Document text
February be 1939.
Life History
Mrs. Murtha Ulan Mose
1713 S. Ohuroh-st.,
Jaoksonville,
Florida.
Rose ShePherd-- rites*.
MRS. MARTHA IGLU MAN,
PIONNAR.
We met en the evossing at Main and AIWA. Street on a busy
Saturday afternoon, She saw me first, she on the inside and I on the
outside of the busy traffiu lane of shoppers, mad pushing her way
through, clamped my hmud and placed her arm around my shoulder in
happy greeting. I was glad to see my 74 -year old friend, and as I
noted how strong and straight and tallaohe was, one *Amos at her
face showed me she was not in the best of health.
"Hew are you?" I questioned, as I turned und 14111 tn ara ws
made our way to the Andrew Jackson Hotel corner, where as the crowd.
surged around us at thia buey point, we stood an held a reunion, for
I had missed her for some weeks from our usual haunts.
"Not so good," she replied. "I have been down to John's in
Miami for three months, und while thilro I had my teeth out at his in-
sistence, as they were in had condition the dentist said I should
have done this years ago, and that it will be ame ti.:41 before the
poison gets outt,of my system."
remarked on the apparent good fit and natural appearance
of her "store teeth", as she uull,d them, and iniuired about John and
his family.
John Devan wus reared in Jackson ills, studied Dm, and in
the 1920's became Probate Judge of Duval County. His friends wore
26004
Mrs Devan Pioneer 2.
legion, but in his mother's optiOnn"John was too popular. He drew a
good salary, but looked, like he could never get ahead financially,"
So, when there was a liendid opening with a ideal known law firm in
Miami, he relayed with his family, to the southern metropolis of
Plorida eight years ago, Reports °lime back to Jacksonville of his
advancement in his profeosione of his apparent prosperity, with rumors
he wculd be a candidate for Govornor of Ylorida in the 1940 eleotion.
"Oh, they are all fine. The children OA in college, the
two older ones, the younfor in Junior High, and John is so busy we
always had to oatch him on the run to talk with him. He is in poll.-
tics up to his eyebrows, but it does not make any. Afferenos what you
hear to the contrary, John is a good boy he'll be able to take oars
of himself, (John is 56 years of age but is still a "boy" to his
doting mother),
nes, he is mart, and while politics is a treacherous game,
even for the most exposienued, John's many friends in Jacksonville are
not uneasy, and will all support him if he decides to come out as a
oandidato for the highest office Um, State can bestow," I antlered..
"I enjoyed. Miami. John has a new home near Miami Beach, and
in his plane he had a room built especially for me, with sons of my
OA furniture installed -"a bed and dresser, smiths chair in which
,1 used to rook him to sleep, so I always feel at ham,. Yes, John ia
a good boy, He's been raised right you km" peoplelhave to have
.prinoiples to live and labor by and John Lowell balanoodwr
"Are you living alone in your home hero?" I asked.
"Oh, no. I'm never alone. I have the best choldren in
the world., and while none of them are living here right now, when 1
Mrs. Devan Pioneer
I am in the old. hot,se, th re is always some of the grandchildren.
Louise iume do.n from South Carolina, the day i-iefore I arrived, and
had lverything in order %be). I (Jame in last Sunday evening.
"I'll have to be ou my way now, as I still hive some gro-
aeries to get for tomorrow's dinner my car is parked up by the
Courthouse, where I've had a speolal spot reserved for years.
"Did you say you had some tickets for the moving picture to
be sponeored b the ;astern Star Chapter next wlek Ye11, rive me
about ten. I'll go through John's old office when I come domin Monday
to see about my taxes most of the old eanployies vho Itted to work for
him are still there. I'll romp all over them and sell ev )ry one of
those tickets before I leuve."
She laughed elyly in reminiscenee at the h..',00d nature de John's
old office help, and .he readiness with which they purohased tickets
for benefits, balls, and other entertainments she is interested in
sher Churoh uffilitions, h)r ':ustern Star ,.h"pter, her C. Chapter
in till of which she is an active participant and supporter.
"If you'll be down on the courthouse steps on the north side
Monday at 2 o'clook, I'll 'pick you up and we'll co hOM1az have a
nie visit." iaid tills we parted.
