| The James David Brown family seemed solidly established in Camden County, Georgia, until a few members decided to move to South Florida
between 1890 and 1900. Several people in Frank Brown's immediate family were already settled in Miami, Florida: His older sister, Annie Marion Brown, who had long before married Edwin Newton King in Camden County - Edwin N. King wished to move to Miami because of business and farming opportunities; his younger sister, May Brown, went down to stay with Edwin N. King and Annie Marion Brown King in order to attend school - then later married Edgar C. Gaunt, a Miami pioneer; his
younger brother, Jim Brown, went to Miami to check out the area, married Dolly Richardson and decided to become a permanent resident; his mother, Clara Ann Gelzer Brown, along with her youngest son, Claude Brown, followed. Frank Brown had been down in Miami over the years scouting around and looking into possible business ventures that the area had to offer. All of Frank's relatives encouraged him to make Florida his permanent home. This propelled Frank
and Rita to make the decision to leave Camden County and move to Miami. Off they went in a horse drawn carriage, toting trunks and what little furniture they owned, to travel along what is now known as U.S. Highway No. 1. This is a story Rete used to tell me time after time but for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would want to make that exhausting trip by horse and carriage when the railroad had been in existence all the way down to Miami for ten years. Rete
told me that they stayed with friends in Jacksonville and spent one night near Daytona Beach. After many rough miles and days in both inclement and favorable weather they arrived in Miami. In her diary entry on August 12, 1906, Augusta Gallie Floyd wrote that Hal (her brother, Henry Hamilton Floyd) had returned to St. Augustine from a trip down to Miami and he had seen both Albert and Rete. She wrote, "Rete lives three miles from Miami with her
mother-in-law, I think. A bad plan in most cases." Fé Brown Durand wrote to me that after their initial arrival in Miami, Frank and Rita stayed with Clara Ann Gelzer Brown and her son, Claude Brown. For certain, Augusta Gallie Floyd did not have any inkling that Clara Ann Gelzer Brown was a gentle soul, one who was rather easygoing, a kind person who loved children and was generous and cordial to everyone. Clara Ann's granddaughter,
Daisy Gaunt Brown, said that her own father, Edgar C. Gaunt, had a homestead consisting of about 150-160 acres from S.W. 8th Street to about S.W. 15th Street and from 22nd Avenue (known as Citrus Road) to 27th Avenue (known as Grapeland Blvd.) east and west. Daisy said that the one lot Edgar Gaunt conveyed to Clara Ann for a house was at about 24th Court but it faced S.W. 8th Street. According to her grandson, Frank H. Brown Jr., Clara Ann lived in a compact two-story house of
light gray stucco located at S.W. 9th Street and 24th Court, very near Jim and Dolly Brown. All of Clara Ann's grandchildren, including Carrie Gaunt Griffin and Frances Brown, attested to her sterling qualities and her mild-mannered character. Clara Ann Gelzer Brown died on August 15, 1919 and is buried at City Cemetery in Miami. Just prior to moving into their own house, Rita told me that she and Frank stayed a brief few weeks with John Frohock, who was the
sheriff in Miami at that time. From the time John Frohock left Camden County at age eighteen he served in public life. He was on the police force in Fernandina, deputy sheriff in Deland, a deputy US Marshal in Palm Beach. He settled in Miami in 1895. In 1899 he served as city marshal and in 1900 he was elected sheriff of Dade County. It was through his influence that the courthouse was moved from Palm Beach to Miami. John Frohock became a
successful businessman and planter who owned several buildings in downtown Miami as well as extensive tracts of land all over Dade County. In 1900 John Frohock's brother, George, decided to settle in Miami. George and John owned adjacent groves in an area called Fulford (now North Miami Beach). They farmed grapefruit, avocados and tomatoes which were shipped to markets in Atlanta, Chicago and New York. By 1920, George Frohock, his wife, Alice Walker and
their children, Albert, Gladys, Esthera, Harry and David Leroy were still living in Fulford. They were joined by another brother, Arthur Frohock, his wife, Laura (sister of Alice) and their two girls, Grace and Edna, who lived next door to them in Fulford. John Frohock, whose first wife had died leaving him with a young son, also named John, to raise, made his residence in Miami on Avenue D (now Miami Avenue) near Eighth Street. It was in this house that Frank
and Rita were guests for a while. The Frohocks grew up on Cherry Point in Camden County and were first cousins to Rita Pacetti Brown. I am sure that the prospect of living in a brand new house in unfamiliar surroundings was viewed with both excitement and trepidation for Rita. The story-and-a-half wood frame house was located at 3421 S.W. 8th Street - also called Tamiami Trail. Although it was a main thoroughfare, the street was unpaved at that
time. I must add here that the very first address was 3412 S.W. 8th Street but due to the placement of the house on the north side of this huge lot, encompassing the entire block at that time, the address was changed to 3421. This lot was divided in later years, once again changing the address to 3434 S.W. 7th Street. The portion of the lot facing Eighth Street, which used to be a garden on one side with the main entrance of the driveway coming in off 8th Street, is now one
small business after another. It is amazing that as of 1993, this original house is still there and in good repair. Frank Brown was good at farming and he grew vegetables of all kinds such as corn, peas, okra, beans, turnips, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. He planted grapefruit, orange, avocado, coconut, mango, lime, and other trees. They raised the usual chickens, pigs, and cows for profit and consumption and their house was never without a cat for a pet.
