App and Rhoda belonged to the Methodist Church and App was instrumental in building the Orange Heights church. It was a spacious and attractive building and at one time boasted a large congregation. I think Frank and my father probably, at least, helped to build it. I know my father built the schoolhouse and the architecture was very much the same. App always supported whatever preacher they had and he was almost always a guest at his house for Sunday dinner."
"The dinner table at Grandpa's was at least twelve feet long, there were a dozen hide bottom chairs and a bench the length of the table on the side next to the wall. There was always a crowd on Sunday and the children ate at the second setting so the grown ups could eat in peace. Grandpa allowed no chatter among children t the table. Gigglers were sent outside to calm down."
"Grandma had lots of old time flowers, periwinkles, four o'clocks, etc. Some of we kids were allowed to pick the four o'clock bloom and make chains but left roses and the other plants alone. I never knew Amanda but heard some one describe as her hair being very straight and honey colored. The others and App's hair was quite curly."
"App was always taking in people to help those who were in trouble. I know my parents were living in the family home when my brother Robert and brother Charles were both born. I think all six of Rhoda's daughters returned to their mother's home to have their babies, at least the first two or so births. App's orange grove survived the 1894 freeze to some extent, the grove was completely lost about 1912 or so. This was shortly before he died. He was lively and alert until the end, cutting wood for the kitchen a few days before. He died from stomach cancer they thought."
"One interesting story about Grandpa, he was so very generous, especially to the preachers who preached in Melrose and Orange Heights, Methodist. One preacher Rev. Jones, living in Melrose had borrowed $200.00 from Grandpa and never paid it back. Years later the man was holding a revival meeting in Dunellen and Long Goodyear met him. (Lang was Louisa's son). He knew about the debt and confronted Preacher Jones, telling him to fork over the $200.00 or he would get up in the next meeting and tell all. Grandpa got his $200.00 at the next mail."
"Rhoda and App raised the family with the highest moral standards. It built over into later generations. All ofdescendants had faults I am sure, but dishonestry or trickery was never tolerated. Families were much in evidence while they lived at the home place near Orange Heights. The dining table must have been 12 feet long, a long bench next to the wall where children sat and about twelve adults could be seated at one time. Often on Sundays the children waited until the adults finished as there was not room to serve everybody at one time. As a small child I was glad to wait as the second table was not so sedate and we could be a bit more relaxed."
"I think I may be able to clear up the mystery about the child Rhoda listed on the census. In checking on the dates and ages of Martha and Mary, I think she was the one my mother remembered as Lillian. Knowing how grandma hated her own name, the child was probably named Rhoda Lillian. I was named for my two grandmothers Rhoda Jane and she made my parents promise not to call me Rhoda. Grandpa called her 'Rhody' and she despised the name. I don't think she had a middle name [it was Jane]. My mother could remember Lillian as a baby who was deficient in some way, never able to sit up or talk. Died very young. Then the other infant that died was named George Washington. I have no idea where either baby was buried, probably somewhere onthe homestead. Older family members are interred in the Melrose Cemetery. The last reunion we had I took many of the cousins and progeny to visit those graves. Also the Waldo Cemetery where my parents are buried as are your grandparents."
"App's orange grove survived the freeze to some extent, the grove was completely lost about 1912 or so. The pecan grove that is there on the property now was planted by the Parrish Family that I mention in my earlier letter. When Dr. Curtis obtained his property there were some native trees one of which was a very nice thin-shelled nut of excellent quality. He began grafting buds from that tree on seedling stock and developed the strain now known as Curtis Nuts, my special favorite by the way. He taught a Negro man, son of a slave named Elias Bellamy the art of grafting and the Curtis Nut was cultivated all over the region. I remember Bellamy quite well he was about half white and a very fine gentleman. His fore bearers had been slaves of the wealthy Bellamy family of Earleton."
"A letter from my mother, Ella Belle, to my sister gives insight into their life in Waldo during the early Nineteenth Century. It was dated February 11, 1959 and after personal comments: "When I was in my teens I always had a Sunday School Class and since I always lived in the same small town, I knew the parents, children and even the grandparents (who had watched me grow up). My own Grandparents had lived there and I had many relatives. One Uncle was the Doctor, another the druggist, cousins were railroad conductor's, and etc. Everybody was like one big family. My cradle roll Sunday School teacher, Carrie Wilkerson, was also my Mother's first Sunday School Teacher and also yours and Dorris'. I later became Primary Superintendent of the Sunday School, worked my way through the Jr. League of the Methodist Church (now called the Methodist Youth Fellowship M.Y.F.) and became the Superintendent. I also played the Church Organ and later the Piano."
"The entire Community would have picnics, etc. and with other Communities. The Town was quite different before the Seaboard Railway Shops moved away. That is where most of the population earned their livelihood. Then the people of working age and their families moved away. Mother was always trying to get Dad to move to Jacksonville where we could have more educational and financial advantages but he owned quite a bit of land and property which he could use to advantage but could not sell to an advantage."
"He was a good farmer and contractor and builder but was forty years old when he married and with a almost free for widows and orphans that he knew and he always kept a lot of work that the family could help with. "On rainy days, he stayed home and we would shell corn for the chickens and other odd jobs. He and the boys raised field corn and other crops, kept a good garden, pigs, chickens, cows, a horse, fruit and nut trees and he could build his own furniture and houses without restriction, cut down his own trees, racked his own wood -- so we did not have rent to pay, no fuel to buy, or many groceries."