You mny be sure that I was there at 2 p. in. on the appointed
spot, and so Was -rs. Devtui, is a business woman, vsi:11 neither
time nor vordH to squander.
Her business transacted, here she caws, hereyes bright and
sparkling.
"You do not wear glasses, do you, "re. Devan."
"No, not when I'm traipsing around like this. I don't need
Mrs. Divan Pioneer 4.
them?. John used to say Mother, I do believe you can see from here
to Texas!' (John ie evidently the Iavorite of her five -children).
Of couree, I have a pair of reading glasses in my purse, if I have to
sign papers or any emergenoy comee up that I need to read somethili;.
but glaseee are not necessary for what I do moetly now."
"What is that?"
"Remembering: Just remembering!"
.By this time wt ere in the r,not new modal, but a ;ood
one anta in c -cod ondition. he swung it around, made for :wail ::treet,
and straight across the viaduct to her home on &ast hureh areet in
'Jacksonville.
All this part of town is so dear to me. You know out ten
years ago, my uhiliren thought I should move over into the Riverside
section. to owned some property on Park-iStreet, and nothing would do
but for me to move into it. I did, even transferred my membership
from the ?airfield Methodist wh:)re our family had attended so
long and joined the Riverside Park Methodist (Ituroh. But I never felt
at home there were so many strangers, aL4 I missed r4 old friende
and neighbor0. So after three years, I 04M3 back over hers."
we had arrived;
By this time/she had steered the or into the driveway. It
lAas a big Cld rumbling house, uith wide porches, two lovely magnolia
trees whih had grown up with the neighborhood on Cther aide of
the old fashioned brick walk to the front steps vines, trellises with
roses, beds of azaleas a magnifieent wisteria forty years old Awer-
ing the poets of the porch had reehled out to the liveoak tree at the
eornOr, and one ;ould picture the heavy purple blooms in the early
spring and eummer amow the glooey leaves and the gray strands Li'
6panish moss.
Mrs. Devan Pioneer b.
The front door, with its fruzse outlined with squarou of color-
ed glass red, umber of a period in vogue fifty years/ ago,
opened us if by magi, tart r.1 $limilinA colored 'in, n)atly dr)st4ed in
a bkack house dreos with white lawn apron and u maid's cap v ith
blu.ok ribbon band, bade us "dome in.
"This is Martha 11i said Mrs. Devan.
"Named aft a* wou?" I queried.
aural was, said Yartha _Ulan. and I think it's the purti-
est n zo in tar) world.. I belong* to the tho' my last name's
Dawson."
Mrs. Devan did not s :en to be at all embarraesed u.t this join-
ing i-n the conversation b.; the maid, and laughingly said -"Martha 2.11en
is graitadawthter of the 1T,..a,rtha vie brought from South Carolina, when
Mr. Devlin and I oath* down here from our native 6tute in 1890."
The entrance hall opened into a oomfortable living -.room, well
iurniehed, a worn rug on the floor, the l'urniture of %IPS good substan-
tial walnut, the comfortable rocking chairs w• th their high curved
bucks, the home made cushions, all bespoke an intelligent effort to
combine good selections A.th lasting qualitiee to m4.e a room that
ooul•i ke lived in by home folks, as w11 visitors. The October
sun cem) through the. long South .,nfl west windows, with their draperies
of starched scrim and bright flosered chintz.
he rocker by the low wulnut table with its lump and a basket
with sewing. ..'laterita. looked as if it might be the favorite resting
spot' of Mrs. Devan, and us I hesitated on being asked to sit down,
seri enotth she went directly to this rocker, -2.1d oh, seated. her-
self eh e said:
"I feel I've grown up here, kul.i tfly life hi,Aory would really
be the history of 7alrfilld an. itøo rroundingo.
evan A.oneer 6.
"I w4s born ih 6ardiC, south Carolina, on October 11, 1E164.
i was the youngest of a family of ten. tly three older brothers served
in the War between the States, but my f.thar and mother were gray-haired
from the time I could rimember.
