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First Africans in English America

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continued…..Unveiling the First Africans in English America
Next, we must explore the men who owned and captained the three intersecting ships on that fateful day.
The San Juan Bautista was captained by the Don Manuel Mendez de Acuna. Known to be of the powerful Acuna family to which Don Diego Sarmiento de Acuna, the Count of Gondomar also belonged.
The Treasurer’s ownership was shared between the powerful Earl of Warwick, Robert Rich II and the current Governor of Jamestown, Samuel Argall. In early 1618, Captain Daniel Elfrith was hired once again by Warwick to Captain the Treasurer. Elfrith, an active and known privateer in the West Indies as early as 1607, had captained the Treasurer before. Elfrith and the Treasurer left England in late April or early May 1618 and arrived in the Settlement of Virginia just as the Neptune, carrying Lord Del la Warre to retrieve Argall back to England was making its way into the mouth of the James River. Questions of foul play arose quickly. The Neptune’s Brewster accused the Treasurer of foul play and bad air. Lord Del la Warre, Sir Thomas West was dead. Governor Argall would in turn order his Treasurer, Elfrith and crew to the West Indies, to plunder what they may with the marque of Charles Emmanuel I, a commission Rich obtained from Count Sarnafissi, Emmanuel’s ambassador to England.
The White Lion was owned and captained by the Reverend John Colyn Jope, a Calvinist Minister from Merrifield in Cornwall England, just miles northwest of Plymouth. In 1619 on the captain’s maiden voyage, Jope would leave his wife, the well-connected Mary Glanville and the Port of Plymouth, heading for the West Indies with a Dutch Marque, a commission acquired through Prince Maurice.

The Bautista’s Cargo
In early 1619, the Kingdom of Ndongo in the Central Mountains of Angola, under siege by the Portuguese Governor Luis Mendes de Vasconcellos, is ransacked and men, women, and children are enslaved and marched to the Port of Luanda to be transported to the silver mines of Mexico.
Of the six slave ships leaving the port of Luanda in the summer of 1619 for the Port of Vera Cruz, only one would report a raid by English pirates. The San Juan Bautista, captained by the Don Manuel Mendez de Acuna.
Just weeks later in mid August 1619 the White Lion arrives with “twenty and odd” Africans. The Captain, carrying a Dutch marque, claims he took them from a floundering Spanish warship.
Documents recently discovered by Historian John Thornton determines they were the Northern Mbundu people who spoke Bantu, from the Kingdom of Ndongo. Only one other possibility exists. There was a report of some Portuguese Christian porters who accidently became caught up in the Imbangala’s slave march to the Port of Luanda, their port of origin and point of sale.
Of the three hundred fifty sold to the Bautista’s Captain Acuna there would only be “twenty and odd” blessed souls to make it to Englands’ young settlement of Virginia. Will the “twenty and odd” continue to be slaves as they were when they left Africa? Or do they find their freedom? Could God’s hand have been involved? Over the centuries many have said “God must have been involved.”

On this day in history…

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Powhatan Chief Opechancanough

Powhatan Chief Opechancanough

On this day, April 18, 1644
More than 500 settlers are killed in the second major Powhatan uprising. This event touched off a two-year war between Native Americans and the colonists up and down the James River, ending in the capture and execution of the Powhatan Chief Opechancanough.

Gus Hall Family Home, Tildenville, Florida.

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This Bungalow style home was built in 1919 by Gus Hall, General Manager of South Lake Apopka Citrus Growers Association.

Gus Hall House, Tildenville, Florida

Gus Hall House, Tildenville, Florida

Gus Hall Citrus Fruit Labels

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Gus Hall Citrus Fruits Clover label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits Clover label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits Combination Brand Label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits Combination Brand Label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits Killarney Rose Label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits Killarney Rose Label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits - GH Brand label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits – GH Brand label


Gus Hall Citrus Fruits - BOX CAR #2

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits – BOX CAR #2

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits - Box Car Label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits – Box Car Label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits - Gus Hall Label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits – Gus Hall Label

