American Beach Roots

 

American Beach Roots: Kingsley, Sammis, and Lewis

by Alec Newell



Strawberry Plantation House at Clifton Point - photo by Newell

 

Photo by Newell

The extended family of Zephaniah Kingsley, Anna Jai, and their descendants have been major players  in shaping the history of Northeast Florida during three colonial periods, American territorial times, Florida's early statehood, and on into the 20th Century.  Between Lake George and the St. Mary's River, the fingerprints they left seem to be everywhere.  Most of us are familiar with the story of how the slave trader Zepheniah Kingsley bought a 13 year old "African princess"  Anna Madgigine Jai in Cuba, and brought her back to his Laurel Grove Plantation in what is now Orange Park, Florida.  The couple produced four children, and Zephaniah never waivered in his acknowledgement of Anna as his wife.

Headstone next to Anna Kingsley's
 unmarked grave - photo by Newell

Later Anna, as a freed woman of color, would own her own slaves, plantation property, and live at various other family residences along the Lower St. Johns River.  These properties included: Mandarin (later owned by Harriet Beecher Stowe),  Kingsley Plantation (Ft. George Island), Chesterfield (now part of the Jacksonville University Campus), Floral Bluff (where the Arlington Road meets the river), and Strawberry Plantation (now Arlington Bluff or Clifton Point) where Anna is buried.  Probably less well known, is the Kingsley connection to the Afro-American Life Insurance Company and American Beach.

In 1830, Zepheniah  married his youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth Kingsley, to "Colonel" or "Captain" John S. Sammis, a white New York shipbuilder with practical experience in milling lumber.  At the time of his marriage Sammis had not only been chief overseer at Kingsley's White Oak Plantation, but had also been managing planting, lumber production, cotton ginning, and a grits milling operation for the Richard Family who owned Strawberry Mills and the 6,000 acre Strawberry Plantation at what is now Clifton Point.  The mills were some of the first water operated machines of their kind in the area and were powered by same Strawberry Creek that crosses under Cesery Blvd. and the Arlington Road today.



The red star indicates the location of John Sammis' plantation house - photo by Newell





A. L. Lewis 1865-1947

John Sammis acquired Strawberry Plantation and the mills from the Richard family following the death of Francis Richard Jr. in 1839.  Surviving headstones at the Clifton Cemetery indicate that members of the mixed-race, extended  Kingsley families (Baxter and Sammis) were buried there from 1841 until 1870.  In 1850 John Sammis had a large plantation house built on the property that is still in use today as a private residence.  The Clifton Cemetery is not far from that house, and Anna Kingsley lies in an unmarked grave next to the headstone of Emile V. Sammis, her grandson.  Many of the original grave markers were made of cedar or cypress and have long since returned to the elements.  In 1884 Mary Francis Sammis, the octaroon granddaughter of John Sammis and Mary Kingsley Sammis, married Abraham Lincoln Lewis.  Lewis, the son of former slaves, would become a founding President of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company and Florida's first black millionaire.

Motto:  "Recreation and Relaxation Without Humiliation"

Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, access to public beaches by "persons of color" had been severely limited.  In 1935, A.L. Lewis bought a 200 acre tract of ocean front land on the south end of Amelia Island, that would become American Beach.   Lewis wanted to not only provide recreational perks for his black employees, but to also establish a private, all black, beach-front community where African Americans could afford to buy land and build homes.  In the years that followed, the community flourished.  It quickly became a prime recreational destination.  In time, it also became a unique retirement settlement and a magnet  for black celebrities and entertainers like Cab Calloway, Zora Neal Hurston, Ray Charles, Hank Aaron, Joe Louis, Ossie Davis, and James Brown.

Next year the community will be celebrating its 80th anniversary.  The current residents of American Beach are understandably proud of their unbroken connection to the cultural legacy which A. L. Lewis had originally envisioned for them.



Afro-American Life Insurance Company
101 East Union St. - photo by Newell