Meet the Singletary Family

CALVIN LEROY SINGLETARY - Civil War Vet

Born 1843 in NC

Died in 1882 in Jacksonville.

His headstone is near the flagpole.

He fought with the 51^st NC Infantry

In his 2nd year of service; he was wounded and became a POW.

He married Louise Burr of Florida and had 8 children (4 boys and 4 girls).

His oldest son was Luther Burr Singletary.  Family and friends called him Burr.

Burr was born in 1881 in SC - Died in 1929 in St. Nicholas, Jacksonville, FL

He married Mary Olivia Driggers and had three daughters, Minnie, Elizabeth and Norma.

Elizabeth Singletary Shepherd (2010)
With her Physician, Kay Ellen Gilmour, MD

From a letter written by his daughter Elizabeth, we know the following about the Singletary's in the early to mid 1920’s.

Her grandfather, Calvin Leroy Singletary, was about 5’8, medium build with a full head of light brown hair. His eyes were bright blue. He was outgoing and loved by the children.

Her father, Luther Burr Singletary, was of a slighter build with darker hair but he had those same Singletary blue eyes.

Luther was recognized as a master boat builder who built both working boats and pleasure boats. He also fished the river for the family’s needs as well as for commercial sale.

Her mother, Mary Olivia, was about 5’5”, a heavy-set pioneer woman with dark hair and dark brown eyes.  She was said to be part Egyptian and part Spanish. She raised some chickens and had a family garden and supplemented the family income by working at the crab plant towards town and the restaurant of the RR terminal.  

Woodmen of the World?

Those in our St. Nicholas Cemetery who have Woodmen of the World headstone markings or the large cement tree trunks are Maggie L. Beloate, Ralph E Richards, Jefferson Davis Watson, and Flemming A. Hartley.

Woodmen of the World was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, by Joseph Cullen Root who after hearing a sermon about "pioneer woodsmen clearing away the forest to provide for their families" started the financial and insurance organization on June 6, 1890.

Woodsmen of the World Headstones

When he founded Woodmen of the World, one of his objectives was to provide a decent burial for all members. He created Woodmen Memorial Day, celebrated on June 6 each year, and +"... to give honorable burial to our sacred dead..."

Early Woodmen certificates provided for a death and a monument benefit. Gravestones were originally furnished to members free of charge and later were offered only to those who purchased a $100 rider to their certificates.

However, during the 1920s the Society stopped providing stone markers to members when the cost of gravestones increased and cemeteries began prohibiting aboveground markers for maintenance reasons. The monument rider was discontinued and converted to an extra $100 of insurance protection, but for many years after that, members and lodges arranged for markers and monuments on their own.