HISTORY
The family came from Texas to Jennings, Fla. in a.
covered wagon just prior to the turn of the century,
but eventually settled in Nashville, Marion County, Ga.
where Clara was born in 1900.
She came to Boca Grande in 1918, a young woman
with a 1-year-old daughter who came to clean house
for her uncle, a man named Dr. Walter Matthews, He
was the quarantine doctor of Port Boca Grande.
Clara recalled to family members that one of her
favorite – and only – sources of entertainment on th.e
island at that time were square dances that her uncle
used to take her to, and that is where she met future
husband Charlie Richard “Dunk” Futch in 1919. They
A photo of the entire Futch family back many decades ago.
In the summer of 1989 Clara Marie McCranie
Futch turned 89 years old. She had been living
in Grove City for 30 years at that time, but
prior to that she lived in Placida and on Gasparilla
Island. At that time she was matriarch of a huge
island family, whose lineage was interwoven with
many of the other families who were the
founders of our little island.
Her memories stretched back, a long way even
then, back to a time when all there was on
Gasparilla Island was the port at the north end.
Clara’s grandparents were pioneers in Texas.
Her grandfather was a preacher and Clara
often said, “My granddaddy preached 52 weeks
a year and never received a salary. He went
around in a covered wagon starting churches. My
grandmother raised the children and kept the
farm going.”