Brown, S. Paul, The book of Jacksonville: a history; Poughkeepsie, N.Y.:
A.V.
Haight, printer and bookbinder, 1895, 194 pages
The following biographical sketches are of some of the representative
business and
professional men, who have been prominent factors in the building up of
the Florida
Metropolis, and giving it credit and standing among men. Not all such
are in this list,
however, as there are other deserving ones, which it is not expedient to
to [sic] give a
sketch here. These men, by their achievements, have won a place in the
public eye and
the public confidence, and have made records which deserve to be
perpetuated.
BAKER & HOLMES
Two jolly young bachelors -- healthy, wealthy, and
wise, as young bachelors go. Gentlemanly and genteel,
coourteous and generous, honorably and manly, industrious and
intelligent, and consequently successful and popular -- nine men
out of ten, and perhaps ten women out of nine, would so
pronounce upon John D. Baker and J. Dobbin Holmes -- and they
deserve it all. If to deserve success is more than to win it,
then to achieve it is better than to inherit it. Few young men
in the South have inherited fortunes since the war, but those
who have made it for themselves are very numerous. Baker and
Holmes belong to the latter class. They are well matched, and
worthy of each other, possessing in an unusual degree the fine
attributes that go to make up the successful and respected
business man, gentlemen at once, and hard workers.
The business was established originally by Mr.
Baker in 1889. Previous to that time he had spent a number of
years in the grocery and grain business, and thoroughly mastered
its details. Mr. Baker was born in Robeson County, N. C., i
1864, and received his education at Davidson College, in his
native State. His father was Captain Angus S. Baker, and his
mother Harriet McEachem, both of fine old Scotch families. When
he left college Mr. Baker at once went into business, and in
1886 came to Jacksonville to live with his uncle, the late Judge
James M. Baker. Here he continued his business training, until
in, 1889, he branched out for himself, as above stated. A year
later Mr. Holmes acquired a partnership, and the firm was
changed to John D. Baker & Company, Mr. Holmes being a silent
partner, as he was then traveling for C. Burkhalter & Company,
of New York. Mr. Baker had been an etensive traveler, both in
this country and abroad, and has acquired a degree of polish and
general knowledge of the world not usually expected in a
laborious man of business.
Mr. Holmes is also a North Carolinian, and came
from Wilmington. He is a son of the late John L. Holmes, a most
estimable gentleman, and highly respected lawyer. His mother's
maiden name was Sallie M. London, and through her he is
descended from the celebrated Sharpless family of Pennsylvania.
From the schools of his native City he went to the Maryland
Agricultural College, an institution that teaches all branches
of study usually taught in other colleges. In 1884 the family
moved to Jacksonville, and Mr. Holmes accepted a traveling
position with John E. Hart, a wholesale grain and seed
merchant. For twelve years he traveled in Florida, representing
different houses, and when he took a partnership with Mr. Baker
the most valuable capital he brought to the new firm was the
hundreds of friends he had made during his long career as a
commercial traveler. He was thoroughly known to the trade, and
by his affable manners and well established character for
honesty and integrity, he found no difficulty in securing as his
own customers those to whom he had sold while representing other
firms. In 1891 the firm name was changed to Baker & Holmes, and
thenceforth he devoted his time exclusively to the business of
the new firm.
Baker & Holmes, in their brief career, have
established and built up for themselves one of the most
remarkably successful business enterprises ever known in the
State. Starting without any trade at all, their business now
amounts to neary $500,000 annually, and is still growing.
Wholesale grain, hay, flour, grits, meal, fertilizers,
cottonseed meal, and building material are their principal
lines; but they make a specialty of brick, lime and cement.
Their facilities for handling these goods are suprioer, enabing
them to undersell competitors, and yet supply the very best
quality of goods. At the foot of Main Street they have a snug,
cozy office, where their friends are always welcomed after the
hearty and hospitable manner that has become a characteristic
with them, and it will be strange if one or the other don't find
time to offer such entertainment outside the office as will
appeal to an anxious palate and become a refined taste. This is
one of the pet houses of Jacksonville, with a personnel that is
without reproach.
pp. 156-157
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Perhaps the most picturesque
and interesting living figure in the history
of Jacksonville, is Dr. A. S. Baldwin. Few
persons are now living who were in
Jacksonville when he came here, in 1838, at
the age of twenty-seven years. ewer still
were old enough at that time to even
remember, muc less participate with him, in
any of the stirring events of that period in
which he had a conspicuous part as one of
the defenders of the Sate, in the Seminole
War, then raging. His history, from the
time he came here, is the history of
Jacksonville, for he has been prominenly
identified with every movement for the
development and advancement of the City from
its very inception almost, and now, at the
ripe age of eighty-four, he may look back
with pride and pleasure to his early
struggles, and view with satisfaction the
evidences all around him of their results,
in the present magnificent City.
A. Seymour Baldwin was born
in Oswego County, New York, March 19th,
1811, and is sprung from the fine old
Enhlish families of Seymour and Baldwin. On
the paternal side he is sixth in direct
descent from Richard, the elder member of a
somewhat numerous family of Baldwins, who
emigrated from Bucks County, England, in
1638, and settled at New Milford,
Connecticut, from whence have spread over
the United States, Canada and the West
Indies the numerous descendants of this
family.
