Roots of a Florida Cracker

Today I want to share a little story about how my deepest roots in Florida came to be.  

The first of my family to settle in Florida was my 2nd Great Grandfather, John Henry Counts.  John Henry was the son of a planter by the name of William Counts and his wife Rebecca Ruff, of Newberry South Carolina.  Now what brought John Henry to Florida is not actually or factually known. But, the one family story that has been passed down and that I have most often heard was that John Henry’s uncle fought in the Second Seminole War and was killed in Florida somewhere down south of what is today Ocala.  After hearing of his brothers death John Henry’s father, William Counts, a Colonel in the South Carolina Militia, made the long and arduous journey to Florida to take his brother home.  In spite of the tragedy, upon returning home and in the ensuing years Colonel Counts could hardly cease talking of and praising the the land of Central Florida. These stories were apparently too inviting to John Henry so when he was of age and not to many years after his father's abrupt death in 1848 he made plans to and eventually packed up and moved south.  

I, like many dreamers, find that a very good story but, I’m not at all sure but that the reality wasn’t that several of John Henry’s neighbors around Newberry South Carolina decided to go in search of better farming country.  Having heard the many stories they decided to move on to what promised to be a better life and John Henry just went along.  Since many of the neighboring planters from the vicinity of Newberry staked claims around Marion County at about the same time as John Henry, my thought is that the truth most probably lies somewhere between those two thoughts.

So whatever the motivation that spurred John Henry’s actions in 1850, at age 23, he headed south to become a Planter in Marion County Florida. It would be some four years later that John Henry would marry kindred spirit Elizabeth Mary Gibson, also a South Carolina transplant and the daughter of John Allen Gibson and Mary Ann Williams. 

What I find most interesting if not astounding, is how two young people, could leave what were most probably very comfortable homes and lives, on rather large and tamed holdings in South Carolina and move to the mosquito, snake, and alligator infested wilderness of Florida.  And to do such a thing in the middle of the third Seminole Indian War while attempting to carve out a life for themselves. Astounding is right.  Granted Elizabeth Mary came with her family but even so the challenges must have been tremendous to say the least.  This young couples strength is enough to amaze even the most cynical characters.  That, even more so, when you think that just eight years after their marriage John Henry would leave to spend nearly four long years in the Civil War leaving Elizabeth Mary behind to take care of their children and run a large farm and cattle venture on her own.

Olivet Baptist Church 1888

Unfortunately, I do not have photos of either of my 2nd great grandparents.  Perhaps some day one will surface.  Perhaps from another descendent and distant relative and I will have the pleasure of receiving a copy for my descendents. In the meantime I do have their memory.  A memory as passed down from Cracker to Cracker through my Florida family.  On a side note, I do know where John Henry and Elizabeth Mary, are laid to rest and from time to time I go by.  In 1952 my grandfather George Woods, grandson of John Henry and Elizabeth Mary made arrangements for an official military stone to be placed on John Henry’s grave.  The stone is still there in the little Blue Sink Cemetery which they helped to establish which is not far from where their home was and the little church that they were a part of founding.