Frank Darance Travers was born May 30, 1928 to James William Travers and Mary Elizabeth Dyson Travers.  He and his seven siblings were born and grew up in Drayden, Maryland. 

He attended Drayden School from the 1st through 7th grades and later Jarboesville High School in Lexington Park, Maryland.  Drayden School, now a historic site overseen by St. Mary’s County Division of Museums, was a one-room schoolhouse serving African American children during the period of racial segregation.

 

Mr. Travers worked most of his life as a farmer and owned and  operated Travers Grocery Store in Drayden for 25 years. As a child, he helped his father, who was a sharecropper (and reportedly, a bootlegger), and as an adult he worked at many jobs in addition to farming and operating the grocery store. Like many county men of his generation he combined work on the water with farming, and he also worked for a time at a sawmill and a cemetery.

 

He was a lifelong member of St. Marks UAME Church in Valley Lee, Maryland.  Past Master Frank Travers PHA was a founding member of Joseph A. Egan Lodge No. 104.  As a member, he served as Worshipful Master of the Lodge.

 

At the 2023 UCAC Juneteenth Celebration, Mr. Travers was honored for his public service in sharing his story and helping to preserve county history.

 

Frank Darance Travers was interviewed by Alma Jordon and Merideth Taylor on January 20, 2016, for the Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions Oral History Documentation Project.