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits

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Gus Hall Citrus Fruits

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits

Gus Hall Citrus Fruits

Gus Hall (1881-1956) began his long tenure in the citrus industry when he joined the South Lake Apopka Citrus Growers Association as General Manager in 1910.  Under his leadership, South Lake grew from humble beginnings to an operation handling 641,000 boxes of fruit annually.  One of Hall’s successful innovations while at South Lake involved featuring his face on the Gus Hall Combination Brand crate label, making him instantly recognizable while attending industry events in northern markets.  After 31 years with South Lake Apopka Citrus Growers Association, Hall left to form his own operation, Gus Hall Citrus Fruits.  His packing house, located just west of Oakland in Killarney, was constructed by T&G Railroad on State Highway 438.  From South Lake, he brought his Gus Hall brand label and added other labels including Boxcar and GH.  In 1946, he sold his interest in the company, and it was renamed Killarney Fruit Company.

 

 

List of the Living and Dead February 1623

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The following is a link to the List of the Living that was completed in February of 1623.  This was after the Great Massacre of 1622, in March and after the plague, brought with the Abigail from England on December 20, 1622.

http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/jamestown/census/1623cens.txt

 

The Great Massacre of 1622

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Massacre of 1622

Massacre of 1622

The day would be like no other yet it started as every other had. The fields were active and the town was a bustle with merchants trading up and down the river as the natives began to arrive with their own trade. Then, like a bell tolling out, the natives turn savage mutilating one unsuspecting settler then the next. Bodies are strewn about, with no pause for woman or child. They all lay tangled, one with another, hacked and disfigured.

When the savagery calms and the tallies are made, some three hundred forty-seven souls are lost, a third of the struggling settlement’s total population. Of the eighty (80) plantations that were beginning to flourish up and down the James River, they all lay in wait, now gathered within eight (8) to sustain a position of defense.

Our Responsibility to our Ancestors Gravesites

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How I found it, once again......

How I found it, once again……

 

Over two years ago, my husband and I relocated to Keystone Heights, Florida, returning to live on family property that was purchased some hundred years earlier by his family.  Not long after arriving, and with much persistence on my part, we take a short trip to an old cemetery to locate one of Florida’s First Pioneers.  Jonathan Knight, who arrived with his family in Florida in 1843-44 is my husband’s gr. gr. gr. great-grandfather.  He settled in the area then known as Black Creek, which is now part of Middleburg.

Upon arriving at the cemetery, I noted its separate cemetery signs with two (2) different names, one being Forman Cemetery, the other Fowler Cemetery.  As we looked for his ancestors graves, my first impression was that the cemetery was well maintained.  We start our search checking one then the next, reading the names and dates, but finding no success.  Frustrated, we begin to leave.  As I turn back for one last look, I notice an area in the corner, mounded with leaves, dead limbs, and debris from the other graves (old plastic flowers) that had been discarded.  At first glance I thought it was only a trash pile.   I walk closer and I notice first one head stone and then another.   I walk around to view the names as they are facing away from me.  As I read the names, instead of being excited that I had found his ancestors, my heart sinks.  One headstone reads Jonathan Knight, the other of his wife, Elizabeth.  My emotions erupt as it is devastating to find their graves in such condition.

My first thoughts…..Why was the other part of the cemetery freshly mowed, free of debris, while their graves are among the trash pile?  Who would do such a thing?

Appalled and without answers, we schedule a day to return to clean up the area which clearly seemed to be purposefully neglected.  We remove the debris, cut down vines as well as hanging limbs from the trees that have grown out of control and rake away the heap of leaves left to rot on top of the graves.  After several hours of work, the area looks like a gravesite once more, instead of the trash pile that we found.  For several months, I revisit the cemetery often finding it much as we left it, neat and without debris, yet I still wonder why their gravesite had been left in such conditions.

Within the next few months I find myself on a mission taking a Cemetery Rehabilitation and Preservation class, and become certified in the laws and practice of preserving historic cemeteries.  It included the do’s and don’ts of gravesites and what to use to clean and care for the headstone itself (depending on the era, there were many different types of materials used), the area surrounding the grave, as well as listing the cemetery within the historic registry.  After all, it was over a hundred-fifty years ago when Jonathan Knight was buried in Forman Cemetery.