The subject of this sketch
was made an orphan in his early infancy by
the deaht of his father, and was adopted by
an uncle who lived in an adjacent county.
There, for some time, he was taught by
priate tutors. He afterwards pursued his
preparatory studies at two popular
institutions in Madison County: the
seminary at Cazenovia and the Polytechnique
Institute at Chittenango. His design of
entering Hartford College at this time was
frustrated by the death of his uncle in
1830, so he entered the Freshman Class of
the same year at Geneva, now Hobart
College. From this College he graduated
four years later with the degrees of B. S.
and A. B.
Upon the completion of his
collegiate course, Mr. Baldwin began the
study of medicine in the office of Dr.
Thomas Spencer, a professor in the medical
department of the institution which he had
attended. He had already won proficiency in
several branches of natural science. So
after two years of medical study he received
the appointment of botanist in the
geological survey of Michigan, from Dr.
Houghton, its chief. Exposure to camp life
in the severe climate to which his new
labors called him, resulted in an acute
attack of inflamatory rheumatism, which
unfitted him for the work, so he resigned
and returned to Geneva. There he completed
his medical studies and in 1838 received his
medical degree, and from the College proper,
the degree of A. M. in regular course. He
then entered upon the practice of his
profession in Geneva. In June of the same
year he was married to Miss Eliza Scott, of
an influential Geneva family. Owing to a
frequent recurrence of his rheumatic
attackes he decided to remove to Florida,
where he arrived December 2d, 1838.
Dr. Baldwin's real history
begins which his advent into Florida.
Settling in Jacksonville, then a straggling
village of scarcely 1,000 inhabitants, he
immediately entered upo nthe practice of
medicine which became at once extensive,
remunerative and very laborious. This will
be appreciated when it is known that for a
year or more he was the only physician
within an area of thirty miles around
Jacksonville.
It was during his
professional visits up and down the river
that he began to observe the tides and
currents which, having given considerable
attention to, convinced him that a small
appropriation for closing up Fort George
Inlet, woudl enable the waters to have a
freer discharge to the sea, and force a
channel for the passage of vessels up the
St. Johns. A public meeting was called to
take action on his views, which resulted in
Dr. Baldwin being sent to Washington to
secure the needed appropriation, in which he
was successful. So that it was due to his
efforts that the first steps were taken to
secure the splended navigation facilities in
the river which is now enjoyed.
While absent in Washington
on this business, which was in 1852, he was
first chosen to represent his county in the
State Legislature. During the first session
Dr. Baldwin secured a charter for the
Florida Central Railroad, with right of way
from Jacksonville to Pensacola, and became
President of the Company organized to build
the road. The main line of the Florida
Central & Peninsular Railroad to River
Junction to Pensacola, is the outgrowth of
this charter. He also, at the second
session, fathered the bill creating a
temporary Internal Improvement Board, of
which he became the member from his
district. The object of this Board was to
assist in building railroads in the Sate.
This they did by donating alternate sections
of land along the proposed route of the
road, and endorsing the Company's bonds for
ironing. This Board was afterwards made
permanent and consisted of the Governor and
his Cabinet. Having let the contract for
building the road, Dr. Baldin retired from
the Presidency and devoted his attention to
other enterprises affecting the growth and
prosperity of his State and City. In this
field he has always been a mos indefatigable
worker.
From the lower house Dr.
Baldwin was promoted by the votes of his
fellow citizens to the State Senate in 1858,
and was a member of that body when the war
broke out. He strenously opposed secession,
but when his Sate went out of the Union,
like many another honest patriot, he went
with her, and promptly offered his services
to the Confederacy. He was commissioned
Surgeon, and throughout the war was Chief
Surgeon of Hospitals for Florida, in which
position he rendered invaluable services.
Returning to Jacksonville
when the war was over, he found that his
property had all been confiscated, but after
a few years he recovered his possessions,
upon a portion of which, on Bay Street, he
has erected an exensive block of stores,
which, when built, was one of the most
imposing structures in the City.
In the yellow fever
epidemic of 1857, Dr. Baldwin lost his first
wife. By this marriage he had one son who
became Dr. William L. Baldwin. He perished
in the fever epidemic of 1888. By 1855 Dr.
Baldwin was again married, his second wife
being Mrs. Mary E. Dell. The only issue
from this marriage was a daughter, Edna
Seymour, now Mrs. Samuel P. Holmes.
Dr. Baldwin never lost his
interest in the improvement of navigation in
the St. Johns River, nor relaxed hisefforts
to secure adequate appropriations for
carryinh out his plans in this regard. When
the fame of Captain Eads spread over the
country, Dr. Baldwin visited that gentleman
at Port Eads and induced him to visit
Jacksonville. He came in 1878 and made a
personal examination of the river and bar,
and from consultation of coast survey
charts, decided upon a system of jetties,
with which everyone is now familiar, as they
were subsequently adopted by the Government
engineers, who had also afterwards made a
thorough examination of the same field. The
two reports, of Captain Eads and the
Government engineers, were sent, together
with a memorial to Congress, urging an
appropriation, and in 1880 Dr. Baldwin in
person went to the Capital and secured the
first available appropriation, which was
$125,000. After this the work was continued
steadily.