"We went through the usual violksitudes of the southerners of
that seoion in War UM'S, my father being to old to muter serviue, he
staid at home and kept on running the geLeral, store. My earliest re-
collections ara of playing around the porch in the front of the store,
which vas also th.: post offi,A, and of listening to the uonversations
of the neighbors ;Ana the country folk as they .:.acle to purohase or to
inquire for mail. You know a gene:.al store oafried evieything, dry
godu as pieue goode was designated r buttons, thread, yarn all
the women oroo;.eted ant knitted, especially gloves and stockings, as
these articles fould not be scoured them, since no factories manufac-
tured them in those days. Then there were the staple groceries sugar,
coffee, flour, etc. The oountry people brought in butter, eggs, side
meat, h,ms, bauon, dried Apples, pears, peaches, etc., anA traded these
a peculiar system of 'to have and have not.' "hey All had a_wounts at
the *tor, uhA my fAher's accounts of e and uradit were most in-
teresting. ,t qu rter of Lesf, :6.00; u mut'on, A..7b; a bushel of dried
pe-ches, bOci; 3 yards of homisPun jeans -(this was much in demand for
the f44.4kin of men's suits, a4.1 vomeh mad) them, too, by thl vay)
per yard;10 dohen fresh eggs at 1W per doLen; honey k, per pound.
There ware ho canned vegetaUes and fruits, like we can buy nOw, and
there was no home 0,,hning. 7reseeving of ruit pears, peahee.
plams, apples, by 000king them thorolvtly in honey and placing in
three gallon jars or churns of aton:-ware was the only pfl.ale of
carrying thee over .or winar use. Our food It4.0.5 all fiteah and of
good cok,Ality. e h -d cle,.ty of -ood fresh milk, buttermilk, meats,
Mrs. Devon Pioneer 7.
and fresh vegetaGles in season. our family was all strong und healthy.
One of my brotheri was lost in the War, but the other two cams bauk
home in 1866.
"Of course, I do not remember ninth about the Reoonstruotion
period, but by the time I was guesorii family was fairly prosperous
and I was sent to the Columbia Female Aoademy, at Columbia, S. C., to
complete my education. There were no free schools. I reoeived my
early training at home, und later attended a, subscription school or
two of six months schools where the teacher oharged a dollar a month
per pupil, usually having twenty or so at a term.
"There were no co-eds in those days. "he boys went swaLy to
college, to Harvard und Yale, if the family voUld afford it, to Lexington
to attend i,a4hington and Lee, or to Suwannee.
We were espeoiclly trained in deportment al the Columbia
Female Aoademys always made to remember W were ludies'oith bearing ant
manner accordingly. A teacher was away* with um, even when we went
out for our daily walks and exercise. Thine were about sixty young
ladies when 1 attended.
"We were taught music and painting, sewing that is, file
sewing, embroidering, and ull sorts of handwook. Morning dud evening
there was prayer service, and of .curse on Sundays were went in a body
to apond services at the local lipisoopal Church. We cultivated a
taste fop good literature, the Glass/oat poetry, novels of established
reputation, read "The Soottish .ir alter Scott's books,
Milton and Shakespeare.
"I finished school when I was eighteen, and later in the
Summer met Mr. Agar Charles Dubose at "immonsvills, S. O., and we
were married a your later.
"ital4 In 1890. we came to Florida with our three children,
7re. Devun Pioneer
8
looatinj at Hawthorne, a thriving railroad .;untion in a slootion of
Florida that was just being opened up, and where 7r. D ev an had Fur
chased a ..arga 4orlage.
"We brought nirtha and John, our negro servants. from
TlifAmoneville, but they were Abt used to farm work, noithor were we,
so in 1894 we had an oppprtunity to trade the farm and rove for
seOtion of v'airfield, in Jaksonvills, and came here banging martha
and John tith us.
"On the corn)r oi that next lot across the trsot. !'r.'evan
estPabliz-thed a real estate office. ,s had alway s kept my father's
booki at the store, ft,e
that
b30 Uri Lj. L.4Uitc.aa':1 arra, it v. only 1,iatural
should help my.- hueband.
"Our family had by now in.;reased to two boys d three girls.
