Howell M. Hampton was the third of a family of four children, the others being: Daisy, the wife of J. O. Love, of Floral City; 
Nettie, the wife of J. A. Brailmont, of Istachatta, Florida; and J. A., also of Floral City. Remaining at home until eighteen 
years of age, Howell M. Flampton during that period acquired a common-school education and later took up the study of 
law. He pursued a course in stenography and became a court stenographer and reporter. While thus engaged he 
continued his law studies until his mastery of the principles of jurisprudence was sufficient to secure his admission to the 
bar on the 3d of March, 1903. He then entered upon active practice in connection with Herbert L. Anderson, of Ocala, 
with whom he was connected until October, 1909, since which time he has been engaged in practice alone, confining his 
attention to civil law and specializing largely in corporation and real-estate law practice. He is general counsellor for the 
Ocala Northern Railroad and his clientage is of an extensive and important character, which indicates the high position 
that he holds as a member of the Florida bar. 

On the 10th of January, 1906, Mr. Hampton was united in marriage to Miss Annie Laurie Carlton, a native of De Soto 
county, Florida, and a daughter of Henry E. Carlton, who was clerk of the circuit court of De Soto county for twenty years. 
They have one son, H. M. Mr. Hampton holds membership with the Knights of Pythias and is a past chancellor of his 
lodge. He has been exalted ruler in the Elks lodge and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen camp. He has filled 
the office of assistant recorder in Ocala and is a democrat but has never taken an active interest in politics as an office 
seeker, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his professional duties, which are of growing importance. He handles 
litigated interests most ably, for his knowledge of the law is comprehensive and exact and the presentation of his cases 
shows him to be strong and forceful in argument and logical in his deductions. 

Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial Development, 1914, Vol 2, p. 325

John Joseph Heard has practically spent his entire life in Florida. His educational opportunities were those afforded by 
the public schools of Florida and the State Normal College of Florence, Alabama. Starting in the business world, he 
became connected with the South Florida Railroad Company as operator and agent, continuing so for six years, and 
then was engaged in the mercantile business at Maitland, Florida, for four years, buying and shipping at the same time 
citrus fruits. When the freeze came in 1895 he sold his mercantile business at Maitland and removed to Arcadia, De Soto 
county, where he continued in the business of buying and shipping citrus fruits and where he organized the Arcadia 
Electric Light, Ice & Telephone Company, of which he was president until his removal to Jacksonville in June, 1911. Mr. 
Heard is still a large grower of citrus fruits and has a valuable one hundred acre bearing grove near Arcadia, Florida. For 
the past twelve years he has figured in connection with financial interests in this state, and his work in that direction has 
brought him into prominence as one of the foremost financiers of Florida, possessing notable powers of organization 
and administrative ability. He was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Arcadia and the State Bank of Arcadia, 
of both of which institutions he was president. He was also one of the incorporators of the American National Bank of 
Tampa and is now the president of the Pioneer Bank of West Palmbeach. He first discussed the idea of establishing a 
bank in Jacksonville in 1900, but deferred a mature consideration of the project until the spring of 1910, when regarding 
the time propitious, he organized the Heard National Bank in connection with William Bratton Sadler, who is active vice 
president of the institution. The plans bear the impress of the individuality and ability of Mr. Heard, who had supervision 
over their execution and who is classed with those financiers to whom a complex problem serves as a stimulus for effort, 
while its correct solution is a source of genuine pleasure. From the day when the Heard National Bank opened its doors 
its business has continually increased. Mr. Heard saw in the rapidly growing southern city opportunity for successful 
achievement along other lines and began making plans for the erection of the magnificent bank and office building known 
today as the Heard National Bank building, occupying a conspicuous position in the heart of Jacksonville’s business and 
financial district. It is a masterpiece of the builder’s art and a monument to the enterprise and ability of the man whose 
name it bears. It is situated at the corner of Laura and Forsyth streets and is a most modern, complete and attractive 
structure, erected at a cost of about a million dollars. The lower part of the building is cream colored Travernelle Italian 
marble. The architecture is of the Spanish renaissance style, and upon the main structure of fifteen stories rises an 
observatory, which really adds three stories to the building. Above the first floor the structure is used for office purposes. 
The superstructure is of marble and brick, the structural features being steel and reinforced concrete. All of the interior to 
the fifteenth floor, the walls, corridors, steps, floors, etc., are finished in beautiful Italian marble and mosaic tiling. A most 
perfect system of plumbing has been installed so that each room is supplied with a lavatory. The latest improved drinking 
fountains can be found here, the water supply passing through refrigerating and filtering plants. A splendid vacuum 
cleaning system has been installed, and there is no feature of the modern office building that will add to comfort and 
convenience that is lacking. 