In 1878 the City voted
$250,000 for sanitary improvements and water
works. This sanitary improvement found was
placed in the hands of five trustee,s of
which Dr. Baldwin was made Chairman, and
held the position until the last of the
bonds were called in, in May, 1894. he
trust was faithfully perfoemd, and like all
his labor in the public interest, was
gratuitous. This committee built the
present splendid system of water works and
established the sewerage system.
In science, as well as
medicine, Dr. Baldwin has always been an
interested student and worker. His
published addresses on the climatology of
Florida have been of great benefit to
science. Thesr were based on the medical
statistics of the army in Florida, and his
own meteorological observations, covering a
period of thirty-six years. For twenty
years he was meteorological correspondent
for the Smithsonian Institute, and
furinished it regularly the monthly sheet of
his observations. These reports were the
first scientific exhibition of Florida
climatic literature ever given to the world,
and the American Scientific Association at
the meeting at Montreal in 1857. He was
also a corresponding member of the Boston
Natural History Society, and a frequent
correspondent of Agassiz on scientific
subjects and natural history.
Dr. Baldwin organized the
first medical society in Duval County, which
was the first in the State, and in 1873
called a meeting of physicians, and
organized the State Medical Association. He
was its first president, and held th
position for two years.
Dr. Baldwin has always been
an earnest and consisten member of the
Protestant Episcopal Church, and became a
member of St. John's Parish immediately on
his arrival in Jacksonville. For fifty-five
he has been a warden in the vestry of St.
John's Church. He has always been an
earnest church worker, and a liberal giver
to Christian and charitable institutions.
The province of this work
is such as to forbid a detailed account of
this man's career, which has been so full of
interest and good work. He has been doubly
blessed by coming to Florida: The climate
has entirely healed the complaints which
first brought him here, and as a factor in
building up his State and City he has had
few equals; and when he shall have passed
away the work of his living hands will keep
his memory fresh in the hearts of the people
he sered, and whose gratitude he has. In
his old age Dr. Baldwin has again been
honored most comspicuously; in his
eighty-fourth year he has been elected
President of the Board of Trade, which, next
to the mayoralty, is the most important
office in Jacksonville. A man of worth, and
a father to the community, he is honored by
all men.
pp. 148-150
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James A.
Bryan is a North Carolinian. His father,
John A. Bryan, was a prominent planter and
politician of Duplin County. There on his
father's farm, James was born, in 1853. The
family settled in North Carolina about two
hundred years ago, and there their
descendants still reside. The Bryans were
prominent figures during the Colonial
period, and in the Revolution they fought
stoutly for American Independence. They
were among the framers of the first State
Constitution, and on through the succeeding
generations they have been conspicuous in
the affairs of the Old North State. A
sturdy, conservative race they are, modest
and unpretentious, but staunch in principle
and unswerving in devotion to duty.
James was brought up on the
farm, where so many of America's greatest
men have had their early training. The
conditions existing, just after the war, and
at the time was of school age, did not
permit of his receiving an elaborate
education, but such schooling as the country
wherein he lived afforded he received,
which, together with night study after
working hours, gave him a fairly good
education. When he was twenty-one, however,
he left the farm for Wilmington, where he
becme a salesman in a shoe store. After
some years there he was attracted by the
fine climate and growing advantages of
Florida, and in 1882 removed to
Jacksonville. For three years he was
employed with A. Ames Howlett & Company,
jetty contractors. He became attached to
this business, and in 1885, branched out in
it for himself, and became a general
contractor. He afterwards became active in
the development of the phosphate industry in
Florida, and erected one of the first plants
for mining it in the State, that of the
Alafia River Phosphate Company, which is one
of the best known. He was for two years the
Superintendent for this Company, and got the
contract for doing a great part of their
dredging. In 1894, he, in company with M.
S. Cartter and others, organized The Florida
Dredging Company, of which he is General
Manager, with headquarters at Tampa. They
take contracts for dredging all over the
State, and in Georgia, and their equipment
for rapid and thorough work is of the best.
(See The Florida Dredging Company
elsewhere.) He was married, in 1880, to
Miss Anna B. Dolbey, of Constantia, New
York. They have four children, two boys and
two girls. His uncle, the Rev. Doctor R. T.
Bryan, is the well known missionary to
Shangai, China, and is the youngest LL. D.
from the University of North Carolina.
pp. 184-185
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Alexander B.
Campbell was born at Perth, Ontario, Canada,
in 1843. His father, Peter Campbell,
immigrated from Argyleshire, Scotland, in
1816, and was a member of the famous clan
Campbell, of which the Dukes of Argyle are
the titular head. His mother was Anne Gray,
of Banff, Scotland. WHen his education was
completed he removed, in 1867, to
Jacksonville, where he has een conspicuously
identified with the growth and development
of the City ever since. Shortly after his
arrival here he opened a music store, which
rapidly grew, until it has become on of the
largest houses in that line south of
Baltimore. It has been incorporated as the
A. B. Campbell Company, and has a business
that extends over the entire State. He
early interested himself in suburban
development, and has opened up several
attractive additions to the City proper,
chief of which is Campbell's addition on the
north-eastern limits, with West Campbellton
and Campbell's Hill on the west. He also
established Evegreen Cemetery, which he has
beautiful to such an extent as to render it
the most picturesque "God's Acre" in the
State.