Th iii,Ta vs lost our so.; ond son. Thee was
plao4y of w,.)rk at the house and the office, so v;0 at Oo Timmoneville
for ilartha z.(1. ,:oh,n' a two young daughters. One helped v,ith the house-
work" uid children's oars, the other took oars of the ofice, and run
the ',errands, Martha did the cooking, and John took oure of the horses
ar.4: doted as coachman.
"Those were busy, happy years. We prospered. Several years
later. we took in a store at Oakland and Florida-ave•, on a real estate
deal, and I run the store. The ohildren were away at school, so we did
;not need so many horses, and I took John to help with the heavy vork
and to aot as handyman around the store. It was a busy life. We had
'notions' as.they were (waled thread, buttons, hooks and eyes,
'dressmakers' findings most of these things out of style in this
age of tippers and mappers and I oarfied some piece g,nds.
Ws. Divan Pioneer 9
"Wad the store evei held up?" I asked, rooalling a brutal
hold-up and murder ol the Proprietor of a soft drink extablishment
in the same beighborhood a year a.
"Mercy, Mel I never thought of such a thing. That was u
nice neighborhood, thirty years axo, the streetcar:: past the door,
negroes lived all around, in fact, they were come of my best custom-
ers, but they were working, law-abiding residents, and it never en-
tered my mind to be afraid.
"I u*ially took in around ten to fifteen dollars per day,
as the women would rather Patronize me than take the long trip to
town, as Jacksonville was called.
'Yes, I am a firm 'believer in the Church and its influence.
We joined the Fairfield Methodist Church, which was near our hme,
and all of our ohildren attended the Sunday School and Church services
from the time they were little yoangstars.
"I have always bum a firm believer in Jacksonville. It has
splendid opportunities .tor everybody,. My daughters are scattered
one with her famil/ng in Washington, D. C., one in Daytona Beach, and
QUO in Vest Palm heauh, arid, a granddaughter married And living in
Charleston. but all are near enough that I can visit them when I feel
like it, and we are to have a 4:rand Chrietmae home -coming this your
everybody will be hare.
An so I left this friendly woman who had made a mucosa:: of
her life and that of her five children, happy and contented in her
declining years, but not helpless, till active and interested in
her church and other organizations of vhich he is a member.
But a week later he did not arise at her usual hour. Martha
!Ulan coming on duty at seven o'look knocked softly on the bedroom
door, and heard ta. groan. She rushed in, talA found Mrs. Devon had
Mrs. Devun Pioneer 10.
4
suffered a stroke. The dootor was culled, the ehildredn all came
home, but "it is just 4 matter of time," said the #hysician.
"If I can just last through Chrietmas!" Moaned Mrs. Devan.
And she did. 4.11 the neighbors knew of her wish, the Married son and
hid family, the three daughters and their families all were there.
The house was a bower of flours and greenery, there was u fine Christ-
mas tree, with eresents for 411 the family, for the old friends and
lie ;41bors, for old John and Martha, for young Martha :11en and her
generation.
Priduy morning Mrs. Devun passed awai in her sleep, and on
Sunday th) funeral was held in the Fairfield Mlthodisi Church whioh
she had attended for forty years, where she had served, und willingly
labored as its affairs needed her +Mooring presence.
The preauher was u nereonul friend. Uf the two hundred who
orowled into the church, most of them were her personal friends, and
on the outside were many more unatle to enter the mull auditorium.
In the front pew next to the piano were old John's young
John, Murtha, Martha 31:Len and Mary, and a young Negro music teacher,
who "mid coached the four in u hymn which had cheered Yrs. DeVial in
her hours of suffering when they .came to the house regularly in their
spare time. .4 the aces of the funeral sermon, the nreacher.uielounoed
the group would eng, and us the soft Negro voioes curried throu4i
-the, church, vith one of the girls 7!ary playing the,aeoompaniament
"He'll Understand and say 'Well Done' there was not a d* eye
among the uudianee.
Lasked one of the singers, "Did you know mrs.Devan,"
"Yes,ma'am, I worked for grs. Divan, anA my mummy and grand
maw before me. I fus reOleots pluyin in tho eto' on Uth,land and
Florida V.hat's I eine to to now? Pee gwine home with
Mies 'Bessie to Duitona Beach in the mornizt"