"Alexander H.Darnes" [1840-February 11,1894]

Was an African American born into slavery in the city of St.Augustine,Florida who become one of the first black physicians in the State of Florida.Alexander was the son Violent Pinkney a slave owned by the parents of Edmund Kirby Smith who served as a lieutenant general in Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.Both Alexander and Edmund lived on the same property in St Augustine,the historic SeguiKirby Smith House (also known as the Old Public Library) at 12 Aviles Street.In 1855 at about the age of 15 Alexander left St.Augustine to serve as personal valet to Edmund then a member of the United States Army serving in the Western territories.He continued to serve Edmund throughout the Civil War including at the First Battle of Bull Run in Virginia.After the South's defeat Alexander (with support from Gen.Kirby-Smith sister,Lucien Webster,the widow of an army officer who kept her allegiance to the Union in the Civil War) attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.He then attended Howard University,the historic black University in Washington,D.C.,where he graduated with a medical degree in 1880.Upon returning to Florida he set up a private practice in Jacksonville,Florida becoming the first black physician in the city and the second in the state of Florida.He 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 during his years there,including the devastating yellow fever epidemic of 1887-1888 that swept through Florida and 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.Alexander stayed behind to help as best as he could receiving help in his endeavors from his friend and fellow Howard Medical alumnus Dr.Lemuel W. Livingston.Alexander was accepted into the Freemasons,became a member of the local Masonic Temple and rose to a position of prominence becoming the Florida Deputy Grand Master and High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter of Washington,D.C. in Jacksonville he became a friend and mentor to two childhood friends of Livingston,James Weldon Johnson and his brother John Rosamond Johnson,who later collaborated to produce "Lift Every Voice and Sing,"Known as "The Negro National Anthem."Alexander is mentioned fondly in the elder Johnson brother's autobiography "Along This Way."Alexander died less than a a year after Edmund death in March 1893.He received a large and extravagant funeral attended by both black and white citizens of Jacksonville.