Things seemed to be going along well in this hot, muggy climate but by the end of 1907, Rita would know the profound pain of losing a first child. John was stillborn. This was such a tragic loss for both Frank and Rita. Their friends and relatives tried to help as much as possible to alleviate their distress. Two years later on March 12, 1909, their first daughter, Fé Augusta, was born in one of the upper bedrooms this
house. She was a tiny, thin, fragile baby who made them almost frightened to pick her up. She was so delicate, even at a few months of age, that Frank used to carry her out in the yard for fresh air in a plushly padded wheelbarrow. This child was quite the "apple of their eye." When Fé was two years old and still requiring considerable attention, Rita was expecting again. This time she was so large that she found it difficult to move
about. Before the summer heat became unbearable, Rita gave birth to twins in one of the upstairs bedrooms in the house at 3421 S.W. 8th Street - a boy and a girl! On that day, June 17, 1911, the double names of Francis and Frances were given to the newborns. Everyone who came by to offer help or congratulations exclaimed with surprise, "Two of them!" Francis said that Frank and Rita were so pleased and proud that they planted two coconut
trees at the entrance of the driveway on Eighth Street. How on earth did Rita manage with a two year old plus twins? With all the housework, washing, cooking, cleaning and myriads of other things, her time was not idle. In fact, she had absolutely no time for herself at all. Her closest kin were in Camden County, at least those she would deign to share an intimate occasion. After the birth of the twins, she did have help with the chores by
temporarily employing the aid of a lady who lived nearby. Doctor Skaggs was the attending physician for both the birth of Fé and the twins. He was such a caring, considerate doctor. Rita told me that a few weeks after each child was born she and Frank registered their names at the Miami Courthouse. However, in later years, every one of the Brown children had great difficulty in obtaining delayed birth certificates. The twins were definitely a
handful. They were put in a double baby carriage and according to my Uncle Francis they grabbed each other's food until it was all gone! My mother said that she got her little finger caught in the top of the double carriage and was cut so badly that she has the scar to this day. I am sure her crying was not easily placated. Rita and Frank stayed in the house at 3421 S.W. 8th Street for several years. The three children - Fe, Francis and Frances - started
attending Orange Glade Elementary School on the north east corner of S.W. 8th Street and 27th Avenue. Daisy Gaunt Brown said that her father, Edgar Gaunt, helped build this school! I attended Orange Glade in 1947-1948 and remember quite well the oiled wooden floors, high ceilings and the lovely Australian pines shading the play ground.
