DeGrate’s Estate researches local history and creates collections of handmade items to reflect and commemorate that history. Named for Marion Alexander DeGrate (1844 – 1922) and Rose Emily Moultrie-DeGrate (1848-1917), all DeGrate’s collections are inspired by real people and events in the North Florida enclave that the DeGrates helped to found after Marion’s service in the US Civil War. Each collection features cards telling the stories that inspired the collection. DeGrate’s Estate strives to share knowledge of history, culture, customs, and traditions–particularly those that aided in African American survival and achievement.
THE DEGRATES
Marion Alexander DeGrate was born on July 4, 1844 in South Carolina to Elizabeth and Alec DeGrate. Born in slavery, Marion Alexander reportedly escaped and during the Civil War, joined the US 35th Colored Troops–a group that saw action in the Battle of Olustee alongside the Massachusetts 54th and in South Carolina’s Battle of Honey Hill. All that is presently known about Rose Emily Moultrie’s childhood is that she was born in South Carolina, enjoyed hearing waltzes during plantation dances, and loved nature and the creative arts. She sewed, embroidered, quilted, and crocheted–often combining unconventional colors to imitate nature’s combinations.
Marion DeGrate and Rose Moultrie married in the 1860s. Based on the birthplaces of their children, they apparently traveled between the Carolinas and Florida in the early years of their marriage before settling in Northeast Florida. The couple lived in Jacksonville (Duval County) and Sanderson FL (Baker County) before settling in MacClenny–the Baker County seat. Listed as “farmer” in the 1870 Florida census and “minister” in the 1900, DeGrate served as one of Baker County Florida’s first educators of African descent, teaching reading, writing, and “ciphering”–basic arithmetic–to formerly enslaved adults and children. Traveling between Duval and Baker Counties by horse and carriage, he also served as parson for a church in Lone Star, a settlement near Duval County, FL.
Despite de facto practices barring his voting, town lore contends that DeGrate—Worshipful Master of his masonic lodge, a member of the Knights of Pythias, and a charter member of St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church—went to town each election season dressed in derby hat and morning coat and stood in line to cast his vote for “the party of Lincoln.” Whether he was ever allowed to vote or not remains unknown.
In 1896, the DeGrates purchased a parcel of land in MacClenny FL. There, they raised Josephine (Jo), Margaret (Maggie) Eliza, Emma, Clifford, Florence, Alec, and Mary Ellen (Mamie). Title searches show that the local Masonic Lodge sat in the DeGrates’ field. Other families in the area included in Commanders, the McKinneys, the Bacons, and the Samms. In the 1940s, the area became known as Babytowne–both for the cooperative economics that community members practiced and the fact that it was one of only two sections of town in which most African Americans owned their own land and thus felt safe to have families. Five generations of DeGrates lived on the DeGrate parcel before its forced sale in 1986.
DeGrate’s Estate initiatives honor the spirit and values of the DeGrates and the community that they and like-minded others worked to build.