A Post from the Past

Today I am going back to 2008 and the post I wrote on my great grandfather John Cecil Council. If you weren't one of my readers back then you might enjoy reading about my ancestors.

John Cecil Council, born in Barbour County, Alabama in 1833, was my great grandfather. He was the son of Temperance Weaver Council. John, in 1845, was one of the first settlers in Wakulla County Florida. He, along with his mother, his sister Susan Council and her husband, Boyet or Lott, either traveled with the Pelts and Poseys or arrived about the same time and they all settled in Crawfordville, Florida. John Cecil acquired a good bit of land around the county. He married Frances DeLaura Posey who birthed a large family before she died.

John then married Missouri Redd. She was referred to as Miss Missouri. The two of them raised a second large family.

At the age of 28, and with children at home, John joined the Florida Militia during the Civil War. He was captured off the coast near his home while fishing to provide food for his unit. The Union ships took him and others captured with him to Shipp Island, off the coast of Louisiana.

When the southern prisoners first arrived on Shipp Island, there were no barracks, only tents, no protection from the wind, rain and large mosquitoes that carried disease. John Council took a leadership role among the prisoners as they set about building their own huts and shelters.

Back home Fanny, his wife, along with a black woman helper kept the farm going and raised the crops and hogs and cattle. She picked the cotton and had it bailed. Fanny's first born was a daughter, Georgianne Council. (1857-1957) Like her mother, Georgianne was strong and resilient. She knew how to use a gun and tramped through the thick woods to kill game for the family.

Georgianne lived a long life. A one hundredth birthday party was held for her and written about in the Wakulla County newspaper, but I hear from cousin Sandra that her birth date might be in question. No matter. Aunt Georgianne was a real pioneer woman who could do the work of any man and actually the work of more than one man from what I've heard. More about her later.

John Cecil Council was highly respected in his community. He was one of the founders of a church in Wakulla County, and was a leader of that church. He lived a long life and fathered his last child when he was in his early seventies.

Over the years I've researched this great grandfather of mine, and I met his youngest daughter as well as hundreds of his descendants. I have copies of his military records, his pension papers, his last will and testament. I've collected stories I've heard about him and hope to one day put them together for my family members.

John Cecil's oldest son, Tom, was my grandfather. Tom and his wife Sarah (Sallie) head the family I write about in Profiles and Pedigrees, Thomas Charles Council and his Descendants.

In this marriage, Tom died young and left Sallie to carry on without him. Tom and Sallie raised ten children, Mae, Charlie, Maude, Oleo, Horace and Hortense (twins), Lillian, Annie, and Coy (my father). Their first born son, John Henry, died at the age of fourteen from malaria. He is buried in the Council Family Cemetery outside of Crawfordville, FL.

Since this was first posted in 2008, my brother Hal Council and his wife, Yvonne, moved down to Wakulla County and in 2010 both of them passed away within three months of each other. They are buried, also, in the Council Family Cemetery where John Cecil and both of his wives are interred. They rest near John Henry's grave. When Tom's family moved up to Georgia in the early 1900s, John Henry's brothers built a one foot wall made of sea shells surrounding his grave. That wall, showing their love for their brother, still stands today.



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Council Family Reunion

Descendants of John Cecil Council will gather in Wakulla County, Florida the weekend of october 10-11 for the annual Council Family reunion. I had planned to attend, but found I can't this year.
They have a big fish fry on Saturday night along with a cake walk which is enjoyed by adults and children as well. My cousin Sandra called me this week to see if I'm going and to ask me to stay with her. She lives in Tallahassee where she and her late husband Billy, lived many years  after building a successful business there. Beverly Council sent out the letter to all of us to remind us of this special day. My memories of this reunion go back to when I was in high school and my family attended.
Each year certain members of John Cecil's family are recognized. This year Sandra's family will be one of those. I would love to be there to hear the stories told about Eugene Council and his family. John Cecil was married twice and had two sets of children, so his decendants are numerous.
As we get older these family reunions come to mean more than just a nice meal and talking with a few relatives.
If you are a descendant of John Cecil Council, a very early pioneer of north Florida, who was captured by the Union Army and held on Shipp Island off the coast of Lousiana, then you should come and meet this family.

