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According to the tour guides in St.Augustine, the term "cracker" came from the early settlers who were cattle farmers. They used a lightweight sort of bullwhip to drive the cattle by making it "crack" in the air behind the cattle. They didn't actually whip the cows, just used the noise as a controlling and driving device. The term "cracker", of course, referred to the cattle drivers who "cracked" the whips. The term has evolved to mean someone who was born & raised here.

Don't know if that's 100% correct, but that's what they told us...

From Wikipedia:
Cracker Cowboys

The Florida "cowhunter" or "cracker cowboy" of the 19th and early 20th centuries was distinct from the Spanish vaquero and the Western cowboy. Florida cowboys did not use lassos to herd or capture cattle. Their primary tools were bullwhips and dogs. Florida cattle and horses were small. The "cracker cow", also known as the "native cow", or "scrub cow" averaged about 600 pounds, had large horns and large feet.


Modern usage
The term is used as a proud or jocular self-description. Since the huge influx of new residents into Florida from the northern parts of the United States, and Latin America, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, "Florida Cracker" is used informally by some Floridians to indicate that their family has lived there for many generations; and/or that they were born and raised in the state of Florida. It is considered a source of pride to be descended from "frontier people who did not just live but flourished in a time before air conditioning, mosquito repellent, and screens."[]

Ok class dismissed

thanks for the explanation guys on 'FLORIDA CRACKER."

i have heard that term for many years...

leonard