Biographies | Orange County, FLGenWeb

BIOGRAPHIES

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Joseph Fenner Ange. Almost any young man with educational advantages, influential friends and financial backing, may find the way to success and prominence, but his life story is in no way as interesting and instructive as that of the young man who acquires these desirable things largely through his own efforts. Joseph Fenner Ange. banker, builder and prominent business citizen of Orlando, Florida, began at the bottom of the ladder and through industry, determination and sterling traits of character, has honorably reached financial independence together with the respect and good will of his fellow citizens.

Mr. Ange was born on a farm in Martin County, North Carolina, May 3, 1872, a son of Joseph B. and Sarah (Hodges) Ange. He grew up on the farm and attended the country schools, but as farming did not appeal to him, early learned the carpenter trade, and followed the same until he was able to go into business for himself as a contracting builder. He is a man of thoroughgoing ways and studied every angle of his business, making a special study of architecture and civil engineering, and at one time, for a period of two years, was a member of an architectural and engineering firm at Kokomo, Indiana.

In 1913 Mr. Ange came to Orlando and embarked in business as a contracting builder, in which line he met with immediate success, an example of the numerous buildings he has erected here being found in the fine mercantile and office building of the Yowell-Drew Company. But Mr. Ange has not confined his activities at Orlando to this field alone. He was prominent in the organization of the Bank of Orange & Trust Company, of which he was the first vice president for the first six months after its organization, when he was chosen president and has continued in that relation ever since. Believing from the first in the promising future of Orlando, he has not hesitated to make large personal investments and on every side has the satisfaction of seeing a justification of his judgment.

Mr. Ange was the prime mover in the organization of the Orlando Mortgage Loan Company, dealing in real estate, insurance and loans, which has enjoyed a constantly increasing volume of business under the able direction of Mr. Ange, its president. He is president also of the Orange Hotel Company, which was organized in 1922, for the purpose of erecting in this city one of the finest and best equipped hotels in the State of Florida, a forward going enterprise that promises to be of great commercial importance to this city. The new hotel is an eleven-story steel structure, of handsome architectural design, centrally located and thoroughly outfitted, every modern comfort and convenience of hotel construction being installed, with many pleasant features that make it an ideal winter home for visitors and an unexcelled temporary one for tourists. It was erected at a cost of more than $1,000,000 and stands as a monument to the thrift, enterprise and civic pride of the men who made such a great undertaking possible, under the leadership of Mr. Ange, whom they honored by incorporating his name into that of the hotel, the Angebilt.

Mr. Ange was married in North Carolina, to Miss Anna L. Smith, and they have seven children. With his family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Although nominally a democrat, he has never been active in the political field, big business problems having so absorbed him that, as a friendly contemporary expresses it, "he has been too busy for politics."

Source: History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, Harry Gardner Cutler, Lewis publishing Company, 1923, Florida

JASON AXTELL. Jason Axtell, son of Harry Sherman Axtell and Electa Jane Wright, of Delaware County, NY, was born 12 May 1850 in Delaware County, NY. He married about 1878, probably in Delaware County, NY, to Georgia Smith, a daughter of Joshua/Josiah Smith and Mary Bullock, also of Delaware County, NY. Georgia was born 18 Sep 1858. Jason and Georgia are found in the NY census records in Delaware County thru 1880. They are in Broome County, NY from 1892 thru at least 1912. In 1920 they are in Jefferson County, Colorado. The next record is the death of his wife on 3 Dec 1926 Orlando, Orange County, FL and a 1928 City directory listing for Jason in Orlando, FL, prior to his death on 18 Jul 1928 in Orlando, FL. Jason and Georgia are buried in Greenwood cemetery in Orlando. They had one daughter, Grace, born about 1882, who married David W. Evans in 1906.

Source: Basic information from Axtell Genealogy, Compiled by Carson A. Axtell, Fairhaven, Mass., 1945. Additional information from census records, Florida Death Records Index, and City directories, as found by Lisa Slaski, donated to Orange County, FLGenWeb, part of the USGenWeb in 2015.

CHARLES HENRY BAKER. Charles Henry Baker, who was elected a corresponding member on December 12, 1870, was born in Philadelphia on January 3, 1848, and died in Orlando, Florida, on January 23, 1924. He was graduated at the Polytechnic College of Philadelphia in 1866. In the early seventies he worked as a surveyor on the Lake Superior and Mississippi railroad, extending from St. Paul to Duluth, and later he was a mining engineer in Pennsylvania and California. In 1894 he removed to Florida, where his home was at Zellwood, near Orlando. Here he engaged to some extent in engineering and orange growing, but most of his attention was given to studies of the local flora and fauna.

Source: Biennial report - Minnesota Hisstorical Society, for the years 1913 and 1914, Saint Paul, Minnesoty, Published by the Society, 1915. Transcribed by Lisa Slaski, donated to Orange County, FLGenWeb, part of the USGenWeb in 2015.

JAMES LA FAYTTE DILLARD. James La Fayette Dillard has throughout a period of a third of a century been one of Orange County's most constructive citizens, a developer of the land, utilizing the resources of soil and promise for fruit and other production, employing his capital and enterprise for the building of homes and the upbuilding of institutions!

Mr. Dillard, whose home is at Winter Park, was born at Hillgrove, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, December 29, 1858, son of Edward J. and Sarah (King) Dillard, who were natives of Virginia and of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father served as a Confederate soldier throughout the war with the rank of captain, and in private life was a tobacco planter. He died when nearly sixty years of age and the mother lived to the age of seventy-four. They reared five children, four sons and one daughter.

James La Fayette Dillard was reared on a farm, acquired a common school education and at the age of eighteen began doing for himself. For two years he lived on a farm, for four years was employed in railroad construction and for about four years was supervisor of outside property for the asylum at Staunton, Virginia.