"He provided ways for the boys to earn their own money. Except for the regular chores, he would pay them for hoeing, plowing, gathering crops, and etc., the same price as an outsider. They could do the work or he would hire someone else but he only provide the necessities and if they wanted better clothes etc. they could earn them -- which they did willingly. Chet was always earning money on the outside for he liked to run errands and do selling. He was always lucky at selling out his peaches, parched or boiled peanuts, grapes, etc. at the train and would run home for another basket full. We would watch for him and start filling bags and met him. When we had the railroad shops and a good railroad restaurant, the passenger trains would stop for at least fifteen or twenty minutes for fuel and water and longer if the passengers were in the restaurant."
"Dad also repaired our shoes and so many things. We polished and shined them ourselves. In the City and especially as he was growing older, I guess, he would have had more competition and with everything to buy and rent to pay out of his salary alone ($3.00 per day was tops for a ten or twelve hour day). We might not have fared so well. Also our Doctor and drug bills were small. We always knew the dentist, too, and there was a lot of bartering in those days and we had chickens, eggs, etc. to take to the store in exchange for goods."
"Also, when I was eighteen, I joined my mother's lodge. The Pythian Sisters Crescent Temple No. 1 (the first one in the state of Florida.) which turned over its membership to Gainesville in later years and now Gainesville has the honor of being "No. 1". My mother was a charter member. We could not have a meeting without a quorum (a certain number of members present). The members who could get over to the meeting in Gainesville remained members. The others were finally let out for non-payment of dues."
"Of course, my father was a Knight of Phythias and both of us had joined "on him". He also belonged to the Masons and other lodges. Chet, Gordon, and both grandfathers are and were Masons with upper degrees -- one was a Shriner."
"Neglected to say, I think, that when the seaboard railroad shops were moved, most of the working population and their families moved away. There was no way left in Waldo to earn a good living or hardly a scant one. Bert and Chet both left home at fourteen and Gordon worked in New York and New Jersey some until he got on the railroad (before he was twenty-one which was supposed to be the minimum age). But people did not have to show their birth certificate then. He has his age straighten out now."
"People moved away who could, forty years ago or more. About the only ones who remained were property and landowners whose reimbursement was to use it themselves. In recent years retirees from other states seek small towns like that where people are friendly and they can take part in community life, buy property cheaply, own a car and go to Gainesville and Starke to shop. Pensions don't go far nowadays. The higher cost of living absorbs it so quickly. There they don't have high rents or zone restrictions and can own chickens, animals or have a garden, trees, flowers, etc. of their own and are near a good highway. It is a quiet enough place. There is no attraction there for robbers or prowlers etc. I know few people there anymore except the oldsters who are dying out fast, the ones in the P.O. and at the depot."
"Those jobs and businesses have been passed down to any relatives or friends who want them....I went to school with Merl DeSha and his wife. He is the agent at the depot. I know the operators there and the ladies in the Post office. One is my Mother's neighbor. My cousin, Robert Schenck's children and his wife's relatives (DeSha's) own most of the stores, restaurants, filling station, and etc."
"Most of my closer relatives left there long ago. Gordon's headquarters when he was single was there. Later he went to the shops in Jacksonville and in Miami. Louise Raulerson, Mother's cousin, teaches and Louise owns two or three homes there. She was Marcia's first grade teacher. My folks don't own any property there except Mother's home and that will go to the state at her death because she gets a small income from them (Welfare Department)."
"Dad had no Social Security. It has only been in effect since 1937 and he died in 1933. She has a good burial insurance. Chester has always been good to give her money all his life. Evelyn and Ott did things for her a few years and she lived with me. You see, Dad has been dead over twenty five years and she is now eighty five and..."
This was about the most my Mother ever told us about our family history. I remember a barn that was on the left side of the house in the back yard and as small as children, my sister and I would climb up on the barn roof to look for ripe bananas on the big banana trees that grew right beside it. The limbs would hang over so we could reach them. Of course, this was done when no one would see us as it was dangerous and we were not allowed to climb on high places. The roof was tin, and could be slick at times, as I remember. There was a several large banana trees growing at the back corner.
An excerpt from a letter by Rhoda Jane Williams, "There is a factory here [Jacksonville] that distills the pine oil from pine stumps. The stumps come in by the flat carload. The oil comes from the heart pine and is very aromatic. This factory makes all sorts of things from these oils, perfume, flavoring, etc. They claim that every organic element known can be derived from the pine roots. I remember Uncle Frank telling how he made pine oil by steaming heart pine to supply the family with the oil for use in home remedies." Her "Uncle Frank" was my grandfather.
My Grandfather many times, would take my sister and I with him to a crib house on some land a short distance from the family home. Grandfather owned several acres and grew food for the us to supplement his income. We helped him shuck and shell corn or would just play in the crib house while he worked. He seemed happiest there. I remember evenings by the fireplace and Grandfather reciting a long poem about a man in a black long-tailed coat. I must have been about three or four yeas old as I remember my sister being in a bassinet by the fire. I remember Grandpa Jolly with great affection, I always knew he loved us. He was a kind and gentle man.
The family home was originally owned by Rudolph Lanser, described in the deed as a single man. He must have been related in some way to Katie Harris, Hattie Jolly's stepmother. He died in Waldo and willed his house in January 14, 1914 to Katie Harris. Orville and Katie lived in Wisconsin, but they may have used the house as a summer home for awhile, When they stopped coming down, they had no need for the house, so Katie deeded the property to grandmother Jolly on July 30, 1926. Grandmother and grandfather lived in the house the rest of their lives. My sister and I were born there.