For the next year or so, I continue to return, picking up any debris that might have blown into the corner where the graves were located.  Then for several months, I’m unable to return, for one reason or another.  But, this past Friday, on my way home from a trip to Orange Park, I’m driving through Middleburg when the resounding thought hits me.  “I should take a quick detour to check on the cemetery.”  As I arrive, I’m shocked to find debris thrown on top of the Knight graves once again. Large limbs are lying across one, with a sheet of plywood leaning against another, and trash strewn about.  I turn to look at the other areas of the cemetery and find it clean, and free of any debris.  As I turn back to the Knight graves, once again I’m left disheartened.

WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THIS?   I just don’t understand.

The Second Son – Daniel Asbury Reaves

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Rev. Daniel Asbury Reaves, the Second Son

Rev. Daniel Asbury Reaves, the Second Son

Company H of the Third Florida Infantry consisted of one hundred and thirty two (132) volunteers from Jefferson County, Florida.  The “H” company was called “The Jefferson Rifles” and would include three (3) Reaves brothers under the command of Captain William Girardeau.

Samuel J. Reaves, the third son of Rev. and Mrs. Rawlins Reaves would be the first of the three brothers to fall, Samuel died May 9, 1862, in Gainesville Florida.  Just over six months later, during the Battle of Stones River, which sometimes is called the Battle of Murfreesboro, James Alexander Reaves sustained serious injury. The bloody battle was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee.  Of the major battles of the Civil War, Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides.  James was taken to Foard Hospital in Chattanooga, where he died from his wounds on January 12, 1863.  Soon, the family of Rev, Rawlins Reaves would hear the wretched news once more, this time of their eldest son’s death.

The only surviving Reaves brother of the Jefferson Rifles would continue with the Confederates through Tennessee.  Daniel Asbury Reaves was the second to eldest son of Rev. and Mrs. Rawlins Reaves, a twenty five year old ordained Methodist Minister, like his father.  He married Lucretia Ann Sledge, some three or so years before the war started and before his enlistment had seen his first son born, which was named after Daniel’s older brother James Alexander.   Daniel Asbury Reaves would be wounded on September 20 1863 at the Battle of Chickamauga.  He would be the only brother of the three that would return home to Monticello, in Jefferson County, Florida.  On April 15, 1865 he signed an order swearing to not bear arms against the United States of America.

After the war the clan of Rev. and Mrs. Rawlins Reaves along with their now adult children moved two-hundred miles south to establish Reaves Settlement, just outside of the small town of Winter Garden in Central Florida.  Daniel Asbury Reaves and Lucretia (Creasy) Ann Sledge would follow, just after the birth of their fourth child in 1869.

Daniel Asbury Reaves and Lucretia (Creasy) Ann Sledge would have a total of eight (8) children.

James Alexander Reaves – born May 4, 1861 in Monticello, Florida married Jimmie Tellula Donnie Letson in 1884.  He died in 1939, Winter Garden, Florida.

Sallie Crew Reaves– born October 23, 1864 in Monticello, Florida married Orville Leroy “Jeff” Mizelle in 1889.  Sallie died February 15, 1949 in Lake Butler, Union county, Florida.

Samuel Darius “Dee” Reaves– born 1867 in Monticello, Florida, married Martha “Mattie” Jane Clyatt in 1891.

Rollins Green Reaves– born in 1869, married Iva May Knight in 1911.

Hester Elizabeth (Hattie) Reaves– born 1872, Hattie married William Townsend McIntosh in 1890.

Richard Mathis Reaves– born 1874, Richard married Rosa Bell Carver in 1897.  In 1930, after his first wife’s death, he would marry Lou Dugger.  Richard died April 28, 1952.

Whitmel Tison Reaves – born 1876, married Hattie Vanola Blair about 1904, and later he would marry Rosa Crews.  Whitmel died November 25, 1954.

Edwin Bryan Reaves – born June 10, 1881, and  married Rita Jane Watson in 1930.  He died August 26 1941.