In 1888 at the age of thirty Mr. Dillard came to Florida and settled at Winter Garden. Winter Garden was then the center of a district being rapidly developed as a citrus and vegetable growing district. Mr. Dillard rented lands and cultivated fruit and vegetables on the shares with J. H. Vick on the property then known as Washington Place, land that has subsequently been incorporated in the City of Winter Garden. During 1804-05 he suffered with other growers from the heavy freeze, but instead of abandoning the business he began planting heavily in orange and grapefruit trees and in time became one of the largest individual producers of citrus fruits and vegetable crops in this section. He gave his personal supervision to this branch of his business until 1910. He has acquired large real estate interests in Winter Grove and has developed much of his property with homes and he also gave the community a substantial brick hotel. He has been a merchant, and was identified with the organization of the first bank, the Bank of Winter Garden, of which he is a director and vice president.

Mr. Dillard is a democrat, has allowed political honors to keep him out rather than standing as an aspirant for any office. Nevertheless he served eight years as county commissioner and was for several terms a member of the town council, and in the fall of 1918 was elected to the Legislature, serving in the extra session and the regular session of 1919. He is a member of the Baptist Church and was chairman of the building committee which has had supervision of the building of a church home to cost $150,000 when completed.

In 1888, a short time before coming to Florida, Mr. Dillard married Miss Mattie Showalter, a native of Rockingham County, Virginia. She died August 8, 1922, and is survived by one son, Marvin D., and two daughters, Mabel and Gladys.

Source: History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, Harry Gardner Cutler, Lewis publishing Company, 1923, Florida

JAMES ARTHUR FORD, M.D. James Arthur Ford, M. D., who is engaged in the general practice of his profession in the City of Orlando County, as one of the representative younger members of the medical profession in this county, is a native son of Florida, his birth having occurred on a farm near Ocala, Marion County, this state, on the 22d of June, 1892. The Doctor is a son of William George and Josephine (Moore) Ford, the former of whom was born at Atlanta, Georgia, April 10, 1862, and the latter was born on a plantation in that state, a representative of a family that was early founded at Charleston, South Carolina, whence went the early representatives of the name into Georgia, the Moore family having hacT large plantation and slave-holding interests in Georgia prior to the Civil war. Arthur Ford, paternal grandfather of the subject of this review, was born in England, where the family genealogy is authentically traced back to the year 1646.

William George Ford acquired his early education in his native state and was a youth of sixteen years when he came to Florida, his wife having been twelve years old when she accompanied her parents to this state. William G. Ford was for many years a prominent orange-grower, but for fully fifteen years he has been successfully engaged in the mercantile business at Arcadia, the judicial center of De Soto County, in which place he has resided since 1900. He is a loyal supporter of the cause of the democratic party and he and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Of their children five are living: James Arthur, George Hinton, Nell Celestia, Eva Mary, and William Hawks. The daughter Josephine met her death by accident, when twelve years of age, she having been electrocuted while in a bathtub.

After his graduation in the high school at Arcadia Doctor Ford entered the medical department of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and in this institution he was graduated with the class of 1916 and with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In June of that year he received his license to practice medicine in his native state, but in the same month he set forth to assume the position of interne in Ancon Hospital, of the Panama Canal Zone. There he remained in service during one fiscal year, and he was then appointed to a position in charge of the hospital of the Gracia mine, operated by a gold-mining company at San Juan de Limay, Nicaraugua, Central America. There he remained thirteen months, and when the United States entered the World war Doctor Ford promptly returned to his native land and, early in 1918, enlisted in the United States Army, at San Francisco, California. He was thence sent to Nashville, Tennessee, and after receiving commission as first lieutenant he was sent to Camp Jackson. Thereafter he continued in active service in the sanitary department of the United States Army until he received his honorable discharge in January, 1919. In connection with this patriotic service the Doctor has become an appreciative member of the American Legion, in the affairs of which he takes lively interest. In March, 1919, Doctor Ford opened his office at Orlando, where he has since continued in the active general practice of his profession, with a success that attests to his technical skill and his personal popularity in his home community. He is a member of the Orange County Medical Society, the Florida State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and he is now serving as a member of the surgical operating staff of the Orange General Hospital. The Doctor is a Knight Templar Mason, a noble of the Mystic Shrine, is a valued member of the Orlando Chamber of Commerce and the local Kiwanis Club, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, including the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and his political allegiance is given unreservedly to the democratic party.

In March, 1918, Doctor Ford wedded Miss Sybil E. Winfrey, who was born in Virginia but reared and educated in Tennessee. Dr. and Mrs. Ford have two children: James Arthur, Jr., and Harriet Sybil.

Source: History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, Harry Gardner Cutler, Lewis publishing Company, 1923, Florida

WILLIAM CRANE GRAY. Bishop of Southern Florida; born in Larabertville, N. J., Sept G, 1835; son of Joseph L. and Hannah (Price) Gray. He was graduated in 1859 from Kenyon College as B.A., and from Bexley Hall on divinity; and he received the D.D. degree from Kenyon College, 1881, and from the University of the South, 1892. He was ordered deacon in the ministry of the Episcopal Church in 1859 and was ordained priest the following year by Bishop Otey. He was general missionary of the Diocese of Tennessee, 1859-1860, and upon his ordination to the priesthood, he became rector of St. James' Church, Bolivar, Tenn., where he remained until 1881, resigning in 1881 to become rector of the Church of the Advent, Nashville, Tenn. In 1892 he was elected Bishop of Southern Florida, and was consecrated by Bishops Quintard, Dudley, Weed, Nelson and Hale. Bishop Gray has been twice married, first, May 20, 1863, to Margaret Locke Trent and second, Aug. 2, 1877, to Fannie Campbell Bowers. Address: Orlando, Fla.

