.png)
A proud part of USGenWeb ®
Union County, established on October 1, 1921, is the smallest of
Florida's 67 counties. Its 245 square miles are bounded by Baker County
on the north and by the natural boundaries of Olustee Creek, the Santa
Fe River and the New River. Once occupied by the Timucuan Indians, this
area was a part of the Spanish Florida colony ceded to the United
States in 1821.
Early settlements, centered around Providence, a
stage stopover, and Worthington Springs on the Santa Fe River, which
were protected by military posts at Fort Ward and Fort Call during the
Second Seminole War (1835-1842), while Fort Crabb secured the area
north of Lake Butler. Cattle, lumber, and sea island cotton provided a
basis for economic development, and in 1859, the town of Lake Butler
was established as the county seat of the newly created New River
County (later Bradford County in 1861).
The lake and town were named
after Colonel Robert Butler, the first Surveyor General of the Florida
Territory. Growth and prosperity in the area were forestalled by the
Civil War, and then hampered by the lack of adequate transportation
facilities. But by 1890, the Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad had
crossed the county, with depots at Lake Butler and Guilford. Lake
Butler prospered and was incorporated as a city in 1893. The
Jacksonville and Southwestern Railroad (later a branch of the Atlantic
Coast Line) was completed in 1899, serving Raiford, Johnstown, Lake
Butler, Danville, Dukes and Worthington Springs. Cattle, dairy and food
crop production expanded after the boll weevil struck the cotton fields
in 1918. Raiford was the center of lumber and naval stores operations,
while Worthington Springs became a popular resort noted for its
health-giving waters, and in 1913, a state prison farm established near
Raiford provided additional economic stimulation and diversity to the
local economy.
By 1920, the demand for division of the area from
Bradford County had peaked and on May 20, 1921, the State Legislature
created Union County, from that portion west of the New River. The name
Union was chosen to reflect unity. With a population of more than
10,000, Union County has retained its rural character. Forest products
and agriculture continue to provide its economic base, supplemented by
the state prisons, light manufacturing, and the trucking industries
that have replaced the railroads as its transportation link with the
nation.
Make sure you check the "Research Resources" section! There are many resources for your research use!
|
|
|
|
|
UNION COUNTY |
||
|
|
ALACHUA COUNTY |
|
We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again. To tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us.". How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who I am, and why I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying - I can't let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth, without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are they and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those who we had never known before."
by Della M. Cummings Wright; Rewritten by her granddaughter Dell Jo Ann McGinnis Johnson; Edited and Reworded by Tom Dunn, 1943."
If you have questions, contributions, or problems with this site, email:
Coordinator - Available
State Coordinator: Jeff Kemp
Asst. State Coordinator: Tricia Aanderud
If you have questions or problems with this site, email the County Coordinator.
.png)