On May 15, 1895, Mr. Heard was married to Miss Annie Lowe Barker, a daughter of the Rev. Josiah Barker, a Methodist 
minister of Montgomery, Alabama. Of this union four children are living: William A., Jr., James N., Julia M. and Marguerite 
D. Mr. Heard, although deeply interested in all worthy public enterprises, has never been an aspirant for political honors 
and is a loyal democrat. Fraternally and socially he is prominent as a member of the Masonic order, the Seminole, 
and Commercial Clubs and is also one of the most active and forceful members of the Jacksonville Board of Trade, 
doing in that connection everything in his power to promote the commercial life of the city.  

Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial Development, 1914, Vol 2, p. 326-327

Carl Jansen, controlling a large real-estate business in Orlando and otherwise identified in a prominent way with important 
business interests in the city, is a native of Copenhagen, Denmark, a son of Carl Jansen, a well known banker in that city. 
He grew to manhood there and began his independent career as a partner with his father in the conduct of a bank, 
later turning his attention to the grocery and exporting business. 

Carl Jansen remained in Copenhagen until 1891, when, seeking a more advantageous business field, he came to 
America, locating first in Chicago, where he spent some time clerking and bookkeeping, becoming familiar with American 
business methods. Although he was practically without resources when he came to this country, his progress has been 
steady and his rise rapid, his career furnishing many excellent examples of the power of determination, ambition and 
enterprise in the accomplishment of success. After some time spent in the employ of the Pullman Car Company Mr. 
Jansen went to New York, remaining two years in that city and in Brooklyn, after which he came to Florida, locating in 
De Soto county, where he engaged in growing oranges and pineapples on an extensive scale for three years. In 1903 
he came to Orlando and secured a position as bookkeeper with the Overstreet Turpentine Company, in which position 
he had the opportunity to get well acquainted with land and land values. He became an expert judge of property values 
and in 1912 resigned his position in order to open a real-estate office of his own in Orlando, an enterprise which he has 
since conducted. He handles a great deal of valuable property and does a lucrative business, being numbered today 
among the prominent and representative men of the city. He was secretary of the Board of Trade for one year and still 
retains his membership in that body, and was one of the organizers of the Irrigated Farms Company, of which he is now 
secretary and treasurer. 

Mr. Jansen married Miss Elizabeth Marzin, a native of Berlin, Germany, of Holland ancestry. They have six children, Ida, 
Ella, Hilda, Carl, Jr., Else and Vera. Mr. Jansen is a member of the Presbyterian church. He is well known in fraternal 
circles, being exalted ruler of Orlando Lodge, No. 1079, B. P. O. E. He is also a member of the Masonic order and served 
as master of his lodge in the years 1911 and 1912. He is beyond all question a successful man and his prosperity is the 
more creditable to him since it has been attained entirely through his own efforts. He possesses a spirit of initiative, a 
faculty for seeing and recognizing opportunity and the power of carrying forward to successful completion whatever he 
undertakes. He is therefore a valued addition to the ranks of Orlando’s adopted citizens and a man whose energy, 
enthusiasm and public spirit would be recognized and honored in any community.   

Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial Development, 1914, Vol 2, p. 614

WILLIAM HAYDEN REYNOLDS. 

