Dr. Canter Brown, Jr. turns his pen from history to its cousin genealogy to redress the exclusion of African Americans in family histories of the greater Tampa Bay area in his recently published Genealogical Records of the African American Pioneers of Tampa and Hillsborough County.
He addresses the unique circumstances researchers of African Americans experience with an introductory primer.
Featured are twenty-six black families, i.e., Armwood, Beal, Berry, Brumick, Bryant, Charles, Clyatt, Dexter, Forrester,Glover, Golson, Harvell, Henry, Holloman, Horton, Howard, McKnight, Messer, Reed, Sally, Sexton, Stanton, Stillings, Taylor, Varnes, and Walker.
Following their emancipation, most freedmen found themselves in distressed circumstances as few former masters provided transitional economic assistance. An exception was Sarah Howell, who aided former slaves in founding Bealsville, a black community.
They variously earned their livelihood as farmers, domestic servants, nurses, ministers, teachers, and businessmen.
Nearly all adult men were members of the Republican Party and some of the most active members, e.g., Peter W. Bryant, Cyrus Charles, Mills Holloman, Isaac Howard, Thomas McKnight, and Joseph A. Walker, served in offices of trust.
The spiritual life of the subjects are appropriately featured in the profiles. Presented are the founding of a number of AME and Baptist churches and their ministers and lay leaders.
High in the ranks of religious leaders was Rev. Joseph Sexton. While serving in the Union army at Key West, he began training as an AME minister. After his discharge, he served churches across the state, including Tampa, and rose to presiding elder of the church's regional district. He also, by 1907, was territorial grand master of the Grand Lodge of Florida.
Education was not neglected. For example, at Beasville in 1868, Antioch Baptist Church was founded, and a school was opened about 1878. Accordingly, one resident later remarked, "When I was a child, everybody could read and write."
Dr. Brown continues to leave no stones unturned in his comprehensive archiving of nineteenth and early twentieth centuries' history of South Florida.
Genealogical Records is highly recommended for not only African Americans, but all citizens interested in the heritage of our country.
Genealogical Records is a 5 1/2"X8 1/2" ninety-one-page paperback with "Contents, " "Introduction," eight photographs, two illustrations, and bibliography.
It can be ordered for $6.52 from the Tampa Bay History Center, 225 South Franklin Street, Tampa, FL 33602 or call 1-813-228-0097.
This review was published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.) of March 23, 2000.
March 29, 2001