Suwannee County FL

Slave Narrative of Sarah Ross

Interviewer: Alfred Farrell Person Interviewed: Sarah Ross Location: Live Oak, Florida Born in Benton County, Mississippi nearly eighty years ago, Sarah is the daughter of Harriet Elmore and William Donaldson, her white owner. Donaldson was a very cruel man and frequently beat Sarah’s mother because she would not have sexual relations with the overseer, a colored man by the name of Randall. Sarah relates that the slaves did not marry, but were forced – in many cases against their will – to live together as man and wife. It was not until after slavery that they learned about the holy … Read more

Slave Narrative of Bolden Hall

Interviewer: Alfred Farrell Person Interviewed: Bolden Hall Location: Live Oak, Florida Age: 83 Occupation: Field Worker Bolden Hall was born in Walkino, Florida, a little town in Jefferson County, on February 13, 1853; the son of Alfred and Tina Hall. The Halls who were the slaves of Thomas Lenton, owner of seventy-five or a hundred slaves, were the parents of twenty-one children. The Halls, who were born before slavery worked on the large plantation of Lenton which was devoted primarily to the growing of cotton and corn and secondarily to the growing of tobacco and pumpkins. Lenton was very good … Read more

Suwannee 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. Suwannee County Cemetery Records Hosted at Suwannee County, Florida USGenWeb Archives Cedar Grove Cemetery Hunt Cemetery Lebanon Church Cemetery Leona Memorial Cemetery Mt. Beulah Baptist Church Cemetery Mt. Pisgah Baptist Cemetery Mt. Willing Freewill Baptist Cemetery Oak Grove Cemetery O’Brien Cemetery Pinemount Baptist Church Cemetery Sante Fe Cemetery Sumner/Clardy Family Cemetery Swales Cemetery Union Baptist Church Cemetery United Oaks Cemetery … Read more

Slave Narrative of Charlotte Martin

Interviewer: Alfred Farrell Person Interviewed: Charlotte Martin Location: Live Oak, Florida Occupation: Farmed, made quilts, and made herb cures. Charlotte Mitchell Martin, one of twenty children born to Shepherd and Lucinda Mitchell, eighty-two years ago, was a slave of Judge Wilkerson on a large plantation in Sixteen, Florida, a little town near Madison. Shepherd Mitchell was a wagoner who hauled whiskey from Newport News, Virginia for his owner. Wilkerson was very cruel and held them in constant fear of him. He would not permit them to hold religious meetings or any other kinds of meetings, but they frequently met in … Read more

Slave Narrative of Samuel Smalls

Interviewer: Martin D. Richardson Person Interviewed: Samuel Smalls Location: Jacksonville, Florida Age: 85 A voluntary slave for seven years. The story of a free Negro of Connecticut, who came south to observe conditions of slavery, found them very distasteful, then voluntarily entered that slavery for seven years is the interesting tale that Samuel Smalls, 84 year old ex-slave of 1704 Johnson Street, Jacksonville, tells of his father Cato Smith. Smith had been born in Connecticut, son of domestic slaves who were freed while he was still a child. He grew to young manhood in the northern state, making a living … Read more

Slave Narrative of Douglas Dorsey

Interviewer: James Johnson Person Interviewed: Douglas Dorsey Location: South Jacksonville, Florida Age: 86 In South Jacksonville, on the Spring Glen Road lives Douglas Dorsey, an ex-slave, born in Suwannee County, Florida in 1851, fourteen years prior to freedom. His parents Charlie and Anna Dorsey were natives of Maryland and free people. In those days, Dorsey relates there were people known as “Nigger Traders” who used any subterfuge to catch Negroes and sell them into slavery. There was one Jeff Davis who was known as a professional “Nigger Trader,” his slave boat docked in the slip at Maryland and Jeff Davis … Read more

Slave Narrative of Ambrose Douglass

Interviewer: Martin D. Richardson Person Interviewed: Ambrose Douglass Location: Brooksville, Florida Age: 92 In 1861, when he was 16 years old, Ambrose Hilliard Douglass was given a sound beating by his North Carolina master because he attempted to refuse the mate that had been given to him–with the instructions to produce a healthy boy-child by her–and a long argument on the value of having good, strong, healthy children. In 1937, at the age of 92, Ambrose Douglass welcomed his 38th child into the world. The near-centenarian lives near Brooksville, in Hernando County, on a run-down farm that he no longer … Read more