Although a Republican in
politics, and, therefore, not in accord,
politically, with the powers that be in
Florida, his acknowledged integrity and well
known ability, both of which are
characteristics of the sturdy Scotch, have
won for him the full confidence of all
classes. So, when the Australian Ballot
System was introduced into Jacksonville, he
was chosen by the Legislature for one of the
Election Commissioners, and was made
Chairman of the Board. He is a member of
the Board of Trustees of the St. John's
Improvement, which had in charge the
expenditure of $300,000, voted by Duval
County for improving the st. John's River.
In July, 1893, he was elected one of the
board of Trustees of the $1,000,000 issue of
"Water Works and Improvement Bonds," voted
by the City of Jacksonville for internal
improvements. In January, 1893, he was
elected President of the Jacksonville Board
of Trade, a most efficient and useful body,
composed of the leading business men of the
City, and re-elected in January, 1894. He
is also President of the Board of Trustees
of St. Luke's Hospital, a charitable
institution of this City. He is largely
interested in stock companies of various
kinds, industrial enterprises, etc., and is
always in the front rank of those men who
stand ready, both with their time and money,
to advance the interests of the City and
State. He was married in 1880 to Mary E.
Folsom, of Jacksonville, and has two
children: Alexander B., Jr., and Grace.
p. 163
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Jeremiah
Rockwell Campbell is a native of Boston,
where he was born November 26th, 1827. He
is of Scotch-English descent, and his
ancestors were among the early settlers of
Massachusetts. He was educated at the
Elliot School, in Boston, one of the finest
institutions of the kind in the State, and a
very noted institution of learning, and
afterwards at mercantile schools. At the
age of fifteen he began his career in the
hotel business, connecting himself with the
Campbell House, in Boston, which was
conducted by his uncle. This establishment,
in that day, was the rendezvous of all the
local celebrities of Boston, and included
among its patrons such men as William Lloyd
Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Governor
Andrews, Vice-President Wilson, etc., etc.
Having learned the business, he branched out
for himself as a restauranteur, in which he
was successful. Having a fancy for
agriculture, he tried farming for a few
years, but in 1866 abandoned it and New
England for the more congenial climate of
Florida. It was a great day for
Jacksonville, as events prove, when J. R.
Campbell first made it his home; for from
that time to the present he has been a
conspicuous figure in the City's
development. The first thing that struck
him on his arrival was the inadequacy of
hotels at a point which he believed could be
made one of the leading resorts of the
country. He immediately set about to remedy
this condition, and the result was the St.
James Hotel, which, with the aid of some
friends, he erected, and threw open its
doors in January, 1869. It was then, and
for many years thereafter, the largest hotel
in the State, but not what it is today, for
it has been gradually enlarged and improved
to its present magnificent dimensions. (See
cut elsewhere.) With the completion of the
St. James, travel to Florida received a new
impetus, which has steadily grown. Mr.
Campbell was the first to introduce
electricity into Jacksonville, when he
erected a plant in 1883 to light his hotel.
Subsequently he organized a company to
illuminate the City, which was accomplished
in 1888. This was afterwards merged into
the Citizens' Gas and Electric Company. He
was also active in the organization of the
Jacksonville Loan and Improvement Company,
which did much in the development of the
City. In fact, he has been active in all
public enterprises where the advancement of
the City was involved. He is a large land
owner in Florida; at St. James City,
Charlotte Harbor, Marietta, etc. He is a
man of broad and liberal ideas, and is
always on the side of progress; a man that
is of great value to the community in which
he lives. He was married at Chelsea, Mass.,
in April, 1856, to Mary J., daughter of
Captain C. B. Wilder, and has three
children, one daughter and two sons.
pp. 165-166
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Mr. William Ringwood Carter
was born in 1861 on board his father's ship,
then lying in Pensacola Harbor. His father,
Captain William H. Carter, was engaged in
the merchant marine at the time, and on the
breaking out of the war engaged in blockade
running in the interests of the
Confederacy. He removed his family to New
York, meanwhile, where they remained till
the restoration of peace.
In 1867 Captain Carter, in
his ship, the Helen T. Cooper, started on a
voyage around the world, taking his wife and
son with him. They visited several European
countries, doubled the Cape of Good Hope and
passed into the Orient. In Burma, in 1869,
both of young Carter's parents died and he
was left, at the age of eight years, an
orphan in a strange land. He found a
friend, however, in the person of French
gentleman, M. Fontenay, a former friend of
his father, by whom he was adopted and taken
to Calcutta. There he entered La Martiniere
College, where he remained a student for
nine years. He then went to sea, but soon
tiring of that life, he returned once more
to his native land to look after certain
properties which he had inherited. After a
year spent in fruitless law suits to recover
his property, of which he was eventually
defrauded, Mr. Carter, at the age of
nineteen, returned to Florida and located at
Milton, where he taught school for two
years.
In West Florida Mr. Carter
discovered a field for profitable commercial
operations, and with his characteristic
energy went boldly to work to supply a
section of several thousand square miles
with sewing machines. In this he was highly
successful. It was during this period that
he first met Ex-Chief Justice Liddon, with
whom he was frequently associated in
business transactions.