As a leader in the development and expansion of the Orlando Telephone Company, William Hayden Reynolds is doing 
effective, beneficial and far-reaching work along business lines, for as an influential factor in commercial and industrial 
expansion few public utilities exceed the telephone in value. Through his service in the office of mayor he is, moreover, 
influencing social, political and economic development of the city and he is thus one of the greatest individual forces 
in practically every phase of municipal progress. He is numbered among the early residents here, having arrived in the 
city December 9, 1881, but his birth occurred in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where he resided during his childhood and 
youth. When he was sixteen years of age he enlisted in Company G, Fifty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served in the 
Union army for four years and a half. He was with the Army of the Cumberland in the headquarters of the Fourth Army 
Corps and served through the entire Atlanta campaign. After receiving his honorable discharge he became identified with 
the railroad business, serving first as brakeman and then as conductor, a position which he held for twelve years. On the 
9th of December, 1881, he came to Orlando, finding here only a small village, the streets of which were little more 
than deer and rabbit runs. Mr. Reynolds erected a sawmill and in the early days prepared most of the lumber used in the 
first business buildings and residences in the city. He continued in this line of work until 1898, when he joined J. J. Heard 
in the orange business at Arcadia, buying and selling high-grade fruit. Mr. Reynolds took charge of the sales department 
in New York and remained in that business for ten years. At the end of that time he returned to Orlando and in 1908 
purchased the telephone company, an enterprise of which he is still proprietor. This concern has had an interesting 
history. It was founded March 23, 1896, under the name of the Florida Long Distance Telephone & Telegraph Company, 
by John Lemnon, who sold out his interest in October of the same year to A. Hayden and other local capitalists. They 
operated the concern until May, 1903, when it was purchased by the Arcadia Electric Light, Ice & Telephone Company, 
under the control of which it remained until March, 1908, when the present management assumed direction of its affairs, 
raising the efficiency of the organization to the high standard which has since been maintained. The officials of the 
Orlando Telephone Company are: W. H. Reynolds proprietor; Ray R. Reynolds, manager; and John Quina, 
superintendent. 

Starting originally with but fifteen telephones, the company has gradually enlarged its service until at this time it has 
over six hundred telephones within the city limits and seventy-five in the outlying country districts. The switchboard now 
in use is new and up-to-date with a one thousand five hundred line capacity. This will provide for all reasonable increase 
in the company’s business for some time to come. Over one thousand and forty-five miles of wire, including two hundred 
miles of toll line, are now in use and the company supplies direct connection with Kissimmee and Winter Garden and 
carries its own lines half way from Orlando to Sanford. There are at present ten party lines branching out from the main 
office in Orlando, furnishing the fruit growers and agriculturists in the outlying territory with the means of communication 
with all the principal cities in southern Florida. Winter Park, Maitland, Altamonte Springs and Longwood are on the main 
line, the other local boundaries being Gotha, Windemere, Ocoee, Waco and Fuller’s Crossing on the west, Conway on 
the east and on the south Pinecastle, Taft, McKinnon and Kissimmee. The central exchange and general offices are 
located in comfortable quarters on the third floor of the Empire block. The company plans many improvements in the 
near future. 

Mr. Reynolds’ connection with the local telephone company does not, however, limit the extent of his business interests, 
for he is closely identified with many of the most important business concerns in the city. He was one of the organizers 
of the Merchants Bank of Orlando and served as its president for some years, and he is besides extensively interested 
in the orange packing industry. He aided in the organization of the Orlando Fair Association and since its foundation 
has been a director. He is in addition a director in the Heard National Bank of Jacksonville. 

Mr. Reynolds has been twice married. He first wedded Miss Kitorah Giles, of Ohio, who passed away leaving one 
daughter, Kitorah, who married W. A. Halsehouser, a druggist in St. Petersburg, Florida. After the death of his first wife 
Mr. Reynolds married Miss Virginia T. Denio, of Iowa, and they became the parents of two children: Raymond R., who is 
manager of the Orlando Telephone Company; and Edna May, who married J. W. Puett, a merchant in Lakeland, Florida. 

Since taking up his residence in the city Mr. Reynolds has taken an active part in local affairs. In the early days he served 
for two terms as a member of the city council of Orlando and in 1910 was elected mayor of the city. He was reelected in 
1911, the last time for a term of two years. His has been a business-like administration, marked by intelligently directed, 
effective and constructive work in the public service and by consistent indorsement and support of those measures 
and movements calculated to promote the general welfare. He has put through several widely effective ordinances 
among which mention should be made of the milk ordinance, which compels every dairyman to keep his establishment 
absolutely sanitary and has proven a great boon to the city. Since he has been mayor the police force has also been 
reorganized and instead of showing a deficit as in previous years, it is now self-supporting while maintaining the same, 
if not a higher, standard of efficiency. Fraternally Mr. Reynolds is connected with the Masonic order, holding membership 
in the blue lodge, chapter and commandery, and he is past commander of the local post of the Grand Army of the 
Republic. He is preeminently a business man — enterprising, alert and energetic, modern in his views and progressive 
in his ideas, and his labors have, therefore, been a great and vital force in the development of Orlando since pioneer 
times. 

Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial Development, 1914, Vol 2, p. 240-241

J. A. ROWAND. 

As the broad lands of the United States have been peopled by the nations of the earth its area has fast fallen under the 
plow in order to give food to the millions, and, necessity becoming a virtue, the agriculturists have turned to its arid desert 
stretches of the west and the broad, vast swamps of the south to make them subservient to the needs of the people that 
they might return to them bounty and give them sustenance. In this work of colonization the progressive farmer of the 
south is taking a foremost part in reclaiming vast stretches of waste land and transforming it into fertile fields, yielding 
two or even three crops annually under climatic conditions that have no equal in any part of the world. One of the first to 
settle in the Elkton district of Florida, where he now owns a valuable farm of one hundred and twenty acres, was J. A. 
Rowand, a native of this state, his birth having occurred on the Suwanee river, in Lafayette county, January 13, 1862. 
He is a son of William F. and Caroline Elizabeth (Johnson) Rowand, the father a native of North Carolina and the mother 
of South Carolina. Rowan county, North Carolina, was named in honor of the great-grandfather of our subject who was 
a native of France and came to the United States during the Revolutionary war, fighting in the ranks of the French for 
independence. Another earlier ancestor was a member of Sir Walter Raleigh’s staff. The great-grandfather settled in 
North Carolina, there reared a family and subsequently passed away. The grandfather of our subject was an agriculturist 
and died when William F. Rowand was but nine years of age. The latter was reared to manhood and became one of the 
large plantation owners of the period, who owned many slaves. He valiantly served his country through the Mexican war 
and after coming to Florida took part in the Seminole Indian campaign and married subsequently in Lafayette county. He 
was a saddler and harness maker, following that trade for some time, and in 1860 moved from Madison, Florida, to 
Orange county, on a place located where Oviedo now stands. There he remained for two years and then went to Sanford, 
where he died on the 25th of December, 1897, at the age of nearly seventy-three years. Caroline Elizabeth Johnson 
came to Florida in early childhood with her parents, the family making settlement in Lafayette county where Mayo now 
stands. She died in 1880 at the age of forty-four years, her death occurring in Orange county. Mr. and Mrs. Rowand were 
the parents of five children: Mary Martha, the deceased wife of Alexander Vaughn, her death occurring in 1908; William 
Rayford, who died in 1892; Georgia Elizabeth, the wife of T. A. Grange, of Sanford, Florida; J. A., of this review; and 
James C., residing in New York city. 

J. A. Rowand was reared under the parental roof and acquired a common-school education, remaining at home until the 
death of his father. Subsequently he took up railroad construction work and traveled considerably in the states of Florida, 
Georgia and Alabama and also worked for a number of years at the trade of housebuilding, putting up a number of 
residences along the east and west coast of Florida. In April, 1903, he came to Elkton, St. John county, where he 
purchased his present farm. He had a capital of less than eight hundred dollars to start out with, as he had lost heavily 
in a fire while residing in Arcadia. He at first purchased forty acres of land of which five acres were cleared, and has 
since added to his property which now comprises one hundred and twenty acres, of which one hundred are cleared and 
under cultivation as potato land. Mr. Rowand has erected a number of substantial buildings and made such other 
improvements as are considered essential by the progressive farmer for intensive and profitable soil cultivation. He has 
instituted modern equipment and such conveniences as he deemed necessary and thereby greatly enhanced the value 
of the property. When he came to this district there were only a few native-born residents here and he was among the 
first outsiders to locate. Besides his farming interests Mr. Rowand is local representative of the Model Land Company, a 
subsidiary corporation of the Florida East Coast Railroad Company and also of the Coast Line Canal & Transportation 
Company and the Boston & Florida Land Company, deriving a gratifying additional income from these sources. 

On January 1, 1891, Mr. Rowand was married to Miss Mary Jane Du Pont, who was born at Federal Point, Putnam 
county, Florida, on the 20th of April, 1863, her father at that time owning all of the land at Federal Point. She is a daughter 
of Cornelius and Frances Virginia Du Pont, of whom more extended mention is made in connection with the sketch 
of C. A. Du Pont. Mr. and Mrs. Rowand have one child, William Allen, at home. By his indefatigable industry and energy 
J. A. Rowand has attained success in a remarkably short time and is known today as one of the substantial men of the 
Elkton district, in the development of which he has played such an important role. He is a man of strong character and 
has made himself felt in the rural community, his sterling traits having won the high regard and confidence of all those 
with whom he has come in contact. Although he has not sought or ever held public office he takes a laudable interest 
in all matters of public importance and is well informed upon the issues of the day which come up in the political life of 
his section, his state and the nation. 