On March 6, 1961, Hattie deeded it to her son, Gordon Jolly, with a life estate for herself, so she could live there until she died and the house would stay in the family. Gordon deeded the house to his sister, Ella Belle Bonciday on March 6, 1961. She lived in it until she was unable to live alone and went to Texas with her daughter. Then the house was sold to someone outside the family. On the following pages are pictures (picture are not included) of the deeds and description of the land plot in Waldo where the house was built and shows the house as it passed from Mr. Lancer to Katie, from Katie Harris to Hattie Jolly, from Hattie to her son, Gordon from Gordon to Ella Belle.
Mr. Lancer had the swamp drained and built this house, on what date is not known to the writer. The porch was closed in later, sometime after Dorris and Marcia were born and this is how it looked until the porch was closed in and day it went out of the family. These I thought it might be of interest to some members of the family and also serve as a permanent record. The deed from Rudolph Lancer to Katie Harris was signed January 10, 1914. That was when the world was a quiet and peaceful place to live but about six or seven months later the whole earth would be engulfed in World War I.
The deed from Katie Harris to Hattie Jolly was dated July 30, 1926. It is not known how long Orville and Katie used the house but Frank and Hattie were living in it before 1924 as I was born there on January 18, 1924. They may have rented it for several years before it was deeded to her.
They lived there for seven years before Frank died on February 22, 1933. It is good that they had a home with no rent to pay as these years were very difficult. A great depression covered America. Many men were out of work, moving here and there in search of just a meager living and most not finding that. So to have a home free and clear, land to grow food to eat gave the Jolly family a better living than most. Frank was a carpenter but work during those years was almost nonexistent. Frank was born before the Civil War and was privileged to see a little of the Old South way of life and what it was like to be a pioneer in a growing land. He was about fifteen or sixteen when the Civil War started. He lived through not only the Civil War but also through the First World War. He died from complications of diabetes and is buried in the Waldo Cemetery.
Grandfather died sixty-three years ago but I can still remember it as clear as if it were yesterday. I can see the coffin in the living room, in the opposite corner from the door. I was nine years old and I loved him so much, he was the first loved one I had lost in death and it was a traumatic experience for me.
After his death, it must have been most comforting to Hattie to have the security of a home, free and clear, to live in. Her sons helped her through these bad years of depression until the Second World War started in December 7, 1941 by which time she had received a small pension. Her son, Bert, moved to Waldo to take care of his mother during the last two years of her life. Hattie lived twenty-eight years after Frank's death and died in March 2, 1961 in a nursing home in Starke, a few miles from Waldo. She is buried beside Frank in Waldo Cemetery."
LCrompton6615
LCrompton6615 originally shared this to Crompton Family Tree 22 May 2009 story
ABOVE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY:Find A Grave contributor Charlotte Ann Price
Family History of the Jolly's
Found on Rootsweb:
"In a conversation with Evelyn [Jolly] Ingram, a granddaughter of App, she told of how a group traveled to Florida. There were more than just App and Rhoda in the group. Evelyn said, 'The women and very small children drove the buggy. The men drove the wagons carrying the household goods and farm equipment. Some of the men and boys drove the herd of horses. At night, they would camp wherever they were."
"Jane Williams wrote: 'William James, Margaret Elizabeth, Marshall and Charles Franklin were born to Absalom and Rhoda while they lived in Nichols, South Carolina. Anyway they loaded the children and their meager possessions on an oxcart and came to the Orange Heights district in Alachua County. It was said the trek took about three months, as the trip was hazardous and App, as he was called, being a shoemaker by trade could ply his trade along the way to make some money. He must have had good advise, as the section they homesteaded was choise property. Some of the best in that part of the state."
"The children had the fair skin, very light complexioned, blue eyes and golden red hair, except Marshall. Children born to the couple in the log cabin constructed on the land were Louisa, Mary, Andrew, Martha Susan, Amanda, George Washington, and Lillian. The two latter children died as infants."
"The Jolly house is still standing, the old place is East of Orange Heights. This is not the orginal log cabin but a two-story frame built before the turn of the century. Buried in the family plot in the Melrose Cemetery are: Absalom, Rhoda, Mary Jolly. Rhoda died August 24, 1910 and Absalom died on October 13. 1918. He and Mary were lving in Ocala then. App and Rhoda belonged to the Methodist Church and App was instrumental in building the Orange Heights church. It was a spacious and attractive building and at one time boasted a large congregation. I think Frank and my father probably, at least, helped to build it. I know my father built the schoolhouse and the architecture was very much the same. App always supported whatever preacher they had and he was almost always a guest at his house for Sunday dinner."
"The dinner table at Grandpa's was at least twelve feet long, there were a dozen hide bottom chairs and a bench the length of the table on the side next to the wall. There was always a crowd on Sunday and the children ate at the second setting so the grown ups could eat in peace. Grandpa allowed no chatter among children t the table. Gigglers were sent outside to calm down."
"Grandma had lots of old time flowers, periwinkles, four o'clocks, etc. Some of we kids were allowed to pick the four o'clock bloom and make chains but left roses and the other plants alone. I never knew Amanda but heard some one describe as her hair being very straight and honey colored. The others and App's hair was quite curly."
"App was always taking in people to help those who were in trouble. I know my parents were living in the family home when my brother Robert and brother Charles were both born. I think all six of Rhoda's daughters returned to their mother's home to have their babies, at least the first two or so births. App's orange grove survived the 1894 freeze to some extent, the grove was completely lost about 1912 or so. This was shortly before he died. He was lively and alert until the end, cutting wood for the kitchen a few days before. He died from stomach cancer they thought."
