Note on maiden name: Maiden name differs in documents; mostly written as Hargraves, sometimes Hargrave, sometimes Hargrove. Her father is listed in documents as Hargrove.
Married names: Ada Syfrett and Ada Canizares
In a family photograph taken on a Key West street, Ada Idella Hargraves stands with her granddaughter Clara Idella and two neighborhood boys. Other photographs place her beside relatives on Big Pine Key and among the family gathered around her daughter’s household. Together, the pictures show a woman whose presence extended well beyond the census entries that trace her life.
Headland, Alabama
Ada was born in Alabama on August 10, 1886, to James Harmon Hargrove and Martha J. Raborn. In 1900, she lived with her parents and siblings in Headland, Alabama. Her father owned the family’s property and farmed it with his sons. By 1910, the family had moved to Graceville, Florida. James worked as a carpenter, while Ada and her sister Lucy earned wages as seamstresses for a dressmaker.
Graceville, Florida
Ada’s daughter Mabel was born in Graceville on August 24, 1914. Family research identifies Mabel’s father as John Ellis Syfrett, although a marriage record for Ada and John has not been found.
John Syfrett died in January 1920. Later that month, the census recorded Ada as a widow living in the Graceville area. On January 21, 1920, the Graceville, Florida census lists Ada Syfrett as 33 years old and widowed. She is listed as Ernest Williams‘s sister-in-law. His wife is Maud, so possibly the sister of Ada’s husband, John Syfrett, in 1920. Ada’s daughter, Mabel, who would be barely 6 years old at this time, is not mentioned in the census record.
Tampa, Florida
By 1930, Ada had made a home for herself and Mabel in Tampa. She headed the household at 303 East Buffalo Avenue and worked as a cigar maker. Seventeen-year-old Mabel worked as an inspector in a cigar factory. Their occupations offer a rare glimpse of their daily lives: mother and daughter both contributing wages in an industry central to Tampa at the time.
Key West, Florida
During the 1930s, Ada moved to Key West and became part of the household of John Andrew Rodriguez de Canizares. The 1940 census lists them as married at 1019 Watson Street, along with Mabel, Mabel’s husband, and their infant daughter Clara Idella. A marriage record for Ada and John Andrew has not yet been located. His 1942 draft card gives an address on Catherine Street, while later records place the family at 1207 White Street.
Ada’s niece Jane Garcia Rowland remembered John as somewhat reclusive around adults, but he became someone entirely different when surrounded by children. At bedtime they waited eagerly for him to begin. She recalled that he knew the Uncle Wiggly stories by heart, though in another recollection she affectionately remembered them as “Tales of Piggly Wiggly.” John did not merely recite the stories. He performed them, creating different voices and accents and adding enough suspense and drama to keep the children completely captivated. “We couldn’t wait for bedtime,” Jane remembered.
By 1945, Andrew, Mabel, and their daughter Clara were living at 1207 White Street, again sharing a household with John and Ada. The arrangement reflected the interdependent family life that was common in Key West, where parents, children, grandparents, and extended relatives often lived within a few streets—or under the same roof.
The White Street house remained a family gathering place. A photograph identifies Ada alongside John Andrew, Mabel, son-in-law Andrew “Bubby” Lariz, Clara, and four young Garcia relatives: Jane, Josephine, Dee, and Rosemary. The girls stayed with Mabel and Andrew for a time while their mother was in the hospital.
Family memories recall Ada caring for children, and photographs show her with Clara and other young relatives. Ada and Mabel also crocheted, passing the skill to later generations of women.
The family spent a considerable amount of time on Big Pine Key, and Ada helped with the work of raising goats and pigs and vegetables while also caring for the children. Jane Garcia Rowland remembered Big Pine as so sparsely settled that the children could play in the gravel road in front of John and Ada’s house. The freedom came with one warning: they were always expected to watch carefully for rattlesnakes.
John Andrew died in Key West on January 24, 1949. In 1950, Ada was still living at 1207 White Street with Mabel, Andrew, and the Garcia girls. The census recorded her as a laundry worker; she had worked forty-eight hours during the preceding week. At an age when she was also helping care for an extended family, Ada continued to earn wages.
Ada died in Monroe County in February 1961 at the age of seventy-four. Her burial place remains unknown.
The records follow her from an Alabama farm household to seamstress work in Graceville, a cigar factory in Tampa, and a laundry in Key West. The family photographs add what those records cannot measure: Ada’s place among the children and adults who shared her home and remembered her care.
SOURCES (Last updated September 29, 2026)
| Supporting Document | |
| Ada Idella Hargraves | |
| Father: James Harmon Hargrove | 1900 United States Federal Census; 1910 United States Federal Census |
| Mother: Martha J Raborn | 1900 United States Federal Census; 1910 United States Federal Census |
| Birth Date & Location: August 10, 1886, Alabama | Census records; family lore. |
| MARRIAGE: John Ellis Syfrett. Date unknown. | No record found as of 2026. Family trees only. John Ellis Syfrett died on January 4, 1920, at the age of 48. |
| MARRIAGE John Andrew Rodriguez De Canizares Bet. 1930–1940 | No record found as of 2026. Family trees only. John Andrew died January 24, 1949. |
| Residences | |
| RR 5 Forest Loop in Cottondale, Alabama | U.S. Public Records Index covering 1950-1993, though no specific date is provided in the source material. |
| (1900) Headland, Alabama | 1900 United States Federal Census |
| (1910) Graceville, Florida | 1910 United States Federal Census |
| (1920) S. Granville Suburb, Graceville, Florida | 1920 United States Federal Census |
| (1930) 303 E. Buffalo Avenue, Tampa, Florida | 1930 United States Federal Census; Tampa, Florida, City Directory, 1930 |
| (1935) 1019 Watson Street, Key West, Florida | 1935 United States Federal Census |
| (1940) 1019 Watson Street, Key West, Florida | 1940 United States Federal Census |
| (1942) 1210 Catherine St. Key West, Florida | U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 John A. Canizares |
| (1945) 1207 White St. Key West, Florida | 1945 United States Federal Census |
| (1950) 1207 White St. Key West, Florida | 1950 United States Federal Census |
| Death Date: February 1961 | Florida Death Index, 1877-1998 |
| Death Location: Monroe, Florida | Florida Death Index, 1877-1998 |
| Burial: unknown |
CHILDREN: Mabel was born on August 24, 1914, in Graceville, Florida.
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