In 1885 Mr. Carter came ot
Jacksonville and entered the field of
journalism, where he has achieved unusual
success. His first work was that of
reporter on the Florida Evening Herald, then
published by John Temple Graes and H. W.
Clark, the present Postmaster of
Jacksonville.
In 1887 the Herald was
sold, and Mr. Carter, in company with Rufus
A. Russell, who had been foreman of the
Hearld, established the Evening Metropolis,
which has been one of the most conspicuous
successes of Southern afternoon papers.
Starting with a capital of $600, they
refused, three years later, an offer of
$30,000 for the plant and business. The
Metropolis is a financial success and
constantly growing in influence.
Mr. Carter has long been a
social leader in Jacksonville. His
courtesy, amiability and gentlemanly
breeding make him a favorite at all social
affairs, and withal he is a wealthy young
bachelor.
p. 161
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Harrison
Wadsworth Clark was born at Jacksonville,
April 16th, 1952. There are many
distinguished names in the various brsnches
of the families from which he is descended,
some of which should here mentioned: His
paternal grand-mother was a daughter of
General Elijah Wadsworth, a Captain of
Cavalry in Sheldon's Regiment of Light
Dragoons, Washington's favorite corps, in
the War of the Revolution. It was three men
of his company who captured Major Andre and
saved West Point. In the war of 1812 he was
Major-General of the Fourth Division of Ohio
troops, and after the ignominous surrender
of General Hull, at Detroit, the command of
the entire North-west territory devolved
upon him. Wadsworth, Ohio, is named for
him. He was in direct descent from William
Wadsworth, the original of that name in this
country, and from whose brother was
descended H. W. Longfellow. It was
William's son, Joseph, who saved the charter
of Connecticut, by secreting it in the
famous Charter Oak. Mr. Clark, through his
father's maternal grand-mother, is descended
from Stephen Hopkins, "signer" and Governor
of Rhode Island, a man of science and great
learning in his day; whose own maternal
grand-mother, Miss Collins, was descended
from Rev. Augustus Collins, of Middletown,
Connecticut, who married Mary, daughter of
Colonel Dixwell, a member of Cromwell's
army, member of Parliament, and one of the
Judges who condemned Charles I. Mr. Clark
is ninth in descent from him. Of Rev.
Augustus Collins' descendants, direct
ancestors of this subject, his son, John,
married Anna Leete, daughter of William
Leete, seven times Governor of Connecticut.
His niece, Lorraine Collins, married
Governor Oliver Wolcott, the "signer," whose
son, Governor Oliver 2d, was in Washington's
Cabinet. Roger Wolcott, late
Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, was
the great-grandson of Lorraine Collins. Two
of Rev. Augustus Collins' nieces married
respectively Governor Ellsworth and Governor
Goodrich. General William B. Franklin and
his brother, the Admiral in the late war,
were also among his descendants, through his
grand-daughter, Aris Collins.
Mr. Clark's mother was a
grand-daughter of Captain Samuel Harrison,
of Virginia, a Royalist officer in the
Revolution. Of four brothers, two were in
the Royalist and two in the Patriot army.
At the close of the Revolution Captain
Harrison went to Yucatan, but afterwards
settled on Amelia Island, in Florida, where
the family resided through two generations.
The Harrisons were English, and dated their
titles from the time of Cromwell. Mrs.
Clark's mother was Henrietta Roux, of
Charleston, S. C., whose ancestor, a
Huguenot, refugeed from France after the
revocation of the edict of Nates. She was
married, in 1851, to Captain Henry E. W.
Clark, of St. Marys, Georgia, father of
Harrison W. This gentleman was a son of
Judge Archibald Clark, a well known lawyer
of Savannah, Georgia. His father came from
England prior to the Revolution, and was an
officer in the Colonial army. H. E. W.
Clark was a soldier and politician. He
removed to St. Marys, Geogia, when a young
man and acquired properties in that State
and in Florida. He served through the
Mexican War as Captain of Company K,
Thirteenth United State Infantry. He also
served many years in the Senate and House of
Representatives of Georgia. He also served
throught [sic] the first Seminole War as
Major, and upon the second outbreak, in
1857, organized a company, but ill health
prevented him from taking the field. He was
a generous, impulsive, and chivalrous
gentleman, and in many ways a most
remarkable man. He died in Jacksonville in
1857.
Young Harrison W. Clark had
a harder struggle than most of his
ancestors, as the war had left the family
almost destitute. He received his early
training from his mother, who, with rare
devotion, watched his growth and instilled
into his youthful mind principles of honor
and morality, which the many vicissitudes of
an active life under many trying conditions
could never eradicte or even weaken.
He was about sixteen years
old when he decided to learn the printer's
trade. He first set type on the Island
City, of Fernandina, and afterwards on the
Observer, of the same place. Later he came
to Jacksonville and worked on the Florida
Courier, a semi-weekly, published by Perry
Brothers. Subsequently he and John D.
Treadwell purchased that paper and made it a
Democratic organ, at that time the only one
in the City.
