ENPages
February 2, 1939
Life History Montgomery Corse, (Wood & Fuel Dealer) 1801 Goodwin St., Jacksonville, Florida Written by Rose Shepherd
MARTIN CROSS, WOOD AND FUEL DEALER
Mr. Cross, retired wood and fuel merchant, lives in a [struck: splendidly] substantial brick home near the foot of Goodwin Street in Jacksonville, where he can hear the lapping of the waves of the incoming and outgoing tide in St. Johns River which has figured so prominently in his life. [struck: history]
Rosa, a happy-faced colored maid, with the assurance and proprietary manner of a well trained family servant, [struck: of an old-time Southern family,] ushered me into the spacious living room, with "Mr. Cross, heah's the lady you's expectin."
There he sat, a kindly man, with his eighty years resting lightly upon him, with the exception of partial deafness and a slight stoop in his shoulders, his hair snow-white, his skin clear, a faint pink in his cheeks, and the twinkly blue eyes not covered with glasses.
He rises, shakes hands, [struck: in a cavalier fashion] and places a rocking chair - which from its size and comfortable cushions must be the favorite chair of Mrs. Cross - and says:
"My memory is failing and I'm not sure I can give you the information you wish, but I'll do my best, and perhaps when we get further along in the interview, more will come to me.
"I came to Florida from Virginia in the early 1880's and settled with my family on an orange grove near Picolata, a prosperous river town on the banks of the St. Johns, about 18 miles from St. Augustine.
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I was then twenty-two years of age.
"At that time, the St. Johns River valley was the center of the citrus growing industry of Florida. Our orange grove had been well established, and we lived in a frame house - not log - built by the former owner. The house was large and roomy and most comfortable for that period, a fire-place in the sitting room, but the kitchen had a fine wood-burning range, which furnished most of the heat when necessary and on which all of the cooking was done. There were no screens, although the beds were fitted with a canopy overhead on which netting was hung to keep out the mosquitoes which were numerous in the warm months and most troublesome.
"The orange trees, for the most part, were budded from the native sour-orange trees, although there were nurseries from which specially grafted stock could be obtained. However, growers supervised their groves carefully, attending to their own planting, budding, etc. The trees were not sprayed. We did not know much about fighting scale, pests, etc., in the early days. Later a popular emulsion composed of whale-oil and soap, thinned with kerosene, was used with considerable success in combatting scale. No, there were not any Mediterranean fruit flies to worry us - nothing but quantities of the ever-present mosquitoes.
"When the trees were young, we planted crops of cow peas, corn, sugercane, beans, etc., between the rows. But, of course, when the groves of trees grew larger, there was too much shade, and this crop rotation had to be abandoned.
"The oranges, when matured, were packed in crates - Birchwood
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shipped from Maine, curiously enough, like the material used now by cabinet makers and builders for veneering.
"The fruit was shipped to Charleston, Baltimore, New York and other Atlantic ports. There was daily shipping service, as water traffic on the St. Johns was then at the height of its popularity. There were no railroads south of Jacksonville.
"The most prominent passenger boats in that period were the John Silvester, and the Sylvan Glen. They ran from Jacksonville to Palatka every day. These boats carried no freight.
"Freight boats were the Water Lily which ran from Jacksonville to Crescent City, and the City of Jacksonville, a freight and passenger boat which went as far as Sanford, the farthest point of river shipping.
"Captain William Hallowes of Green Cove Springs, commanded the Sylvan Glen, and perhaps could easily give the names of other boats on the St. Johns in the early days.
"Freight was billed at so much a box to the growers, according to the quantity of the shipment and its destination.
"In addition to cowpeas, sugarcane and corn, we raised quantities of sweet potatoes. Strange to say, the idea was prevalent that vegetables could not be grown in Florida, hence we were compelled to supplement our other food requirements by orders on Jacksonville, which were promptly executed and shipped to us at the boat landing at Picolata by daily boat.
"Each family made its own syrup from the sugarcane, and brown sugar was also manufactured locally from the same source. This was the usual family commodity. We had no means of refining the sugar, although
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at any time we wished we could obtain the granulated sugar from Jacksonville. Also powdered sugar, in large irregular sized lumps, was popular with the ladies when serving tea.
"We enjoyed rather good health, with exceptions of occasional fevers, especially malarial fever in the summer months and early fall. I suffered with malaria for a period of two years, and finally overcame it with quantities of quinine. This drug came in bottles about the size of vaseline bottles familiar to us now, containing two or two and one-half ounces. I carried a bottle in my pocket, and took it throughout the day-- placing a quantity in a cigarette paper and dropping it down my throat as far back as possible, washing it down with water - taking sometimes as much as forty or fifty grains a day. It made me deaf as a post at the time, and turned my hair white.
"One experience I'll never forget was the case of a laborer, working for a neighbor of mine - neighbors then were on adjoining orange groves, four and five miles away. This young man jumped over a fence and ran a garden-rake through his foot. It made a bad wound, and nothing was thought of it at the time, home remedies being applied; but later in the week he became violent and we sent for the doctor at Green Cove Springs nine miles away. When the doctor came, he said at once it was a case of tetanus, or lock-jaw, and there was no hope. The man had to have constant care and was kept under the influence of chloral to allay his pain and keep him quiet. In order to relieve my neighbor, I sat up with the patient at night, long nights they seemed. The doctor gave me the bottle of chloral, which was really not according to medical ethics, but he said it did not make any difference who administered it
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to the patient, as he was bound to die anyway, and to give it to him whenever he became restless.
"A week passed like this, and one night becoming worn out with my vigil, I dozed off. I was rudely awaked by the grip of the patient's hands on my throat, and he began shouting - 'You are trying to kill me! You've been giving me poison!'
"I shook him off, as he was weak from having nothing to eat for seven days, and gave him another does of chloral!
"The young man's parents came from Palatka about this time. They were ignorant people, and thought we were not doing all that should be done for their son, especially in keeping him under the influence of an anaesthetic, or rather opiate. They took him home, and the doctor at Palatka advised giving him morphine. The parents said they did not wish their son to acquire the morphine habit, and refused to give him the drug. The young man again became violent, and the authorities took possession of him and carried him off to the county jail declaring him insane.
"The authorities at Tallahassee and Chattahoochee were notified, but mails traveled slowly and transportation, too, was limited, so that before the proper authorities arrived a week later, the young man, from his close confinement in jail and being kept quiet and unannoyed, had entirely recovered.
"This is an illustration of how country people had to look after themselves in those days.
"It took three hours to drive from Picolata to St. Augustine. The sand and the corduroy roads made transportation tedious, and often in
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