John Lomans was born about 1840, probably in Washington, D. C. His surname was also spelled as Lowman and Lowmans and appears hereafter as cited in various documents.
During the Civil War, he served in the U. S. Colored Troops and in that service came to Forida.
In 1866, Nathan H. DeCoster, a former lieutenant of Co. C and Co. F, 2nd U. S. Colored Troops, bought a small schooner and sailed into Charlotte Harbor where he established a farm at Hickory Bluff and also had a sawmill. To assist him, he brought with him John Lomans and three other black men, Joseph Chapman, Richard Hambleton, and Mitchell Harrison.
On May 3, 1867 in Manatee County, John married Esther Knight, born about 1852 in Florida. Justice of the Peace E. E. Mizell officiated
John, listed as a colored taxpayer in 1868 and 1869 Manatee tax lists, served in several public positions. He was a voter registrar for Manatee County in 1867 and 1868. Circuit Judge James Magbee had decreed the radical act of integrating juries, and on November 14, 1868 John was called as a juror.
His prominent status did not go unnoticed, and soon retaliation came at the hands of white miscreants. On July 25, 1869 while passing near Gus Johnson's residence at Fort Ogden, John was set upon by Gus, who beat him with a cow whip. Assisting him were Alonzo and John Johnson, Gus’ brothers, who armed with clubs, stood behind Lowmans. When Lomans took hold of the cow whip, Gus, standing not over fifteen feet distant, discharged his revolver at Lomans with intent to kill. On August 3, John gave an affidavit concerning the attack to John F. Bartholf, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Manatee County, but, symptomatic of the times, apparently no action was taken against the Johnsons. On April 18, 1871, the grand jury of Manatee County investigated another assault on John in March 1871. William H. Hollingsworth testified that while he did not see anyone put a rope around the neck of John Lowmans; however, he did state, that William Allen had hold of the other end of it, and that he saw with him, Lewis Lanier, Noah Browning, and Frank Griffin.
John and Esther Lowman were enumerated in Charlotte Harbor in the 1880 census of Manatee County. They then had four children, Mary, 12; Francis V., 8; George T., 6; and Cinderella, 3. Neighbors included Silor Fagan (black), N. H. and Emily DeCoster, and C. B. and Sarah Daniels. On December 26, 1884, John Lomans purchased 3.99 acres for $100 in Charlotte Harbor from Nathan H. DeCoster. The 1885 Manatee County Census recorded the Lowmans family in Charlotte Harbor. His occupation was a laborer. Their children were Mary(?), 15; George, 11; Senta (Cinderella), 8; Bertha, 2. John was listed with no property and less than thirty animals in the 1886 Manatee County Tax List. He was not on the 1887 Manatee County Tax List, which included DeSoto County, established in 1887.
John Lomans’ date of death is uncertain. He may have died in 1887, but Bernice Russell of Punta Gorda listed he died at age 59 in 1899.
Esther Lomans, his widow, was living and working as a laundress in Punta Gorda in April 1910. George, her son, a fisherman, was a neighbor. Her daughter, Mary, married July Roberts, a Harbor View farmer. Esther Lomans’ date of death is unknown, but she is buried on Harbor View Road in the Charlotte Harbor Town cemetery now obscured.
Lindsey Williams in “Black soldier’s ghost might haunt eatery,” Sun-Herald (Punta Gorda), Our Town News, Page 4, December 6, 1992, provided this eerie final comment:
“A restaurant building on Tamiami Trail in Charlotte Harbor Town sits over the graves of black soldiers who served with the Union army at Fort Myers. It is believed their disturbed spirits are trying to make trespassers go away. The name of the restaurant is withheld for fear of hexing the present owner or this writer...The unhallowed spot is undoubtedly the final resting place of one or more blacks at Charlotte Harbor Town in its early days but were not allowed to be buried in the nearby all-white cemetery....It seems likely that Lomans and his eleven children who died young are buried under today’s restaurant.”
Acknowledgment: My thanks are extended to Canter Brown, Jr. for his research assistance.
This profile was published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.) of June 10, 2004.
November 2, 2001& midi = "Drinking Gourd," arranged by Barry Taylor.