"One interesting story about Grandpa, he was so very generous, especially to the preachers who preached in Melrose and Orange Heights, Methodist. One preacher Rev. Jones, living in Melrose had borrowed $200.00 from Grandpa and never paid it back. Years later the man was holding a revival meeting in Dunellen and Long Goodyear met him. (Lang was Louisa's son). He knew about the debt and confronted Preacher Jones, telling him to fork over the $200.00 or he would get up in the next meeting and tell all. Grandpa got his $200.00 at the next mail."
"Rhoda and App raised the family with the highest moral standards. It built over into later generations. All ofdescendants had faults I am sure, but dishonestry or trickery was never tolerated. Families were much in evidence while they lived at the home place near Orange Heights. The dining table must have been 12 feet long, a long bench next to the wall where children sat and about twelve adults could be seated at one time. Often on Sundays the children waited until the adults finished as there was not room to serve everybody at one time. As a small child I was glad to wait as the second table was not so sedate and we could be a bit more relaxed."
"I think I may be able to clear up the mystery about the child Rhoda listed on the census. In checking on the dates and ages of Martha and Mary, I think she was the one my mother remembered as Lillian. Knowing how grandma hated her own name, the child was probably named Rhoda Lillian. I was named for my two grandmothers Rhoda Jane and she made my parents promise not to call me Rhoda. Grandpa called her 'Rhody' and she despised the name. I don't think she had a middle name [it was Jane]. My mother could remember Lillian as a baby who was deficient in some way, never able to sit up or talk. Died very young. Then the other infant that died was named George Washington. I have no idea where either baby was buried, probably somewhere onthe homestead. Older family members are interred in the Melrose Cemetery. The last reunion we had I took many of the cousins and progeny to visit those graves. Also the Waldo Cemetery where my parents are buried as are your grandparents."
"App's orange grove survived the freeze to some extent, the grove was completely lost about 1912 or so. The pecan grove that is there on the property now was planted by the Parrish Family that I mention in my earlier letter. When Dr. Curtis obtained his property there were some native trees one of which was a very nice thin-shelled nut of excellent quality. He began grafting buds from that tree on seedling stock and developed the strain now known as Curtis Nuts, my special favorite by the way. He taught a Negro man, son of a slave named Elias Bellamy the art of grafting and the Curtis Nut was cultivated all over the region. I remember Bellamy quite well he was about half white and a very fine gentleman. His fore bearers had been slaves of the wealthy Bellamy family of Earleton."
"A letter from my mother, Ella Belle, to my sister gives insight into their life in Waldo during the early Nineteenth Century. It was dated February 11, 1959 and after personal comments: "When I was in my teens I always had a Sunday School Class and since I always lived in the same small town, I knew the parents, children and even the grandparents (who had watched me grow up). My own Grandparents had lived there and I had many relatives. One Uncle was the Doctor, another the druggist, cousins were railroad conductor's, and etc. Everybody was like one big family. My cradle roll Sunday School teacher, Carrie Wilkerson, was also my Mother's first Sunday School Teacher and also yours and Dorris'. I later became Primary Superintendent of the Sunday School, worked my way through the Jr. League of the Methodist Church (now called the Methodist Youth Fellowship M.Y.F.) and became the Superintendent. I also played the Church Organ and later the Piano."
"The entire Community would have picnics, etc. and with other Communities. The Town was quite different before the Seaboard Railway Shops moved away. That is where most of the population earned their livelihood. Then the people of working age and their families moved away. Mother was always trying to get Dad to move to Jacksonville where we could have more educational and financial advantages but he owned quite a bit of land and property which he could use to advantage but could not sell to an advantage."
"He was a good farmer and contractor and builder but was forty years old when he married and with a almost free for widows and orphans that he knew and he always kept a lot of work that the family could help with. "On rainy days, he stayed home and we would shell corn for the chickens and other odd jobs. He and the boys raised field corn and other crops, kept a good garden, pigs, chickens, cows, a horse, fruit and nut trees and he could build his own furniture and houses without restriction, cut down his own trees, racked his own wood -- so we did not have rent to pay, no fuel to buy, or many groceries."
"He provided ways for the boys to earn their own money. Except for the regular chores, he would pay them for hoeing, plowing, gathering crops, and etc., the same price as an outsider. They could do the work or he would hire someone else but he only provide the necessities and if they wanted better clothes etc. they could earn them -- which they did willingly. Chet was always earning money on the outside for he liked to run errands and do selling. He was always lucky at selling out his peaches, parched or boiled peanuts, grapes, etc. at the train and would run home for another basket full. We would watch for him and start filling bags and met him. When we had the railroad shops and a good railroad restaurant, the passenger trains would stop for at least fifteen or twenty minutes for fuel and water and longer if the passengers were in the restaurant."
"Dad also repaired our shoes and so many things. We polished and shined them ourselves. In the City and especially as he was growing older, I guess, he would have had more competition and with everything to buy and rent to pay out of his salary alone ($3.00 per day was tops for a ten or twelve hour day). We might not have fared so well. Also our Doctor and drug bills were small. We always knew the dentist, too, and there was a lot of bartering in those days and we had chickens, eggs, etc. to take to the store in exchange for goods."
"Also, when I was eighteen, I joined my mother's lodge. The Pythian Sisters Crescent Temple No. 1 (the first one in the state of Florida.) which turned over its membership to Gainesville in later years and now Gainesville has the honor of being "No. 1". My mother was a charter member. We could not have a meeting without a quorum (a certain number of members present). The members who could get over to the meeting in Gainesville remained members. The others were finally let out for non-payment of dues."
