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VILLA ALEXANDRIA, MRS.
ALEXANDER MITCHELL,
SOUTH JACKSONVILLE.
(Florida)
Mrs. Charles LeNoir, or "Miss Mollie"
as she is affectionately known to the members of the Woman's Club of
Jacksonville, of which she has been the efficient secretary for seven
years, volunteered information on Villa Alexandria. Mrs. Alexander
Mitchell, and incidents of South Jacksonville history, and was interviewed
as she set at her desk in the business office of the Woman's Club.
Mrs. LeNoir is a small woman of Scotch-English descent, with keen brown
eyes, reddish brown hair, and a ruddy complexion. She speaks rapidly, her
high pitched voiced having a considerable nasal quality, and intersperses
her conversation with quick, expressive hand gestures.
"My family came to Jacksonville from Flint, Michigan, in 1879, when I was
a very small child," said Mrs. LeNoir.
"My father, William L. Gibson, had been ordered to Florida by his
physician, being a victim of consumption, or tuberculosis, as it is now
called. The Gibsons were early settlers of Michigan, my father being of
the fourth generation of that family in that state.
"When we first came to this section, we boarded with the family of
ex-Governor Harrison Reed, living in the old Reed house on Flagler Street
in South Jacksonville. The house is still standing in its original
location, but was then in the center of a small estate of twelve acres, on
which was planted a splendid bearing orange grove, and other tropical
fruits and shrubs. This was in 1879.
"We were considered Yankees, and were not very popular at that period of
Florida's history.
"Harrison Reed was the first Territorial Governor of Florida, also a
Yankee, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so it was natural that we should seek
congenial friends.
"The Reeds had a small son, Harrison Reed, Jr., and he and I being about
the same age, were cordial playmates of pre-school age, and had good times
romping around the big house and exploring the estate. We were very fond
of cats, and I remember at one time we possessed in joint ownership a
magnificent colony of sixteen. They were all kinds, mostly scrubs of the
common alley variety, but we loved them dearly, dressed them up, put paper
boots on them, and fed them until they were as fat as butter.
"It was not long until my father secured a position as bookkeeper with the
Barnett Bank. He was the third man employed. The firm consisted of Mr. W.
B. Barnett, Mr. Sam Cooper, and when my father was added, the staff of
three carried on the rapidly growing business of the institution. The bank
was located in a small building on the same corner where Furchgott's
Department Store now stands, southwest corner of Forsyth and Pine (or Main
Street, as it is known today). When I look back now, it seems impossible
almost to realize that the Barnett Bank of Jacksonville now employees
around three hundred people. It was not a National Bank, but was known
then as the Bank of Jacksonville.
When my father died in 1912, he was assistant cashier of the Barnett Bank.
"We lived with the Reeds for a year or so, then my father purchased an
adjoining plot, which also contained an orange grove, built a house, and
when the street was cut through past the house in 1886, it was called
'Gibson Street' after my family. The big old red house is still standing.
"Ex Governor Harrison Reed was a brother of Mrs. Alexander Mitchell, also
from Milwaukee. She owned the 'Villa Alexandria' estate on the St. Johns
River, further out on the south side, where the Swisher property now is.
In passing, she came frequently to visit the Reeds, and we got to know her
very well.
"Mrs. Mitchell was a tall, well-built woman, and very dignified in her
manner and speech. She was middle-aged, as I first remember her, with hair
quite gray. Her eyes were blue. She was a woman of much culture, a world
traveler, and quite artistic.
"She took a fancy to me, and as she was along a great deal in her big
house, she often took me to Villa Alexandria to stay with her overnight or
over the week end.
"The house was a big rambling three story structure, all frame, and not
very pretentious from the outside, but the inside was most beautiful.
"Mrs. Mitchell used to humor me when I would be her guest by giving me my
choice of the room I was to occupy. There was a French room, with dainty
blue and gold finished white antique furniture, with heavy brocade
draperies, and lots and lots or mirrors - French beveled in gold frames -
everything very dainty and 'Frenchy'. This was my favorite. Then there was
the Japanese bedroom, with heavy dark lacquered furniture, with rugs and
other furnishings from Japan; and the antique room, furnished in early
American. On the other side of the house was a rather large bedroom, all
gray and straw color.
"Mrs. Mitchell's own bedroom was very beautiful. It had a big bay window
which faced the river. The windows in the room were hung with white silk
curtains with over-drapes of heavy blue brocade. On one side of her bed
she had a tall screen with three doors that folded. These doors were all
full-length heavy mirrors, and the other side was of yellow plush. Three
steps led up to her bedroom from the hall, which caused some people to
remark - 'The steps led up to her throne.' The woodwork in the room was
all decorated with hand-carvings. It was reported she had secured these
carvings in France, had them carefully taken down and brought over here
and installed in her room. All the little cabinets, the paintings on the
walls were French, and there were many round and oval mirrors of French
style.
