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Billy Lauren Gooding (1930-2010) was a long-time resident of Fernandina Beach, Florida and served as a museum guide at Fort Clinch State Park.
James Thomas O'Neill (1803 - ca. 1890) was born in Fernandina and moved to Cumberland Island, Georgia, to live with family friends - the Shaws. After the death of the Shaw family patriarch, O'Neill assisted in the management of the Shaw family's labor farm and entered law school. He later moved back to Fernandina to oversee his family's labor farm, New Hope. In 1832, President Andrew Jackson appointed him Nassau County Judge. That same year, he married Maria Susan Gunby of St. Mary's, Georgia. O'Neill's appointment changed to Judge of the United States Circuit Court when Florida became a state, and he remained in this position until 1861.
Summary:
This collection consists of correspondence, historical accounts, news clippings, photographs, and other materials documenting Fort Clinch and Fernandina-area history and families collected by Billy Gooding. Among the materials in this collection are records (typescripts and copies) and photographs documenting the construction and history of Forth Clinch; Gooding's incoming and outgoing correspondence as a Forth Clinch museum guide; and records relating to Fernandina, the Cumberland Sound Pilots Association, and the Amelia Island Lighthouse, including information relating to long-time harbor pilot Edward Francis Morse, who served as Harbor Master of Fernandina for 25 years and as president of the Pilots Association of Fernandina, an organization his maternal grandfather, George W. Latham, founded in 1831.
The collection also includes two folders of records relating to enslaver and attorney James T. O'Neill of Fernandina, Nassau County, dating ca. 1823-1876. These records include correspondence, indentures, agreements, land transaction records, and other documents, mostly relating to the business of operating a large labor farm. Additionally, there is a receipt of sale for a Black woman, Phebe, from John H. Gunby to James T. O'Neill at the New Hope labor farm, dated March 17, 1838.
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Harbors. Slavery Florida
Photographs. aat Clippings. aat
Amelia Island (Fla.) Fernandina (Fla.) Fort Clinch (Fernandina Beach, Fla.)
for detailed listing.