Seven Little Diamonds in the Rough

THE SEVEN SONS Or The Ups and Downs, Mostly Downs Of The Seven Little Diamonds In The Rough By John T Diamond [Written around 1949] Compliments of Jay Historical Society THE LAKELAND LEDGER Lakeland, Florida December 24, 1963 Entered Into Eternal Rest Monday, Dec 23, 1965 JOHN T. DIAMOND WINTER HAVEN – John T. Diamond, 85, of 616 Avenue E., S.E., died yesterday morning in a Bartow Hospital after a long illness. He was a native of Jay, Fla., and had been in Winter Haven for the past month visiting with his daughter, Mrs. Orville Struthers. Mr. Diamond was county school superintendent of Santa Rosa County and later was with the Florida State Board of Control. He was on the board for 30 years and was secretary for 28 years. He retired in 1958 to Jay, Fla. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge and received his 50-year pin two years ago. He was also active in the Tallahassee Masonic Lodge. He was elected Man of the Year in Santa Rosa County in 1958 and was a member of the Jay Baptist Church. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Mae Morino Diamond, Jay, Fl., two daughters, Miss Rowena Diamond, Pensacola, and Mrs. Struthers; four brothers, Sam Diamond, Montgomery, Ala., Emory Diamond, Miami, Irl Diamond, Mobile, Ala., and Walker Diamond, Jacksonville, and four grandchildren. Service arrangements will be announced by Crisp Funeral Home in Winter Haven. “GRANDMA TO 300” – Approximately 300 residents of Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties are direct descendants of Mrs. Mary Ann Nelson, widow of James Nelson, who is entering her ninety-sixth year. [News Journal photo by Foote] Grandma of 300 Keeps Busy Making Quilts and Canning [By Dee Jones-Pensacola News Journal – June 1, 1947] “I’m fussy about what I eat”, said Aunt Mary Ann Nelson, explaining how she still can piece quilts and can peaches as she enters her ninety-sixth year, outliving many of more than 300 descendants. Aunt Mary Ann spurns milk and spinach, preferring coffee, corn bread, butter beans and “spring water” as a longevity diet. It appears to agree with the spry old lady who last week was visiting her niece, Mrs. W.H. Crawford, principal of P. K. Yonge School, and her granddaughter, Mrs. L. B. Kennedy, 1224 East Cervantes street. Page 1 of 2 Mrs. Kennedy is one of more than 300 of Mrs. Nelson’s descendants who are living in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Although the family congregates only for funerals and other special events, Mrs. Nelson estimated that her 10 children have given her 95 grandchildren, 53 of whom are living; 180 great-grand-children, with 86 still alive and 57 great-great-grand-children. 200 at Birthday When Mrs. Nelson celebrated her ninety-fifth birthday last month, 200 of her relatives called at her home in Jay to wish her “many happy returns.” A native of Bluff Springs, Mrs. Nelson was born in 1851 and remembers climbing on the porch rail of her father’s farmhouse to see the conquering Yankee soldiers march through Florida. Three of her brothers served in the Confederate forces with her father and two other brothers in the Home Guard. John William Diamond, her father, set an age record for his daughter to equal. Although the family Bible recorded his death at the age of 96, other records showing that he served with Andrew Jackson in the war against the Indians indicate that Diamond may have been more than 100 when he died. Records Confused That records of his birth may be confused is understandable because the family legend is that John William Diamond was born on a houseboat while his parents were drifting from South Carolina to Florida to make their home in the southern wilderness. Mrs. Nelson remembers spinning and weaving cloth from cotton grown on her father’s farm during her youth. All 14 Diamond children were taught to work to help their Baptist parents who did not believe in slavery. Quilting is still one of Aunt Mary Ann’s favorite pastimes to avoid sitting “doing nothing.” “I like to go fishing, too, if somebody’ll haul me down to the water.” Likes Spring Water Aunt Mary Ann no longer works in the fields as she used to do, but she regularly carries her own spring water up the hill to her home because it’s better than well water. Pensacola tap water also is inferior stuff, Aunt Mary Ann believes. Although she enjoys automobile riding, Aunt Mary Ann is reluctant to accept an invitation to go flying with her pilot nephew High Gilmore, 1700 East Jordan Street. She told him, “that’s too high for me.” Page 2 of 2 Coons’ Beat Possums’ Retired Educator Writes Of Pioneer Days of Area By: Miriam Sawyer – Pensacola News Journal – December 22, 1957 JAY, Dec 21 – The “coons” beat the “possums” in a political race and won the honor of having a community named in their memory. A study of the origin of names of Santa