"The dining room was a masterpiece of magnificence. It was quite large.
The dining table occupied the center of the room, which could accommodate
seventy-five guests. Cabinets were built in on two sides of the room, with
glass doors, and in these were stored her magnificent imported china. In
one was a marvelous collection of teapots from all over the world,
patiently collected on her many trips abroad. Ordinarily the table was in
the middle of the room, but when only a few guests were present, it was
shoved up into the expansive bay window looking out upon the St. Johns
River. Fine paintings by European masters adorned the walls of this room.
"Mrs. Mitchell's son, John, was married to an actress. The son was rich
and spoiled, the actress-wife was high-tempered and avaricious, and when
they separated, Mrs. Mitchell, Sr took the small son, David, whom the
court proceedings in a divorce suit had awarded to the father. He was then
about seven years of age.
"The first time I saw David Mitchell was when his grandmother, Mrs.
Alexander Mitchell, brought him back to South Jacksonville early one fall.
This was in 1893. He was a small, fair-haired youngster, dressed in a blue
serge soldier suit, ornamented with much gold braid.
"I remember he had a couple of ferocious bulldogs, which he trained to
catch and kill cats. This, to Harrison Reed and me, was the height of
cruelty, and we were not very fond of the 'little heathen'. He used to
hire the negroes to bring cats to Villa Alexandria, which he would turn
loose and sic those ferocious bulldogs on them. If the dogs caught the
cats, they would tear them apart. It was terrible!
"There was no doubt of David's being a legitimate son, as I remember all
the talk about the separation and divorce of the father and mother in
Milwaukee.
"Davie was the apple of his grandmother's eye, and she lavished everything
upon him. He was also very fond of his grandmother and was always loyal to
her.
"I remember his courtship with Kittie Parrott, who was Kittie Sutton, whom
Mr. Parrott adopted after he married her mother, Mrs. Lillie Sutton. She
had vowed she would marry the richest man in Jacksonville, and so she set
her 'cap' for David Mitchell. He was a sport, riding wild ponies,
drinking, gambling, and idling away his time. But they were married, and I
remember when the little boy, Alexander Mitchell, named for his
great-grandfather, was born. He was a cute little baby and I have lots of
snapshots of him, as my mother used to take care of him a great deal, when
Kittie came over to visit in Jacksonville.
"She would come as far as our house, and we would walk down to the river
and put out a little white flag, when a rowboat would be sent over to
bring the passenger to this side of the river. They were landed at the
foot of Newman Street. My father had his own rowboat, and made the trip
across the river each day, storing the boat at the Florida Yacht Club
basin on the river. ([ft?] of Market St.).
"When David Mitchell met with a terrible accident - a bad spill from a
fast polo pony, he suffered a concussion of the brain and other injuries,
being unconscious for a period of six weeks or so, Kittie
Parrott-Mitchell, decided she did not wish to be tied to a broken man, so
she talked of divorcing david, who was practically an invalid and not
accountable for his speech or actions for a long time. Her father, who was
an important official of the Florida East Coast Railroad, was rather stern
with her, telling her she had married David for better or for worse, and
it was up to her to remember her vows. She refused to live with him,
however, and immediately upon the death of her father she instituted
proceedings for divorce. In the meantime, she had become involved in a
mesalliance with Sam Holmes, a local married man, causing a lot of
scandal, and it was reported she lived with him for severl years before
his wife died and he was able to make her his legal wife. After he died,
she married for the third time, now living in West Palm Beach, having
attained a modicum of respectability after her wild actions. The son,
Alexander Mitchell, is now employed in the bond department of the Barnett
National Bank. He was quite small when his father and mother separated,
and probably knows very little about the Mitchells. His grandmother, Mrs.
Lillie Parrott, was very fond of him, however, and when she died, in her
will she left him her beautiful residence on St. Johns Avenue in the
fashionable Avondale section. Young Alexander Mitchell was born in 1908.
"The first ferryboat operated on the St. Johns was in 1893 or 1894. It was
called the Armington, and I used to come over on it to Jacksonville to
attend the Bradford Institute, a prive school operated by Mrs. L. Drew
Williams, under the auspices of the Episcopal Church.
"The next ferry was called the Mechanic. It belonged to the Flagler System
and would meet the trains at the foot of Hogan Street and carry freight
and passengers over to the south side station of the Florida East Coast
Railway.