The area west of Miami along Tamiami Trail around Ludlam Road (67th Avenue) contained acres of uninhabited land
with such rich soil one could grow just about anything. Annie and Walter Ludlam (hence the name of the road; not related to our family), Edgar and May Brown Gaunt and Jim and Dolly Brown were already out in this area. It seems that the rest of the Browns followed. Frank Brown needed more land. He purchased a large farmhouse and the vast fields with it on the north side of Tamiami Trail, better known as simply "The Trail" by the locals, not too
far from Edgar and May Gaunt. All of the Browns were familiar with farming methods in Camden County, Georgia, particularly that of harvesting rice. This area was near the Everglades and in certain places the ground was boggy and constantly wet with standing water - perfect for growing rice. Frank Brown experimented with rice in a field on the south side of the Trail but he was only able to grow enough to feed his immediate family and not enough to sell at market. His
main crops for profit were sweet potatoes, sugar cane, tomatoes, grapefruit and oranges. To differentiate between this house and their original house which was also on 8th Street or the Trail, my mother Frances and her brother Francis, referred to this farmhouse as their "Ludlam Road House." Frank and Rita Brown's Ludlam Road house was located about two blocks west of Ludlam at about 68th or 69th Avenue and Tamiami Trail according to Francis. The farmhouse had a porch which wrapped around three sides and in the back there was a large barn with a hayloft. The children could not resist the temptation of jumping from the loft onto the pile of hay below. But one day Frances did not see a rake hidden by the hay and when she jumped, she rammed her foot into the rake forks. The cut was ugly and her mother was undeniably upset. Francis said that the fields behind this house extended all the way
to Comfort Canal. Jim Carmichael and Allie Brown Carmichael first left their house in Kingsland, Georgia in 1913 to live in Miami and farm out on Tamiami Trail near the Gaunts. The Carmichaels did not live out on the Trail very long. They went back to Camden County for two years, returning to Miami again in 1919, this time to settle there permanently. Jim and Allie Carmichael and their two children moved to South Dade County near Biscayne Bay, just west of
Old Cutler Road where they cultivated roses. "The Rosery" was operated by the Carmichaels for many years before it evolved into acres of mango groves. An accomplished horticulturist and agriculturalist, Jim Carmichael experimented with grafting mangoes and developed a new variety called the Sensation mango. About 1915 or 1916, Allie Brown Carmichael's father, Hugh Crawford Brown and her mother, Alice Charlotte Gelzer Brown moved from Georgia to
Miami. They first lived out on Tamiami Trail near Ludlam Road where Crawford did a little farming. Hugh Crawford Brown was Frank Brown's half brother and Alice Charlotte was the sister of Clara Ann Gelzer Brown. On the 1920 Dade County census, Hugh Crawford Brown and his wife were listed in Montgomery's Corner Township, on 20th Street, located between Ludlam Road and Le Jeune Road; his occupation was farm overseer. Listed in this same Township were their neighbors,
George H. Richardson, his wife, Kate R. and their three children, George Jr., Dorothy and David. At a later date, Crawford Brown owned a general store in Cutler down in South Dade County. Edgar Gaunt operated one of the largest and most successful commercial tomato farms in this vicinity. He employed several women, including Allie Brown Carmichael, Dolly Brown and Rita Brown, who spent long hours working in his fields picking and packing tomatoes. Edgar
Gaunt also owned extensive acres of grapefruit groves in this area until the railroad split his property and he decided to sell. May 27, 1917, Marion Glenn Brown was born in the Ludlam Road house. Rita told me that she was by herself during this birth because the doctor was too far away to arrive in time. Before the event, Frances said that she, Fé and Francis were sent either to their Aunt May and Uncle Edgar Gaunt's house two blocks away or to Uncle Jim
and Aunt Dolly Brown's house - she could not remember which. Francis (later became Frank Hopkins Brown, Jr.) said that at that time Uncle Jim and Aunt Dolly Brown lived about two blocks east of Ludlam Road on the Trail. Jim worked as a foreman for Edgar Gaunt and he was also a fine carpenter who helped build many houses. Francis said that Aunt Dolly was a great cook and when the children visited, she gave them delicious home baked cakes or cookies and