Source: Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries, L. R. Hamersly & Company, New York City, 1910

CHARLES EZEKIEL JOHNSON. Charles Ezekiel Johnson, president of the South Florida Foundry and Machine Works, at Orlando, Orange County, is consistently to be designated as a pioneer m this important line of industrial enterprise in Florida. In 1886 Mr. Johnson came to Orlando in company with the late Hon. Edward F. Sperry, and the two here established the second foundry and machine shop to be placed in operation in this state. Mr. Johnson has continued his active alliance with the enterprise from the time of its inception to the present and has been a force in the development of the business from one of modest order to one of broad scope and importance. His son Edward H. is now secretary and treasurer of the company, and the son William P. is its vice president. This progressive concern has contributed much to the industrial and commercial prestige of Orlando and the subject of this review has impregnable vantage-ground as one of the leading business men and honored and influential citizens of Orlando.

Mr. Johnson, a member of a family of three sons and one daughter, was born in New Haven County, Connecticut, on the 22d of November, 1852, and is a son of William D. and Mary (Strong) Johnson, the former of whom was born in Connecticut, of Colonial New England ancestry, and the latter of whom was born in the state of New York. The father long held the position of master car builder for the New Haven Railroad, and he continued his residence in Connecticut until his death, at the age of_ seventysix years, his widow having been eighty-one years of age when she passed to the life eternal.

Charles E. Johnson acquired his early education in the schools of New Haven, where his ambition was manifested by his attending night school after he had initiated his active association with business. He was but fourteen years of age when he began the battle of life for himself, and he has been continuously dependent upon his own resources since that early period in his signally active and successful career. His first position was that of office boy for a hardware manufacturing company in the city of New Haven, and later he learned in the same establishment the trade of patternmaker. For the purpose of adding to his technical knowledge and experience he later entered the employ of the Farrel Foundry Company, Ansonia, Connecticut, and there he remained until he made his independent venture by coming to Orlando, Florida, in 1886, as noted in the opening paragraph of this review. Orlando was a mere village at the time when Mr. Johnson here established his home, and it is a matter of deep satisfaction to him that he has been able to contribute to the civic and material development and upbuilding of this fair little Florida city, his public spirit having been shown in civic liberality and progressiveness and in his effective service as a member of the City Council and in other local positions of public trust. No citizen of Orange County has more secure place in popular confidence and esteem, and, while at all times unostentatious and free from self-seeking, Mr. Johnson has had much of leadership in the directing of public sentiment and action in his home city and county.

At Ansonia, Connecticut, in the year 1879, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Johnson to Miss Julia Pratt, who was born and reared in that state, and their companionship during the long intervening years has been one of idyllic relations and associations, as attested by the emphatic and appreciative statement of Mr. Johnson: "If we had to do it over again, we would gladly do so." Of the two sons of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson mention has already been made, and the two daughters are Misses Marcia and Dorothy, who are popular factors in the representative social and cultural activities of their home community and who are giving a portion of the year 1922 to a tour of Europe.

Source: History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, Harry Gardner Cutler, Lewis publishing Company, 1923, Florida

FRED HAROLD MAGUIRE. Fred Harold Maguire came from college to take charge of his father's fruit and truck farms at Ocoee, and as one of the firm of Maguire Brothers is still prominently identified with that important industry of Orange County. He is also president of a bank at Ocoee, and has numerous interests that justify the prominence his name enjoys in that part of the state.

Mr. Maguire was born at Princeton, Georgia, December 5, 1886, son of David Oscar and Margaret (Francis) Maguire. His mother resides at Ocoee and was born at Athens, Georgia, June 30, 1858. His father was born in Rockdale County, Georgia, October 16, 1850, and died at Ocoee, November 13, 1913. His parents came to Florida in 1884, first living at Crown Point, and in 1893 removed to Ocoee where David O. Maguire developed a large body of land for the production of citrus and truck crops. He was also a leader in local politics and affairs, and when the populist party was a factor in Florida politics, he was one of its leaders, being candidate on the ticket for State Senate in 1890 and 1894 and was very nearly elected in the latter year. After the populists fused with the democrats in 1896 he resumed his affiliations with the latter party. The children of David O. Maguire and wife were: Dr. T. C. Maguire of Plant City; Charles Hugh, who died at Jacksonville in 1912 at the age of twenty-nine; Fred Harold; Raymer F., an Orlando attorney; Lillian Irma, who graduated from the Florida State College for Women with the A. B. degree in 1918, received her Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1922, and is a teacher in the Lakeland High School.

The paternal grandfather of Fred H. Maguire was Thomas Maguire, a native of Ireland, who came to America when about thirty years of age, and married a Miss Anderson, and for many years was a planter in Georgia. The maternal grandfather of F. H. Maguire was James Francis, a native of England.

Fred H. Maguire grew up at Ocoee from the time he was about seven years of age, attended public schools there, later entered the University of Florida, and from there transferred to the University of Georgia. During his junior year he left college to look after his father's truck and citrus fruit interests, and subsequently formed the firm of Maguire Brothers at Ocoee. This ranks among the largest firms of truck growers in the state. They are now cultivating 230 acres, and in 1922 they shipped 196 carloads of truck. They also own citrus groves. F. H. Maguire is a member of the Maguire-Hawthorne Packing Company, fruit packers and shippers, and has been president of the Bank of Ocoee since its organization in 1919. He is a democrat in politics and a member of the Baptist Church.

In 1922 Mr. Maguire married Miss Letitia Dee Walker, daughter of James K. and Connie Walker of Oakland, Florida.