"The bridge was started about that time, and my mother who died in 1914,
said she wished she might live to see the bridge completed and the two
cities, Jacksonville and South Jacksonville, joined together.
"During the fire of May 3, 1901, we children were awed by the spectacle
from the south side of the river. It must have been either on a Saturday
or some holiday, as we were home from school. It started about noon. We
had been forbidden to go down through the orange grove which ran to the
water's edge. Our place was all fenced in, and there was a gate on the
river side, but we never went beyond the gate. The flames kept shooting up
and the black smoke rolling in, so we decided to go up to the roof of the
house. We mounted the stairs to the attic, and through a window climbed
out on the roof, from which we had a magnificent view. I remember the
smoke and flame which came from the roof of the Catholic Church after a
blazing brand was wafted there by the high wind, and we watched as the
church was rapidly consumed.
"Along in the evening the ferry began to bring people over to the south
side - their homes and belongings destroyed in the fire, their clothing in
shreds and the shoes burned from their feet as they walked through the hot
ashes. That night we had nineteen guests.
"The burning brands fell in every direction during the height of the fire
- the fire department simply could not keep up with them - and even the
next morning buildings were still smoking.
"Father stayed at his post in the Barnett Bank until 3 o'clock on the
morning after the fire. The bank did not burn, as the fire lifted and
burned the next block. Everything in the other direction, up in the block
where the Elks Club now is, was destroyed, also.
"Harrison Reed, or Harry Reed, as we called him, when he finished school,
went to work for the Hubbard Hardware Co. Later he was offered a position
with the Standard Oil Co., having charge of their warehouse in
Jacksonville. That was when we parted company, as mother thought a
'warehouseman' was not good enough for her daughter to keep company with.
When the Standard Oil Company became more prosperous and influential,
Harrison Reed was promoted, until he finally became the Florida manager.
He is retired now, having a beautiful, home in San Jose. He must be a
multi-millionaire, as he sold hundreds of acres to the real estate company
developing San Jose Estates, one of Jacksonville's most beautiful
residential suburbs. He has quite a collection of valuable historical
relics pertaining to Florida, which he has treasured from his father's
time, when he was Territorial Governor.
Getting back to Mrs. Mitchell, she was always a devout Episcopalian, and
when South Jacksonville was building up, she conceived the idea of
building a chapel on the south side. The spot being selected, she got
people interested, and no one was more enthusiastic than my own dear
mother. You see, being Yankees, we made few close friends, so mother had
little social activity and was glad to give her time to helping Mrs.
Mitchell in establishing the little All Saints Chapel, as it was known.
"I remember that my father used to go hunting with Mr. Ed Holmes and
through this association they became fast friends. One day Mr. Holmes
said: ""Gibson, I am going to have my wife call on Mrs. Gibson, so we can
be family friends."" My father was so delighted when he brought this
message home, but my mother said - ""No, she'll not call - we are too much
Yankee for her"" - and sure enough she didn't.
"If you will come back tomorrow, I will tell you more about the Mitchells
and All Saints Church, also the yellow fever epidemic of 1888."
July 19, 1939
Mrs. Charles (Mollie
Gibson) LeNoir,
Secretary, Womans Club of
Jacksonville,
861 Riverside-ave.,
Jacksonville, Florida.
Rose Shepherd, Writer.
VILLA ALEXANDERIA, MRS. ALEXANDER
MITCHELL.
SOUTH JACKSONVILLE. (Additional).
Continuing, Mrs. LeNoir said: "David Mitchell was most loyal at all times
to his grandmother. I remember one evening after he and Kittie were
married, she had dressed to go out to dinner at one of the Jacksonville
hotels. David refused to accompany her. Angered, she ask why. ""I have
another engagement,"" he said. ""What is more important than accompanying
me to this dinner. You know I can't go alone,"" said Kittie. ""I have an
engagement with my grandmother."" ""How long have you had this
engagement?"" asked Kittie. "Twenty-two years,"" replied David. ""My
grandmother and I had an agreement when she first assumed my care that
whenever she needed me I would come, or if she were lonesome and wished me
to stay with her, I would spend as long as she liked in companionship -
just she and I. This is one of those times she has asked me to stay with
her for the evening, and I am bound to go on my honor." So Mrs. Kittie had
to stay quietly at home by herself.
"During the Spanish-American War, when the troops were encamped in
Jacksonville, another grandson-- John Mitchell, David's half-brother, son
of his father by the second wife - was a Lieutenant in one of the
Wisconsin regiments, and Mrs. Mitchell give a grand party at Villa
Alexandria for the young people of Jacksonville, and I was invited. This
John Mitchell seemed to be a very fine young man, serious, and
businesslike.