juice. Dolly dearly loved children but had only one living child of her own, George Brown, who was a very dear friend of the twins Francis and Frances. Carrie Gaunt Griffin said that her father, Edgar Gaunt, promised to donate a bit of land and build a one-room schoolhouse provided that the all of the families who lived along the Trail near Ludlam Road pitched in together to hire a teacher. They did just that and the children attended this school for quite a
while. During the middle of the school year, February 24, 1920, John Edwin Brown was born. Fé said that this time the Brown children were sent to the house of their good friends, Annie and Walter Ludlam. Fé told me that she loved going over to visit Ruth Ludlam, who was her best friend. In one of her letters to me, Fé Brown wrote, "The children used to make wigwams from dog fennel plants which grew all over the place. Then when
the Seminole Indians came walking quietly down the road into town, we were scared to death of them! But they were absolutely harmless." Francis Brown, Jr. said, "In this undeveloped area on the edge of the Everglades, it was not at all unusual to see alligators sunning themselves in the saw grass marsh. Sometimes we explored the cypress tree swamps which contained a variety of birds as well as large snakes. At night we heard panthers howling in the
hammocks where the thick palmetto palms grew." One of Frances Brown's fondest memories was of her blue-eyed, fluffy white Persian cat called Beautiful. This cat was a special pet, a rather uncommon breed at that time, around 1920 in Miami. On the 1920 Dade County census, Annie Marion King, who had been a widow for the last eighteen years and her son, Eugene, were living on 20th Street near Citrus Road. Living in the very next house were
Annie Marion King's son-in-law, her daughter and granddaughter - Earl and Edna Wilson and their young daughter, also named Annie Marion. Earl Wilson was listed as a clerk in the Post Office. Next door to Earl and Edna were Earl Wilson's father, Anthony Wilson and his son, Vernon. Frank Brown's brother Claude Brown, his wife, Edna and their two-year-old daughter, Mary Katherine, were living on 9th Street in 1920. Claude E. Brown was one of Miami's original
mail carriers, first delivering mail by bicycle. For sixteen years, he worked for the Post Office becoming assistant postmaster before he retired from this position. Later Claude became Clerk of Dade County Circuit Court, a job he held for thirty years. Rita continued to tend the house, can her own vegetables, put up jams and jellies, and care for the children's minor and major irritations. Rita always seemed to have stomach problems or a sore
throat. I remember that she kept a ready supply of peppermints in a jar on top of the refrigerator and she kept brandy to concoct her ever reliable hot toddies for colds or sore throats. Frank Brown, Sr. was a Miami pioneer. He and his brother-in-law, Edgar Gaunt, helped plant the graceful Australian pines which lined each side of Tamiami Trail. At a later date, these magnificent trees were bulldozed down to make way for a wider paved street.
Frank Brown tended to his farming, made a good living and provided well for his family. He was a stern disciplinarian and saw to it that the children minded and behaved well. He delved in real estate owning various houses as well as parcels of land even though his comment was always, "I am property poor." One day in March of 1921, Rita received word that her dear sister, Maud Pacetti Godley, had died after an illness. Rita was beside
herself with sorrow and sadness and her tears could not stop flowing. She packed up her one year old son, Edwin, and went to Camden County by train for the funeral. The grievous loss of Maud nearly unseated Rita's reason. No one would quite understand how much this affected Rita nor over the next two years realize what she was going through. The Brown family had moved back to the house at 3421 S.W. 8th Street (they never sold it) yet Rita remained
despondent and depressed. She was continually having stomach problems with a lot of pain - so fierce that Frank became alarmed and took her to a physician in Miami. The doctor could not find the source of her problem and Frank was not satisfied with the results. He decided to take her to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. They left Miami for Georgia in their Model T Ford and with all seven of them it was quite crowded. When they arrived in Savannah,
Gus and Jack Foster were ready for them. Aunt Gus kept the five children while Frank and Rita continued on their extensive journey.
