PIONEER LIFE

OVERVIEWS

• OVERVIEW OF PIONEER FLORIDA -- "The Floridians: A Social History."  Includes info about pioneer Florida.

• OUTLINE OF PIONEER FLORIDA -- Overview of Florida's history from the Florida Heritage Collection.  Includes info about pioneer Florida.

• INFO ABOUT "CRACKERS" -- Halifax Magazine article that discusses the origins of the word "cracker."  This term is sometimes used to describe rural Florida pioneers.  The article also tells about cracker life, and it gives a list of cracker words.

• PICTURES -- Photos having to do with "Cracker Florida."  From FloridaHistory.org.

• ORIGINS OF THE WORD "CRACKER" -- A short overview of origins of the word "cracker."  Also, a  brief description of cracker life.  From a web page called "The Florida Crackers."

• FLORIDA HOUSE STYLES ( "CRACKER," "SHOTGUN," ETC) -- From Florida Heritage.

• "CRACKER" HOUSES -- Lots of photos in regard to Florida "Cracker" houses. From the website "Exploring Florida: Social Studies Resources for Students & Teachers." 

• FLORIDA HERITAGE COLLECTION -- Info about the subjects on this webpage may be available at the the marvelous "Florida Heritage Collection." This website gives full-text, online copies of hundreds of Florida books.  NOTE: When you get to the website, you can search in different ways.  These searches include by "Florida Themes" or by "Florida History Timeline."  You can also search by "Florida County" and by "Keywords."  With keyword searching, just type in "Jacksonville," "Duval County," or other keywords, such as words from a title.  ALSO NOTE:  Many of the individual Jacksonville items in the Florida Heritage Collection are listed in JacksonvilleStory.com, the site you're now in. However, Jacksonville info can often be found in books about Florida in general. Many of theses books are at the Florida Heritage Collection website.

VARIOUS TOPICS

• PIONEER LIFE IN GENERAL -- Listen to an audio report entitled "Cracker Times and Pioneer Lives."  Tells about pioneer life in North Florida during the mid-1800s.  Provided by the Florida Humanities Council.  NOTE: When you get to the webpage, click on the heading "Last Month's Programs."  Keep clicking this heading until you get to the page that contains the audio report you want. 

• "A DAY ON THE FARM" -- Listen to an audio report entitled "A Day on the Farm."  Tells about the hard work that went into running a pioneer farm.  Provided by the Florida Humanities Council.  NOTE: When you get to the webpage, click on the heading "Last Month's Programs."  Keep clicking this heading until you get to the page that contains the audio report you want. 

• CATTLE RANCHING -- Florida Times-Union article called "Clay's Cattle Industry Had to Come of Age," by Mary Jo McTammany.   Gives info about cattle ranching in Florida during the 1800s & early 1900s.  Concentrates on Clay County, Duval County's neighbor to the south.  

• CATTLE -- Info about Florida "cracker cattle."  Copyright by the Oklahoma State University Board of Regents.

• COOKING -- Florida Times-Union article called "Early Stove Was an Important Tool," by Mary Jo McTammany.  Focusing on Clay County, the article tells about the importance of cast-iron, wood burning stoves in the lives of Florida women during the late 1800s & early 1900s.  

• OXEN -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Some people just have a way of talking to an ox: Clay County Memoirs," by Mary Jo McTammany.

• LUMBERING -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Live Oak Cutters Found Lush Surroundings," by Mary Jo McTammany.  Tells about the life of timber cutters in Northeast Florida during the early 1800s.

• LUMBERING -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Lumberjacks felled county's ancient giants -- cypress, Clay County Memoirs," by Mary Jo McTammany.

• USE OF FIRE -- Florida Times-Union article called "Fire Had a Place in Cultivating Land," by Mary Jo McTammany.  Concentrates on neighboring Clay County.  Describes the use of fire in everyday life of Florida settlers during the 1800s & early 1900s.  

• WILDFIRES -- Florida Times-Union article called "Wildfires Used to be a Constant Threat," by Mary Jo McTammany.  Concentrates on nearby Clay County.  Describes the danger of wildfires to Florida settlers during the 1800s & early 1900s.  

• WEATHER & THE SETTLERS -- Florida Times-Union article called "Weather Influences the Rhythms of Life," by Mary Jo McTammany.  Concentrates on neighboring Clay County.  Describes how the weather affected the houses & everyday life of Florida settlers during the 1800s.  

• HOMEMADE LIQUOR -- Florida Times-Union article entitled "Families Came with Home Brew," by Mary Jo McTammany.  Tells about the drinking of homemade liquor by Florida settlers during the 1800s.

• SKINNER FAMILY PIONEERS -- Florida Times-Union article called "Piney Woods Miracle: Skinner Family Turned Land into Legacy," by Charlie Patton.  Provides info about a long-time Jacksonville family.  Also gives interesting details about the Jacksonville's Great Fire of 1901.

• LIFE HISTORIES -- WPA Life Histories in Florida.  Include info about slavery, life during the latter 1800s, and life during the early 1900s.  Are composed of interviews conducted with older Americans during the 1930s.  Provided by the Library of Congress.