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MRS. ELIZA KELLY BRADY.
(Florida)
More than one resident of Fernandina
had said: "You go see Mrs. Brady, if anybody knows and remembers things
about this town, it's Miss Eliza. And she can tell you all about St.
Michael's Catholic Church -- she practically lives there."
Mrs. Brady's home is a two-story-and-attic frame residence with double
front balconies adorned with spindle posts and the gingerbread lace-work
of the early 1880's. The residence evidently originally centered a large
plot of ground, but as streets were cut through this section and sidewalks
laid, these civic improvements encroached on the premises until now the
front steps are flush with the pavement and the row of stately liveoaks
that formerly shaded the front yard are on the outer edge of the sidewalk
adjacent to the street. The spacious side yard to the north is a veritable
tropical garden with its well cared for magnolias, liveoaks, pecan trees,
rambling vines, roses and perennials.
When the doorbell sounded throughout the large house, quick steps were
heard on the second floor, and a voice called down from the upper balcony
-- "Just come in, whoever you are, and I'll be down in a minute."
The front door leading into the narrow hall, with its stairway to the
second floor was open, and the door opening into the living room an ajar,
so that access was easy into this home, whose reputation for hospitality
was confirmed by the informal invitation to enter.
A low fire burned in the grate in the living room. An old fashioned grand
piano took up the wide space of the north wall, the rose-colored rug and
the furniture, although showing a generation of use, were well chosen, and
every available space on the piano, the mantel over the fireplace, the two
center tables with their reading lamps, was filled with photographs of the
Brady family and Catholic clergy.
Mrs. Brady came down the stairs, and entered the room with a cordial
greeting, dressed in a long rose-colored coat and wearing a small black
felt hat pulled well down over her wirey gray hair. She is a tall spare
woman, with pleasant features, gray Irish eyes, famed in the locality for
their friendliness, and does not look within ten years of her age.
"No, I am not going out -- I just came in," said Mrs. Kelly, "I have every
week to visit the old Bosquobello Cemetery, this is Wednesday, my day to
visit the graves of my family who are gone and my friends of earlier days,
whom I have outlived. I have spent most of the afternoon there, and I'll
just keep my hat and coat on, as the fire has gone down and it is rather
chilly.
"Yes, I am a native, and been closely identified with the life of
Fernandina for my whole seventy-two years. I was the only child of Daniel
Kelly and Mary Russell Kelly who settled in Fernandina in 1852. My father
came from Sligo, Ireland, and my mother from Dublin. My family have been
continuous residents since the above date, taking an active part in the
upbuilding of Fernandina and Nassau County.
"In 1890 I was married to Patrick R. Brady who came from Columbus, Georgia
to Fernandina, opening the only exclusive furniture store in Nassau
County, which he continued to operate until the time of his death.
"We had two children, Mrs. Lewis P. Chadwick, residing in Fernandina, and
Anthony Rogers Brady.
"I have given you the information about the Spanish-American War" -- (See
previous interview) " and I want to say that my son, Anthony Rogers Brady
(Rogers was Mr. Brady's mother's name) was born in May, 1898, the year of
the Spanish-American War.
"I was considered to have a talent in music, and was given special
training, particularly in church music, and was organist for many years at
St. Michael's Church. When my baby was so little, and on Sundays the
military high mass was so long, the little colored nurse used to wheel him
up behind the church, and while the band played and the soldiers sang the
Star Spangled Banner, I would slip out and nurse little Anthony.
"By a strange coincidence, this boy, the pride of my life, is a soldier of
Uncle Sam. He graduated from Annapolis in 1922. He is now forty-one years
of age, and is Lieutenant-Commander of the aerial squadron in Pearl Harbor
at Honolulu, Hawaii.
"After his graduation from the U. S. Naval Academy, his first assignment
was on the flagship Pittsburg in European waters. He spent four years in
Europe. After serving in in this capacity, he was assigned to the Huron,
flagship of the Asiatic Fleet, and was made navigator on the Yangste-Kiang
River and between Shanghai and Manila. Then he was sent to San Juan, and
made an aerial survey in Nicaurauga, when young Theodore Roosevelt was
Governor-General of Puerto Rico. Just previous to being transferred again
to the Orient, my son was instructor for six years at Pensacola Air
Station, teaching aviation.
"Here is a clipping from a Honolulu paper he sent me recently giving an
account of Algat Segerstrom having been awarded a gold medal for 'rescuing
Lt. Comdr. A. R. Brady, U. S. N., from drowning on November 17, 1938, at
Field Air base, Pearl Harbor, T. H. Segerstrom is attached to the
Commander's Aircraft Scouting force. His gold medal is the first to be
awarded an enlisted man of the Navy since 1932.'
"It seems my son in command of a squad, represented by three planes.