Source: History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, Harry Gardner Cutler, Lewis publishing Company, 1923, Florida

MOSES D. MILLER. M. D. Miller died in Apopka, Florida, February 25, 1883. He was born in Washington, Me., March, 1844, and at his death was only thirty-nine years of age. Brother Miller's first appointment was at Cross Hill, in 1872. His subsequent appointments were as follows: Unity, East Pittston, North Searsport, North Penobscot, Round Pond, Westport, Danforth, from which charge he went to die. He was of a family of frail physique, and he inherited in full measure the frailty of his family. As the winter drew on he resolved to try a softer climate, and went to Florida. But it was too late; he could not rally again, and he passed on to where sickness is unknown. A few days before his death he wrote, "I feel the omnipotent Arms beneath me, and in those Arms I am resting." Says a friend, "It was victory to the end" Brother Miller was a sensitive spirit, and as conscientious as sensitive. Always inclined to undervalue himself, he could not push his personal interests. He did not move to the front as rapidly as some, because he always waited to be invited. He was a man of intelligence and ability. Some of his pulpit efforts were superior, and he was always highly esteemed by those whom he served. He was a true man, and never faltered in meeting duty.

Source: Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Spring Conferences of 1883, Phillips & Hunt, New York, Walden & Stowe, Cincinnati, 1883

See also, The Miller family: an address delivered before the Miller Family Re-union Association at North Waldoboro, Maine September 7, 1904, by Frank Burton Miller, member of the Main Historical Society, Rockland, Maine, The Caslon Press Print, 1909

MOSES D. MILLER (son of Godfrey, son of George, son of Frank) was born in Washington, March 7, 1844; died in Apopka, Florida, Feb. 25, 1883; married Eliza A. Garland, Aug. 11, 1869, at Benton by Rev. N. W. Miller. She was born in Winslow, July 22, 1845; died in Portland, May 20, 1882.

Moses D. Miller was born of Methodist stock, and that the home influence was a strongly religious one was shown by the lives there developed. Of the five sons of Godfrey Miller, two entered the Methodist ministry, and the whole family, we are told, were identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Before entering the ministry, Mr. Miller taught several terms of school. His first appointment in the East Maine Conference was at Cross Hill in 1872. His subsequent appointments were as follows: Unity, 1873; East Pittston, 1874-5; North Searsport, 1876; North Penobscot, 1877-8; Round Pond, 1879; Northport, 1880; Danforth, 1881-2.

He was of a family of frail physique, and inherited in full measure the frailty of his family. All his ministerial life was fettered with this disability, and many hours of keen suffering followed his attempts at public speaking. His weakness increasing, and the sea air seeming too harsh for him, he was appointed to the newer regions of the Aroostook at Danforth. He was warmly received, and entered at once with great zeal upon his work. For a while the change seemed to produce favorable results. His return the second year was unanimously requested, and he was re-appointed, but he returned alone. His wife who had been a sharer with him in all his ministerial labors, went from the seat of the annual conference to the Maine General Hospital in the spring of 1882 for the purpose of submitting to a delicate surgical operation. Sinking rapidly and unexpectedly under the operation, Mr. Miller was hastily summoned but when he reached her, she had passed into a condition of unconsciousness from which she never emerged. A few days after his wife's death he suffered a severe hemorrhage which so prostrated him, that he never again entered his pulpit. His people gave him loving and unremitting attention, and released him from all pastoral cares and duties, but his work was done. As the winter advanced, he resolved to try a milder climate and went to Florida, where the end finally came.

Mr. Miller possessed a sensitive nature, and he was as conscientious as he was sensitive. Always inclined to undervalue himself, he could not push his personal interests. He did not move to the front as rapidly as some, because he always waited to be invited. He was a man of intelligence and ability. Some of his pulpit efforts were superior, and he was always highly esteemed by those whom he served. He was a true man and never faltered in meeting his duty. The ministry was his life work, and he did not leave it until death mustered him out.

CHILDREN:

EFFIE A., b. Benton, June 12, 1871; married Fred Tupper of Starks, June 1, 1887.
HERBERT C, b. Unity, June 18, 1873.
EGLANTINE, b. East Pittston, Aug. 8, 1874.
EVA A., b. East Pittston, Feb. 2, 1876.
FLORA E., b. Bremen, May 18, 1880.

WILLIAM H. REED. WILLIAM H. REED - Throughout a period of residence in Spring Lake, New Jersey, dating from 1890, William H. Reed has securely entrenched himself in the respect and esteem of his fellowcitizens. He has always taken an active interest in community affairs, and his labors have been an element in the progress of this place, while his efforts in business circles have brought him substantial returns.

William H. Reed was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey, March 26, 1876. He is a son of James Edward and Margaret (Hulschart) Reed. James Edward Reed was born near Lakewood, Ocean county, New Jersey, and early in life was a farmer. He later entered the plumbing business, having in the meantime served his apprenticeship to this trade with Uriah White of Asbury Park, at Como, subsequently removing to Spring Lake, where he continued in this business until 1906. In 1890 he formed the firm of J. E. Reed & Son and established a steam laundry in Spring Lake, in which he was active until 1915, when he retired from business life and removed to Orlando, Florida, where he owns a large orange grove, which occupies the greater part of his time. To Mr. and Mrs. Reed have been born five children: Ada; William H., of further mention; John, formerly a resident of Brooklyn, now deceased; Arthur, a resident of Orlando, Florida; Alma, wife of Clfford Rhodes, of Orlando, Florida.

William H. Reed received his education in the schools of Como, and then entered his father's employ to learn the plumber's trade. In 1890, when his father established the firm of J. E. Reed & Son, steam laundry, William H. Reed became active in the enterprise, and in 1915, when the elder man discontinued his interest in the business, the son became sole manager of affairs and has thus continued up to the present time. His early training fitted him for carrying on this extensive enterprise which during the last few years has grown to large proportions, due in no small way to the efforts of William H. Reed.

