Page 12 - Clay County: Communities, Families, & Friends 2024

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Community Connections & Reflections
By Vishi Garig, Historical Archives Supervisor
A Service of Tara S. Green, Clerk of Court and Comptroller
ALL IN A NAME
Forrester-Hines-Dunham-Lycurgus
[Around] 1860, a census was taken in Clay County, Florida.
Counted among the farmers, ranchers, merchants and other
citizens of the county were a family of free African Americans, the
Forrester Family. They were the only free African American family
listed in the entire Clay County census at that time.
The patriarch of the family was a man named Cyrus Forrester.
He was eighty-four years old, living on the south bank of Black
Creek in a community called Magnolia. [He lived on land that he
purchased from the government in 1853.] His wife, Dorcas, and
six of his seven children lived with him. Lewis Charles Forrester,
Cyrus’ son, lived next door on his own property. Cyrus owned
cattle, pigs and chickens and had a total of forty acres under
cultivation. His property, personal belongings, livestock, and farm
implements were valued in excess of $2,000.
All three Forrester sons served the Union cause. George Elias and
Isadore enlisted in the Navy and served on the Cimarron. Lewis
Charles joined the Army. Isadore died during the war. His name is
on the War Veteran’s Monument in Green Cove Springs.
On July 3, 1889, Lewis Forrester lay dying. Attended by Dr. Charles
Merrill, Lewis died surrounded by his family and was buried at
Magnolia Springs Cemetery in Green Cove Springs.
Affa, wife of Lewis, now a widow, lived with her children, daughters
Mary Barbara (Barbary) and Susie, who married Miles Hines.
Also residing there [was her] nephew, Theodore Lycurgus, her
niece Sarah E. Dunham (George Elias Forrester’s daughter) and
Dunham’s daughter, Althea Dunham. Susie and Theodore worked
as table waiters in a local hotel. Affa Forrester’s neighbors were her
family as well, sister-in-law Therassa (with six living children) and
her brother-in-law George.
Affa died July 2, 1901, and is buried in the Forrester/Redmond
Family plot in Mt. Olive Cemetery in Green Cove Springs. Their
descendants and the rest of the Forresters are represented well in
Clay County history as Clay County’s first free black family.
Maierfeldt
William Maierfeldt and his wife Marie were immigrants from
Mecklenburg, Germany. They came to America on board the
Silesia arriving in New York on April 20, 1870. Their infant son,
Frederick, and in- laws Carl and Marie Rajahn came, too. After a
few short years living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the little family of
three moved to balmy Orange Park, Florida, after hearing about
the wonderful weather and the ability to farm here year round.
They arrived in Orange Park in May of 1878. They purchased a
120-acre farm located on present-day Milwaukee Avenue in Orange
Park. The farm was on both sides of Plainfield Avenue running to
Doctors Lake with 2,100 feet of the farm being lakefront property.
Frederick “Fred” Maierfeldt grew up strong and healthy on this
farm. He courted and later married Christine Brandenburger. He
wrote her a sweet note in 1897 asking her to take tea and go for a
buggy ride.
They had three children, William, Helen and Frederick Jr. Frederick
inherited the farm from his parents after they passed away (mother
Marie died in 1910 and father William in 1912).
Fred, like other local farmers of that era, co-opted and brought
all their produce into Orange Park from surrounding farmlands.
From there, produce was shipped on steamers on the St. Johns
River or by rail to Jacksonville, New York, Boston, Washington DC,
Philadelphia and the like. The refrigeration systems used at that time
were designed and built by Harry Horton of Orange Park.
When Fred wasn’t farming, he was very involved in his community.
In 1895, he ran for town council and won. It wasn’t long before
citizens’ complaints reached him.
For example, Anna M Morgan wrote to him in 1909, “Do your best
to keep the hogs out of Orange Park. I do not believe I could stand
it to go through what I have gone through with the fleas brought in
by the hogs. Since the hogs have been kept out, we have had peace.”
All good things come to an end eventually. Fred passed away in 1945,
Christine in 1936. They are buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in
Orange Park, not far from their former farm on Milwaukee Avenue.
The Maierfeldt children grew up and moved to Duval County. Fred,
Jr became a carpenter but died young in 1935. Helen never married
and passed away in 1974. William did marry and enjoyed a long life,
living to the ripe age of 91, passing away in 1989.
Taylor - Tillinghast
A unique figure in American history with ties to Clay County was
George Edwin Taylor. Taylor was many things in his lifetime: the
son of a slave, a newspaper owner and editor, a community activist,
a civil rights warrior, and a bit of a radical. In 1904, he was the first
African American to run for the Office of President of the United
States, but did not win. Shortly thereafter, Taylor moved to Florida,
and that is when the Clay County connection began.
He met and married Marion Tillinghast of Green Cove Springs
[who] was Taylor’s junior by eleven years. She and her family had
been in Green Cove Springs since before 1900 originally hailing
from South Carolina. Her father, James Proctor Tillinghast, whose
profession was farming, was a trustee and founding member of First
African Missionary Baptist Church, located on Palmetto Avenue in
Green Cove Springs, one of the oldest in the County.
The Tillinghasts were a powerhouse of education and service to
the community. Marion and her sister, Nellie Tillinghast were both
lifelong educators, teaching in Clay Public Schools.
When James died in 1946, he... left a debt-free estate to his children.
They each inherited a portion of his home on Cypress Street. Later,
in the 1960’s, the heirs sold their property.
Viola Tillinghast was a graduate of the Orange Park Normal School,
the only desegregated school in Clay County pre-Brown v. Board of
Education (1954).
George Taylor, the man whom with this story began, passed away
in 1925. Marion outlived him by 36 years, passing away in 1961. Per
their death certificates, both George and Marion are buried in Mt.
Olive Cemetery, Green Cove Springs. There are no headstones for
them.