"Mrs. Alexander Mitchell was a life-long Episcopalian, and through the
efforts of some of the residents of the south side, a chapel was
established as an adjunct of St. Johns Church of Jacksonville. My mother
was one of the first ones to project this venture; others were Mr. and
Mrs. Ed Holmes, Judge Call and his wife, and Mr. and Mrs. DeLacy. Later
Mrs. Mitchell became interested and worked heart and soul for the little
church, operated first as a Mission - All Saints - and it was hard work
for the parishioners to keep Mrs. Mitchell from feeling that she
practically owned it, as she gave the organ, the furniture, the vestments,
and wanted to do everything that was needed without question and without
price.
"The first services were held in 1885 in the little waiting room at the
Ferry station, where passengers changed trains, or went across to
Jacksonville from the Florida East Coast Railway coaches. I still have the
little Bible that was given me as a souvenir of the first meeting at All
Saints.
"Mrs. Mitchell would have the ladies of the Guild meet at her home, and
after the business meeting was over she would entertain them by reading
from a diary she had kept of a trip to Egypt and up the Nile. Just a few
paragraphs at a time, but the reading was continued until the entire trip
from start to finish had been covered.
"Mr. Will Crawford was the first President of the Florida East Coast. He
built a fine home in South Jacksonville, and Mrs. Crawford was as much
interested as my mother was in the little Mission of All Saints, and it
was those two who started the building. The Florida East Coast gave some
money, and the rose memorial window to Mr. Green, an official of the
Florida East Coast, was also given by the railroad people.
"The first rector of all Saints was the Rev. Mr. Weller, from
Jacksonville, while it was still a Mission of St. Johns.
"The first regular rector after it attained the status of a church was
Rev. Mr. Lee. After he left, we had a splendid little man by the name of
Grubb. He was only there for a short time then we had Mr. Brook G. White.
Then we had a Mr. Hightower. I had by this time become interested in
Christian Science, and Mr. Hightower, being strict adherent of the letter
of the law, told my mother she should take my science books away. Mother
replied that as long as I read the Bible, I could worship as I pleased. As
I quit All Saints and started attending the Christian Science Church, in
Jacksonville, I did not know much its affairs after that.
"Mrs. Mitchell was very unhappy about David's marriage, and the way it
turned out. After there was so much scandal about Kittie's carryingson,
the divorce, and all, Mrs. Mitchell withdrew more and more from civic and
church affairs, and lived alone in her big mansion. Her friends were very
grateful that she died before the vast fortune was dissipated and went
into undeserving hands, and those of schemers and tricksters.
"Mrs. Mitchell is buried in the little old St. Nicholas Cemetery on the
south side. Her grave is in about the center of the large plot in the
southeastern section, a high mound, with a flat marble slab on top. I had
memorized the inscription composed by David and which he had carved on the
slab - somthing about 'good deeds live afterwards, etc.' - but it escapes
me now. However, it is very pretty and very appropriate, describing Mrs.
Mitchell's acts and charitable inclinations.
"By the way, she was most helpful in carrying on the work and establishing
St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville. There was a very elaborate room which
she furnished and endowed in St. Luke's, as the "Martha Reed Mitchell
Memorial Room." The first sewing I did as a child was some little doilies
of linen which I hemstitched by hand for this room.
"As I said before, my first experience at school was with the little
children of Mrs. L. Drew Williams' Bradford Institute - a private school
under the auspices of St. Johns Episcopal Church. After Mrs. Williams
became too feeble to teach, the work was taken over by Miss Alice Drew.
There were eight girls, among them Kittie Parrot, later Mrs. David
Mitchell, and Nellie Stewart, of Ft. George Island, later Mrs. Victor
Blue.
"When the school dwindled down and was closed, I attended Duval High
School, of which Prof. Pasco was principal.
"After I graduated, I went to Cambridge Institute, at Cambridge,
Massachusetts. There I saw snow for the first time, and sat up all night
watching the feathery flakes fall into drifts and pile up on the pavements
to a depth of twelve inches or more.
"My father, who, as I said had come to Florida for his health in 1879, now
became very ill. This was in 1912. I had to return home, and did not get
to finish my college course, as father died, and my mother had become so
worn out in taking care of him during his long ilness that she, too,
passed away two years later - in 1914.
One incident I remember at Cambridge was the rise of the famous Negro,
Booker T. Washington, who was traveling and lecturing in the eastern
states, raising funds for the Tuskeegee Institute. A young lady from New
Orleans, whose name I have forgotten, and I refused to attend his
lectures, and when other girls were discussing him, we would get up and
leave the room. They called us the 'two hot-headed little Southerners.'