In politics, Mr. Reed is independent, not having identified himself with any political party, preferring to remain free from all partisan influences in the exercise of his own judgment on public issues. He is a member of the local Board of Health and the Board of Education. In religion he is a Methodist and attends St. Andrew's Church of this denomination, where he is a member of the board of trustees. He affiliates with Wall Lodge, No. 73, Free and Accpted Masons; Goodwin Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Corson Commandery, No. 15, Knights Templar; Salaam Temple, Ancient Arabic Order

Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and is also a member of the Knights of the Golden Eagle.

At Belmar, New Jersey, in March, 1899, William H. Reed was united in marriage with Harriett Bareford, daughter of Thomas and Roxanna (Scull) Bareford, residents of Belmar. Mr. and Mrs. Reed are the parents of one child, William Harold, born in December, 1904, a student of Neptune Township High School, class of 1923. The family home is at No. 208 Tuttle avenue, Spring Lake.

Source: History of Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., New York and Chicago, 1922, Vol. III, pg 301. Transcribed by Lisa Slaski for the Orange county FLGenWeb, part of the USGenWeb, 2010.

THOMAS PICKETT ROBINSON. Thomas Pickett Robinson has been a resident of Florida nearly half a century, and for over twenty years has been the leading representative of the photographic profession at Orlando.

He was born at Grahamton, Kentucky, December 24, 1870, son of Richard Goldsborough and Laura Pickett (Thomas) Robinson. His father was born near Louisville, Kentucky, and his mother near Jackson, Mississippi. They were married in Mississippi in 1867, then lived in Kentucky until 1872. _ For several years resided at Holfj' Springs, Mississippi, and in 1876, came to Florida, homesteading a tract of land in the vicinity of Zellwood in Orange County. His family had their home in the Zellwood community for over twenty years. Three children accompanied the parents to Florida, and six more were born in the state, and seven of the nine are still living. Richard G. Robinson was one of the pioneer citrus growers in Orange County, and prospered until the great freeze in the winter of 1895-96, which completely ruined his groves. He was a man of versatile accomplishments, well read in the law, and in 1897 removed to Orlando and engaged in law practice there until his death. He was county solicitor at the time of his death. He and his wife died in the year 1900 within six weeks of each other, he at the age of fiftyseven and she at fifty-two. He served two terms in the Florida Legislature and was county commissioner of Orange County. The name Robinson is still prominent in the legal profession of Orange County, C. B. Robinson, son of the late Richard G., being one of the prominent attorneys of Orlando.

Thomas Pickett Robinson was six years of age when he came to Florida. He Â»rew to manhood at the old homestead near Zellwood, acquired a common school education there, and his mother organized the first school, a private school at Zellwood and taught it for a time without pay. Mr. Robinson for several years was associated with his father in the orange grove business, and beginning 1892 was a merchant at Zellwood for three years. For about a year he was connected with the Singer Sewing Machine Company at Jacksonville, and in 1897 he came to Orlando and became law clerk in his father's office. Early in 1898 he joined the Florida troops and went to Tampa to train for duty in the SpanishAmerican war. On account of physical disability he was rejected from the regular service, but was retained in the Ordnance Department until the close of the war.

In 1899, Mr. Robinson married Miss May S. Field, a native of Newport, Rhode Island. They have one daughter, Miss Laura Cranston.

After his marriage Mr. Robinson followed the prepared plum business for two years, and since 1901 has directed his talents* in the congenial field of photography, and has accomplished some splendid work in this line and has a reputation as one of the best photographers in the state. Mr. Robinson is a Royal Arch Mason, is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and he and Mrs. Robinson and their daughter are communicants of the Episcopal Church and members of the Eastern Star.

Source: History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, Harry Gardner Cutler, Lewis publishing Company, 1923, Florida

BUFORD MARION SIMS. Buford Marion Sims, who was a captain in the Confederate Army, came to Florida shortly after the war, and some of the most interesting distinctions of pioneer achievements in Orange County are credited to him. Captain Sims for considerably more than a half century has had his home at Ocoee.

He was born at Marietta, Georgia, September 30, 1836, son of William Bennett and Isabella Damaris (Campbell) Sims. His father was a native of South Carolina, son of Mike Sims who came from Ireland where he married a Miss Weaver. Mike Sims moved to Georgia, where William B. Sims grew up. Isabella D. Campbell was also a native of South Carolina, daughter of Jesse and Isabella (Lynch) Campbell. The Campbells were of Scotch lineage. Isabella Lynch was a daughter of Jesse Lynch of South Carolina, whose rulings as a judge have been perpetuated in the well known phrase "Lynch law." William B. Sims was a Baptist minister, and for many years preached the Gospel in Georgia and Tennessee.

