By Starr Munro: Riverbend News

So much of history has been forgotten, either by accident or on purpose. Scholars around the world still mourn over the vast knowledge held in the Library of Alexandria that was laid to waste and lost sometime in 275 AD. Entire family records have been suddenly destroyed in natural disasters, after hundreds of years of careful recording, and there are manuscripts somewhere in a dusty corner that are crumbling as this is written, never to be read again. But at least there are people like George White of O'Brian, out there who, when suddenly face to face with something of value, made a point to share his findings for other people to learn from.

In mid-October, White was at his job of the day in O'Brian, tearing down older trailers to make room for newer development, when he came across a rusty old coffee can. Upon opening it, he discovered it was not just a coffee can but in fact a treasure chest containing one families history, spanning over a hundred years. Written in between receipts, shopping lists, legal documents and papers was a large part of the Grahams family history. It had been disappearing slowly with each passing year as the ink wore thinner and the paper itself aged into a brittle powder.

After contacting Riverbend News, he came by the newspaper office with his treasures, which contained other documents found in the same house, too large to fit in the coffee can. Marriage certificates, school diplomas, a newsletter from an Advent Christian Church dated July of 1941, applications for exemption from taxation from the 1930s, and a handwritten receipt for the exchange of two mules from 1889, written in beautiful script using a fountain pen. The property most of the documents pertain to is apart of Columbia, Union and Alachua Counties.

One of the most interesting pieces of the past that was found were multiple poll tax receipts. On Jan. 23, 1964, the United States ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials; therefore some people alive today may not have ever seen one. Beginning in the 1890’s, a poll tax was a legal way to keep African Americans from voting in southern states; they were essentially a voting fee. Eligible voters were required to pay their poll tax before they could cast a ballot. A "grandfather clause" excused certain poor white folks from payment if they had an ancestor who voted before the Civil War, but there were no exemptions for African Americans. It's critical for people to see documents such as these so they can fully appreciate the kind of country we live in. A nation where the people have a voice they are allowed to use, and the ability to change the status quo if it doesn't line up with the ideas of liberty.

Just from these documents alone, one can see much about life in the late 1800s and early 1900s in northern Florida. A torn and faded scrap of paper dated May 24, 1913, contains a humble shopping list of shoes, $3; overalls, $2; and pants, $3.50. The Grahams had a pig farm somewhere on their 160 acres and also raised and sold cattle, as is evident from a livestock auction paper that showed the purchase of two bulls. A receipt from the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company charged the Grahams less than five dollars for delivering six bags of seed oats, weighing over 800 pounds, dated sometime in 1948. A letter from 1944 from a judge in Lake City contains pertains information about settling the family estate when the three Graham brothers had to decide who got what parts of the property when their mother passed.

There is so much to learn from the past, and sometimes it's where you least expect it. Knowledge isn't only found underneath glass at a museum, in a college classroom or sitting on your local libraries bookshelves. History can be shared from the next door neighbor who was alive before you were even a thought, or it can be an old building being threatened of being torn down. It can even be hidden away inside a rusty coffee can, at high risk of being thrown out if not for our local citizens who know treasure when they find it. Some people's treasures begin and end with shiny precious metals and stones. And some people can look at a stack of yellowing papers and watch them shine golden.