Did a Woman Answer Her Phone on the First Row of the Symphony Hall During the Concert? GASP! Yes! Today, a friend and I went to the Jacoby Center Concert Hall to hear the magnificent Jacksonville Symphony. In a deep voice from an announcer cell phones were to be turned off and no flash photography taken. We had the very first two seats on the center-front row right there in the front. How did that happen? Talking about some of the best seats in the house. We were right there! Literally, we had “front row seats”.
The concert began in usual fashion with the lights being brought down a bit, the announcer giving the 5 minute start alert and then everyone was seated and ready. The orchestra members were in place and the Conductor came out with a round of applause. Excitement was certainly in the air.
After the conductor told a bit about the pieces to ne heard, the music began and before long a cell phone on the front aisle went off. I noticed the woman fumbling in her purse to find it, I thought to turn it off but “NO”, she answered it. In the middle of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air from Orchestral Suite No 3 in D major BWV 1068, the woman began speaking to a person on the cell phone! Thankfully, the call was short but not without the front-seated violinist raising his eyebrows twice as he stroked his bow onto his violin.
Gasp! She answered the call. I’m still flabbergasted.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Category: Art, History, Things to Do, Visit This | Comments Off on Cell Phone Rings at the Symphony and She Answers! (From the Front Row)!
Two things and then three miracles. I don’t know how God works but wow and you’re just not going to want to believe these stories but you decide. Here goes in order.
First, our Dad’s home was built in the 1960’s. As a result, everything is not “code”. It’s not perfect, first because my Dad built it and he in himself worked outside of the box. (Literally in this case.) This week, there was water outside of the home in an unusual place thus the problem was a need to have the septic tank pumped which was promptly done. When the guy came to pump it, he told me the septic tank should not be this close to the house, that people should not ride over the drain field and that a new lid was needed. I explained that because we recently had a barn built and had to pull a permit that they “grandfathered” the septic tank in due to the situation and it was approved having worked well for over 60 years. Over time, we knew that regardless, we would certainly do what we could to upgrade so we immediately squared off wood 28 ‘’ x 35” and bought the cement for creating a new septic tank lid including rebar to secure safety. Meanwhile, since all of the walkway brick had been pulled up, the guests in the apartment needed a nice and most importantly, safe walkway for coming in and out. The day of the clean-out, we put a temporary entrance but I was not satisfied regarding safety so in the next days there were plans to make a safer and more sturdy walkway.
After leaving the house, and while taking home a worker, I was driving and saw a large piece of about 4 inch in thickness wood on the side of the road. It was a really nice walkway about 4 x 6 feet in size. A mental note was made of its location but I was tired and still had to take the worker to his home so on I went. After dropping him off with it raining and me being totally exhausted, I almost did not go back to look at the walkway but instead forced myself to go return… Good thing too. The walkway was going to be perfect. In the rain, it was heaved-ho into the back of the truck. Miracle # 1.
That same day, after leaving my daughter and son-in-laws home, I saw a nice table on the side of the road. It was too heavy for me to lift so I asked my kids to drop by on their way out and help me get it. While we were there, the worker who was riding with them was looking through the other items left and grabbed a small drawer. They came with me to the barn where we would off-load the table. I said in passing that I had lost the key to my riding lawn mower. The worker said, “Hey, I found a little drawer on the side of the road today. It has keys in it. Maybe one will fit your lawn mower. He tried the first and then the second, the third and in a total shock, the fourth key turned the lights on and then cranked the Craftsman riding lawn mower. The odds? Miracle # 2
I’m sorry to say, but this worker has not been honest and has stolen a circular saw, drill and battery, and a metal cutting saw from us. We, even he is well-aware of the whole debacle but we have needed his help and after discussions have kept him while being on the watch of his behaviours. When he cranked the lawn mower, and found a key that worked, he handed over a key to me. Naturally, I was in such shock that it fit, I had to try it myself. The key did not work. He had given me a key that did not crank the mower. In hind-sight, was it so he could later come remove the lawn mower or an accident? I say the latter but… you decide but in our mind it was “Miracle # 3” that the key was tried and found not working so that success could occur later and the lawn mower not be stolen.
How does God work? BTW, we’re trying to help the worker find God so maybe there will be a Miracle # 4. Pray with us.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Category: Faith, Family, Random Posts | Comments Off on Three Miracles Already in This New Year
In the Basement of Bethel Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida classes were held in 1892. Sarah A. Blocker was the instructor with the Reverend Matthew Gilbert and others involved in the programs.
Sarah A. Blocker, Public Domain, Library of Congress
The school was effectively born in 1897 when members of the Bethlehem Baptist Association began the Florida Baptist Institute in Like Oak, Florida. At some point, the association under the leadership of Matthew Gilbert took a part of the group to Jacksonville developing the Normal the Florida Baptist Academy. Classes were held in the basement at Bethel in Jacksonville, Fl.
