The Haddocks of Wiregrass

Under Spanish and British Flags

Tracy and David Connors explore an old rowboat tied up at Kings Ferry, Florida in the late 1940s under the watchful eye of their father, Woodrow. They were joining dozens of other relatives for the annual Haddock Reunion then underway in a nearby church. The bottom of the boat was crawling with eels. The dark, russet colored waters of the river hurried along, draining the Okeefeenokee Swamp into the Atlantic at Fernandina.

After the Spanish founded a permanent settlement at St. Augustine, their control over eastern Florida was not seriously threatened for almost 150 years.

This changed in 1702 when the British attacked St. Augustine, unsuccessfully. The Spanish retaliated in 1706 with a combined attack of Spanish and French forces on Charleston, SC.

It failed.

When George Oglethorpe founded the new colony of Georgia in 1733, the Spanish were more concerned and anxious. Now southern outposts of British authority had moved over 100 miles closer to St. Augustine, and into areas still claimed by Spain.

In 1740 and 1743, General Oglethorpe used the War of Jenkins’ Ear to justify attacks at St. Augustine—again unsuccessful—and costly.

In between these attacks, the Spanish attempted to move against Savannah by land and sea—also unsuccessful.

The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle brought an official end to major hostilities, however frequent Indian raids along the frontier meant local settlers had to be constantly alert and ready. The Seven Years War cost France dearly.

As her ally, Spain too paid a high price. She was forced to cede Florida to England as ransom for Havana, which the British had taken in 1762.

The treaty signed in 1763-transferred Florida to England, and ushered in a highly prosperous twenty-year period of growth and development.

Under British rule, the two provinces of East and West Florida developed rapidly—in population and economy.

The little town of Kings Ferry was still full of ghostly reminders of a past when the lumber town was a thriving river port that exported millions of board feet of timber and thousands of barrels of naval stores to destinations around the world. Seven generations of Haddock ancestors had preceeded them into then Spanish Territory. However, once the prime timber was cut off by about 1910, the little town could not support its young people who began to move away in search of jobs to support their families. So it was for Woodrow's parents, Arch and Eva Connors. Following their marriage in 1912 at Ephesus Baptist Church, they first moved to New Jersey, then back to Jacksonville where they raised their family. The ties and roots to Kings Ferry were still strong, however. For many decades, the extended Haddock family continued to hold its annual reunions in Kings Ferry before finally moving them to a community center in Hilliard.

By 1783 about 17,000 people lived in East Florida.