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Yes, I really am a "Naples Native". When I say I am from Collier County, I
really mean it...On my mother's side my great great grandfather is John Leon
Weeks who came to Florida from South Carolina. My great great grandmother is Mary Elizabeth Raulerson, a native of Florida. She was his step
daughter from his second marriage to Sarah Mercer. Everything I have ever read about
the history of Collier County says that "old John" was
the first documented settler in what was first part of Monroe, then part of Lee
County. He is mentioned in
several books as a Union sympathizer from the confederate army who
was growing vegetables on Cape Sable for the Key West markets. Least we all
forget, 12 year old Mary Elizabeth Raulerson was right there with him raising a family
and she is as part of the history of Collier County as he is. Their daughter, Mary Josephine Mae
Weeks is my great grandmother. She was married first at a very young age to Neil
Harris who was much older than she was. He was part of the Koreshan Community.
She was married second to Joseph Harrison Nash, my great
grandfather who was from Georgia. They met and raised their family on Marco Island. Their daughter, Ollie Mae Nash is my grandmother. She
never lived anywhere but Collier County her entire life, and met and married
Richard Mason Crump, my grandfather in 1933. He was from Greensville County, Virginia
and worked his entire life for the Atlantic Coastline Railroad. They raised
their five daughters on Marco Island, and their daughter Josie Mae Crump is my mother. She married Harrison Benjamin
Kirkland, my father, also a native of Collier County. On my father's side my great great grandfather is Moses Kirkland of South Carolina who migrated to Florida. My great grandfather is Radford Reese Kirland who was married to Dyce Caroline Wiggs. He served in the Florida troops of the civil war and was captured by Union troops and paroled on the condition that he join the United States Navy. He did and was honorably discharged. He received a disability pension from the Navy until the day he died. Reese and Caroline moved to Collier County in the early 1890's and raised their children in the Henderson Creek area. Their son Reese Costella Kirkland is my grandfather. He was married to my grandmother Emma Adina Goodmon on September 16, 1902 in Lee County. Their son Harrison Benjamin Kirkland is my father. The Kirklands have their own family graveyard on Shell Island Road in Naples, Florida and it is part of the Rookery Bay Sanctuary. It has, at times, been called Little Marco Cemetery and Shell Island Cemetery. Radford Reese Kirkland, Reese Costella Kirkland and Harrison Benjamin Kirkland are all buried there, along with many of the children of Radford Reese. You can find it at findagrave.com. My name is Vera Christine Kirkland Durfey. One person, made from many different people with many different lives from many different places. All of the generations before me have all met up, and guess what? Here I am... |