"Of course, my father was a Knight of Phythias and both of us had joined "on him". He also belonged to the Masons and other lodges. Chet, Gordon, and both grandfathers are and were Masons with upper degrees -- one was a Shriner."
"Neglected to say, I think, that when the seaboard railroad shops were moved, most of the working population and their families moved away. There was no way left in Waldo to earn a good living or hardly a scant one. Bert and Chet both left home at fourteen and Gordon worked in New York and New Jersey some until he got on the railroad (before he was twenty-one which was supposed to be the minimum age). But people did not have to show their birth certificate then. He has his age straighten out now."
"People moved away who could, forty years ago or more. About the only ones who remained were property and landowners whose reimbursement was to use it themselves. In recent years retirees from other states seek small towns like that where people are friendly and they can take part in community life, buy property cheaply, own a car and go to Gainesville and Starke to shop. Pensions don't go far nowadays. The higher cost of living absorbs it so quickly. There they don't have high rents or zone restrictions and can own chickens, animals or have a garden, trees, flowers, etc. of their own and are near a good highway. It is a quiet enough place. There is no attraction there for robbers or prowlers etc. I know few people there anymore except the oldsters who are dying out fast, the ones in the P.O. and at the depot."
"Those jobs and businesses have been passed down to any relatives or friends who want them....I went to school with Merl DeSha and his wife. He is the agent at the depot. I know the operators there and the ladies in the Post office. One is my Mother's neighbor. My cousin, Robert Schenck's children and his wife's relatives (DeSha's) own most of the stores, restaurants, filling station, and etc."
"Most of my closer relatives left there long ago. Gordon's headquarters when he was single was there. Later he went to the shops in Jacksonville and in Miami. Louise Raulerson, Mother's cousin, teaches and Louise owns two or three homes there. She was Marcia's first grade teacher. My folks don't own any property there except Mother's home and that will go to the state at her death because she gets a small income from them (Welfare Department)."
"Dad had no Social Security. It has only been in effect since 1937 and he died in 1933. She has a good burial insurance. Chester has always been good to give her money all his life. Evelyn and Ott did things for her a few years and she lived with me. You see, Dad has been dead over twenty five years and she is now eighty five and..."
This was about the most my Mother ever told us about our family history. I remember a barn that was on the left side of the house in the back yard and as small as children, my sister and I would climb up on the barn roof to look for ripe bananas on the big banana trees that grew right beside it. The limbs would hang over so we could reach them. Of course, this was done when no one would see us as it was dangerous and we were not allowed to climb on high places. The roof was tin, and could be slick at times, as I remember. There was a several large banana trees growing at the back corner.
An excerpt from a letter by Rhoda Jane Williams, "There is a factory here [Jacksonville] that distills the pine oil from pine stumps. The stumps come in by the flat carload. The oil comes from the heart pine and is very aromatic. This factory makes all sorts of things from these oils, perfume, flavoring, etc. They claim that every organic element known can be derived from the pine roots. I remember Uncle Frank telling how he made pine oil by steaming heart pine to supply the family with the oil for use in home remedies." Her "Uncle Frank" was my grandfather.
My Grandfather many times, would take my sister and I with him to a crib house on some land a short distance from the family home. Grandfather owned several acres and grew food for the us to supplement his income. We helped him shuck and shell corn or would just play in the crib house while he worked. He seemed happiest there. I remember evenings by the fireplace and Grandfather reciting a long poem about a man in a black long-tailed coat. I must have been about three or four yeas old as I remember my sister being in a bassinet by the fire. I remember Grandpa Jolly with great affection, I always knew he loved us. He was a kind and gentle man.
The family home was originally owned by Rudolph Lanser, described in the deed as a single man. He must have been related in some way to Katie Harris, Hattie Jolly's stepmother. He died in Waldo and willed his house in January 14, 1914 to Katie Harris. Orville and Katie lived in Wisconsin, but they may have used the house as a summer home for awhile, When they stopped coming down, they had no need for the house, so Katie deeded the property to grandmother Jolly on July 30, 1926. Grandmother and grandfather lived in the house the rest of their lives. My sister and I were born there.
On March 6, 1961, Hattie deeded it to her son, Gordon Jolly, with a life estate for herself, so she could live there until she died and the house would stay in the family. Gordon deeded the house to his sister, Ella Belle Bonciday on March 6, 1961. She lived in it until she was unable to live alone and went to Texas with her daughter. Then the house was sold to someone outside the family. On the following pages are pictures (picture are not included) of the deeds and description of the land plot in Waldo where the house was built and shows the house as it passed from Mr. Lancer to Katie, from Katie Harris to Hattie Jolly, from Hattie to her son, Gordon from Gordon to Ella Belle.
Mr. Lancer had the swamp drained and built this house, on what date is not known to the writer. The porch was closed in later, sometime after Dorris and Marcia were born and this is how it looked until the porch was closed in and day it went out of the family. These I thought it might be of interest to some members of the family and also serve as a permanent record. The deed from Rudolph Lancer to Katie Harris was signed January 10, 1914. That was when the world was a quiet and peaceful place to live but about six or seven months later the whole earth would be engulfed in World War I.
The deed from Katie Harris to Hattie Jolly was dated July 30, 1926. It is not known how long Orville and Katie used the house but Frank and Hattie were living in it before 1924 as I was born there on January 18, 1924. They may have rented it for several years before it was deeded to her.