In 1887, Daniel Asbury and Creasy Ann Sledge would move all of their family except their oldest son James, who was already established in Winter Garden, north to an area west of Worthington Springs, in then Bradford County, Florida, where they would live out the rest of his life.

Rev. Daniel Asbury Reaves

Rawlins L. Reaves, a Florida Pioneer

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Rev. Rawlins L Reaves, a traveling Methodist Minister

Rev. Rawlins L Reaves, a traveling Methodist Minister

Like many other pioneering  families in Florida, the Reaves family migrated south from the Carolinas.  Prior to the Revolutionary War the Reaves clan owned and operated Reaves Ferry in Horry County, South Carolina.  Mark Reaves and Spicy Ann Smith Reaves are both buried in the Reaves Family Cemetery in Horry County, South Carolina.  They had eleven (11) children.

Rawlins Lowndes Reaves was the youngest child of Mark Reaves and Spicy Ann Smith Reaves.  Rawlins married Delilah Ann Gilbert, in Thomasville Georgia after attending ministerial school in January of 1834.   They remained in Thomas, Georgia until 1843-44, when they moved their family to the town of Monticello, located in Jefferson County,  FL.  For over thirty-five years Rawlins preached the word of God, traveling throughout southern Georgia and parts of North and Central Florida.

Rawlins Lowndes Reaves and Delilah Ann Gilbert Reaves had eleven (11) children.

James Alexander Reaves – Born in Georgia in 1834.  James served in Company H, 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment, CSA, and died January 12, 1863 at Foard Hospital from wounds sustained in Chattanooga, TN.

Daniel Asbury Reaves – Born in Georgia in 1836, he married Lucretia (Creasy) Ann Sledge in 1858.   On April 25, 1862 he joined Company H, 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment, CSA, and was wounded at Chickamauga on September 20 1863. Daniel served in the war until April 15, 1865.  He died October 30, 1902, Worthington Springs, Union County, Florida.

Elizabeth “Bessy” Herd Reaves  – Born in Georgia in 1839 she married G W Jeffcoat and moved to St. Lucie County, Florida where she died in 1921.

Samuel Johnson Reaves – Born in Georgia in 1841, he served in Company H, 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment, CSA, until his death May 9, 1862, Gainesville Florida.

Richard Gilbert Reaves – Born 1844 in Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida.   He married Jane E. (Jenny) Taff, and died July 1, 1912, Bradford County, Florida.

Mark Bryan Reaves – Born 1846 in Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida,  he married Catherine F. Reams in 1870. He Died June 1, 1924, in Winter Garden, Orange County, Florida.

Joshua Thomas Reaves – Born 1848, Monticello, Jefferson County, Fl.  and died January 6, 1930, Kissimmee, Osceola County, Florida.

Solomon Reaves – Born 1850 in Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida.  Married Alice A. Speer in 1874.  His date and place of death is unknown at this time.

Spicy A. Reaves – Born 1852 in Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida.  She married E. Lewis Daniel Overstreet in 1872.  She died December 13 1910, Kissimmee, Osceola County, Florida.

Martha Matilda Reaves – Born in Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida in 1854.  She married William Pinkney Reams in 1874 and she died in 1910.

Rawlins Lowndes Reaves, Jr. – Born 1857, Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida   He married Emma Leticia Martin in 1879 and he died March 5, 1941, in Winter Garden, Orange County, Florida.

After the civil war, Rawlins Lowndes Reaves Sr. relocated his now mostly adult family from Monticello, Florida, in Jefferson County, some 220 miles south through unsettled territory to establish Reaves settlement located just west of Winter Garden, Florida in 1867.

After Delilah’s death in 1876, Rawlins Sr. married Augusta Ann Stanly in 1878.  They had two additional children.

John Lattimore Reaves – Born 1879, Winter Garden, FL

Rosabelle Reaves – Born 1882, Winter Garden, FL

Rawlins Lowndes Reaves died February 1, 1901, in Winter Garden, Florida, where many of his descendants still live today.  However, Reaves settlement is now known as Beulah and Reaves road remains a major road in the community.  Rawlins Lowndes Reaves was my gr. gr. gr. great-grandfather.