Bethel Baptist, Jacksonville, Fl (Ramey)
From 1896 until about 1940 Nathan Collier presided as President of the school. There is also a Collier-Blocker Junior College in Palatka.
Of the many teachers at the school over the years, Rosamond Johnson, a Jacksonville native and composer taught and during that time composed the music bearing the name “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”. From that poem his brother, James Weldon Johnson composed music and has been named by many the “Negro National Anthem”.
Rosamond Johnson, Public Domain, Library of Congress
There have been many students to come out of this school including Eartha White, Howard Thurman, Harry Moore, and more.
According to records, the school relocated to St. Augustine and occupied the “Old Hansen Plantation”, a 400 acre land area. In 1918, it was renamed the Florida Normal and Industrial Institute and in 1942, it merged with the Live Oak school which effectively closed its doors. Again, the name was reworked being named Florida Normal Industrial and Memorial College in St. Augustine and yet again, by 1968 a new campus opened with the name of Florida Memorial College moving to Dale County. In 2004, the name was amended to be Florida Memorial University.
Sarah A. Blocker was principal of Normal, Florida Baptist College in the 1900’s in Jacksonville, Florida.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Sources: Wikipedia, Florida Women’s Hall of Fame, New York Public Library, UNF collections, Library of Congress.
Category: History, People, Schools | Comments Off on Principal Blocker of Jacksonville
The first female mayor of Jacksonville was sworn in on July 1 ,2023. Donna Hazouri Deegan was born in Jacksonville, Florida on February 28, 1961. She became the first woman to be elected as mayor of the Bold New City of the South on July 1, 2023.
Judge Swears in first Female Mayor Donna Deegan (Photo- Ramey)
Jacksonville is believed to have been petitioned to become a city on June 15, 1822 according to city records. Documents and information are sparce regarding the early history of the city and certainly many papers were lost in the Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901. What information has been gathered has come from newspapers and other papers not affected by the fire.
The first mayor of Jacksonville was William Mills. He began his term in 1832. During the Civil War there was no mayoral leadership due to the military taking command. In the early years of Jacksonville’s existence it had small towns within a town. There was Brooklyn, East Jacksonville, Fairfield, LaVilla, Riverside, Springfield and more…. Each had leadership of its own until in 1887 when a new charter gathered areas together with one mayor serving two terms.
Donna Deegan speaks to Inaugural crowd (Photo-Ramey)
Over these some 200 years, only men have served as Mayor until this year when Donna Deegan was elected on May 16, 2023. At her swearing-in on July 1, 2023, she used her cousin, Tommy Hazoui’s Bible marking the first time a woman would hold the office of Mayor for Jacksonville, Florida. Tommy Hazouri, her cousin had served as Mayor from 1987-1991. He too was a Democrat.
The New Mission
The Deegan Administration will be guided by the principle that every person should have a voice in City Hall and a seat at the table. Ourculture will be an inclusive one where we encourage collaboration between leaders from all walks of life and who look like Jacksonville. Transparency, accountability, and innovation will be at the center of our decisions as we build a bridge to the next generation and industries of the future. These values will guide the next chapter in Jacksonville’s history and the culture that we will strive to create.
Mayor Deegan is committed to a comprehensive review of opportunities and challenges facing Jacksonville and identifying policy solutions that give every person the opportunity to have a good quality of life. To fulfil that pledge, the transition team is forming a series of policy and outreach committees charged with developing plans that move forward Mayor Deegan’s vision of a healthy, safe, resilient, inclusive, and innovative city that works for all of us.
Focus Areas
Infrastructure
Health
Economy
Public Safety
Arts, Culture, and Entertainment
Constituency and Community Outreach
Military and Veteran Affairs
The race was a divided race however, Deegan has asked for the city to come together in unity so as to have the children of Jacksonville live in a city that “fully see’s them” and where they can reach their “full potential”.
In her Inauguration speech, she said that “love won” in this election and encouraged those listening to help her complete the task of growing the city to “rise”.
Deegan’s inauguration was complete with calling on God for help, having set goals to meet and to look forward to a new day. We can only judge a person by their work, decisions and how they govern. Yes, “It is a New Day” in Jacksonville, Florida.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Category: Government, History | Comments Off on First Female Mayor of Jacksonville Vows New Day…
Donna Deegan, according to wide-spread reports was born on Jacksonville’s Southside, graduating from Bishop Kenny High School. She went on to graduate from Florida State University in 1984. Her degree was in communications. She became an anchor at WTXL in Tallahassee, Florida, served at WTVX in Fort Pierce and upon returning to Jacksonville was an anchor at WTLV.