They lived there for seven years before Frank died on February 22, 1933. It is good that they had a home with no rent to pay as these years were very difficult. A great depression covered America. Many men were out of work, moving here and there in search of just a meager living and most not finding that. So to have a home free and clear, land to grow food to eat gave the Jolly family a better living than most. Frank was a carpenter but work during those years was almost nonexistent. Frank was born before the Civil War and was privileged to see a little of the Old South way of life and what it was like to be a pioneer in a growing land. He was about fifteen or sixteen when the Civil War started. He lived through not only the Civil War but also through the First World War. He died from complications of diabetes and is buried in the Waldo Cemetery.
Grandfather died sixty-three years ago but I can still remember it as clear as if it were yesterday. I can see the coffin in the living room, in the opposite corner from the door. I was nine years old and I loved him so much, he was the first loved one I had lost in death and it was a traumatic experience for me.
After his death, it must have been most comforting to Hattie to have the security of a home, free and clear, to live in. Her sons helped her through these bad years of depression until the Second World War started in December 7, 1941 by which time she had received a small pension. Her son, Bert, moved to Waldo to take care of his mother during the last two years of her life. Hattie lived twenty-eight years after Frank's death and died in March 2, 1961 in a nursing home in Starke, a few miles from Waldo. She is buried beside Frank in Waldo Cemetery."
LCrompton6615
LCrompton6615 originally shared this to Crompton Family Tree 22 May 2009 story
ABOVE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY:Find A Grave contributor Charlotte Ann Price
Found on Rootsweb:
"In a conversation with Evelyn [Jolly] Ingram, a granddaughter of App, she told of how a group traveled to Florida. There were more than just App and Rhoda in the group. Evelyn said, 'The women and very small children drove the buggy. The men drove the wagons carrying the household goods and farm equipment. Some of the men and boys drove the herd of horses. At night, they would camp wherever they were."
"Jane Williams wrote: 'William James, Margaret Elizabeth, Marshall and Charles Franklin were born to Absalom and Rhoda while they lived in Nichols, South Carolina. Anyway they loaded the children and their meager possessions on an oxcart and came to the Orange Heights district in Alachua County. It was said the trek took about three months, as the trip was hazardous and App, as he was called, being a shoemaker by trade could ply his trade along the way to make some money. He must have had good advise, as the section they homesteaded was choise property. Some of the best in that part of the state."
"The children had the fair skin, very light complexioned, blue eyes and golden red hair, except Marshall. Children born to the couple in the log cabin constructed on the land were Louisa, Mary, Andrew, Martha Susan, Amanda, George Washington, and Lillian. The two latter children died as infants."
"The Jolly house is still standing, the old place is East of Orange Heights. This is not the orginal log cabin but a two-story frame built before the turn of the century. Buried in the family plot in the Melrose Cemetery are: Absalom, Rhoda, Mary Jolly. Rhoda died August 24, 1910 and Absalom died on October 13. 1918. He and Mary were lving in Ocala then. App and Rhoda belonged to the Methodist Church and App was instrumental in building the Orange Heights church. It was a spacious and attractive building and at one time boasted a large congregation. I think Frank and my father probably, at least, helped to build it. I know my father built the schoolhouse and the architecture was very much the same. App always supported whatever preacher they had and he was almost always a guest at his house for Sunday dinner."
"The dinner table at Grandpa's was at least twelve feet long, there were a dozen hide bottom chairs and a bench the length of the table on the side next to the wall. There was always a crowd on Sunday and the children ate at the second setting so the grown ups could eat in peace. Grandpa allowed no chatter among children t the table. Gigglers were sent outside to calm down."
"Grandma had lots of old time flowers, periwinkles, four o'clocks, etc. Some of we kids were allowed to pick the four o'clock bloom and make chains but left roses and the other plants alone. I never knew Amanda but heard some one describe as her hair being very straight and honey colored. The others and App's hair was quite curly."
"App was always taking in people to help those who were in trouble. I know my parents were living in the family home when my brother Robert and brother Charles were both born. I think all six of Rhoda's daughters returned to their mother's home to have their babies, at least the first two or so births. App's orange grove survived the 1894 freeze to some extent, the grove was completely lost about 1912 or so. This was shortly before he died. He was lively and alert until the end, cutting wood for the kitchen a few days before. He died from stomach cancer they thought."
"One interesting story about Grandpa, he was so very generous, especially to the preachers who preached in Melrose and Orange Heights, Methodist. One preacher Rev. Jones, living in Melrose had borrowed $200.00 from Grandpa and never paid it back. Years later the man was holding a revival meeting in Dunellen and Long Goodyear met him. (Lang was Louisa's son). He knew about the debt and confronted Preacher Jones, telling him to fork over the $200.00 or he would get up in the next meeting and tell all. Grandpa got his $200.00 at the next mail."
"Rhoda and App raised the family with the highest moral standards. It built over into later generations. All ofdescendants had faults I am sure, but dishonestry or trickery was never tolerated. Families were much in evidence while they lived at the home place near Orange Heights. The dining table must have been 12 feet long, a long bench next to the wall where children sat and about twelve adults could be seated at one time. Often on Sundays the children waited until the adults finished as there was not room to serve everybody at one time. As a small child I was glad to wait as the second table was not so sedate and we could be a bit more relaxed."