The strongest paper in the
place was the Union, a Republican journal,
which made a hard fight against the young
men, and eventua,lly crushed them. Business
was dull, money scarce, and so they sold out
and resolved to go to Texas. As he was on
the point of starting west a business man,
who appreciated his pluck and ability, made
him an offer to take charge of his store,
which was so flattering that he accepted it,
and thus was saved to Florida one of the
most useful and worthy men in the State.
Pretty soon, however, he
found himself in journalism again, as
Assistant Business Manager of the Union, and
later as City Editor. It was in this
capacity that he received the first press
dispatches that ever came to Jacksonville.
For a number of years he alternated between
the various journals of this City; some were
successes, and some were failures, but all
of them bore the stamp of his able mind.
He, with Mr. George F.
Cubbedge, established the first afternoon
paper in the State, in 1878, the Evening
Chronicle, which was a success. Finally,
when the fight was on between the Union and
the Times, he was Business Manager of the
Union, and upon the death of Mr. McCallum,
the owner, that paper passed into the hands
of Charles H. Jones, who established the
Times-Union. The brothers Ashmead then
established the Florida Herald, an afternoon
daily, and employed Mr. Clark and John
Temple Graves to conduct it. Mr. Clark was
City Editor and Business Manager. He and
Graves purchased the Herald soon afterwards,
and it became a profitable enterprise.
In 1885 he was appointed by
President Cleveland Postmaster of
Jacksonville. He was the first Democrat to
hold that office for twenty-five years.
This office necessitated his retirement from
active journalism. For four years he filled
the position of Postmaster most acceptably,
and until removed by the succeedig
Republican administration. He then turned
his attention to real estate operations, and
formed a partnership with Mr. A. W. Barrs.
Barrs & Clark made a conspicuous success of
their business from the very start, and
became prominent among the pioneers of
phosphate development, after the discovery
of that valuable deposit in the State. For
a time they gave up everything to phosphate
operations, and at times made a fortune in a
single deal.
When Mr. Cleveland was
elected for the second time to the chief
magistracy, he made an exception to his
established rule, by reappointing Mr. Clark
Postmaster at Jacksonville. He was endorsed
for the position by over one thousand
citizens, including the full Florida
delegation in Congress. Mr. Clark is
President of the Excelsior Phosphate
Company, and Vice-President of the High
Springs Phosphate Company, which is said to
be the best paying one in the State.
His connections with
important business enterprises is
conspicuous. Amongst others he is Secretary
and Treasurer of the Merchants' and
Mechanics' Building and Loan Association;
and holds the same position with the
People's Building and Loan Association; is
Cashier and Treasurer of the Florida
Investment and Savings Bank; member of the
Board of Trade, the Seminole Club, is a
member and Past Master of Solomon Lodge, No.
20, F. & A. M., etc.; etc. His business and
social connections are of the highest, as a
man he bears a character that is without
blemish.
Mr. Clark is a man of a
great deal of public spirit. In business
and in politics he has ever taken the
keenest interest in all things calculated to
advance the interests of the community. A
staunch Democrat, he has attended nearly
every convention of that party for twenty
years, and is recognized as one of its
bulwarks in the State. He was married April
16th, 1869, to Miss Helen H. Telfair. They
have five children: Rene Telfair, Henry E.
W., Anna Mary, Eliza Vipont, and Guy
Stockton.
pp. 169-171
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Very few men
of Mr. Coachman's youth have held so many
positions of prominence in a community as he
does in Jacksonville. He is a man of
business, with a capacity for performing
more labor in a greater number of field than
the majority of men. As local agent for the
Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad, his
duties are such as would deter almost any
other man from undertaking others, but in
addition to this important work, he is a
member of the City Council, a member of the
Duval County Commissioners, and a governor
of the Board of Trade. Few men, therefore,
are so closely identified with so many
interests, political, social and commercial,
of Jacksonville and Duval County, as he, and
in all these bodies he is recognized as a
leader. When he speaks men listen, and his
opinions always carry great weight, for they
are based on common sense and good
judgment. Mr. Coachman is a South
Carolinian, and has not been in Jacksonville
a great many years, but his rise has been
rapid, his undertakings successful, and he
stands to-day as one of the foremost
citizens of the comunity.
p. 185
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Another native Floridian,
who has achieved success by his individual
pluck and native metal, is Charles Wesley Da
Costa. He was born in Jacksonville, in
December, 1858, and as a well known writer
once said of him: "He is a Southern born
gentleman, whose career s a citizen,
journalist, and man of affairs is worthy of
the attention and emulation of every young
man." His father was the late Judge Aaron
W. Da Costa, who was a member of an old
South Carolina family of French-Portuguese
descent. Charles W. Da Cosa received a
common school education in Jacksonville, an
t the age of eighteen learned his trade at
the printer's case. From there he rose by
degrees to be a job printer on his own
account, and by a series of uninterrupted
successes he has risen to the head of one of
the largest, most elaborate and completely
equipped publishing establishments in the
Souther States. It was in 1884 that he
started business for himself in a small
way. The people appreciated him and his
business grew rapidly from two presses to
thirteen, till in 1891 his establishment
comprised nearly all of the second and third
stories of the L'Engle Block. Then came the
great fire that swept it all away and he was
a heavy loser. He was not discouraged,
however, and soon opened up again in his
present handsome and commodious quarters,
which he has rendered very attractive by an
exquisite taste in design and arrangement.
