Leon County FL Genealogy – Access Genealogy

Slave Narrative of Willis Williams

Interviewer: Viola B. Muse Person Interviewed: Willis Williams Location: Jacksonville, Florida Occupation: Carpenter, Mail Clerk Willis Williams of 1025 Iverson Street, Jacksonville, Florida, was born at Tallahassee, Florida, September 15, 1856. He was the son of Ransom and Wilhemina Williams, who belonged during the period of slavery to Thomas Heyward, a rich merchant of Tallahassee. Willis does not know the names of his paternal grandparents but remembers his maternal grandmother was Rachel Fitzgiles, who came down to visit the family after the Civil War. Thomas Heyward, the master, owned a plantation out in the country from Tallahassee and kept slaves … Read more

Big Swamp Tribe

Big Swamp Indians. A name applied to Seminole, principally of the Mikasuki division, near Miccosukee Lake, Leon County, Florida. For Further Study The following articles and manuscripts will shed additional light on the Big Swamp Tribe as both an ethnological study, and as a people. McKenney and Hall, Ind. Tribes, II, 157, 1854. Alternate Spellings Long Swamp Indians – McKenney and Hall, Ind. Tribes, II, 157, 1854.

Leon County Florida Cemetery Records

Florida Cemetery records are listed by county then name of cemetery within the Florida county. Most of these are complete indices at the time of transcription, however, in some cases we list the listing when it is only a partial listing. Leon County, Florida USGenWeb Archives Aenon Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery Airport Cemetery Belair Cemetery Capitola Cemetery Chaires Cemetery Geddie Cemetery, aka Willis Cemetery Kelley Cemetery Macon Cemetery Moody Cemetery Moore-Johnson Cemetery New Bethlehem Church Cemetery Paupers Cemetery Rhodes Cemetery Runner Cemetery Russell Cemetery St. Matthew Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery Skipper Cemetery Soda Field Cemetery, aka DeSoto Trail Cemetery Tallahassee … Read more

Mikasuki Indian Tribe

“Miccosukee” is a town of Florida, near the northern border of the State, in Leon County, built on the western shore of the lake of the same name. The tribe established there speaks the Hitchiti language, and must hence have separated from some town or towns of the Lower Creeks speaking that language. The tribe was reckoned among the Seminole Indians, but does not figure prominently in Indian history before the out break of the Seminole war of 1817. It then raised the “red pole” as a sign of war, and became conspicuous as a sort of political center for … Read more

Biography of George Miller, Jr.

George Miller, Jr., engaged in the practice of law in Muskogee, concentrating his efforts and attention upon civil law, was born in Leon county, Florida, December 18, 1882, and is a son of George and Frances (Shaw) Miller, both of whom were natives of North Carolina. The father owned a plantation, devoting his life to its improvement and cultivation. The son, George Miller, Jr., was educated in the public schools and in the South Florida Military Institute. He also studied stenography at Thomasville, Georgia, and was employed in the office of Duncan W. Fletcher, now United States senator, at Jacksonville, … Read more

Slave Narrative of Margrett Nickerson

Interviewer: Rachel A. Austin Person Interviewed: Margrett Nickerson Location: Jacksonville, Florida Age: 89-90 In her own vernacular, Margrett Nickerson was “born to William A. Carr, on his plantation near Jackson, Leon County, many years ago.” When questioned concerning her life on this plantation, she continues: “Now honey, it’s been so long ago, I don’ ‘meber ev’ything, but I will tell you whut I kin as near right as possible; I kin ‘member five uf Marse Carr’s chillun; Florida, Susan, ‘Lijah, Willie and Tom; cose Carr never ‘lowed us to have a piece of paper in our hands.” “Mr. Kilgo was … Read more

Yuchi Tribe

Yuchi Indians. A tribe coextensive with the Uchean family. Recent investigations point strongly to the conclusion that the Westo referred to by early Carolina explorers and settlers, and from whom Savannah river was originally named, were the Yuchi.

Slave Narrative of Rev. Squires Jackson

Interviewer: Samuel Johnson Person Interviewed: Rev. Squires Jackson Location: Jacksonville, Florida Occupation: Bricklayer, Preacher Lying comfortably in a bed encased with white sheets, Rev. Squires Jackson, former slave and minister of the gospel living at 706 Third Street cheerfully related the story of his life. Born in a weather-beaten shanty in Madison, Fla. September 14, 1841 of a large family, he moved to Jacksonville at the age of three with the “Master” and his mother. Very devoted to his mother, he would follow her into the cotton field as she picked or hoed cotton, urged by the thrashing of the … Read more

Slave Narrative of Florida Clayton

Interviewer: Rachel A. Austin Person Interviewed: Florida Clayton Location: Jacksonville, Florida Age: 82 The life of Florida Clayton is interesting in that it illustrates the miscegenation prevalent during the days of slavery. Interesting also is the fact that Florida was not a slave even though she was a product of those turbulent days. Many years before her birth – March 1, 1854 – Florida’s great grandfather, a white man, came to Tallahassee, Florida from Washington, District of Columbia, with his children whom he had by his Negro slave. On coming to Florida, he set all of his children free except … Read more

Slave Narrative of Luke Towns

Interviewer: Rachel A. Austin Person Interviewed: Luke Towns Location: Jacksonville, Florida Age: 100+(?) A Centenarian Luke Towns, a centenarian, now residing at 1335 West Eighth Street, Jacksonville, Florida, was the ninth child born to Maria and Like Towns, slaves, December 34, 1835, in a village in Tolberton County, Georgia. Mr. Town’s parents were owned by Governor Towns, whose name was taken by all the children born on the plantation; he states that he was placed on the public blocks for sale, and was purchased by a Mr. Mormon. At the marriage of Mr. Mormon’s daughter, Sarah, according to custom, he … Read more

Slave Narrative of Shack Thomas

Interviewer: Martin Richardson Person Interviewed: Shack Thomas Location: South Jacksonville, Florida Age: 102 Shack Thomas, Centenarian Beady-eyed, grey-whiskered, black little Shack Thomas sits in the sun in front of his hut on the Old Saint Augustine Road about three miles south of Jacksonville, 102 years old and full of humorous reminiscences about most of those years. To his frequent visitors he relates tales of his past, disjointedly sometimes but with a remarkable clearness and conviction. The old ex-slave does not remember the exact time of his birth, except that it was in the year 1834, “the day after the end … Read more

Mikasuki Tribe

Mikasuki Indians, Mikasuki Tribe. A former Seminole town in Leon County, Florida, on the west shore of Miccosukee lake, on or near the site of the present Miccosukee. The name has been applied also to the inhabitants as a division of the Seminole. They spoke the Hitchiti dialect, and, as appears from the title of B. Smith’s vocabulary of their language, were partly or wholly emigrants from the Sawokli towns on lower Chattahoochee River, Alabama. The former town appears to have been one of the ‘red’ or ‘bloody’ towns, for at the beginning of the Seminole troubles of 1817 its … Read more