Rosa towns and communities such as Coonhill is one of the hobbies of J. T. Diamond, former secretary of the Florida State Board of Control and former Santa Rosa County school superintendent. Diamond, 79, has retired to a home near here and he has tagged his residence “Bid a Wee” – a Scotsman’s version of “Stay Awhile.” He spent more than 50 years in educational work as a teacher in small public schools, including Milton and Tate, and 30 years with the Board of Control. His place of retirement is only about a quarter of a mile from his family’s old home place. There, he spends much of his time working among hundreds of plants in a beautiful garden. He also devotes much time to reading and writing and recalling stories of pioneer life in Santa Rosa County. His interest in Santa Rosa history is no less now than when he was a boy asking questions of now deceased residents about their memories of earlier days. The fruit of this avid curiosity is, so far, a book about his Aunt Mary Ann, who lived to be more than 100, and could remember when Indians lived in the county. He is also planning other books because he believes that the knowledge of the county’s early days should be preserved for future generations. He is especially interested in how different places within the county have acquired their names. The town of Jay, according to Diamond, received its name in 1902 when the U. S. Post Office Department decided to establish a post office there. It asked J. T. Nowling, owner and operator of the only store there, to pick a name. He suggested several and they were all turned down by the Department because it had other post offices named the same thing. Finally, the Post Office Department named the post office itself, “Jay,” the first letter of Nowling’s name. Page 1 of 2 Diamond, besides collecting the interesting memories of his antecedents, has had some interesting experiences himself. He can remember when Milton was known as “the toughest town in Florida,” and four men were killed on the street within one year. He can remember when a speaker for prohibition, later Governor of the state, Williams Catts of DeFuniak, couldn’t find anyone in Milton to introduce him because they were afraid the saloon operators would shoot them. Diamond introduced the prohibition speaker. Like many other school teachers, Diamond’s fondest memories are of “green old backwoods boys” in whom he recognized talent, whom he taught and encouraged and who are now very successful in their professions. Tears gather in the eyes of the grey- haired old gentleman as he tells about people informing him of the accomplishment of these former students of his, “I don’t tell them that’s one of my green old backwoods boys from Santa Rosa County,” he says. Diamond retired, at doctor’s orders, as secretary of the Board of Control, in 1943 [?]. His worth to the board and numerous civic organizations, both in Tallahassee and Jay, is recognized through the many citations that they have presented him. Diamond is not the only resident of the hospitable home who has a background of pioneers. His wife is the former Miss Mae Moreno of Pensacola, descendant of Don Francisco Moreno, early Spanish King of Pensacola. Since he got over his illness, retirement hasn’t been easy for the vigorous Diamond who has worked hard his entire life. “I never made application for an hour’s work in my like,” he said, “but I worked all of it until I had to retire and never had a vacation.” Page 2 of 2 Chapter 24 Seven Little Diamonds in the Rough PINE LEVEL PINE LEVEL’S PINES AND PIONEERS THE EARLY PIONEER’S CASH WAS FROM THE PINES SOUTHERN GIRLS Page 1 of 20 PINE LEVEL Pine Level extended from the state line on the north To the Big Open Pond ’d Blackjack Creek on the south To Holly Mill creek and Escambia Riv’r on the west To a clear crystal creek, West Cold Water on the east Among old memory pictures refreshing to my soul Are boyhood scenes when before me they oft unroll Pristine Pine Lev’l, my home, my native land Painted by the all-wise Master and handed to man Skillful art with all the colors of the rainbow Ne’er has painted scenes quite like they do grow Trees fruits gay leaves ‘d flowers with dainty hues The varied luscious grasses wet with sparkling dews Pine Lev’l’s flora, dainty shrubs and big tall trees Its lovely flowers, vines ‘d brilliant colored leaves Became my counterpart while roaming the woods through And from its wood made billy goat carts ‘d gadgets too Clev’r man ne’er did paint the fauna of this land Like it roamed the scenic range a joy to rustic man Or swam among the bars and bonnets of crystal streams ‘Twas turtles, fish and water fowl of golden dreams Pine Lev’l’s wild birds, fish, fauna ‘d all its game Became a part of me as we oft did race and play I learned their living habits, haunts

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