The Foster household was warm and friendly and all the children slept on pallets on the floor. The large white house on 308 East Hall Street with graceful columns lining the porch out front and all its nooks and crannies inside appeared enormous to the Brown children. Frances said that there were such
gorgeous flowers and shrubs with brilliant blooms all about the front and sides of the house. She commented that Savannah seemed hotter than Miami! Finally, Rita and Frank returned with the good news that nothing of a serious nature was wrong with Rita. They stayed a brief time in order to visit with Gus and Jack and then drove back to Miami to resume life as before. However, all was not really well with Rita and before too long she felt drained physically
and absolutely crumbled mentally. They termed this her "nervous breakdown." Mrs. Spears, who was a "grandma" type person with gray hair in a knot on top of her head, took care of Rita and saw to it that she was comfortable. She also did the cooking and cleaning with the help of the girls. Frances said she was about ten or eleven years old during this dark and helpless period. Mrs. Spears lived with them for several months and through her
careful coaching and attention Rita gradually began to recover. The older children attended Ada Merritt and Shenandoah Junior High Schools. The family had a Mason and Hamlin upright piano which produced a good tone. Frances said that when the piano teacher, Mrs. Vera Veno, arrived to give the kids their music lessons, the girls could hardly wait to play but the boys ran and hid in the car shed. Francis said that the boys used to pilfer cans of
sweetened condensed milk from Rita's pantry and hide them in the King orange tree. Later they mixed it with water for a grand treat. Marguerite Godley came down to Miami from Camden County so that she could attend a good high school. She lived with Edna and Earl Wilson until she graduated from Miami High. Edna Wilson was Annie Marion Brown King's daughter and Frank Brown's niece. Marguerite frequently stayed with the Browns and went to the Episcopal
Church with them. Marguerite Godley, as well as all of the Brown children, was christened in Holy Comforter Episcopal Church which was on S.W. 1st Street. Frank Brown was a staunch Baptist and when I was a child, he took me with him to Riverside Baptist Church. He attended adult classes while I went to the children's Sunday School. Afterward, he dropped me off at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church to attend the eleven o'clock service with my mother and
my grandmother. Francis related many childhood memories in his letters to me. He described the Saturday ritual of hitching up the horse and wagon to make the ride into town for supplies. They tied the horse to posts in front of the Kress 5 and 10 Cent Store on Flagler Street. He wrote, "At that time Flagler Street had wooden planks or boards and it was quite noisy when the horses clumped down the street." He also said that the boys helped
with the chores and the hoeing. They loved the sight of the pigs gobbling up the chufas and fighting for the very last one. He said that a chufa is a ground nut resembling an unshelled peanut, useful as a hog fattening crop. Frances remembers that Rita's wood cook stove had a water reservoir on one side. This hot water was used for baths taken in a large, round galvanized tub in the kitchen. They washed clothes in three square galvanized tubs on the
back porch. One tub was for washing, one for rinsing and one for bluing. A spigot with a hose attached made filling the tubs easy. Ironing was done with a very heavy flat iron heated on the top surface of the wood stove. Fé recalled the wonderful holiday occasions when many Brown family members and others gathered together for huge buffet meals. Everybody brought a dish of food and the celebrations with friends and cousins were a lot of fun.
At Christmas time, Frank Brown took the children out into the woods to cut a pine tree. The trees they picked were so high that they touched the ceiling! The children helped decorate the Christmas tree with colorful red and white stick candy. Once again, Rita was managing everything by herself. In 1925 Frank decided to buy a large, two-story house in St. Marys for their family to spend summers in Camden County. The colonial style house, located on
the corner of Seagrove and Conyers Streets, the exact address was 214 Conyers Street, had an upper and lower level front porch or veranda, lined by wooden columns. My mother, Frances, described two elegant magnolia trees which were directly out front and a large fig tree on the west side. She recalled a picket fence but when I saw the house in 1984, everything was nearly the same minus the fence. The creek still flowed through the empty lot across the street and the east
side yard had a few more trees. The upper and lower porches on the front and back were being renovated. It was a lovely house! Jack F. Godley said that when they were young, the Godleys were invited to spend the night on many occasions in the St. Marys house. Late at night the boys slipped out onto the upper front porch, climbed down the lattice and went swimming in the creek that ran along Seagrove Street. No one ever found out about
these midnight escapades. Marguerite Godley Reddick said that she stayed many times with the Browns when they were in St. Marys. She has especially fond memories of exciting adventures with Fé. One night they were alone in the house and they heard a loud noise on the downstairs back porch. This noise kept occurring at different intervals and the girls thought there was a prowler trying to break into the house. They were frightened out of their
