Frank Berry
From:
Florida
FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT
American Guide, (Negro Writers' Unit)
Pearl Randolph, Field Worker
John A. Simms, Editor
Jacksonville, Florida
August 18, 1936
FRANK BERRY
Frank Berry, living at 1614 west Twenty-Second street, Jacksonville,
Florida, claims to be a grandson of Osceola, last fighting chief of the
Seminole tribe. Born in 1858 of a mother who was part of the human
chattel belonging to one of the Hearnses of Alachua County in Florida,
he served variously during his life as a State and Federal Government
contractor, United States Marshal (1881), Registration Inspector (1879).
Being only eight years of age when the Emancipation Proclamation was
issued, he remembers little of his life as a slave. The master was kind
in an impersonal way but made no provision for his freedmen as did many
other Southerners--usually in the form of land grants--although he gave
them their freedom as soon as the proclamation was issued. Berry learned
from his elders that their master was a noted duelist and owned several
fine pistols some of which have very bloody histories.
It was during the hectic days that followed the Civil War that Berry
served in the afore-mentioned offices. He held his marshalship under a
Judge King of Jacksonville, Florida. As State and Federal Government
Contractor he built many public structures, a few of which are still in
use, among them the jetties at Mayport, Florida which he helped to build
and a jail at High Springs, Florida.
It was during the war between the Indians and settlers that Berry's
grandmother, serving as a nurse at Tampa Bay was captured by the Indians
and carried away to become the squaw of their chief; she was later
re-captured by her owners. This was a common procedure, according to
Berry's statements. Indians often captured slaves, particularly the
women, or aided in their escape and almost always intermarried with
them. The red men were credited with inciting many uprisings and
wholesale escapes among the slaves.
Country frolics (dances) were quite often attended by Indians, whose
main reason for going was to obtain whiskey, for which they had a very
strong fondness. Berry describes an intoxicated Indian as a "tornado mad
man" and recalls a hair raising incident that ended in tragedy for the
offender.
A group of Indians were attending one of these frolics at Fort Myers
and everything went well until one of the number became intoxicated,
terrorizing the Negroes with bullying, and fighting anyone with whom he
could "pick" a quarrel. "Big Charlie" an uncle of the narrator was
present and when the red man challenged him to a fight made a quick end
of him by breaking his neck at one blow.
For two years he was hounded by revengeful Indians, who had an uncanny
way of ferreting out his whereabouts no matter where he went. Often he
sighted them while working in the fields and would be forced to flee to
some other place. This continued with many hairbreadth escapes, until he
was forced to move several states away.
Berry recalls the old days of black aristocracy when Negroes held high
political offices in the state of Florida, when Negro tradesmen and
professionals competed successfully and unmolested with the whites. Many
fortunes were made by men who are now little more than beggars. To this
group belongs the man who in spite of reduced circumstances manages
still to make one think of top hats and state affairs. Although small of
stature and almost disabled by rheumatism, he has the fiery dignity and
straight back that we associate with men who have ruled others. At the
same time he might also be characterized as a sweet old person, with all
the tender reminiscences of the old days and the and childish
prejudices against all things new. As might be expected, he lives in the
past and always is delighted whenever he is asked to tell about the only
life that he has ever really lived. Together with his aged wife he lives
with his children and is known to local relief agencies who supplement
the very small income he now derives from what is left of what was at
one time a considerable fortune.
REFERENCE
Personal interview with subject, Frank Berry, 1614 West Twenty-Second
Street, Jacksonville, Florida
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