TERS' PROJECT
American Guide, (Negro Writers' Unit)

Pearl Randolph, Field Worker
John A. Simms, Editor
Jacksonville, Florida
August 18, 1936

FRANK BERRY

Frank Berry, living at 1614 west Twenty-Second street, Jacksonville,
Florida, claims to be a grandson of Osceola, last fighting chief of the
Seminole tribe. Born in 1858 of a mother who was part of the human
chattel belonging to one of the Hearnses of Alachua County in Florida,
he served variously during his life as a State and Federal Government
contractor, United States Marshal (1881), Registration Inspector (1879).

Being only eight years of age when the Emancipation Proclamation was
issued, he remembers little of his life as a slave. The master was kind
in an impersonal way but made no provision for his freedmen as did many
other Southerners--usually in the form of land grants--although he gave
them their freedom as soon as the proclamation was issued. Berry learned
from his elders that their master was a noted duelist and owned several
fine pistols some of which have very bloody histories.

It was during the hectic days that followed the Civil War that Berry
served in the afore-mentioned offices. He held his marshalship under a
Judge King of Jacksonville, Florida. As State and Federal Government
Contractor he built many public structures, a few of which are still in
use, among them the jetties at Mayport, Florida which he helped to build
and a jail at High Springs, Florida.

It was during the war between the Indians and settlers that Berry's
grandmother, serving as a nurse at Tampa Bay was captured by the Indians
and carried away to become the squaw of their chief; she was later
re-captured by her owners. This was a common procedure, according to
Berry's statements. Indians often captured slaves, particularly the
women, or aided in their escape and almost always intermarried with
them. The red men were credited with inciting many uprisings and
wholesale escapes among the slaves.

Country frolics (dances) were quite often attended by Indians, whose
main reason for going was to obtain whiskey, for which they had a very
strong fondness. Berry describes an intoxicated Indian as a "tornado mad
man" and recalls a hair raising incident that ended in tragedy for the
offender.

A group of Indians were attending one of these frolics at Fort Myers
and everything went well until one of the number became intoxicated,
terrorizing the Negroes with bullying, and f