wits and frozen to the spot. Very soon, Fe's father drove into the garage and he found the big tomcat furious because he was trapped on the porch and could not get out. The girls were certainly relieved! During the hot summer months, there were many parties for the teenage crowd at the St. Marys Pier. Francis Brown recalled that he and his sister, Frances, along with Warren Bailey and Susan Yates and a few others gathered there, socialized, and then
went swimming in the St. Marys River. He said that they all took part in summer plays which were held at the elementary school. Another treat was going to Sterling's Grocery Store on Osborne Street to buy nickel candy. Apparently Mr. Sterling had a vision problem because in order to see the denomination, he held the coins so close to his eyes that Francis feared he would inadvertently do damage to them. Sterling's sold such huge scoops of ice cream in cones that it
melted and ran down your hands before you could finish. Once, the Browns spent part of their summer vacation with Earl and Edna Wilson in the mountains of Cloudland, Georgia. Frances remembers that it was so chilly they had to use blankets in the middle of summer! Georgia Foster Fawcett said that everyone was always glad when Aunt Rita came to visit. She said, "Rita was the most cheerful, happiest person and made everyone else around
her happy. She was a good cook and made the best smothered steaks and roasts. She beat the meat with a whiskey bottle to render it tender. Rita didn't mind cooking for a crowd and always whistled, sang and told the cutest jokes while she cooked." To this day I can smell the aroma of her shrimp pilau, fried fish with hush puppies, stews and chicken; savor her peach cobbler with rum flavored hard sauce, fruitcake, homemade biscuits, and her guava jelly. The 1926 hurricane whipped through the Miami area with such severe winds and rain that the Brown family, fearing their house would not withstand the storm, took refuge with Jim and Dolly Brown who had moved to a sturdy little stucco house at 2401 S.W. 9th Street in Miami. Frances said, "When we got out of the car, the wind was so fierce that even though the children were holding hands, we were blown two steps back for each step forward. We wondered if we were
going to make it inside Jim and Dolly's house!" Edgar and May Brown Gaunt had moved only one block away into a two-story house located at 2401 S.W. 10th Street. Daisy Gaunt Brown said that the Gaunts became terrified that their own house might blow in, so during the lull of this hurricane, her father hung onto her while Hark Bentley, a friend and neighbor, hung onto May as they tried to walk the one block from their house to Jim and Dolly Brown's house.
Daisy said that the winds picked up while they were walking and that Hark fell to the ground and was rolling over and over, blown by the wind and Edgar could barely manage to go after him. When the storm was over, the cleanup of trees, shrubs, and debris began. Edgar and May Gaunt sustained minimal damage to their house and Jim and Dolly Brown's home remained intact. The yards were a complete mess. Only one corner of the roof of Frank and Rita's house at 3421 S.W. 8th
Street was damaged by a large tree which had blown over during the storm. Frank and Ellen Noyes lived at Streamland Gardens east of the airport and south of 36th Street. Francis said that Frank Noyes owned a four-door, canvass top Moon Car which was blown three blocks away by the powerful winds of this hurricane. I recall two hurricanes as a child and we filled every available container with water, including the bathtub. The men "boarded up" -
literally hammered boards across windows. We made sure the lamps contained kerosene, the flashlights and portable radios had working batteries, stocked up on canned goods and bread. Then we anxiously awaited the torrents of rain driven by howling winds. Rita was invariably on edge during these tumultuous storms, pacing the floor and wringing her hands. In my childlike way I tried to appease her by diminishing the danger. It never worked.
Rita had a flair for sewing and made all the children's clothes. She had to do all the sewing by hand for it was not until much later that she purchased a treadle sewing machine. The children always looked nice but Frances was particularly hard on her clothes and her mother threatened to make hers out of Croaker sacks (a rough-woven cloth similar to burlap) if she did not take care of her things. In her senior year of high school, Fé bought some of her own
clothes and gladly shared them with her sister. Rita wore her long hair piled up on top of her head or pulled back away from her face. Her daughters wore their hair long, too. For years Frank would not let his women cut their hair but styles changed and he was forced into catering to female inclinations. In 1928, the Brown family purchased the house at 930 S.W. 27th Avenue which they occupied for nearly forty years. They all thought the
house was wonderful. Every room had electric lights and it contained a complete indoor bathroom, nice-size living room with a fireplace, dining room, combination library/telephone room, kitchen with an electric stove and four small bedrooms. A screened porch lined the entire front and a back porch had enough space for a small pantry. The double car garage had an adequate wash room in the rear with a wringer washer and two rinse tubs, but Rita insisted on placing her iron
