The Annunciation of Our Lady (Detail #1 and Detail #2)
Motto of the Order of the Daughters of the King:
For His Sake
I am one: but I am one
I cannot do everything: but I can do something.
What I can do, I ought to do.
What I ought to do, by the grace of God, I will do.
Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?
For the purpose of this book, Lucy Knowles has been chosen to represent the group of the Daughters of the King in 1919-1920 who contributed to the purchase of the window. Her story provides a glimpse into the lives of the people of Key West of that time.
Lucy was born on January 6, 1862 at Northend, Long Island, Bahamas, a former cotton plantation, undoubtedly the remnants of the efforts of the Loyalist, American colonists who supported the crown and chose to leave the Carolinas during the war of the American Revolution to settle in the Bahamas.
Lucy's father was Clement Knowles; her mother, Julia Rahming Knowles. The entire family came to live in Key West in the 1890s. Her brother, Clement, had a cigar factory on Fitzpatrick Street and many of the family members worked in this industry.
As there was no school for girls on Long Island, Bahamas, Lucy learned to read and write at her mother's knee. She became an avid reader and was much in demand in Key West as a letter writer for those who were in need of proper written communication.
Although she never married, there is a romantic letter in St. Paul's archives written by a supply priest, but Lucy's state of health closed the door to marriage. She was a lady, prim and proper, well-loved and well-remembered. Lucy was a member of the Altar Guild, Sunday school teacher, and a Daughter of the King. She entered an Episcopal Home in Brooklyn, New York where she died an octogenarian in 1943.
There is also an oft repeated tale of a Daughter named Lucy that offers a description of an experience in the disastrous hurricane of 1909 that destroyed many of the churches in Key West, including St. Pauls'. During the storm, this Daughter apparently forgot the order's rule of prayer. With the threat of the oncoming hurricane, the men of the home had left hurriedly to secure the cigar factory and the all-important tobacco. That left two maiden aunts and one young girl, Amy, at home. When the roof of the house threatened to blow away, the three sought shelter in a downstairs room. As the water rose, they sat on the piano. For a time, young Amy held a treasured bowl of goldfish over her head, but when the tidal action began to move the piano, she was terrified and called to her aunt: "Lucy, Lucy, pray for me!" Lucy's reply was short and swift: "Pray for yourself. Every pot sits on its own bottom!"
Source: The Golden Cockerel: The Art, Symbolism & History of the Stained Glass Windows, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Key West, Florida by Winifred Shine Fryzel.
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