Donna Deegan ( Wikipedia photo)
In 1999 she began a long-term fight with cancer with it reoccurring three times. She is the founder of The Donna Foundation which serves a multitude of causes for helping with the care of women with cancer and the cause and cure of the disease.
In 2020, she ran for congress losing to Republican, John Rutherford and in 2023, she ran against Republican Daniel Davis to win the mayor’s race in Jacksonville, Florida. She is the first woman to win this position and will be sworn in on July 1, 2023.
According to the Royal. Uk website, Buckingham Palace has “served as the official London residence of the UK’s sovereigns since 1837”. It was built in our around 1703 but has served the Royals for many years as the “Queen’s House” where she and dignitaries from all over the world meet. I guess this year, it may become the “King’s House” as King Charles III will be crowned.
Buckingham Palace, Royal Photo
In the late 1800’s in the Jacksonville, Florida area, Osceola, the Seminole Indian leader was captured near St. Augustine and taken to the Fort. Also happening in and around 1837 was the formation of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, also known as Bethel.
Just above Jacksonville, on Amelia at that time the lighthouse, Florida’s oldest began guiding ships along the shoreline. State Supreme Court Justice Jamie Grosshans spoke at the River Club in 2021 and explained that those forming our state were putting together the Florida Constitution was written and adopted by 1838.
There are no buildings in and around Jacksonville that compare to the massive Buckingham Palace with its 775 rooms and yet we have our own great administrative building such as the St. James. It began as the St. James hotel in 1869 and was burned in the Great Fire of Jacksonville in 1901. It was rebuilt after the fire and reopened in 1912. It was one of the largest buildings at that time. According to Wikipedia, the St. James hotel could lodge some 500 guests and had a laundry area, barbershop, telegraph desk and place for concerts.
St James Hotel turned Jacksonville City Hall(Photo- Fl Memory)
The 117 West Duval Street place was purchased by the City of Jacksonville, Florida in 1993, remodelled it and reopened in1997. Today it serves as the Jacksonville City Hall.
There are no coronations there and yet this month in our city, we will elect a Mayor whose office will use our St. James Building. This month in London there will be a coronation of the King of England where he will continue to use Buckingham Palace as a residence and place to bring together leaders of the world.
I’ll take some pics while I’m there during this event and share them when I return.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Sources: Jaxdailyrecord . Com, Wikipedia, Personal visit to the both sites.
Samuel Fairbank is listed on the 1830 Florida Census Mandarin , Florida. Samuel Fairbank was also the first postmaster of the Mandarin post office as confirmed by Mary Graff, author of the 1968 book, Mandarin on the St. JohnsRiver. According to the Mandarin Museum Facebook page, Miss Graff wrote the National Archives in Washington, DC. Forrest R. Holdcamper returned a letter November 6, 1947 with the information of all of the postmasters for Mandarin.
Mary Graff Letter, Collection of the Mandarin Museum and Historical Society
Mandarin on the St. Johns River, as Ms. Graff called it was “established by the British in the 1760’s”, noted by Wikipedia. In 1830, Calvin Reed, named the area Mandarin because of the citrus industry in the area. It is interesting to note that in 1821 Florida was a Territory and divided by the Suwanee River into two separate counties; East and West Florida. St. Johns County, also known as East Florida and Escambia County, also known as West Florida.
Duval County was created in 1822 from St. Johns County and named for William Pope DuVal, the territorial Governor from 1822-1834. The area of DuVal at the time was from the Suwannee River stretching all of the way east to the Atlantic Ocean bounded by the St. Johns River. More divisions were made to accommodate Nassau county, in 1824 and Clay county in 1858. Jacksonville consolidated on October 1, 1968. “Atlantic Beach, Baldwin, Jacksonville Beach and Neptune Beach maintain their own municipal governments.”(North Shepherd Moss, Genealogy Trails, Duval County History).
There is a George R. Fairbanks of New York who settled in St. Augustine in 1842, twelve years after Samuel Fairbank was postmaster of Mandarin’s postoffice. George became an attorney, historian, author and politician but it does not appear he was related to Samuel Fairbank.
According to genealogy Trails, which seems to have taken information from the early microfiche and documents, the first census in the Mandarin area was taken in 1830’s. Based on the information gathered, the two race population was 1,336 which included all of St. Johns County. By 1860, Genealogy Trails indicated the Federal Census has all of St. Johns County with 1,953 people.
Samuel Fairbank is listed in this survey as living in St. Johns which in his case became “Duval”. Under the leadership of Governor John Branch, Florida became a state on March 3, 1845 with William D. Moseley elected as the first Governor and David Levy Yulee, U.S. Senator.
Fairbanks Road in Mandarin is said to have been a dirt road stretching all fo the way to the King’s Road that ran East and West parallel to the coast of Florida.