"I think I may be able to clear up the mystery about the child Rhoda listed on the census. In checking on the dates and ages of Martha and Mary, I think she was the one my mother remembered as Lillian. Knowing how grandma hated her own name, the child was probably named Rhoda Lillian. I was named for my two grandmothers Rhoda Jane and she made my parents promise not to call me Rhoda. Grandpa called her 'Rhody' and she despised the name. I don't think she had a middle name [it was Jane]. My mother could remember Lillian as a baby who was deficient in some way, never able to sit up or talk. Died very young. Then the other infant that died was named George Washington. I have no idea where either baby was buried, probably somewhere onthe homestead. Older family members are interred in the Melrose Cemetery. The last reunion we had I took many of the cousins and progeny to visit those graves. Also the Waldo Cemetery where my parents are buried as are your grandparents."
"App's orange grove survived the freeze to some extent, the grove was completely lost about 1912 or so. The pecan grove that is there on the property now was planted by the Parrish Family that I mention in my earlier letter. When Dr. Curtis obtained his property there were some native trees one of which was a very nice thin-shelled nut of excellent quality. He began grafting buds from that tree on seedling stock and developed the strain now known as Curtis Nuts, my special favorite by the way. He taught a Negro man, son of a slave named Elias Bellamy the art of grafting and the Curtis Nut was cultivated all over the region. I remember Bellamy quite well he was about half white and a very fine gentleman. His fore bearers had been slaves of the wealthy Bellamy family of Earleton."
"A letter from my mother, Ella Belle, to my sister gives insight into their life in Waldo during the early Nineteenth Century. It was dated February 11, 1959 and after personal comments: "When I was in my teens I always had a Sunday School Class and since I always lived in the same small town, I knew the parents, children and even the grandparents (who had watched me grow up). My own Grandparents had lived there and I had many relatives. One Uncle was the Doctor, another the druggist, cousins were railroad conductor's, and etc. Everybody was like one big family. My cradle roll Sunday School teacher, Carrie Wilkerson, was also my Mother's first Sunday School Teacher and also yours and Dorris'. I later became Primary Superintendent of the Sunday School, worked my way through the Jr. League of the Methodist Church (now called the Methodist Youth Fellowship M.Y.F.) and became the Superintendent. I also played the Church Organ and later the Piano."
"The entire Community would have picnics, etc. and with other Communities. The Town was quite different before the Seaboard Railway Shops moved away. That is where most of the population earned their livelihood. Then the people of working age and their families moved away. Mother was always trying to get Dad to move to Jacksonville where we could have more educational and financial advantages but he owned quite a bit of land and property which he could use to advantage but could not sell to an advantage."
"He was a good farmer and contractor and builder but was forty years old when he married and with a almost free for widows and orphans that he knew and he always kept a lot of work that the family could help with. "On rainy days, he stayed home and we would shell corn for the chickens and other odd jobs. He and the boys raised field corn and other crops, kept a good garden, pigs, chickens, cows, a horse, fruit and nut trees and he could build his own furniture and houses without restriction, cut down his own trees, racked his own wood -- so we did not have rent to pay, no fuel to buy, or many groceries."
"He provided ways for the boys to earn their own money. Except for the regular chores, he would pay them for hoeing, plowing, gathering crops, and etc., the same price as an outsider. They could do the work or he would hire someone else but he only provide the necessities and if they wanted better clothes etc. they could earn them -- which they did willingly. Chet was always earning money on the outside for he liked to run errands and do selling. He was always lucky at selling out his peaches, parched or boiled peanuts, grapes, etc. at the train and would run home for another basket full. We would watch for him and start filling bags and met him. When we had the railroad shops and a good railroad restaurant, the passenger trains would stop for at least fifteen or twenty minutes for fuel and water and longer if the passengers were in the restaurant."
"Dad also repaired our shoes and so many things. We polished and shined them ourselves. In the City and especially as he was growing older, I guess, he would have had more competition and with everything to buy and rent to pay out of his salary alone ($3.00 per day was tops for a ten or twelve hour day). We might not have fared so well. Also our Doctor and drug bills were small. We always knew the dentist, too, and there was a lot of bartering in those days and we had chickens, eggs, etc. to take to the store in exchange for goods."
"Also, when I was eighteen, I joined my mother's lodge. The Pythian Sisters Crescent Temple No. 1 (the first one in the state of Florida.) which turned over its membership to Gainesville in later years and now Gainesville has the honor of being "No. 1". My mother was a charter member. We could not have a meeting without a quorum (a certain number of members present). The members who could get over to the meeting in Gainesville remained members. The others were finally let out for non-payment of dues."
"Of course, my father was a Knight of Phythias and both of us had joined "on him". He also belonged to the Masons and other lodges. Chet, Gordon, and both grandfathers are and were Masons with upper degrees -- one was a Shriner."
"Neglected to say, I think, that when the seaboard railroad shops were moved, most of the working population and their families moved away. There was no way left in Waldo to earn a good living or hardly a scant one. Bert and Chet both left home at fourteen and Gordon worked in New York and New Jersey some until he got on the railroad (before he was twenty-one which was supposed to be the minimum age). But people did not have to show their birth certificate then. He has his age straighten out now."
"People moved away who could, forty years ago or more. About the only ones who remained were property and landowners whose reimbursement was to use it themselves. In recent years retirees from other states seek small towns like that where people are friendly and they can take part in community life, buy property cheaply, own a car and go to Gainesville and Starke to shop. Pensions don't go far nowadays. The higher cost of living absorbs it so quickly. There they don't have high rents or zone restrictions and can own chickens, animals or have a garden, trees, flowers, etc. of their own and are near a good highway. It is a quiet enough place. There is no attraction there for robbers or prowlers etc. I know few people there anymore except the oldsters who are dying out fast, the ones in the P.O. and at the depot."