boiling pot nearby in order to boil the linens. There were fruit trees galore, some already there and some planted by Frank - mango, sour orange, sweet orange, kumquat, grapefruit, peach, key lime, coconut, guava, papaya, banana, sapodilla, avocado, mulberry. All this and enough land to grow a good size garden with corn, tomatoes, beans, peas, plus raise chickens. Twenty-five years later, as the city was building up around them, friends and relatives exclaimed in
astonishment, "Frank and Rita still farm right in the middle of metropolitan Miami!" Miami Senior High School was less than two miles from the Brown residence and all five children took a bus to and from school. Sometimes they walked that distance. Daisy and Carrie Gaunt often drove by in their father's Franklin, an open-air touring car, and Fé and the twins would go with them for a joy ride. Most of the Brown children's cousins attended Miami
High as well as Holy Comforter Episcopal Church and they saw each other frequently. On nice weekends, two or three families planned beach outings at South Beach. They sometimes took the street car across the bay. At that time the rails were built next to the two-lane causeway. The street car creaked and the children sat rigid in the wooden seats the entire trip, fearful the thing would topple into the bay below. They rented either cabanas on the beach or
lockers at Smith's Casino at South Beach. The children went swimming in the ocean and picnicked on tables under coconut palms. Once a month, Rita and Frank held a square dancing party for friends and relatives. Although Francis claims he did more than his share, the children took turns putting records on the crank Victrola while Frank or his brother, Claude, made the square dance calls. Fé said, "Pop was my dancing partner and he used to pick me up
off the floor when he'd swing me and golly, that made me so mad. To me, it wasn't a bit grown up! Ha!" They served refreshments and in between the dances the group was entertained by Frank playing the banjo or by Claude singing or playing the violin. No one who has been through the 1929 market crash can speak of it with objectivity. This was as true for the Brown family as for anyone. Everything was irrevocably lost. They were fortunate enough to
own their home because Frank Brown did not believe in debts and always purchased material things outright. Thank goodness they had sold their many acres of land out on Ludlam Road years before. They were able to support Fé through college at Florida State and they did get by with maintaining the essential items for themselves. The rest of the time they were "Poor as Church mice," to quote Rita, and two years later they had to sell their house in St. Marys.
One by one Rita's older children started leaving home. Fé taught school at Riverside Elementary until she married her distinguished navy pilot, Mais Durand. The twins graduated from high school in 1931 and Francis went to work in his cousin's, James Gaunt's, General Store located at Ochopee. Frances went to work as a secretary for the Florida Rating and Inspection Bureau in downtown Miami. Only Glenn and Edwin were at home to pester Rita. Rita's boys, including her husband, persisted in teasing her unmercifully. She did say amusing things as well as enunciate words such as squirrel, worm, bird and others in an odd way. In the Southern tradition all words ending in "er" automatically ended in "ah" for her. She bantered good naturedly with everyone and readily complied upon requests asking her to recite odd poems or verbalize odd pronunciations of words, both of which sent
everyone into exuberant laughter. According to Jack Godley, Frank Brown frequently related this funny story concerning Rita when she was in her early twenties: One day she went out riding in a horse and buggy with a male friend. He was sitting in the wagon with her beside him while the horse slowly ambled down a wooded lane. There was a mild breeze and he tried without success to light his pipe. Finally, he saw a huge live oak tree and he thought to
himself that it would be a perfect place to get out of the wind to light his pipe. He pulled the horse to a stop and to his surprise, Rita immediately said to him, "I'll go behind that tree while you light your pipe." He laughed himself silly! For a long time she did not know why he laughed like that. Every time Frank told that story, she chaffingly told him, "Hush up your mouth, you jackass!" Jack Godley said that he had never
known such a marvelous woman. Louise and Marion DuBose said that Aunt Rita was the merriest person and she told the cutest stories! They liked having her visit when she came to St. Marys. In her nineties she continued to awe everyone with her ability to recite long poems and anecdotes with such intricacy and animated expressiveness. The ultimate compliment was conferred upon her by her two great grandsons David and Robert Mathews, "Great Grandma is a real trip!"
During free time, in afternoons or evenings, Rita invited the usual group of ladies to play auction bridge. Frances recalled that the permanent foursome were Grace Brown, Aunt Dolly Brown, Aunt Kate (Russell) Richardson and Rita. She also recalled that Rita belonged to the Eastern Star and Woodman's Circle. Grace Brown drove by with Aunt Dolly and Aunt Kate to pick up Rita and the four of them attended the Woodman's Circle meetings. Some of the
meetings were formal and Rita made herself a beautiful blue evening gown. Frances described Rita as, "Looking the prettiest I have ever seen her look and her gown was just lovely." Rita's favorite color was red and she always went wild over anything which had bright red in it. At a later date, she would be buried in her favorite color - a red dress. NEXT |