Council Reunion coming up in Crawfordville, FL

Today I received a letter from the secretary of the Council Reunion down in Wakulla County, FL, inviting us to the big weekend in October. We won't be able to go this year.


I'm sure my cousins will have a great time. They plan a cake walk and an auction to make money for the perpetual care cemetery where my great grandfather, John Cecil Council who started this big clan, and many of his family are buried. As usual a fish fry will be held on Saturday night and a huge picnic dinner on Sunday.


The families of Noah Council and Redding Council are asked to bring information to share about those families.


Noah Columbus Council was born Sept. 13, 1862. He was the son of John Cecil Council and died May 18, 1926 in Crawfordville, FL and is buried in the Council Cemetery in Wakulla County. Noah married Loudy Vickers and had seven children. After she died, he married Sara Louvina (Lura)Greene and they had two children. So there should be quite a few descendants from this family at the next reunion.


Included in the letter I received today was a wonderful photograph taken at the first or second reunion held at the Lawrence Council home in Wakulla County, FL. To my surprise, there I was right in front, a teenager. While all my cousins had on sun dresses as befitted a warm October day in Florida, I wore a dark fall dress and I remember, not the reunion so much, but that dress. It was hot, hot hot!


I'll try to post that photograph if I can scan it into my computer.

Genealogy

Why are we fascinated by genealogy? Why do we become addicted to finding someone from our long lost lineage? The missing father of John Cecil Council frustrates us like a 500 word puzzle with a missing piece right in the center. How did that Council man disappear into thin air?
Some say he left North Carolina under a dark cloud. Does that mean he was wanted by the law? Was he in trouble for seeing a married woman? Did he get involved in a fight, was someone killed?
Any one of these things would make a great story if we only knew his name.
If you are embarking on the journey to find the father of John Cecil Council from Wakulla County, FL, I wish you well and hope you will someday share your findings with us.

One of my favorite aunts had a dreadful name

This morning I woke up and thought about my aunt Hortense. She hated that name. When she was a child, she was teased unmercifully. She had a twin brother Horace, and the little tykes were nicknamed Punch and Judy after a puppet act that was famous at the time. She was born in 1892 in Wakulla County, Florida. She married Jimmy Tinsley and they had one child who died right after birth. She never had another child, but she and Uncle Jimmy lived near us during my childhood. I loved to got to her house which was always spotless and always smelled good, filled with odors of cakes and pies. I believe she baked a dessert every day.

I remember the blue hydrangeas that grew on either side of the steps to her back porch. I wrote a poem once that began "between two blue hydrangeas..."

Aunt Hortense (Judy) lived to be nearly 100 years old and grew more lovely every year. My strongest recollection of her was her never ending interest in others. She did not dwell on herself, her problems, but was interested in me when we talked, even though I was young and had nothing as interesting to talk about as she did. I still miss hearing her talk and her laugh.

Every year in Wakulla County Florida, Crawfordville, to be exact, at the old home place of the Council family, a reunion is held. It is the Council Family Reunion where all those who are related to John Cecil Council (1833-1910) are welcomed with a fish fry on Saturday night. The mullet is fresh from the nearby bay or gulf, cooked by experts and served with good coleslaw, grits and hushpuppies. I haven't been there in quite a few years, but if I close my mind I can still smell those fish frying, the aroma filling the sultry evening air even though it is October.
I remember the tales my father told about the fish fries of his youth on the beaches in Florida. Fishing was and still is a mainstay of the lifestyle for those who live along the coast.
My great grandfather, John Cecil Council, a member of Captain Milton's Independent Cavalry Company, Florida Volunteers, was captured by the Union Army October 19. 1864 while fishing off the coast near St. Marks.
His duty was to help supply food to the soldiers and sailors of the Confederacy.
He was taken to Ship Island off the coast of Missippi where he was held as a prisoner until the end of the war. He walked all the way back to his place in Wakulla County.