Capt. B. M. Sims was a small boy when his father moved to Ducktown, Polk County, Tennessee, where he was reared in a household of eight children. After the common schools he attended Hiwassee College at Madisonville, Tennessee, and almost direct from college entered the Confederate Army in 1861 with a regiment of mounted infantry. He rose to the rank of captain, and was in service until the end of the struggle, participating in the Battle of Shiloh and thereafter for the most part serving in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. During the last months of the war he was in North Carolina where he surrendered. He then rode his army horse back to his old home in Ducktown, Tennessee, but in August, 1865, he came to Florida. In area, Orange County was then a very large county, but there were only seventy-five voters, and there was no railroad or post office. The early settlers, men of wealth and substance who had developed the old Southern system of planting at South Apopka, had found fortunes disorganized by the war, and many of them had left. Captain Sims was therefore one of the pioneers of the second period of settlement of Orange County, and no one has been a more alert leader and constructive worker in the development of the county. He taught the first school in the county at Sanford, and he also built the first frame courthouse to replace the old log courthouse with a dirt floor. In 1866 Captain Sims settled at what is known as Fuller's Crossing and became the founder of the town Ocoee. The first year he rented fifty acres of an old plantation, and raised a very profitable crop of cotton and corn. In the meantime he acquired a tract of wild land on Lake Apopka. This land was covered with wild orange trees, and he grafted domestic oranges on the stumps, and thus acquired the first ten acre orange grove in Florida. It is said that he was the only man in Florida selling oranges from his own planting in 1870. He developed the first mercantile citrus nursery in the United States, and the nursery business for half a century was continued by him. He furnished stock for nearly all the large groves in his section of Florida, and shipped many trees to California. Altogether he has planted and developed 200 acres of citrus groves and among other distinctions he shipped the first grape fruit to New York City. He acquired extensive lands, built up a large business as a shipper of oranges, and his success was achieved from a capital beginning that comprised only his savings as a teacher. He not only taught the school at Sanford, but also was a teacher at Winter Garden for eight months. Captain Sims suffered with other orange growers in the big freeze during the nineties, and in addition to the loss in his groves he also lost his stock and was heavily assessed by the failure of the Citizens National Bank of Orlando.

Captain Sims is the oldest member of the Masonic Order in Orange County, and was once district deputy grand master. The only political office he ever held was that of county commissioner.

In Orange County in 1866 he married Miss Fannie Roper, whose father, William Roper, was one of the pioneer colony who settled around Lake Apopka prior to the war. Mr. Sims lost his wife more than thirty years ago. They had seven children, and the six who grew to mature years were: Eugene, Walter, Otis, Lena, Lillie and Mollie. Captain Sims has been a democrat all his life and he married for his second wife Lena McKey of Valdosta, Georgia.

Joseph Brown Hardin was for a quarter of a century a traveling salesman for hardware and farm implements, and for the past six years has been permanently established in a retail business of that kind at Tampa. He is one of the successful merchants of the city and otherwise active in local affairs.

Source: History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, Harry Gardner Cutler, Lewis publishing Company, 1923, Florida

JAMES GAMBLE SPEER. The history of Orange County as the home of white men covers the time of hardly more than seventy years, and it was at the very beginning of that period that James Gamble Speer came to the country and took up his task as a pioneer in development and subsequently for many years was one of the leading figures in local affairs and a man of dominating influence in state politics.

He was a grandson of William Speer who came from County Antrim, Ireland, about the beginning of the Revolutionary war and was a soldier for independence, serving under General Pickens. James Gamble Speer was born in Abbeville, South Carolina, June 23, 1820, son of John Speer, who spent all his life in that state. James G. Speer acquired a good literary education for his time, and was about thirty-five years of age when he brought his family to Florida in 1854. He had been a farmer and planter in South Carolina, and was interested in the lumber industry in Georgia. On coming to Orange County, Florida, he continued farming and cattle ranching, and later planted oranges. He served for a time as a soldier of the Confederacy. Judge Speer, as he was always known, was one of the leaders in the organization of Orange County which first included a considerable part of other counties. After the organization of the county he was a leader in the three-cornered fight for securing the location of the county seat. His own home was at Ft. Gatlin, and he conducted the campaign in behalf of the settlers there and won out over Ft. Reid, and a community known as the Lodge, now Apopka City. Judge Speer suggested the name for the new county seat, Orlando, reminiscent of one of Shakespeare's characters. He served several terms in the Legislature, was for three terms a member of the State Senate, and for many years was county or probate judge and also at various times county commissioner. At one time he lacked only one vote of being chosen to represent Florida in the United States Senate. Two years later he was a candidate for governor. He had such a large following in politics that he could practically dictate nominations. He was a member of the convention that formulated the present constitution, and as a steadfast foe of the liquor traffic he was author of Article 19, of the constitution. While he was prominent in politics he was not a seeker for office and all official honors came to him unsolicited. In 1880 he took charge of the Apopka Drainage Company for the purpose of draining the muck lands on the north of Lake Apopka. He was founder of the town of Oakland and his donation of a half interest in 200 acres of land there induced the Orange Belt Railroad to pass through Oakland. He was for many years ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church in Oakland and a member of the Masonic Order.

Judge Speer, who died October 31, 1893, married in South Carolina Miss Isaphine Ellington. They reared four children, Catherine E., Virginia B., John B. and Arthur. His second wife was Mary Jackson, and by that union there were two sons, Robert G. and Edward V.

Arthur Speer, a son of the late Judge Speer, has been one of the substantial citizens of Orange County for half a century. He was born in Augusta, Georgia, October 14, 1852, and was two years of age when brought to Orange County. As a boy he received many impressions of events and circumstances connected with the pioneer history of Florida and he grew up in a district where development had only begun and where the woods were filled with wild game of every kind. After the war between the states he attended school at South Carolina, and after returning home took up farming. He has also been a merchant and orange and vegetable grower. He began the development of a homestead near Oakland in 1874, and set out an orange grove there. He built and kept the first store at Oakland. For a quarter of a century he was justice of the peace, and is an active democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Mr. Speer married in 1877 Miss Alice Roper, who died nearly three years later, mother of one son, William E. Speer, now of Miami, Florida. On March 15, 1882, Mr. Speer married Miss Martha G Kincaid of Cherokee County, North Carolina. By this union there are two children, Gertrude, at home, and James P. Speer, who for a number of years has practiced law in Oklahoma and is a former member of the Legislature of that state.

