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Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

Aleene Markham Havird, local genealogy expert and member of the CHS class of 1944, for
providing this information. Does any class have more?

THE 13 HOUR... Also recently, this column asked for information on whatever became
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of our old courthouse clocks when the building was renovated. There has been little word on the

clocks but I did find out what happened to the clock’s bell that gonged on the hour: it was given to
a local church located on or near Washington Street for use as church bell. That information comes

from a construction worker employed on the renovation project and he remembers the bell’s final
ringing. “We were about to dismantle the bell so the church could have it when we got word that

the courthouse people wanted to hear that bell ring 13 times, something it had never done before.
We had already moved the clapper so we had to find a way to ring it. I climbed to the top, took my

hammer, and bonged that bell 13 times. That was the last time that bell ever rang at the courthouse
and I’m that man who rang it. We took it down right after that, crated it, and sent it to the church.”
And what happened to the clock itself? Stay tuned.

THE TWO-COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT ... Albert Rumph (Fort White
High School, 1932) is the only Columbia County resident to be elected school superintendent in two

different counties. Albert served as Columbia County’s Superintendent in the early 1950’s then later
was elected Nassau County’s School Superintendent in the early 1970s. An outstanding educator,

Albert Rumph built solid education programs wherever he worked. Apart from his work as school
superintendent, he also served as high school principal in Fort White, St. Augustine, Orange Park,

Lake Butler and Fernandina Beach. Albert is now retired and lives with his family in Plano, Texas
(a suburb of Dallas).
THE MOST ELOQUENT INTRODUCTION ... A. K. Black, a stately figure in this

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century of Columbia County history, celebrated his 90 birthday this past weekend at the renowned
Goodbread-Black farm, and I was there. Never before have I been so eloquently presented as when

the birthday boy introduced me as, “Morris Williams, our county’s grand old boiled peanut eater!”

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