 

Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial Development, 1914, Vol 2, p. 474-475
 

Edwin A. Waddell was reared and educated in Perth, Canada, and in February, 1877, came to the United States, 
locating in New York, where he became connected with a wholesale butter, cheese and egg house. He remained with 
the firm for nine years, securing an interest in it, and is now its head, the business being conducted under the name of 
John A. Waddell & Company. Mr. Waddell came to Florida in 1886 and for a short time lived in Key West. During the 
time he invested in an orange grove in Arcadia, Florida, and afterward became active in the cattle business in the 
central part of the state. While on a pleasure cruise with his brother to visit Captain Dimick at Palm Beach, one of the 
sails of the vessel gave way and the party came ashore, landing on the present townsite of Miami in 1888. Mr. Waddell 
became so impressed with the natural advantages of the locality that he even then insisted on predicting the founding 
of the city and later returned to take his part in the work of development. For a time he maintained his residence in Lemon 
City, making daily visits to Miami, where he engaged in survey work in the endeavor to locate land which he had 
purchased in 1888. The survey was made difficult because the government section posts had all been knocked down. 
Gradually Colonel Waddell was joined by other pioneers and in 1896 the town had a fair beginning, the railroad having 
brought many settlers. With the building of the Royal Palm Hotel and the establishment of business enterprises progress 
continued, Colonel Waddell leading in all progressive public measures. Lie was one of a little group of prominent men 
known as “The Hungry Six,” who, when they heard a dog howl, said to themselves with a knowing nod, “That’s breakfast 
tomorrow.” This shows in some degree the limitations of diet in those early days, hash having then been the principal 
article of food. Colonel Waddell has the distinction of being the oldest settler north of the Miami river inside the present 
limits of Miami, with the exception of Harry Tuttle, who was, however, a mere child when he located here, his mother 
owning all of the present site of Miami north of the river, with the exception of twenty acres owned by C. H. Day, of 
Augusta, Georgia. A local paper gives this account of Colonel Waddell’s work in the interests of the city since settling 
here. “When Miami began to assume proportions and the start was really made, Colonel Waddell was among the 
foremost who talked, wrote, dreamed and advocated Miami on all sides and in this work he has never ceased. Even to 
this day, when in the course of business he receives a letter of inquiry, Mr. Waddell sends the applicant a copy of the 
city directory, at no little expense. He has sent out thousands of dollars worth of literature pertaining to Miami and is as 
aggressive and loyal as any citizen within the city. He came to Miami to live and die and there has never been a time 
when Miami needed him that he did not come forward and give assistance and advice. Lie is not only one of Miami’s 
first business men, one of her first settlers and one of her best advocates, but also one of her best citizens. He has 
never had a hand in anything, business or private, that does not do him honor.” Colonel Waddell has often been urged 
to hold public office, state, county and city, but has always declined, preferring to assist and advise, if asked for 
assistance and advice by those in public office. He is a gentleman always ready to help the man less fortunate, and 
never underestimates the worth of his fellow man. 

At present Colonel Waddell is extensively engaged in the real-estate business here, conducting an office on Twelfth 
street, where there is always an abundance of literature concerning the advantages of this part of Florida, exhibits of 
fruits and vegetables, and where a general information bureau is maintained. In addition he is vice president of the 
First National Bank of Miami, a director and stockholder in the Miami Savings Bank and a stockholder in the Bank of Bay 
Biscayne. But his individual prosperity, while it is deservedly great, is kept always secondary in importance to the 
community interests. 

On January 25, 1900, Colonel Waddell married Miss Dorothea H. Watts, a native of Salem, Massachusetts, who was 
reared in Chelsea. They have a daughter, Mary Dorothy, aged eleven. Colonel Waddell is a member of the Benevolent 
Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias and for four years served on the staff of Governor Gilchrist with the 
rank of colonel. He is a man of enthusiasm, of aggressive activity and constructive imagination — all indispensable 
qualities in city building. Throughout the years that have covered the period of his residence here he has steadily 
advocated in speech and action and through the publication of various writings the advantages of the city, and this 
made his idealism, guided and controlled by sound and practical business acumen, one of the greatest individual forces 
in the growth of the magic city.   

Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial Development, 1914, Vol 2, p. 210-211

Major Thomas J. Watkins, one of the largest orange growers in the state of Florida as well as one of the most prominent 
business men of Orlando, was born in Jacksonville, Calhoun county, Alabama, in 1859. He is a son of James P. and 
Mary (Walker) Watkins, the former a prosperous farmer in Calhoun county, Alabama, and a veteran of the Civil war. 

Major Thomas J. Watkins acquired his education in the public schools of Jacksonville and at Calhoun College and after 
laying aside his books engaged in farming for some time, afterward organizing the Bank of Attalla, Alabama, in which he 
remained a director for a number of years. In that city he also established the Herald, which became one of the leading 
and influential newspapers in that section of the state, Mr. Watkins later turning his attention from journalism to real-estate 
speculation, buying large amounts of valuable iron and coal lands in the Birmingham district. He is still remembered in 
various parts of Alabama as a promoter and organizer, having erected the bank building in his home town and having 
otherwise developed important business interests. He was for years confidential agent and purchasing agent for the 
Woodstock Iron & Steel Company of Anniston, Alabama, and did able work in that capacity. 

Major Watkins came to Florida in 1890 and located in Rochelle, Alachua county, where he immediately became 
connected with the orange growing industry, buying eighty acres of orange groves. He became a dealer and a broker on 
an extensive scale and also did destructive freeze he removed from Rochelle to De Soto county, continuing his former 
line of work but a large and lucrative shipping business. After the extending his interests. He invested heavily in orange 
groves there, selling one of his properties for one hundred thousand dollars seven years after acquiring the same, and 
located at Nocatee. He continued to conduct his affairs in De Soto county for ten years, coming at the end of that time to 
Orlando, where he has since resided. He is today known as one of the largest orange growers in the state and by his 
progressive and practical methods, his high business standards and his great success has contributed something of 
importance and value to the development of the industry. 

Since taking up his residence here Major Watkins has invested extensively in real estate and now has valuable holdings 
in Orange county and Orlando. He purchased the Charleston block from J. L. Giles and the State Bank of Orlando, 
fronting one hundred and fifty feet on Orange avenue and one hundred and forty-nine feet on Pine street, improving the 
building and making it a modern, up-to-date structure. Upon another of his lots he built the Grand Theater and the 
Grand Hotel at a total cost of sixty thousand dollars and in this and many other ways has done much in the interests of 
the city. He is now renovating the Grand Hotel, situated above the Grand Theater, and will have one of the best furnished 
hotels in the state after the work of repairs is completed. The hotel has twenty-five rooms, most of them with private 
baths, and is tastefully decorated throughout. He owns one of the finest homes in Orlando, Dixie, a beautiful residence 
set in the midst of a tropical garden, two acres in extent, on Lake Lucerne. It is handsomely furnished in the best taste, 
the interior finishings being all of Florida curly pine. 

Major Watkins married in 1883 Mrs. Lizzie E. Coleman, nee Ellis, a daughter of Rev. Enock Ellis, a clergyman in the 
Methodist Episcopal church. Both are well known in social circles of Orlando, where their fine qualities of mind and 
character have won for them many friends. Always an active religious worker, Major Watkins has served for twenty-five 
years as steward in the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and has held all the high offices of his church in the state 
conference. Although not a politician in the sense of office seeking, he has always been interested in public affairs and 
while a resident of Alachua county was chairman of the democratic county executive committee and aided in enforcing 
the first primary law in Florida. He was not the man who introduced the bill but as chairman of the county committee 
made his county the first to adopt that system of balloting. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic order and he is also 
connected with the Knights of Pythias. He is a trustee of the Wesleyan Female College of Macon, Georgia, and of 
the Southern College located at Southern, near Tampa, Florida, and is well known in educational circles of the south. 
Major Watkins is a strong prohibitionist and a forceful and influential worker in the ranks of temperance, and in all 
matters pertaining to the betterment and uplifting of humanity. He is fearless in his opinions and active in carrying out 
all his undertakings, always doing well what he sets out to do. He is a man of varied and forceful interests* of broad 
and modern views and ideals, successful in business, progressive in citizenship and exemplary in all public and private 
relations — a valuable addition to the ranks of Orlando's prominent and successful men. 

Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial Development, 1914, Vol 2, p. 716-717