Her parents always warned her and her brothers and sisters
to go in someone's yard whenever they saw these men with their dogs lest
the ferocious animals tear them to pieces. In regards to the "nigger
stealers," Florida tells of a covered wagon which used to come to
Tallahassee at regular intervals and camp in some secluded spot. The
children, attracted by the old wagon, would be eager to go near it, but
they were always told that "Dry Head and Bloody Bones," a ghost who
didn't like children, was in that wagon. It was not until later years
that Florida and the other children learned that the driver of the wagon
was a "nigger stealer" who stole children and took them to Georgia to
sell at the slave markets.
When she was 11 years old, Florida saw the surrender of Tallahassee to
the Yankees. Three years later she came to Jacksonville to live with her
sister. She married but is now divorced after 12 years of marriage.
Three years ago she entered the Old Folks Home at 1627 Franklin Street
to live.
1. Personal Interview with Florida Clayton, 1627 Franklin Street,
Jacksonville, Florida
FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT
American Guide, (Negro Writers' Unit)
Viola B. Muse, Field Worker
Jacksonville, Florida
December 3, 1936
"FATHER" CHARLES COATES
"Father" Charles Coates, as he is called by all who know him, was born a
slave, 108 years ago at Richmond, Virginia, on the plantation of a man
named L'Angle.
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