HERBERT AUBREY FELKEL.
Herbert Aubrey Felkel, whose identification with journalism
began in his university days and has continued to the present
time, is one of the most powerful and aggressive young newspaper
men in Pensacola, where he is editor of the News. His experience
has proven valuable to him and has brought him to a position of
prominence in his chosen field of work. He is today the youngest
editor of a daily paper in Florida and probably in the entire
south, as well as the youngest member of the Associated Press.
He was born in De Funiak Springs, Florida, June 23, 1888, and is
a son of Henry Noel and Sofronia (Hoag) Felkel, the former a
native of Leon county, Florida, and the latter of Bainbridge,
Georgia. The father was reared in his native section and there
became prominent in educational circles, serving as the first
principal of the Leon high school and as the first president of
the State Normal School at De Funiak Springs. He afterward
became principal of the State School for the Deaf and Blind at
St. Augustine and held this position at the time of his death,
which occurred in 1905. He was a devout Methodist, and his
political support was given to the democratic party. His wife
has also passed away, her death having occurred at Tallahassee
in 1906. They had two children besides the subject of this
review: H. Russell, who is twenty-seven years of age and a clerk
in the Leon Hotel at Tallahassee; and Lillian Effie, who married
James Gordon Pearce, of Jacksonville.
Herbert A. Felkel was educated in the public schools of Leon
county and after graduating from the high school entered the
Florida State College at Tallahassee. From there he went to the
University of Chattanooga and later attended the University of
Florida, at Gainesville, where he became prominent in many
phases of community life. It was here he first became connected
with the newspaper business, in which he has since attained
success, for he founded and named the Florida Pennant, the first
student publication ever issued in the university. This paper is
still in existence as a monthly magazine. Mr. Felkel became its
first editor and, aided by the power of bis paper and his
unusual ability in its management, became a force in the
university, influencing to a great degree its thought and
opinion. He was at that time what he has been ever since, an
independent journalist, and this in the end deprived him of his
degree, for some of his writings met with the disfavor of the
faculty and the editor was expelled by Andrew Sledd on the day
his class was graduated. After leaving school Mr. Felkel
continued his journalistic work and has now been in the
newspaper business six years, during the last four of which he
has been connected with the Pensacola News. For three years he
has been its editor, with the distinction of being the youngest
editor of a daily in Florida, and by his able, aggressive and
well directed efforts has made the journal a power and a vital
force in community affairs.
Fraternally Mr. Felkel is a member of the Benevolent Protective
Order of Elks and Alpha Tau Omega, a Greek letter college
society. He belongs to the state militia and is active in the
affairs of the Osceola Club. His religious views are in accord
with the doctrines of the Methodist church, and politically he
gives his support to the democratic party. Although but
twenty-five years of age, he is already one of the influential
men of Pensacola, a man of excellent special training, broad
views and modern ideas, and the prosperity he has already won is
a pleasant augury of his future accomplishments.
Source: Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present
and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial
Development, (c) 1914, Vol. 2, p. 78-79.
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CHARLES B. KING.
Charles B. King, serving ably and satisfactorily as
superintendent of schools of Jackson county, is a native son of
this section, born December 9, 1883. His father, Isaac P. King,
was also a native of Florida and spent his entire active life
engaged in agricultural pursuits, interrupting his farming
operations only in order to serve in the Civil war. He was in
the Confederate army under Captain John L. Davis and was three
years at the front, taking part in many hotly contested
engagements and receiving a serious wound at the battle of
Marianna. He married Miss Rebecca Lockey, a daughter of John P.
Lockey, well known as a Methodist preacher and as a veteran of
the Seminole Indian war. She was also a native of Florida. To
their union were born nine children: Clara, who was killed by
lightning; Edgar H., who makes his home in Tampa; Eva, Jack L.
and Estella, all of whom have passed away; Isaac H., who is
manager of the Ware Mercantile Company of St. Andrew; Charles
B., of this review; Dr. Joseph S., who lives in Marianna,
Florida; and one daughter, who died in infancy.
At the age of sixteen Charles B. King left his father’s farm and
came to Marianna, where he attended high school for one year,
going at the end of that time to De Funiak Springs, where he
spent three years in the State Normal School. He made good use
of his time and opportunities and fitted himself for teaching,
engaging in that occupation in Walton county for one year after
leaving school. He was afterward for a similar period principal
of the Graceville school and followed this by one year as
assistant principal of the Marianna high school. For five years
thereafter he did able and conscientious work as principal of
the Sneads high school, rising in his profession steadily as his
ability and worth became more widely known. In 1912 he was
elected superintendent of the schools of Jackson county and he
is now serving in this capacity. He has already done much for
the betterment of educational affairs in this locality, being
progressive in his ideas and modern and up-to-date in his
methods. He has in addition made himself very popular with the
residents of Marianna and is a man held in high esteem by all
who know him.
Mr. King married, December 23, 1907, Miss Nellie Gordon Godfrey,
a daughter of Orson Peck and Elizabeth Lee Godfrey. Her father
died when she was quite small and her mother afterward married
S. W. Coley. Mr. and Mrs. King have three children: Charles
Bryan, born January 9, 1909; Isaac Godfrey, whose birth occurred
August 5, 1910; and Rebecca, born October 31, 1912.
Mr. King is a member of the Methodist church and fraternally is
connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the
World. He has become widely known in educational circles of
Jackson county, his excellent record as superintendent of
schools having won quick recognition. A man of more than
ordinary ability, the success he has attained is well deserved,
due, as it is, to his own energy, ability and well directed
labor. His strength of character and his honorable public record
constitute him a valuable addition to Marianna in the ranks of
her citizenship and a native son, of whom Jackson county has
every reason to be proud.