Behind him was another officer, and a man who handled the torpedoes in the
maneuvering flight. My son was first to see that the torpedo carrier was
not connected right, and as the plane started to fall, he swiftly put on a
special suit -- a kind of life preserver outfit -- but the other two
officers failed to observe this precaution and when the plane hit the
water of the bay they were instantly killed. This young Segerstrom fished
my son out, more dead than alive. He had a bad head injury and was
unconscious for some time, but they kept him at the post hospital for a
month, and upon examination pronounced him all right.
"The accident was announced over the radio, and I received letters of
inquiry and sympathy from all over the country.
"Now, about the St. Michael's Church:
When my father came here in 1852, he brought his mother. Both of them were
Catholics. There was no priest, but there was a church in Old Town (old
Fernandina). The priests who occasionally officiated were mostly from
Italy and France. They were called missionaries. There was no way of
reaching here only on mules through swamps, ditches, and dense shrubbery.
There were no roads. St. Augustine had always been the head of this
diocese.
"The first Catholic Bishop in this part of Florida was Augustine Berot, a
Frenchman, who was considered a wonderful scholar. With him were Father
O'Brea, Father Clavereil, Father Hugon, and Father DuFau, who was pastor
of the church in Jacksonville for many years.
"Father Clavereil came to Fernandina on a mule, and with a long rope tied
the animal to a big liveoak tree right across the street here on Sixth and
Ashe. Yes, the tree is still there.
"Then came Father John Batazza, Father Spandari, and Father Sartouri --
all Italians -- who spent months of their lives in Florida right after the
War between the States. The first two named priests are buried in the yard
of St. Michael's.
"When the terrible epidemic of yellow fever came in 1877 and again in
1888, a young priest, Rev. Father Anthony Kilcoyne came to Fernandina to
serve as pastor at St. Michael's.
"When he first came here he was about 31 years of age. He went about
ministering to the stricken, without regard to creed or color, and did a
lot of good, but at last he was also taken with the malignant fever and
died from its effects. Then a French priest, Father Hugon, came to relieve
the sufferers.
"The Episcopalian minister who stayed here during the yellow fever
epidemic was Rev. John Thackera. He was a native of Fernandina, and stayed
right at his post of duty.
"I remember Father Kilcoyne came to my mother's home right from a
sickroom, with the black vomit on his hands, in itself a sure sign of
death from the plague. Terrible times!
"So Fernandina's history is interwoven with that of the Churches.
"After Father Hugon, came Rev. Maurice P. Foley, D. D., who was pastor of
St. Michael's. After spending several years in Fernandina, he was made
bishop of Tugugaros, in the Philippine Islands, near Manila. He was a
Boston man, and died in the Philippines, where he is buried.
"Another of the Italian priests who was much loved in this section in the
early years was Father Botalacio. The early missionaries were of the
Jesuit order, and following them were the Franciscans.
"During the War between the States I have often heard my parents and an
old lady living in St. Augustine speak of a Jesuit priest by the name of
Hamilton. Father Hamilton was Irish and was a famous scholar who was much
revered and much loved. He was located in Jacksonville, and today there
are many men in Duval, Nassau, and St. Johns County, who bear the name of
'Hamilton' in honor of this much loved priest.
"The Right Reverend Bishop John Moore was the Bishop of the Diocese of St.
Augustine during the Spanish-American War. Then we had Bishop Curley, now
Archbishop Curley, and our present Bishop, the Right Reverend Patrick
Barry, who has done valiant work in Florida for the past forty years. He
did a great work during the Spanish-American War.
"I must not forget to tell you that State Senator Dan A. Kelly is my
nephew. He was born in Fernandina on July 4, 1908, the son of Daniel A.
Kelly and Dora Kelly. His grandfather, the Hon. Patrick Kelly, tendered
valuable service during the War between the States. He was the first
Democratic Senator from Nassau County and held many responsible positions
during his long career. His grandmother, Christine Bessant, of St. Mary's,
Georgia, was from an old Southern family. When the bell of freedom rung in
Fernandina, his grandmother, Christine Bessant Kelly, freed by her own
right, twelve colored men, the youngest, Paul Robinson, aged 16. The
descendants of these slaves live here in Fernandina, and are good-living
people,
"Yes, I still play the organ at St. Michael's, especially at funerals and
weddings. It is not unusual for the youngsters to come around and say,
'Miss 'Liza, I want you to play for my wedding,' and I always go, wherever
I can serve or do good."
We went to the door, and as she said good-bye, she pointed to a residence
across the street, where Martha Reid, a famous Southern nurse and wife of
ex-governor Robert Raymond Reid, kept house for her nephew for seventeen
years, preceding her death.
November 23, 1939.
Life History
Mrs. Eliza Kelly Brady,
(Age 72)
41 South 6th-st.,
Fernandina, Florida.
Rose Shepherd, Writer.
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
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