Sections of this post were gleaned from several locations. (Wikipedia, Jacksonville Historical Society, etc.)
Who was Alexander Darnes? It is believed due to resemblance, he is the son of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith and one of the family slaves, Violet Pickney. His influence on Jacksonville was significant, especially the work he did during the Yellow Fever Epidemic.
Alexander H. Darnes (c.1840 - February 11, 1894) was an African American who was born into slavery in St. Augustine, Florida and became the first black doctor in Jacksonville, Florida. As a youth and young man, he served
Edmund Kirby Smith (May 16, 1824 – March 28, 1893), the son of his master, in Texas with the United States Army, and during the Civil War when Kirby Smith served as a Confederate general.
After the war and emancipation, Darnes gained an education; he earned his undergraduate degree at Lincoln University and earned his medical degree from Howard University in 1880. He was the first black physician in Jacksonville and the second in the state of Florida. In 1888 he served residents during a terrible yellow fever epidemic. He was well respected, an officer of the Freemasons and member of the Mt. Zion AME Church; he had 3,000 people, both black and white, at his funeral.
Upon returning to Florida, Darnes settled in Jacksonville, where he set up a private medical practice. He was the first black physician in the city and the second in the state. Darnes built a thriving practice operated out of his home on Ocean Street and became a pillar of the community. He won praise for his work during the smallpox and yellow fever epidemics that swept Jacksonville in the late 19th century. These included the devastating yellow fever epidemic of 1887-1888, which reached Jacksonville in the summer of 1888. Almost everyone who could afford to fled the city - roughly half the city's population of 25,000. Darnes stayed to help those who remained as best he could. He was assisted by his friend and fellow Howard Medical alumnus, Dr. Lemuel W. Livingston.
Darnes was accepted into the Freemasons, became a member of the local Masonic Temple, and rose to a position of prominence. He became the Florida Deputy Grand Master and High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter of Washington, D.C. He also was a member of the Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent black denomination in the United States.
In Jacksonville, he became a friend and mentor to two childhood friends of Livingston's, the young James Weldon Johnson and his brother John Rosamond Johnson. The brothers later collaborated to write and compose "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing", known as "The Negro National Anthem." In his autobiography Along This Way, James Weldon Johnson fondly refers to Darnes.
Darnes died in February 1894. According to the obituary in the local papers, 3000 people attended his funeral, more than for any other funeral ever held in Jacksonville. He died less than a year after his former master, Edmund Kirby Smith, in March 1893.
In 2004, Sons of the City, a life-size bronze sculpture of Smith and Darnes, was created by artist Maria Juliana Kirby-Smith, a great-granddaughter of General Edmund Kirby Smith. The sculpture portrays the two men as adults, with Darnes' medical bag beside him on the ground. It was installed in the courtyard garden of the Segui-Kirby Smith House in St. Augustine; the house is now used as the St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library. This was the first public statue erected in the nation's oldest city to honor a black man.
His obituary read:
The largest number of people ever gathered within the walls of any church in this city was at Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church yesterday to attend the funeral of Dr. A. H. Darnes, deceased. Long before the appointed time for the ceremonies to begin, people could be seen coming from every direction wending their way towards the church, and by 1 o’clock p.m. the church was already crowded.” The deceased stood high in the estimation of the people of the city, both white and colored, and was one of the most prominent colored masons in America. The procession started from the parlors of undertaker Clark on Forsyth Street and was led by the Union Coronet [sic] and Excelsior bands, both of which played sacred music. The Knights of Archer and other masons were…attired in full regalia and made a credible appearance much admired by everybody. … The body was enclosed in …in a beautiful rosewood casket… Rev. J.E. Lee officiated, and eloquently did he speak from the first chapter of Joshua, and said that he wished he had time to explain the possibilities of men of our race such as Darnes… The Rev. J.R. Scott read the ritual services. Just at this time, two pigeons flew to the top of the church and remained there. Some of the people present said that t’was angels that came to guard the soul home to heaven. Dr. Darnes, the deceased, was about 48 years of age, and had been a popular practicing physician in this city for about 16 years, and rendered valuable services during the smallpox and yellow fever epidemics. … The internment was in the old city cemetery [sic], and the body was followed there by a procession of people. … At least 3,000 people attended the funeral.
The people of Jacksonville really liked Dr Darnes; (from James Weldon Johnson)
When I was perhaps ten years old, a strange being came to Jacksonville, the first colored doctor. He practiced…a number of years and made a success, but he had a hard uphill fight. Few were the colored people at the time who had the faith to believe that one of their own knew how to make those…marks on a piece of paper that would bring from the drugstore something to stand between them and death. Dr. Darnes made himself a big chum to Rosamond [brother of James Weldon Johnson] and me, and we liked him tremendously. He constantly brought us some of the odds and ends so much prized by boys. He once gave us fifty cents apiece for learning the deaf and dumb alphabet within a given time. …. But best of all, Dr. Darnes was an enthusiastic fisherman, and he opened up a new world of fun and sport by teaching us how to fish.
In April 1884, The New York Globe reported that A.H. Darnes was becoming one of the sound businessmen of Jacksonville and that he had a large and handsome residence in an upper class section of the city. The home and office were located in the same structure on Ocean Street.
The Florida Times Union offered a short tribute to Dr. Darnes after his death stating he was “universally esteemed by all who knew him” and noted his valuable services during the 1888 yellow fever epidemic. The article also observed Dr. Darnes’ prominence in the Masonic order; Darnes was the Florida Deputy Grand Master and High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter of Washington, D.C. at the time of his death.