In 1884 he obtained control of the FLorida
Disptch, Farmer & Fruit Grower, which he has
continued to publsh. In 1888 he established
the Florida Trade Journal, which has
continued to be a leading commercial paper.
Since 1892 his business is known as the Da
Costa Printing Company. Besides their own
publications they issue at least sixteen
others, consisting of newspapers, journals,
and periodicals. Book-binding and
blank-book manufacture are also among their
specialties. One of their most artistic
achievements is the style and make of Webb's
Jacksonville Directory, which has been added
to their list of publications. In 1889 Mr.
DaCosta was first elected Public Printer for
the State. Then he bought the Tallahassee
Floridian, the oldest paper in the State,
and during the session of the Legislature
that year ran it successfully as a daily.
In 1891 he was appointed as Alderman of
Jacksonville by Governor Fleming, and in
1893, when the elective system returned, he
was eleced to the same position from his
Ward, and is a member of the important
Committee on Laws and Rules. He is full of
public spirit, progressive, and
enterprising. He holds membership in the
Board of Trade, the Seminole Club, the
Masonic Order, Elks, etc., and is -- a
bachelor.
p. 172
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John Mowray
Des Rochers was born in New York City,
December 29th, 1859. His father was a
prominent dry goods merchant in New York.
The Des Rochers are of French Huguenot
descent, and were prominent personages in
France, the grand-father of this subject
having been a General in the service of the
Emperor Napoleon. On his mother's side he
is descended from those celebrated English
families, the Mowbrays and the Howards,
amongst the former being "Stout Earl
Mowbray," of Shakespearian celebrity. John
M. was educated in New York. His father
died when he was ten years old, and he went
to live with his uncle, Oliver Mowbray, a
retired merchant. At the age of twenty he
came to Florida, settling in Jacksonville.
He shortly afterwards engaged in the
saw-mill and lumber business. In 1883 the
firm of Elliott & Des Rochers was formed to
conduct the same business. This continued
until Mr. Elliott's death in 1888. As a
lumber and ship broker Mr. Des Rochers is
now one of the first in the State. The
mills of Georgia and Florida supply him, and
he ships to all domestic ports, to the West
Indies, and South America. Besides his
Jacksonville office, he has branch offices
in Fernandina, Florida, and Brunswick,
Georgia. He is a member of the Jacksonville
Board of Trade, a Director of the Florida
Fibre Company; of the D. P. Upson Machinery
Company; of the South-Western and the
Atlanta Building and Loan Associations; a
member of the Elks, and on the House
Committee in the Local Club. He was married
in 1882 to Miss Maria E. Hewlett, daughter
of Captain H. C. Hewlett, a gallant officer
in the Confederate Navy. They have three
children: Grace Mowbray, Oliver Hewlett,
and Edward. They have a lovely home in
Riverside, where they dwell in peace,
surrounded by the comforts of a well earned
competence. Personally Mr. Des Rochers is
generous and affable, full of public spirit
and enterprise, and greatly esteemed in the
community.
p. 183
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The Doggetts spring from one of the most
ancient families of Great Britain, where
they were known also as Doget and Daggett.
As early as the twelfth century they were
among the landed gentry resident at Groten,
England, and are traced through all the
succeeding centuries as being prominent in
politics, the military and the arts. The
original immigrant to this country, Thomas
Doggett, came over in the Primrose with John
Winthrop, first Governor of Massachusetts,
and became prominent in Colonial affairs.
John Locke Doggett, grand-father of this
subject, after graduating from Brown
University, removed to Florida from Taunton,
Mass., about the year 1820, and was one of
the first settlers in Jacksonville now
stands. This lady was descended from the
famous Fuller family, the original immigrant
of which came over in the Mayflower. John
L. Doggett became one of the most prominent
men in Florida. He built the first Court
House in Duval COunty on the site of the
present one, and was the first Judge of this
Circuit. He was a member of the Legislature
for years, and President of that body. When
he died in 1844 it was asid of him, "Eminent
in everyr excellence, he lived and died
without an enemy."
John Locke, subject of this sketch, was
born in Jacksonville, March 14th, 1868. His
father was Jude Aristides Doggett, son of
Judge John L. As soldier, jurist and judge
he wa distinguished for his ability and
integrity. The mother of Mr. Doggett, Anna
T. Cleland, born on the isle of Jamaica, W.
I., was allied by blood to many
distiinguished families, being a
grand-daughter of Colonel Turnbull, the
original settler of New Smyrna, and a
distinguished pioneer in Florida, and a
grand-niece of John Marshall, first Chief
Justice of the United States. Mr. Doggett
was early placed at school in the Convent of
St. Joseph, in Jacksonville; afterwards he
attended the Florida Military Institute, and
subsequently the East Florida Seminary, at
Gainesville. In 1884 he entered the
University of the South, at Sewanee, Tenn.,
where after three years he graduated. He
continued his course of law-reading in his
father's office, and in 1889 was appointed
Clerk of the Criminal Court for Duval
County. He was re-elected in 1890 and
1892. In the meanwhile he was admitted to
the bar, and has steadily increased his
practice. In 1889 he was elected Captain of
the Jacksonville Light Infantry, and made an
able officer. At an inter-State drill at
Jacksonville, in 1889, in which the military
of several States participated, he was
presented with a handsome jewel-hilted sword
in a competition for the most popular
officer. He was married June 10th, 1890, to
Miss Carrie M. Van Deman, of this City.