Source: History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, Harry Gardner Cutler, Lewis publishing Company, 1923, Florida

JERRY M. SULLIVAN. Jerry M. Sullivan, present postmaster of Winter Garden, has been a permanent orange grower in this section of Florida for a number of years. He was active head of the local citrus association and one of the best known of Orange County's men of affairs.

He was born on a farm near Hodges, Alabama, August 11, 1873, son of John R. and Lucy (Williams) Sullivan, both natives of Franklin County, Alabama, where they spent all their lives as farmers and planters. The Sullivan family is of Irish ancestry, and the great-grandfather of Jerry M. Sulllvan was Jerry Sullivan who came from Ireland. The grandfather, William L. Sullivan, was born in North Carolina, moved from that state to Maury County, Tennessee, and subsequently became a pioneer in Franklin County, Alabama, locating there before the Indians were removed. He died at the age of sixty-seven. The Williams 'family were also pioneers of Alabama. The Sullivans were staunch Union people in sentiment during the Civil war.

One of a family of five children, two of whom died in childhood, Jerry M. Sullivan grew up on the home farm in Alabama. He acquired a common school education, and from the age of twenty-one for several years was actively associated with his father in the mercantile and milling business. Mr. Sullivan came to Florida in 1914, and engaged in the grove and truck business. He has since given up the production of vegetables, and now concentrates his entire attention upon his fine citrus grove of sixty-five acres. Being one of the large individual producers he is president of the Winter Garden Citrus Growers Association, which has recently completed a modern packing house at Winter Garden, the largest in the community, costing $36,000.

Mr. Sullivan was appointed postmaster of Winter Garden in January, 1922, and took charge of the office in March of the same year. He is a republican in politics. In 1902, at the age of twentyeight, Mr. Sullivan married Miss Laura Hardin, a native of Franklin County, Alabama. They have two children, Hardy Alexander and Jerreline.

Source: History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, Harry Gardner Cutler, Lewis publishing Company, 1923, Florida

CLINTON V. STARBIRD. CLINTON V. STARBIRD, an extensive lumber manufacture of the town of Strong, and Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, was born in Freeman, Me., August 14, 1868. He is a son of Amos D. and Mary J. (Gilkey) Starbird, natives of Freeman, now residing in Florida, and grandson of Moses Starbird, who moved to Freeman from Gorham, Me., and was a prosperous farmer through life.

Amos D. Starbird was for several years engaged in agricultural pursuits and lumbering in the town of Freeman; but he removed later to Orange County, Florida, where he is now residing, and is identified with the lumber interests of that region. His wife, Mary J. Gilkey, is a daughter of Captain John Gilkey, who moved from Lisbon to this county when a young man, and became a well-to-do farmer in Freeman. Mr. and Mrs. Amos D. Starbird have had eight children, as follows: Edwin R., who wedded Mattie Thompson, and is now a photographer of Brunswick, Me.; Albert W., who married Leola Weymouth, and is now a photographer in Florida; Rose I., wife of W. T. Hinds, a lumber operator and manufacturer of Phillips, Me.; Clinton V., of Strong, to be further mentioned in the next paragraph: Lionel F., who died at the age of twenty-three years; Austin C., who married Cora Love, and is now in the lumber business with his father in Florida; Adelbert M. and Percivilla L., both of whom are residing in Florida, engaged in the lumber business.

Clinton V. Starbird acquired his education in the common schools. At the age of twenty one he went to Erie County, Pennsylvania, and worked in a grist-mill for a year. He then engaged in lumbering, and for the next three years contracted quite extensively for the cutting of timber. He next operated a saw-mill in Freeman, Me., where he continued in business for four years; and then removing to Strong he built a mill, and engaged in the manufacturing of lumber. Since locating here his business has developed into large proportions, requiring additions to his plant from time to time, in order to meet the increasing demand for his products; and aside from sawing all kinds of building material, including hard-wood flooring and shingles, he makes a specialty of manufacturing packing cases, which are shipped in large quantities to Portland, Boston, and Providence, R.I. Although he has met with serious reverses, having passed through two disastrous fires, he has recovered the lost ground, and his business, to which he has steadily applied himself, is now in a most flourishing condition. In politics he supports the Republican party. He was elected a Selectman in 1894, and is now Chairman of the Board.

On June 23, 1886, Mr. Starbird was united in marriage with Flora A. Kilkenney, of New Vineyard. She is a daughter of James and Ellen (Brackley) Kilkenney, prosperous farming people of New Vineyard. Mr. and Mrs. Starbird have one son, Raymond A., who was born February 26, 1891.

Mr. Starbird is Treasurer of Davis Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Strong, acts in the same capacity for Marathon Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and is also a member of the Order of the Golden Cross. He occupies a prominent place among the business men of Franklin County, and is universally respected and esteemed. Mrs. Starbird is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Source: Biographical review: this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Oxford and Franklin Counties Maine, Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, 1897

ALVA JAMES WILLIS. Alva James Willis was born at Oakland, and since early manhood has been closely identified with the truck growing, citrus fruits and other agricultural interests in that section of Orange County. He is one of the successful men. thoroughly progressive, and his public spirit has earned him a high degree of community esteem.

He was born at Oakland, August 30, 1879, son of James Edward and Nancy (Hobart) Willis, being one of their four children, the others of whom were Edward Hobart, deceased, May Lindsay and Nellie Gertrude. The parents were born in Massachusetts, reared and married there, and the father then took his bride to Illinois, where he had spent some time prior to his marriage. In 1878 the family came from Illinois to Florida and after one year at Apopka settled at Oakland, where they homesteaded and began general farming and orange culture. James E. Willis was a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil war. He died at Oakland in 1915 at the age of eightyone, and his widow passed away in 1912, aged about sixty-nine. They were members of the Presbyterian Church.

