Richard Jacobs was my great-grand uncle. He was born enslaved on 6 March 1841 (not 1874 as it says on his tombstone), in Barbour County, Alabama. He died 19 July 1923, in Sanford, Seminole County, Florida. He was the older brother of my great grandmother, Sallie Jacobs Farnell. There were five siblings: Richard; my great grandmother Sallie; her twin, Harriet Jacobs Lightfoot; their brother Green Jacobs; and the youngest, Joseph. Though born in Alabama, after the War was over, they were all found living in Florida. They were the children of William and Charlotte Jacobs, both of whom had been born in Virginia.
To date, I know very little about my great uncle. What few things I do know were found in his affidavit on behalf of his sister Harriet, when she was seeking an increase in her widow’s pension benefits, as the widow of Silas Lightfoot Sr. who served in the 2nd Infantry USCT. I wrote about that in, #52Ancestors (2019-1) My First United States Colored Troops (USCT) Ancestor: Silas Lightfoot (1844-1884), Co. A, 2nd Inf. USCT.
When my great uncle’s tombstone and information came up as a memory for this date in Ancestry. I decided to look at his Findagrave page because I knew that many of the tombstones in Page Jackson Cemetery, where he is buried have been cleaned, and I hoped to get a better, clean picture of the stone. Indeed, an updated picture of the cleaned headstone was on his page. I noted that at the top of his stone there was a symbol that seemed to be some sort of crest. I noticed that the inscription at the bottom had been highlighted: “Celery City Chamber 4149, Sanford, Fla.” I was unfamiliar with symbols, so a google lens search was in order. The results said that it was the insignia of the Mosaic Templars of America (MTA).
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the MTA was an African American fraternal and mutual aid society. It was established in 1881, in Arkansas, by formerly enslaved John Edward Bush and Chester W. Keats. The name was intended to link the oppressive realities of the end of Reconstruction with the Exodus story of Moses leading the Israelites to freedom. At its peak in the 1920s, there were over 100,000 members across 26 states, the Caribbean, Central and South America. They provided burial and illness insurance, as well as custom-made, Vermont marble, tombstones with their distinctive insignia. They had a national building and loan association, a state hospital and nursing school in Arkansas, and a newspaper called first the American Guide, then the Mosaic Guide. Although the MTA in the US did not survive past the Second World War, there are MTA organizations that survived into the 20th century, and at least one in Barbados is still functioning in the 21st century.
Sources:
- 1910 US Federal Census, Census: Sanford, Orange, Florida; Richard Jacobs, head, age 69. NARA Roll: T624_166; Page: 15b; Enumeration District: 0113; FHL microfilm: 1374179. Retrieved from: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7884/records/3070524?tid=66453873&pid=332011275160&ssrc=pt
- Mosaic Templars of America. Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved from: https://share.google/nnPBWqSfomv8egSnS
- Richard Jacobs, Find A Grave, Retrieved from: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31195891/richard-jacobs
