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MRS. ELIZABETH DISMUKES
(Florida)
Mrs. Dismukes, an erect, slender woman,
was interviewed in her lovely home overlooking Matanzas Bay. She moves
quickly and speaks with animation, but failing eyesight has compelled her
to give up her beloved pastime of reading. "But I have a reader come in
every evening for an hour or so, and she reads the newspapers and excerpts
from the leading magazines, and thus I keep fairly abreast of the times,
and know in a general way what is going on in the world."
With reference to a copy of James McNeill Whistler's famous painting of
his mother hanging on the wall in the living room, Mrs. Dismukes said:
"She married my father's cousin, becoming Anna McNeill, and we always
called her 'Aunt Anna.' As she was old when we first knew her. She had
tuberculosis, or 'consumption' as they called it in the early days, and
always wore the little white shawl around her shoulders. She looked just
like the picture. There were five sons and one daughter in Aunt Anna's
family. I never saw James McNeill Whistler, as he was sent abroad early in
life to study art and did not live in St. Augustine, but I knew his
younger brother, Willie, very well. He married his cousin, Florida King,
who was my cousin also. That is her portrait just below that of Mrs.
Whistler. My father, Ebenezer Kingsley's sister Isabel married Ralph King,
and that is how the relationship came in. She lived in Brooklyn.
"Willie Whistler studied medicine and during the War between the States
was a surgeon in the Confederate Army.
"In Europe, James McNeill Whistler developed a devoted and lasting
friendship with Oscar Wilde, which has become the subject of considerable
comment in his autobiography and historical sketches of his life.
"Anna McNeill Whistler was my father's first cousin, and she as a young
woman when she married John Whistler. She used to come over to our home
every day. I am the only person living today who knew her personally. This
picture of her is nearly one hundred years old. I do not know if Anna and
John Whistler were married in the old home on the St. Johns River.
"This portrait of my mother, who was Bettie Elkin, is painted on wood, and
while the colors are very bright still, it is quote old also. I never knew
my mother, as she died when I was born.
"Father's widowed sister, Aunt Sophia Couper, married General Duncan
Lamont Clinch, and as his fame increased she became very 'high-hat.' She
had married a widower with a bushel of children, though," laughed Mrs.
Dismukes.
"One of his daughters - Elizabeth - married Anderson Hayward, of Fort
Sumter, South Carolina, and her son, D. Clinch Hayward, is a former
governor of that State. His home is at Columbia, South Carolina.
"Clinch Hayward's grandfather was known as the wealthiest man in the state
of South Carolina. He had three plantations, one in Georgia and two in
South Carolina, and had 2,500 slaves. He had a book in which he kept a
record of every negro he owned - when they were born, married and died, or
if they were purchased from some other planter, the date and as much
information as he could secure regarding their previous life.
"When Clinch Hayward was governor, one day a splendid-looking negro was
ushered into his office, and said: 'Marse Clinch, I would like to see The
Book,' (That was its title, and everyone knew it by that name, and also
what it was). Clinch reached into the bottom drawer of his desk and
brought out the record. The man had been a pickaninny on one of the
plantations, and wished to establish his identity. The Book gave a
complete record of his genealogy, - who his father and mother were, and
also his grandfather and grandmother. Clinch has the record book yet, it
is one of his prized possessions.
"Aunt Sophia Clinch was a homely little old lady. Here is a picture of
her," she said, selecting from a folder an old photograph of a middle-aged
woman in the tight-waist buttoned-down the front - voluminous hoopskirt
before-the-war period.
"Clinch sent me this, and if you will write him, he will no doubt be able
to furnish you a copy also. I never cared so much for her, especially
after she adopted her haughty attitude towards her many relatives, but
Clinch always said she was just the 'grandest grandmother in the world.'
"There were four forts in various sections named after General Clinch.
"And by the way, the town of Bayard, Florida, on the Florida East Coast
Railway, was named for one of his sons, Bayard Clinch, and not for the
statesman and cabinet officer, as is so often claimed.
"Aunt Sophia was a good deal like cousin Minnie Smithers, she was tall and
very dignified. When I was a little girl, I was rather scared of Aunt
Sophia, and stood in great awe on the occasions of her infrequent visits
at our home with her daughters, Miss Mary and Miss Pattie, who were very
much like her. They were dignified and austere, too.
"Here is a picture of our early home in St. Augustine, painted very
accurately by Mrs. Reed. You see it was a Spanish type house, very much
like the Burt house, built of coquina. I have been married sixty-five
years, and I never saw that house after I was married. It was on Bay
Street, and was burned twice, the second time never rebuilt.
"I was named for Elizabeth Bolling Gibbs, who lived in St. Augustine when
I was born.
"I do not remember anything about the early history of Jacksonville,
although I do remember grandmother Doggett, who was married at the age of
15 during the Seminole War, she was a Miss Cleland. A sister, Selina,
married a Buckman. When I was a little girl six years old, I remember
meeting Colonel Buckman, and also Mr. Garner, of Jacksonville.