Alva James Willis was reared on his father's homestead, attended the public schools, and long experience has made him an authority on everything connected with the growing of vegetables and oranges in this section. He now has a fine property with forty acres planted to fruit and has trucking and other general farming lands as well. Mr. Willis is a Presbyterian, is a past master of his Masonic Lodge and a member of the Knights Templar Commandery and Shrine. He married in 1907 Miss Pine Mae Cooley. Their five children are Clarence James, Roscoe George, Robert Cooley, Helen Dorothy and John Kenneth.

Source: History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, Harry Gardner Cutler, Lewis publishing Company, 1923, Florida

THOMAS EMMET WILSON. Lawyer; born in Putnam Valley, N. Y., Oct. 1, 1847; son of Hugh C. Wilson and Mary F. (Wardell) Wilson. He was educated in the public schools and at the Peekskill Military Academy of Peekskill, N. Y. He was admitted to the bar in Brooklyn, N. Y., in December, 1868, and has since then been actively engaged in the practice of law in Florida. He was State's attorney for the Seventh Judicial District of Florida, 1873-1877, county solicitor for Orange County, Florida, 1873-1877, for Volusia County, Florida, 1874-1877, and for Brevard County, Florida, from 1875 to 1877. He procured the charter for and became attorney, 1879, of the South Florida Railroad, then the most Southern railroad in the United States, and General U. S. Grant turned the first shovel of earth on its construction in March, 18S0; procured the charter for and became attorney of the Florida Midland Railway in March, 1883. He became attorney for the Orange Belt Railway in June, 1886, and procured an extension of the charter to build to St. Petersburg, Fla., and to Sanford, Fla., and procured a charter for the Sanford and Petersburg Railroad; was vice-president and general counsel and a director of the Orange Belt Railway, from 1889 to [?] and general counsel and a director of the Sanford and St. Petersburg Railroad from [?] to 1895. He procured charters of saturation for Sanford, Fla., and St. Petersburg, Fla., both thriving towns and at different times has been their attorney; and he was postmaster at Sanford, 1877-1880. Mr. Wilson has traveled around the world and in 1870 went to Australia and New Zealand and to the borders of the Antarctic Ocean, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. CarLemwin and islands south of New Zealand. He is a Republican in politics. He is a charter member of the Orange County (Florida) Bar Association; and he was vice-president of the Florida Bar Assciation. He married at Sylvan Lake, Fla. July 9, 1900, Lizzie Anna Fox. Since his marriage he has devoted his time to the general practice of his profession and to his estate, and is one of the largest individual property owners in Sanford, and in Orange County, Florida. Address: Sanford, Fla.

Source: Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries, L. R. Hamersly & Company, New York City, 1910

ABRAM CECIL WRIGHT. Abram Cecil Wright, D. D. S. The course by which this branch of the family of Wright has arrived at Virginia residence almost completes a gigantic triangle upon the map of the United States, a figure beginning in New York, extending westward to Iowa, southeastward to Florida, and then northward to Virginia, the present home and scene of the professional practice of Dr. Abram Cecil Wright, D. D. S.

Dr. Wright is a son of George Henry Wright, a native of New York state, born in Troy, November 3, 1829. George Henry Wright was a son of Allen M. and Abigail (Valentine) Wright, and in young manhood became a sailor and pilot, many of his voyages being made on the Great Lakes. In 1859 he settled in Wisconsin, and one year later made his home in Des Moines, Iowa, remaining in that state until 1887 and gaining business success and public prominence. He controlled a profitable agency for agricultural implements, his business field a splendid one. and in 1868 became internal revenue assessor of a county in Iowa, and two years later, in 1870, elected to the lower house of the Iowa legislature. In 1887 the family home was changed to Orlando, Florida. George Henry Wright was a man of marked ability, courage and strength of character, and during a long lifetime held the unswerving respect and kindly regard of his associates. He married, October 24, 1854, Sarah Smith, of Penfield, New York, and had issue: Lillie Elizabeth, married (first) George Robinson, deceased, and survives him, a resident of Orlando, Florida; married (second) P. F. Laubach; Charles H., deceased; George Walton, deceased; Sarah Antoinette, deceased ; Frederick B., a resident of Titusville, Florida; Nellie Maud, unmarried, rehides in Atlanta, Georgia; Dr. Abram Cecil, of whom further.

Dr. Abram Cecil Wright, son of George Henry and Sarah (Smith) Wright, was born in Sioux city, Iowa, October 14, 1879, and when eight years of age accompanied his parents to Orlando, Florida, where he lived until he was twenty years of age. As a youth he attended the public schools of that place, in 1899 coming to Richmond, Virginia, in that city entering the Virginia School of Dentistry. Graduated as a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1904, he began active practice in Surry county, Virginia, four years afterward returning to Richmond, where he has since practiced. For the past four years his office has been located at No. 2705 East Broad street, and a rapidly growing clientele has made his profession demand his entire time. Expert workmanship and high professional standing explain the popularity he has attained in Richmond, and he is favorably regarded in all dental circles. Dr. Wright is a member of lodge and chapter in the Masonic order, and is otherwise active in fraternal societies as a member of the Modern Woodmen of the World and of the Knights of Pythias. His church is St. John's Protestant Episcopal.

Dr. Wright married, at Claremont, Virginia, January 1, 1907, Mary E. S., born in Vienna, Wisconsin, daughter of Martin and Mary S. L. Kendall, both of her parents deceased. Dr. and Mrs. Wright are the parents of one son, William Walton, born July 24, 1908.

Source: Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, under the Editorial Supervision of Lyon Gardiner Tyler, LL. D., Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1915, Vol. V, pg 890. Transcribed by Lisa Slaski, donated to Orange County, FLGenWeb, part of the USGenWeb in 2010.