"Those jobs and businesses have been passed down to any relatives or friends who want them....I went to school with Merl DeSha and his wife. He is the agent at the depot. I know the operators there and the ladies in the Post office. One is my Mother's neighbor. My cousin, Robert Schenck's children and his wife's relatives (DeSha's) own most of the stores, restaurants, filling station, and etc."
"Most of my closer relatives left there long ago. Gordon's headquarters when he was single was there. Later he went to the shops in Jacksonville and in Miami. Louise Raulerson, Mother's cousin, teaches and Louise owns two or three homes there. She was Marcia's first grade teacher. My folks don't own any property there except Mother's home and that will go to the state at her death because she gets a small income from them (Welfare Department)."
"Dad had no Social Security. It has only been in effect since 1937 and he died in 1933. She has a good burial insurance. Chester has always been good to give her money all his life. Evelyn and Ott did things for her a few years and she lived with me. You see, Dad has been dead over twenty five years and she is now eighty five and..."
This was about the most my Mother ever told us about our family history. I remember a barn that was on the left side of the house in the back yard and as small as children, my sister and I would climb up on the barn roof to look for ripe bananas on the big banana trees that grew right beside it. The limbs would hang over so we could reach them. Of course, this was done when no one would see us as it was dangerous and we were not allowed to climb on high places. The roof was tin, and could be slick at times, as I remember. There was a several large banana trees growing at the back corner.
An excerpt from a letter by Rhoda Jane Williams, "There is a factory here [Jacksonville] that distills the pine oil from pine stumps. The stumps come in by the flat carload. The oil comes from the heart pine and is very aromatic. This factory makes all sorts of things from these oils, perfume, flavoring, etc. They claim that every organic element known can be derived from the pine roots. I remember Uncle Frank telling how he made pine oil by steaming heart pine to supply the family with the oil for use in home remedies." Her "Uncle Frank" was my grandfather.
My Grandfather many times, would take my sister and I with him to a crib house on some land a short distance from the family home. Grandfather owned several acres and grew food for the us to supplement his income. We helped him shuck and shell corn or would just play in the crib house while he worked. He seemed happiest there. I remember evenings by the fireplace and Grandfather reciting a long poem about a man in a black long-tailed coat. I must have been about three or four yeas old as I remember my sister being in a bassinet by the fire. I remember Grandpa Jolly with great affection, I always knew he loved us. He was a kind and gentle man.
The family home was originally owned by Rudolph Lanser, described in the deed as a single man. He must have been related in some way to Katie Harris, Hattie Jolly's stepmother. He died in Waldo and willed his house in January 14, 1914 to Katie Harris. Orville and Katie lived in Wisconsin, but they may have used the house as a summer home for awhile, When they stopped coming down, they had no need for the house, so Katie deeded the property to grandmother Jolly on July 30, 1926. Grandmother and grandfather lived in the house the rest of their lives. My sister and I were born there.
On March 6, 1961, Hattie deeded it to her son, Gordon Jolly, with a life estate for herself, so she could live there until she died and the house would stay in the family. Gordon deeded the house to his sister, Ella Belle Bonciday on March 6, 1961. She lived in it until she was unable to live alone and went to Texas with her daughter. Then the house was sold to someone outside the family. On the following pages are pictures (picture are not included) of the deeds and description of the land plot in Waldo where the house was built and shows the house as it passed from Mr. Lancer to Katie, from Katie Harris to Hattie Jolly, from Hattie to her son, Gordon from Gordon to Ella Belle.
Mr. Lancer had the swamp drained and built this house, on what date is not known to the writer. The porch was closed in later, sometime after Dorris and Marcia were born and this is how it looked until the porch was closed in and day it went out of the family. These I thought it might be of interest to some members of the family and also serve as a permanent record. The deed from Rudolph Lancer to Katie Harris was signed January 10, 1914. That was when the world was a quiet and peaceful place to live but about six or seven months later the whole earth would be engulfed in World War I.
The deed from Katie Harris to Hattie Jolly was dated July 30, 1926. It is not known how long Orville and Katie used the house but Frank and Hattie were living in it before 1924 as I was born there on January 18, 1924. They may have rented it for several years before it was deeded to her.
They lived there for seven years before Frank died on February 22, 1933. It is good that they had a home with no rent to pay as these years were very difficult. A great depression covered America. Many men were out of work, moving here and there in search of just a meager living and most not finding that. So to have a home free and clear, land to grow food to eat gave the Jolly family a better living than most. Frank was a carpenter but work during those years was almost nonexistent. Frank was born before the Civil War and was privileged to see a little of the Old South way of life and what it was like to be a pioneer in a growing land. He was about fifteen or sixteen when the Civil War started. He lived through not only the Civil War but also through the First World War. He died from complications of diabetes and is buried in the Waldo Cemetery.
Grandfather died sixty-three years ago but I can still remember it as clear as if it were yesterday. I can see the coffin in the living room, in the opposite corner from the door. I was nine years old and I loved him so much, he was the first loved one I had lost in death and it was a traumatic experience for me.
After his death, it must have been most comforting to Hattie to have the security of a home, free and clear, to live in. Her sons helped her through these bad years of depression until the Second World War started in December 7, 1941 by which time she had received a small pension. Her son, Bert, moved to Waldo to take care of his mother during the last two years of her life. Hattie lived twenty-eight years after Frank's death and died in March 2, 1961 in a nursing home in Starke, a few miles from Waldo. She is buried beside Frank in Waldo Cemetery."
LCrompton6615
LCrompton6615 originally shared this to Crompton Family Tree 22 May 2009 story
ABOVE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY:Find A Grave contributor Charlotte Ann Price
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