Full Text: Local - Out of the Past: Danger, toil mark early settlers’ lives,

Sunday, June 12, 2005

OUT OF THE PAST

Danger, toil mark early settlers’ lives

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third of several articles on the cemeteries of Econfina, one of the earliest settlements in the area. By Marlene Womack

Contributing Writer mwomanck@myway.com

On star-filled nights, high in the Washington County sand hills, when a gentle breeze stirs the tall pine trees creating strange whispering sounds, silent phantoms seem to steal around the waters of Blue Springs.

The sandy paths near the spring almost echo the footsteps of Coacoochee’s band, who lived here in the land of their birthright before their removal to Indian land in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

When the Florida territory opened for settlement in 1821, people intent on coming to this new land knew they had to brave the Indians. But during this period, a spirit of adventure existed in the older Southern states. Gen. Andrew Jackson’s foray through Florida in 1818 had aroused men’s curiosity to see the untamed, semi-tropical land.

But for many residents, it was also a time of indecision. Some wondered if they should leave their families, friends and comfortable homes on established plantations to carve out homes and farms in the wilderness.

Continued planting of cotton and tobacco crops had depleted the land of the Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. In Northwest Florida, millions of acres of rich, virgin property stood waiting for those daring enough to attempt migration to the territory that had belonged to Spain for decades. Families intent on making the trip usually joined together in a group, rather than make the long journey by themselves.

Major Jones’ group

One such group willing to make the sacrifices of such a move involved the Major Wiley Jones family, which embarked for the Florida territory with their children and six slaves. Others also making this trek with them were Squire Elijah Robbins (the father of Mrs. Jones) of Virginia, his family and slaves; William Gainer, his family and slaves; Josiah Jones, the Major’s father, an old man in his 70s; and the Rev. Soliden, a Baptist minister.

Families such as the Joneses came with their barest belongings in ox-drawn covered wagons four feet wide and 10 to 12 feet long. Necessities included food, clothing and linens, medicines, a spinning wheel, clock, butter churn, washbowl and chamber pot and a few articles of furniture. They took along seeds for the first planting, a three-legged skillet, a big black pot, a water barrel, the family Bible, a few keepsakes, and domestic animals and dogs.

The Jones family settled near Blue Springs in the Econfina area. The other families selected nearby locations along the creek. Silas Wood and a few others soon settled in the area.

Econfina settlement

The first years in the area were a time of backbreaking work as the families cleared their land, planted the crops and established plantations. They obtained supplies from trading posts at the head of North Bay or from Pensacola, Webbville and Marianna.

Conditions were peaceful with the Indians those first years, and everything looked promising for future settlement. The Indians offered little resistance to the newcomers, moving into the woods where large forests remained untouched by the world.

The building of the St. Augustine-Pensacola Road through the settlement in 1820s and the assurances of John L. Williams (a commissioner who helped select Tallahassee as the territorial capital) convinced these settlers additional families would soon arrive.

In those years, Wiley and Josiah Jones, and Robbins held positions in what came to be Washington County. They served as justices of the peace and appraisers of the Union Bank. In 1838, Robbins was appointed as one of the county’s two delegates to the Constitutional Convention at St. Joseph, a city about 40 miles down the coast where plans were drawn up for Florida’s statehood.

Indian uprisings

Conditions changed drastically in the 1830s as new settlers claimed more land.
In retaliation, some of the Indians terrorized engineers surveying the territory. Others attacked women and children left alone in their homes and single travelers. With their land gone they were unable to grow crops so they began raiding cornfields and stealing livestock.

After a barrage of complaints from residents in the Florida territory and in Alabama and Georgia from those angry with Indians who sheltered runaway slaves, the government passed the Indian removal acts to induce settlement and prevent Indian wars.

Some Indians agreed to leave their homes in Florida, but upon reaching Arkansas and Oklahoma some sent word of the harsh climate and unfamiliar prairies where they could find no lightwood (pitch pine) to start fires. Learning this, many Indians resisted removal. They fought back with more massacres.

Massacres begin

In Wewahitchka, members of the Richards family were murdered. Men there built two forts for protection, one near Moss Hill Church in Washington County.

People in the Econfina settlement took precautions. Slaves were used to guard cattle and crops. When leaving home, settlers traveled together and kept an eye for signs of danger. In the past, attacks usually occurred in winter. In summer, the Indians were planting and harvesting. Homesteaders learned they could let down their guard a little in the summertime.

Massacres reached a peak in 1840 when removal quickened. Near Iola, a Harlen woman and her sons were killed in January; a McLane woman and her children were massacred and scalped in Gadsden County in April.

During the growing season of 1840, the Econfina settlers were busy with their cotton, corn and tobacco. But after hearing about the women and children the Indians killed, they stationed guards even though it was summer.

Jones Tavern

By then the road from Apalachicola through Marianna to Alabama was done.
According to a map by Major J.D. Graham and W.R. Palmer now housed in the Bay
County Public Library, the Joneses established a place for travelers to stop, Jones Tavern. The map shows "the road to Jones" and locates the tavern a mile northwest of "Post 24."

Shown nearby was the Robbins’ residence and, not far from Moccasin Creek, people by the name of "Evans."

About Sept. 1, 1840, two men named Richards and Beathen, known to the Jones family, appeared with Indians that had been rounded up for deportation, bound for a steamboat at Blountstown Landing. It was customary for neighbors and travelers to stop for food at homes or taverns. Usual fare included bacon, ham or beef, corn pone, fresh butter and molasses. Mrs. Jones probably had mixed feelings that day. She was relieved of the threat of Indian attack, but heard stories of bloodhounds used to hunt Indians and felt guilty seeing Indians removed.

Jones massacre

Taking pity of the bedraggled Indians, Mrs. Jones, according to legend, served a dish called "peppered eggs" as a special treat. She used the pepper sparingly as it was hard to obtain but decided to share it with her guests that day.

After they finished eating, the group left for Blountstown. Word was passed around the settlement that people could let down their guard, the Indians were gone.

Settlers were shocked when, on Sept. 10, a few of the captured Indians escaped and returned to the Jones homestead. They killed Mrs. Jones, two of her children and a boatman named Lograths. They claimed Mrs. Jones’ death was justified because she tried to poison them by putting pepper on their eggs. The death of Mrs. Jones and family members is documented in Niles National Register, dated Oct. 10, 1840.

A few of W.A. Gainer’s reminiscences were recorded in G.M. West’s book, St. Andrews. According to Gainer, Mrs. Jones was buried half a mile west of his homestead along Econfina Creek.

Following this tragedy, the remaining members of the Jones family moved to Louisiana, though some died along the way. Old-timers in the area remembered the gravesites with their crude marker, but time erased the marking, concealing its presence deep beneath the forest floor near Blue Springs and the site of the Jones Tavern.