January 1976

 

In this, our bicentennial year, it seems fitting that we think about our ancestry, how our folks came to this country, and how they all finally came together to produce us Reddicks.

 

I'm going to begin with my great grandfather Jacob  Elizabeth Robinson.  In the outset, let me say that we never learned why he was given that middle name.  Some think it was his mother's name.

 

Jacob E. was born in 1812 in Orangeburg District , South Carolina .  He was orphaned early in life and after that was raised by his maternal grandmother.  This Dutch grandmother had come to this country in the late 1700's.  An interesting and the only story we ever heard about her was that she lived to be 110 years old, and in her one hundredth year she cut a full set of teeth and also discarded her glasses as her sight became greatly improved.

 

Back to Jacob - his ancestry was English and Dutch.  The family had left England and lived for a time in Holland , where Jacob's father had married a Dutch girl and soon had come to America .

 

When Jacob E. was old enough his Dutch grandmother bound him out to a stonemason to learn the trade.  He followed this trade for the rest of his life and taught it to at least one of his sons, my grandfather, Samuel David Robinson. 

 

Jacob E. was married three times and the father of 21 children!  Only eleven of them lived to maturity.  There were three children of the first marriage who grew to maturity:  William, who was killed in the Civil War, Whitfield, and Jim.

 

The third marriage was to Jane Ferguerson, and they had two children who lived to maturity, Joe and Echlyn.

 

We branch from the second marriage.  Our great grandmother was named Martha Selena Smoke.  She was born in 1824 in South Carolina .  Her parents were Rev. Samuel D. Smoke (a Methodist preacher) and Rachael Marsh Smoke (daughter of another preacher, Rev. Samuel Marsh).

 

In 1851 Jacob Elizabeth and Martha Selena moved to Alachua County , Florida , near High Springs.  At that time they already had several children.  My grandfather was five years old.  He had been born on Feb. 28, 1846 , in South Carolina .  The baby, Mary Jane, was only three months old when the family moved to Florida .

 

Jacob and Martha had six children who lived to maturity:  Delbert, Asberry, Martha Ann, Samuel David, Mary Jane, and John Morgan. 

 

My grandfather, Samuel David, joined the Florida Militia during the Civil War.  He was 17 years old.  His war years weren't so exciting as he had hoped.  He saw action in only one skirmish at Olustee , Florida (Feb. 20, 1864).

 

After the war he stayed at home for some years, helping build the family house, and finishing his years of apprenticeship to his father as a stone and brick mason.

 

In 1867 Great grandfather Jacob E. began building a nice house for his family in Alachua County on the banks of the Santa Fe River .  He had some slaves and they had been taught to make and lay brick, saw and plane lumber, and hew shingles.  Every board, brick, and shingle used in building the house was prepared right there at home by Jacob, his sons, and the slaves who had stayed on after the war.

 

In 1868 before the house was entirely completed the family moved in.  Jacob was then 56 years old, Martha Selena was 44, and Samuel David was 22.

 

Martha Selena gave birth to her last baby that year.  She never regained her strength.  Her brother, Dr. Smoke, advised her to go to Worthington Springs and bathe and drink the clear spring water.  Jacob took her, but in spite of this treatment she died before the year was out.  It was 1868, and she was only 44 years old.

 

My mother remembered visiting the old Robinson home place when she was a child though Jacob had died before she was born.  She said it was a fine house (for those times) with large high-ceilinged rooms and splendid stone fireplaces.  The house was built on high pillars and was high enough off the ground in the back for the surrey and buggies to be sheltered under the house.

 

Jacob E. married the third time soon after Martha Selena died.  He lived until 1880 when he died of pneumonia.  He and Martha are buried in the family cemetery on the old home place - now known as the Cox place in the Bland Community of Alachua County, owned by J.L. Matthews.

 

Others of the family, including John Morgan and his wife, Martha Ann and her husband A.D. Merchant, are buried at Spring Hill Methodist Church Cemetery , also in Alachua County .