"Julia Livingston Burroughs was adopted into our family when she was three
years old and we were reared together. We had come to Jacksonville, or
rather had been brought there on a visit for a few days, and staid at the
Judson house. Julia was very attractive and was always the object of much
attention, while I was never good looking, but I remember we were
beautifully dressed in the low-necked beruffled costumes of the time, and
a gentleman at the hotel looking at me said: 'What a beautiful high chest
that little girl has.' I was mortified at the remark which I had
overheard, and ran to our room, crawled under the bed and cried and cried,
I was so sensitive. I cannot imagine the bold little youngsters of the
present day being embarrassed by such a remark.
"Miss Lydia Pearson was a member of our party, and one of two gentlemen
who had called to see her made the 'high chest' comment.
"I remember another time Julia and I were on a river trip up the St. Johns
to visit King Gibbs who had a plantation at Newcastle, where two servants
were to meet us. But night overtook us and through some error we left the
boat at Baxter's Landing, the station immediately above Newcastle. We were
compelled to spend the night with the Zephaniah Kingsleys at Fort George.
"The old woman was there, (Zephaniah Kingsley's wife, the African Princess
Ma'am Anna). I remember her very distinctly. She was not black, and had
the most beautiful features you ever saw. She was a most imposing and very
handsome woman. Her smooth, light brown skin, her dark-eyes and wavy made
her outstanding, and I would not keep my eyes away for admiration. She was
quiet and moved with regal dignity - I have never seen anything like her,
before or since. He daughter was there also, and she was very light in
color, but not as good looking as her mother. I was six or seven years old
at the time. I was Kingsley's niece. The next morning my aunt, Mrs. Gibbs,
sent two servants for us with a horse and buggy and we were carried over
to Newcastle. My mother was furious that we had spent the night at Ma'am
Anna's, but it could not be helped.
"I do not remember the negroes singing en route, they were well behaved
and very quiet. Nor do I recall any river songs or boat songs sung by the
slaves of that day.
"I have had such a varied life. I must have been a very bad child, because
I spent so much of my girlhood away from St. Augustine. From the time I
was five until I was twelve years of age I lived most of the time in
Brooklyn with the Kings.
"We lived in St. Augustine when the war came on. My father took command of
the fort here, and the Confederate flag which flew over it was made by the
people of this city on the floor of our house. Then father went to
Virginia to join General Robert E. Lee's Army of Virginia. He later became
a Confederate Colonel. My mother followed to be as near to him as possible
in Virginia, and Julia and I were placed in school - a girls' seminary
conducted by a Reverend Mr. Howard and his three daughters near Rome,
Georgia. There we spent the whole period of the war, without molestation,
and far from the region of Sherman's famous march through Georgia to the
sea. I was sixteen when that happened. I remember, though, father became
alarmed, and sent word to have us placed in a troop train leaving Rome, so
Julia and I rode to Quincy, Florida, with a regiment of young
Confederates, just us two young girls with a carload of boys, and we had a
perfectly grand time!
"We went to Quincy with a trunkful of Confederate money. We staid there
during the Reconstruction period. Father and mother joined us there, and
we journeyed to St. Augustine. Our house was standing, but was entirely
empty. It had been occupied by Federal officers during the occupation of
the city, and had been looted of everything, furniture, clothing, all our
keepsakes and heirlooms.
"I wonder to this day how father and
mother managed to secure furniture to equip the house, beds for us to
sleep on, and food to eat. The slaves were all gone. We must have fared
terribly hard.
"I was married in Rochester, New York. We lived in Arkansas for several
years, then came to Quincy, and finally located back here in St.
Augustine, building this house where I have made my home for fifty years.
"Everything I had in trunks stored in the old house was burned, letters of
my father and mother, pictures, etc. I do not believe there is a picture
of Zephaniah Kingsley extant.
"I have written my 'memoirs' which I will let you read some time. Since I
can't read, I spend most of my time talking. I tell my daughter, Robbie,
now that the Lord has taken my eyes, I have to look inward for
consolation. Most things in my life do not seem of much importance, now
that I look back in retrospection, but I do remember the old city, its
early life, and especially what happened in the last fifty years.
"St. Augustine used to be a gay place when the Ponce de Leon and the
Alcazar were open during the winter season. Wealthy people, interesting,
educated and traveled used to spend the winter here, but of course, now
they go to West Palm Beach and Miami, and it seems dead.
"Mme. Louise Homer and her husband, Sidney Homer, have been such a welcome
addition to our life here. She is so charming and unpretentious, like all
great people, and they both tell of the hardships they have endured in
their long careers striving for recognition, she as a singer, and he as a
composer - how at one time they were so poor they had to do without butter
for their frugal meals. She gives teas in her studio-apartment and
everybody in town has called upon her, although she never returns formal
calls. They are doing a wonderful work in giving of their time and talents
to develop qualified and talented young singers. But hard times come in
everybody's life. I remember once before I was married and another time
four years ago when a local bank failed, I did not have fifty cents to my
name.
"I shall be glad to have Susan L'Engles Diary. I am certain it will be
interesting in its references to the old families and early days of
Jacksonville and this section of Florida.
May 11, 1939.
Mrs. Elizabeth Dismukes
Pioneer Floridian (90)
21 Bay-st.,
St. Augustine, Flo.
Rose Shepherd, writer.
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
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