Source: Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present
and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial
Development, (c) 1914, Vol 2., p. 121
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JOHN T. KNIGHT.
John T. Knight, closely connected with mercantile interests of
Miami as the proprietor of a large ladies’ and men’s furnishing
store, is one of the progressive and enterprising business men
of the city and has been a resident of Florida since 1889. He
was born in London, England, June 8, 1870, and is a son of
George and Sarah (Hyatt) Knight, also natives of that country.
The father was a potter by trade and when he left London went to
Australia, locating in Hobart, Tasmania, where he resided for a
number of years. He died in Sydney and is survived by his wife,
who makes her home in Melbourne.
John T. Knight was fourteen years of age when he went with his
parents to Hobart, Australia, but he remained there only a short
time for when he was not yet fifteen he went to seek his
fortune, traveling all over Australia for a year and a half,
engaging in sheep-shearing and in other occupations. He
afterward went to sea and spent four years aboard ship,
traveling over practically all of the waters of the globe.
Landing at Pensacola, Florida, in 1889, he has since made his
home in that state. He was for a number of years engaged in the
lumber business at Freeport and while there served one term as
county commissioner of Walton county. In 1907 he came to Dade
county as superintendent of the Drake Lumber Company’s sawmill
at Princeton and he spent four years in this position, resigning
in order to come to Miami, where he opened a ladies’ and men’s
furnishing store which he has since conducted, having been
accorded a liberal patronage in recognition of his
straightforward and honorable business methods and his
reasonable prices.
On the 8th of June, 1890, Mr. Knight was united in marriage to
Miss Idell Baker, of Freeport, Florida, who died December 31,
1910. Mr. Knight is a member of the Miami Board of Trade and is
active in advancing the general business interests of the city.
He is prominent in the Masonic order, having attained the
thirty-second degree according to the Scottish Rite and holding
membership in the lodge, of which he is a past master, the
chapter, the commandery and the shrine. He is a steward in the
Methodist Episcopal church, South, and is a man of exemplary and
upright character, well entitled to a foremost place among the
representative and respected citizens of Miami.
Source: Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present
and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial
Development, (c) 1914, Vol. 2, p. 436-437
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WILLIAM ALLAN McRAE.
William Allan McRae, who is serving with ability and distinction
as commissioner of agriculture of the state of Florida, is a man
to whom success has come by reason of his own indefatigable and
well directed efforts. He is a native of Florida, born in
Wakulla county, July 22, 1870, and is a son of William and
Rebecca (Allan) McRae, the former a native of North Carolina and
the latter of South Carolina. The father engaged in farming all
during his life and was prominent also in public affairs,
serving from 1871 to 1873 in the state legislature. He died in
1874 and was survived by his wife one year. To their union were
born four children: Sarah Rebecca, the wife of J. T. Kelly, of
Marianna, Florida; Christian Ellen, who married Neil J. McLeod,
and now resides at Chipley, Florida; William Allan, of this
review; and Leroy D., of Chipley, Florida.
William A. McRae was sixteen years of age when he became
connected with sawmilling, an occupation which he followed for
two years, during four months of which time he also attended
school. When he was eighteen he secured a position as a farm
laborer and in the following year saved one hundred and nineteen
dollars out of the one hundred and thirty which he earned. He
then became bridge watchman on the Escambia Bay bridge and while
he held that position saved the greater portion of his earnings.
He afterward took advantage of such summer school courses as he
was able to attend and prepared himself to enter the State
Normal School at De Funiak Springs, in which he was a student
for three years, teaching during the summer months to earn money
to pay his tuition. After completing the prescribed course of
study he again turned his attention to sawmilling but after one
year began teaching, an occupation in which he engaged for seven
years, becoming one of the leaders in educational circles of the
state. In November, 1900, he was elected superintendent of
schools of Jackson county, assuming the duties of the office on
January 5, 1901, and holding it for four years, after which he
was elected clerk of the circuit court. This position he held
until the 12th of February, 1912, when he was appointed by
Governor Gilchrist state commissioner of agriculture and he was
afterward elected to the position, which he has since filled in
an efficient and creditable way. In taking charge of the
department Mr. McRae was actuated by an ambition to enlarge the
scope and usefulness of its activities and is trying to bring
together all the forces in the state bearing on agriculture and
also endeavors to maintain a well organized and well directed
immigration bureau. He was the advocate of the immigration bill
introduced in the session of 1913. With thirty-seven million
acres of land, most of which can be brought to a state of
cultivation, Florida offers splendid inducements to the settler,
and it is Mr. McRae’s ambition to bring about this development.
On the 5th of August, 1908, Mr. McRae married Miss Mary Virginia
Parker, a native of Georgia, and they are the parents of three
children: William Allan, Jr.; and Roy and Ralph, twins. Mr.
McRae is a devout member of the Methodist church and an active
worker in religious circles, being at present superintendent of
the Sunday school. He is connected fraternally with the Masonic
order, the Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the
World, and his political allegiance is given to the democratic
party. Aside from the public offices before mentioned he was a
member of the city council of Sneads for three years and of
Marianna for four years, and his work in the public service has
been at all times honorable in its purposes and beneficial in
its results.
Source: Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present
and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial
Development, (c) 1914, Vol. 2, p. 76-77.
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The biographies in this section are located in the Archives
or are from a Florida text about the state.
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Brown, Richard A.
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PHOTO
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Campbell, Alexander R.
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PHOTO
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Campbell, Angus G.
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Campbell, Daniel
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Campbell, Giles B.
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Campbell, Pattillo - 1875
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Catts, Sidney J.
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Crosby, Carl - October 21, 1895
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PHOTO
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Gillis, D. Stuart - November 5, 1879
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PHOTO
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McCaskill, Robert E. L. - June 4, 1871
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McKinnon, Charles B.
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