"After father died, I started the 'Booklovers Library' which was something
new at that time in the way of a circulating library. I ran it until the
Jacksonville Public Library was opened in its present location in the
building which was considered very orante and up-to-date at that time -
1904; when Miss Elizabeth Long and I who had been working for several
months getting the books ready and maps mounted to hang, went to work
there. I stayed there until 1909. Mr. George B. Utley was the librarian.
"My two brothers, who were born in South Jacksonville, one in 1880 and the
other in [?], had started a kodak store, handling pictures, handling and
developing photographic films, gifts, picture frames, etc., in the
building at 24 West Forsyth - St., later occupied by Nunnally's Candy
Store, and now the home of the Luggage Shop.
"The had built up a fine business, as it was a new line and they had no
opposition, but they gave such splendid service they could not help but
succeed. Then my oldest brother developed tuberculosis. I took him to the
best doctors and finally to a Sanitarium in New York State, where he died.
I came back and it was not long before my youngest brother, too, became
ill from the dread disease. He seemed stronger, and we sent him to
Arizona. The old red house on the south side which had been our childhood
home was sold, and all the money was devoted to trying to help him make a
recovery. He wrote to be brought back to Jacksonville, as he said Arizona
was such a dusty, dry, hot, disagreeable place, and it was so lonesome for
him. After he returned, he seemed cheered up and was actually better for a
few weeks, then one night as I sat near him he said - 'I am going to die."
In a few hours he had passed away.
"At one time, Dr. Morris, of Jacksonville, said I, too, would develop
tuberculosis - it could not be helped - - I had inherited it the same as
my two brothers. But, touch wood!" There she smiled, and she touched her
desk with her right hand three times - "I took up Christian Science, and I
have never had a symptom.
"After my second brother died, I ran the store very successfully for
several years, taking out enough money to build the little apartment house
at 415 East Adams - St. I sold the store for a very handsome sum, and went
into the Christian Science Reading Room, where I stayed until I was
married in 1915.
"During the World War my husband was in the U.S. Naval Service at
Savannah, Georgia. I went up there to be near him, and for two years
worked in the auditors office of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.
"After the war we returned to Jacksonville and I went to work in the
general office of the Standard Oil Co., being in Mr. Zacharias' office for
ten years.
"In 1932, I came over and had a talk with Mrs. W.W. Cummer, who was at
that time president of the Womans Club of Jacksonville, and applied for
the position of secretary. We talked at length. The club membership had
gone down, they were deeply in debt, and Mrs. Cummer told me the salary
would be small to start with, and I would have to be sort of house-keeper,
looking after the physical property of the club, as well as handling the
social details, the office work, accounting, and other incidental duties.
I told her I was used to hard work, and was willing to undertake it, and
here I am.
"This work I enjoy most thoroughly. I am on duty, you might say,
twenty-four hours a day, as I have my residence here. This morning I was
up at 6:30 and came down and opened up the lower windows - the view from
the solarium through the rose beds, the sun rising over the palms - it was
inexpressibly beautiful. The work is varied. I enjoy planning the
luncheons and banquets we have served several of the latter when there
were five hundred present. Of course, during the summer months we do not
do much, and I am only on half pay, being on active duty only on
Wednesdays and Fridays, which are open days both to club members and the
public.
"My husband travels, and I am alone a great deal, but there is never a
dull moment.
"We have two colored regular employees, Lizzie and Jasper, who have been
with the club so long their duties are automatic, and they are as much as
part of the place as the walls and woodwork. When putting on large
affairs, we have to have additional maids and waiters, and then, too,
during the winter months we have a regular hostess on full time, who plans
all the meals and does the purchasing of food. In the summer I have to
take care of this.
"When I first came with the club in 1932 they had to borrow money to carry
on their expenses, and it is gratifying now to know we are rapidly calling
our bonds, and that the funds taken in from dues and the different
departments are more than sufficient for all expenses and we are rapidly
laying up a bonus. The club now has a roster of eight hundred members -
and not a dull one in the lot!" she finished enthusiastically.
"Besides belonging to the Womans Club and the Christian Science Church, I
also hold membership in local chapters of the Daughters of the American
Revolution, the Colonial Dames, and the Order of the Eastern Star, America
Chapter. So, you see, I am a very busy woman!"
July 21, 1939.
Mrs. Charles O. LeNoir,
Secretary,
Jacksonville Womans
Club
861 Riverside Ave.
Jacksonville, Florida.
Rose Shepherd, Writer.
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
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