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JacksonvilleStory.com Local & Family History in Jacksonville, Florida
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(Source of picture: Florida State Archives)
Dating from the 1880s, this photo shows a former slave, Mariah Jones Delancy, and her daughter Julia. They resided in the Jacksonville area. The photo has been crudely touched up by someone in the past.
CLICK HERE for info about Celia's trial and execution.
SLAVE OR FREE? -- The first woman executed in Florida was a slave known only as Celia. In 1848, she died on the gallows in Jacksonville for killing Jacob Bryan. A white man, Jacob was Celia's owner, her father, and probably also the father of Celia's own children. These circumstances raise an interesting question: What ever became of Celia's family members?
Just as Celia's fate had been, the fate of the Bryan clan was also kicked about. Were the family members slaves, or were they free citizens? Celia's kinfolk held legal documents that declared them free. In 1842, manumission papers had been issued for them by the Duval County (Jacksonville) clerk of court. Jacob Bryan had requested these documents from the clerk, for he considered Celia & the rest of his African American slave family to be emancipated.
While Celia's trial took place, however, her family was jailed just as she. Prior to court rulings, it was treated as if it were still enslaved. One inmate was 60-year-old Susan, who was Celia's mother and Jacob's widow. Also incarcerated were Susan's eleven children and grandchildren.
Susan and her family were valued at $3,800, or over $72,000 in today's currency. Property like this attracted attention. Jacob's white brother and sister sued, claiming that they should inherit the clan as slaves. The Bryans may have otherwise continued as free citizens. Many people, though, probably took some comfort in seeing the family jailed. And free blacks weren't so free anyway...
FEARS & WORRY -- Some Southern whites felt as if they might one day drown in a sea of black faces. In 1850, slaves made up almost half of Duval County's 4,539 inhabitants, with free blacks numbering only 95. These sorts of figures were seen in numerous other places in the Old South.
Little wonder that white Southerners often proved uneasy about both slaves and free blacks. In 1858, for example, a Duval County grand jury asserted that free persons of color proved harmful to slavery. Supposedly, the presence or actions of free blacks produced laziness, immorality, and disobedience among the enslaved. Free blacks should be kept under the strictest control, according to the jury. Compounding local fears were the many free blacks who labored on Northern ships that visited Jacksonville. Would they entice slaves to stowaway? Would they make rebels out of the bondsmen?
Florida laws reflected white apprehension. In 1840, for instance, Florida forbade the selling of firearms & gun powder to African Americans. Outlawed in 1842 was the selling or giving of alcohol to free persons of color. Also prohibited that year was the sale of poison to African Americans, except with the approval of a drugstore. In 1848, Florida required free blacks & mulattos to select a responsible white guardian. Among other duties, the guardian would sue & recover money for the African American he represented. In 1859, Jacksonville's black residents even suffered a curfew. The marshal would ring the city market bell every night at 9:00 PM. African Americans who didn't abide by the curfew could face fines and whippings. Prior to the Civil War, Jacksonville's blacks also couldn't gather in groups of more than four -- unless a white person were present.
Not only were free blacks harshly governed, but they could also lose their freedom entirely. Here's an example: On the eve of the Civil War, Florida laws stipulated that free blacks who were unemployed or who acted in immoral ways could be liable for sale to the highest bidder. They might have to work for the bidder for a number of years.
THE KINGSLEY CLAN -- Even the most powerful people
could not escape the pressures of societal anxiety. Consider the
mixed family of Zephaniah Kingsley, the former owner of Kingsley
Plantation in Jacksonville. An undersized man physically, the
outspoken Kingsley was one of the largest & most influential
planters in the state. He considered his wife to be Anna, a slave
and an African princess. According to Zephaniah, they had been
married by African custom outside the United States. Anna was
still legally a slave, but neighbors always considered her to be a free
person of color. Zephaniah & Anna Kingsley eventually had
three mulatto kids, that is, children of black & white parentage.
THE BRYAN CLAN -- Haiti, or the “Island of Liberty” as Zephaniah Kingsley called it, may have looked pretty good to the Jacob Bryan family, considering its predicament. After Jacob's killing in 1847, his African American widow & mulatto children were treated as slaves. A real dilemma was that Jacob had not paid the proper fees during the manumission process.
Why didn't Jacob shell out the money needed to legally liberate his bondsmen? Perhaps he didn't have the cash, for he had been a small-time farmer, not owning his land & house. Minus the slaves, his estate totaled $155.25, or a little less than $3,000 today.
Then again, maybe he didn't care to pay, since ex-slaves would've had to move away anyway. Florida's constitution forbade freed slaves from living in the state. Jacob could've emancipated his family and then left with it, but he would have lost his farm and probably any business arrangements & contacts in the area. To further complicate matters, he couldn't legally take Susan as his wife because of strict state laws against the marriage of blacks & whites. So Jacob disregarded legalities and cohabited with Susan as his common law wife.
PROBLEMS WITH LEGALITIES -- The legalities finally caught up with Bryan clan. After Jacob's death, their fate swayed back & forth. A Florida court eventually rejected the claims by Jacob's white brother and sister. Freedom was awarded to Susan and her children, but one of the offspring, Sarah, was later judged to still be a slave. The oldest sibling after Celia, Sarah had been born outside of Florida. She was therefore subject to different laws. In 1852, Sarah was auctioned off in front of Jacksonville's courthouse. (This location is at the corner of Forsyth & Market streets, one block east of the Florida Theater, or just to the east of the Yates Building, which houses the property appraiser's office.)
Several of the Bryan kin disappear from record, but at least two, Celia's brother, Dennis, and sister, Mary, were eventually considered slaves again. The Florida Supreme Court deemed that Jacob Bryan's slaves were never legally free since he didn't fulfill legal requirements. Released from jail on bail, Dennis fled the area. Mary, though, was probably sold back into bondage.
At the time, the Florida Supreme Court observed that the state's freed slaves were regarded by whites with strong distrust. As noted before, Florida law barred freed slaves from living in the state. Tensions increased as the Civil War loomed, and Florida manumissions grew very rare during the 1850s. In Duval County, the last emancipation on record took place because of Isaiah Hart, the father of Jacksonville. After his death in 1861, his will liberated three slaves.
And if Hart had his way a few years earlier, he would've also freed Celia from her death sentence. He had considered condemnation too harsh for the case. As it turned out, of course, the situation held ugly repercussions for the whole Bryan family.
CLICK HERE for info about Celia's trial and execution.
The text in JacksonvilleStory.com is copyrighted by Glenn Emery.
CLICK HERE for the sources used in preparing the text in JacksonvilleStory.com.
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THE FATE OF CELIA'S FAMILY