My Great Grandmother: Jennie Patton Farmer Williams, 1856-1938

By Alonzo Hardy

My great grandmother Jennie (Patton) Farmer Williams, 1856-1938, was a former slave in Jefferson County, Florida who became a midwife for 20 years. She was born in December 1856 in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee. She was also a member of the Mt. Herman Lodge No. 3517 Grand United Order of Odd Fellows (G.U.O.of O.F.) in Bartow, Polk County, Florida.

Jennie served as secretary during her time with the Order. She is remembered as a strict disciplinarian. Jennie moved to Polk County with her daughter, Victoria Farmer Hadley, at some point after the death of her husband John Williams in 1929. Jennie died October 11, 1938, in Palmetto (Manatee County) Florida. She was the mother of Dr. Alexander Alphonso Farmer, DMD (one of Manatee County’s early Black dentists), grandmother of then-Unofficial Sepia Mayor of Miami Charles Randolph “Uncle Charlie” Hadley (a school, park, pool, gym are named in his honor in Miami-Dade County) and Howard Hadley, MD (was a Miami medical doctor) and the great grandmother of Howard V. Gary (first and only African American City Manager in Miami’s history (1981-1984).

The G.U.O.of O.F. Ribbon/Badge Lodge No. 3517 she is wearing is in the photo is a treasured possession of my aunt Alice Hardy of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

The Household of Ruth – This organization was the women’s auxiliary to the African American Odd Fellows order. Household of Ruth was organized in 1857 for the admission of the wives or women related to men in the fraternal order of Odd Fellows.

Haywood B. Hadley son of Harkless and Mary Walden Hadley. He was born June 17, 1880 Grady County, Georgia. He died in Aug 1967 and is buried in the Old Memphis Cemetery, Palmetto, Manatee, Florida. Haywood married Victoria Farmer in Jefferson County, Florida Oct 1908. Victoria was the daughter of Alexander Farmer and Jennie Patton Farmer Williams. Haywood Hadley second wife was Mable Williford born FL. Haywood, his wife Victoria and his family moved to Manatee County, Florida around 1925. Their children were Hagar Hadley, Mary Violena Johnson, Farmer Hadley, Charles Randolph Hadley,  Judy Hadley, Arie Janet Gary, Howard Alva Hadley, Marion Louise Hadley, Cicero Otto Hadley, Rosa Hadley, Gladys Hadley, and Gertha Lee Ellis. Victoria Farmer Hadley died in 1942.