In the Mandarin area, there is a Fairbanks Road, Fairbanks Forest Dr., Fairbanks Grant Road W, Fairbanks Grant Road N.
See you tomorrow.
Nan
Sources: Genealogy Trails, 1830 Florida Census, History of Duval County, Mandarin Museum and Historical society, Mary Graff, Wikipedia.
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Isaiah David Hart is the Founder of Jacksonville, Florida with no known photo.
“Uncle Whats His Name”-Cracker Barrel
Sisters Pat and Marien formerly of Jacksonville, Florida used to talk about “Uncle What’s His Name”. It seems there was the photograph in a fancy frame of an unknown man on the wall of a prominent relative of the family for which no one knew his name. It apparently hung on the wall for many years to the point that it became funny to relatives and friends alike, as they walked towards, by and around this unknown soul. They called him “Uncle What’s His Name”.
Uncle “What’s His Name- Cracker Barel
Sometimes I wonder about Isaiah David Hart, the founder of Jacksonville who married Nancy Nelson in Duval County in 1818 according to the records. Could his mug be on the wall of some family member and they not know he’s the actual founder of Jacksonville, Florida? There is no known photograph of him and many historians like myself have tried endlessly to find one. And, why is there no photo?
Isaiah D. Hart was a prominent man who held not only a great deal of power but held high offices in Jacksonville and Florida. His father’s family was from Pennsylvania and he died in St. Johns County. His Mother was from Loudoun County, Virginia. Both are buried in Jacksonville’s Old Cemetery. Hart’s Mother birthed four children according to Find A Grave but some say twelve children. There are no family photos among many youngins’ and their families?
According to Find A Grave, Hart himself had 7 children but I don’t see Julia listed so even that history is sketchy. Those listed are: Oscar B. Hart, Ossian B. Hart, Laura C. Hart Farrar, Lodiska Hart Beers, Isaiah David Hart, Daniel William Hart and Nancy Hart. Of those 7 children only one has a photo on the grave listings and that is of Ossian who became the 10th Governor of Florida in 1845. Was Isaiah or any of his siblings at this inaugural event and if so where are the photos?
Isaiah David Hart wore many hats…He was a planter, ranch owner, plantation owner, slave trader (not to his credit), Deputy U. S. Marshall in East Florida, Clerk of County Court in Duval, Commissioner of piolatage, railroad investor, 1939 member of the Whig Territorial senate and one of the founders of the Whig party. His children held different and various jobs in the city of Jacksonville and Ossian was the 10th Governor of Florida. Where in the world are the photos of this man, surely someone has at least one?
Could there be a photograph of Isaiah David Hart on the wall of some family member with them all calling him “Uncle What’s His Name”? I certainly wonder…..If you solve this, I’m in need of this photo. Please contact me…..
UPDATE: In Dena Snodgrass’ article in the JHS, Volume V “Papers”, she writes…”Listed among his belongings were a clock and a watch at $100. each; a portrait of himself at $25….” SO, there was a portrait of him at some point. I wonder on whose wall it can be found as “Uncle What’s His Name”?
On the wall in the Brandenburg Hall of Oak Lawn Cemetery off of San Jose Blvd, there is a massive and beautiful map of Jacksonville, Florida dated 1876. If ever you can, you should drop by and take a look. It will cause you to want to take a photo. The same arial view of Jacksonville can be found in the Library of Congress.
This map has the seal and number so I assume it is one of the authentic copies of the city, like the one donated to the Library of Congress by Alvord, Kellogg and Campbell dated 1840. This seal indicates 1876.
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” Matthew 5:14
Jacksonville is in Northeast Florida. Just about the time you pass the FLORIDA sign, you are in the Jacksonville range. Also considered Northeast Florida is Amelia Island, Fernandina Beach, Green Cove Springs, Mayport, Fort George Island, The Beaches, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Beach and Palatka.
Florida -(Ramey Collection)
Jacksonville’s claim to fame is the fact that the “earliest civilized history dates to the 1562 landing of French explorer Jean Ribault on a point high on a bluff above the St. Johns River. Ribault was greeted by Timucuan Indians, who thrived on the area’s plentiful game and fish and shared their stores and knowledge with these visitors. Jacksonville was named in 1822 for Andrew Jackson, Florida’s first territorial governor and later U.S. President.” It is also known for an extensive park system, one of the largest, if not the largest in the nation.
Jacksonville is a beautiful city with a pretty skyline that emphasises blue skies, for the most part and of late is filled with new condos and corporate life. There are multiple bridges in Jacksonville that span across the rivers and water areas of the town.
It has a most massive oak trees, called the “Treaty Oak” that is quite aged and kept with care in a park near the Southbank of the downtown area.
Northeast Florida is a great place to visit and Jacksonville is a hallmark place to come if you’re far or near. It’s worth the drive.
