Eric Musgrove
Contributor
Last week, I discussed the end of slavery in the United States, an act that freed millions of African Americans to choose their own paths in life, often for the first time. This week, we continue our study of Black history here in Suwannee County.
During the period just before or after the Civil War (the date is unknown), a slave (or former slave, depending upon the source and date) by the name of Abe Davis would regularly dive Little River Springs near his home in what is now Branford, coming back up several hundred feet away. According to legend, his first attempt was made to save his own skin as he was about to be lynched. He jumped into Little River Springs and found an air pocket that took him to another entrance, where he hid until those wanting to lynch him decided that he had drowned and left the area.
Over the years, Davis would regularly travel from one entrance of Little River Springs to another without modern equipment such as SCUBA gear, snorkels, fins or masks. He was the first known person in the United States, and very possibly in the entire Western Hemisphere, to practice what we now call cave diving. In honor of his achievement, the Cave Diving Section of the National Speleological Society decided to create the Abe Davis Cave Diving Safety Award in 1977 for those who safely completed more than 100 cave dives while using SCUBA. The first recipient of the award, fittingly enough, was cave-diving pioneer Sheck Exley of Suwannee County.
The end of the Civil War brought about the question of how to return to a united country. Although President Abraham Lincoln had wanted a rather lenient path for the Southern states to return to the Union, upon his assassination, the powers-that-be decided that the South should pay heavily for the war. What followed was a dozen years of Reconstruction. During this time, many Northern politicians oversaw the governments of the Southern states, in some cases merely pocketing public funds. Between 1865 and 1868, Florida was under military occupation by Northern forces.
The African Baptist Church was established in 1868, only three years after the end of the Civil War. Nancy Parshley, the wealthy widow of John Parshley, donated property at the corner of Parshley and Houston Streets (now used for parking at Paul Langford Stadium). Originally a wood-frame church, the building burned down in 1904. In 1908, new land was purchased at the corner of Walker and 7th Streets, and the current natural-hewn-stone church building was completed in 1910.
However, Reconstruction allowed African Americans to adjust to their freedom more quickly than they would have been otherwise. In Suwannee County, it was quickly realized that religion and education were important. Although it appears from the existing anecdotal records that some “white” churches had allowed African American slaves to worship with them prior to the Civil War (such as Antioch Baptist Church), it was only after the war that many African American churches were set up throughout the county. Many of these church properties were donated by white neighbors. While many of the following congregations still exist today, some have dissolved over the years for various reasons. This is by no means an exhaustive list of Reconstruction-era African American churches.
Although hard documentation is lacking, it appears that one of the earliest African American churches established after the Civil War was the St. James African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Eventually, property was secured near the community of Rixford for the church's use, where it remains off County Road 136A.
In 1867, land was secured in Houston (then the county seat) from the Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners for use as a “Freedman Church.” This church, called Freedman Baptist Church, closed around 1900, according to WPA documents from the late 1930s and early 1940s.
In the same year that the Freedman Baptist Church was established, the Bethlehem Methodist Church was established just north of Pinemount. Like many early churches, this one began meeting under a brush arbor, but in 1869 built a log meeting place that was in turn replaced by a newer building in 1890.
Another early African American church was the African Baptist Church in Live Oak. It was established in 1868, only three years after the end of the Civil War. Nancy Parshley, the wealthy widow of John Parshley, donated property at the corner of Parshley and Houston Streets (now used for parking at Paul Langford Stadium). The trustees for the church were Shade Taylor, James (last name appears to also be James), Peter DeLouis, Abraham Goulding (Golding), and what appears to be Shery (Sherry) Wade. A wood-frame church was quickly constructed, but it burned down in 1904.
Services were held in a temporary wooden structure on the property until 1907, when they were moved to the nearby chapel of the Florida Institute, two blocks away. In 1908, new land was purchased at the corner of Walker and 7th Streets, and the current natural-hewn-stone church building was completed in 1910.
In the same year that the African Baptist Church was established in Live Oak, Ebenezer AME Church was established. Like African Baptist, Ebenezer received its property from Nancy Parshley. The trustees were Baldwell Hall, Randall Farnell, Adam Stafford, Louis Wiggins and S. K. Jones. A new building was constructed in 1894 and eventually replaced by the present structure.
Next week, we will continue looking at African American religion during Reconstruction.
Eric Musgrove can be reached at ericm@suwgov.org or 386-362-0564.