They have two children, Carita and John
Locke, Jr. Though only twenty-six years of
age, Mr. Doggett has made a record of which
he may be justly proud, and the future opens
brightly before him.
p. 152
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William J. Driscoll was
born at the village of Cold Spring, New
York, just opposite West Point, August 18th,
1867. His parents were residents of
Charleston, South Carolina, but at the time
of his birth his mother was on a visit to
Cold Spring. His father, John J. Driscoll,
was a graduate of West Point, and was First
Lieutenant, First Regiment of Artillery,
United States Army.
Young Driscoll received his
education in Charleston, and at an early age
entered the counting house of Hon. W. A.
Courteney, where he remained for six years,
and received an excellent business
training. Mr. Courteney was Superintendent
of the Clyde Steamship Line, in Charleston,
and upon his resignation from that position,
Mr. Driscoll went out also. He was
appointed, under the Cleveland
administration, to a position in the railway
mail service, and continued in the
department all through the Harrison
administration, and became a route agent in
the service. Under Cleveland's second
administration, he was appointed, in 1891,
Superintendent of Mails at Jacksonville,
which position he still holds, and is a most
efficient and obliging official.
Mr. Driscoll was always
fond of the "pomp and circumstance" of a
military career, and when he was quite a
lad, he joined the Palmetto Guards, Company
E, of Charleston. From a private, he passed
through all the grades, and was elected
Second Lieutenant, in 1892. He resigned
from the Guards when he left Charleston, and
had a brief respite from militia duty. In
1894, however, upon joining the Jacksonville
Light Infantry, Company A, First Battalion,
Florid State Troops, he was elected Captain
of the Company, and still holds the
commission as such. Since his election to
the Captaincy, the Company has increased its
muster roll very considerably, and has
gained much in proficiency. Captain
Driscoll is an excellent officer, being a
thorough tactician, and a strict
disciplinarian. Under his command the
Jacksonville Light Infantry has come to be
one of the crack companies of the State. It
is about forty strong. Captain Driscoll was
married, April 22d, 1891, to Miss Fannie
Flynn, of Charleston. They have one son,
Courteney Driscoll, who is an honorary and
star member of the Jacksonville Light
Infantry.
pp. 181-182
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Francis P. Fleming,
soldier, statesman and jurist, was born in
Duval County, Florida, September 28th,
1841. Son of Colonel Lewis Fleming and his
second wife Margaret Seton, both of whom
were natives of Florida. He was educated
principally by private tutors and was always
a close student.
In May, 1861, at the age of nineteen, he
enlisted in the company of Captain John W.
Starke, which was organized at Palatka, and
which was one of the companies composing the
Second Florida Infantry. The Regiment was
mustered into the Confederate service and
seny forward to Virginia in July, 1861. He
seved as a private in this company and
regiment in the armies, respectively of
Magruder, at Yorktown, and of Johnston and
Lee. Afterwards he was made
Quartermaster-Sergeant of the Regiment,
retaining the position till August, 1863.
He was then commissioned First Lieutenant of
Company D., First Florida Cavalry,
dismounted, Army of Tennessee. In this
command he served with distinction in the
armies of Johnston and Hood in North
Georgia, and throughout the entire war
acquitted himself as a faithful soldier and
gallant officer.
After the war he returned to
Jacksonville and read law in the office of
E. M. L'Engel, Esq., and in May, 1868, was
admited to practice. From that time onward
his course was steadily upward. In 1873 he
became a member of the celebrated law firm
of Fleming & Daniel, probably the stronest
ever known in Florida. He continued with
this firm until its dissolution in 1888,
caused by the death of the two senior
members, Colonels Louis I. Fleming and J. J.
Daniel. In the meanwhile he had received
the Democratic nomination for Governor at
the St. Augustine convention in May, 1888.
The campaign that fall was made under the
most trying conditions, owing to the
presence of yellow fever in many parts of
the State. He was elected by a lare
majority in November, and was duly
inaugurated January 8th, 1889. He held this
high office for four years, and on his
retirement in January, 1893, returned to the
practice of law in Jacksonville. No man
ever retired from office with a purer record
than Governor Fleming. In every act of his
life, both public and private, he has been
governed by ight, reason, and justice, and
his bitterest political opponent could never
accuse him of being influenced by other than
the purest motives. As a lawyer Governor
Fleming stands at the head of his
profession, and while, during his occupancy
of the gubernatorial chair, his clientage
naturally drived from him, he has, since his
resumption of practice, re-established
himself more firmly than ever with the
people.
He was married on May 23d, 1871, to Miss
Floride Lydia Pearson. Their children are
Francis P., Jr., his partner in the law
practice, Charles Seton, and Elizabeth L.
p. 151
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Duncan U.
Fletcher, mayor of Jacksonville, was born in
Pike County, Georgia, January 6th, 1859. He
graduated from Vanderbilt University, at
Nashville, Tenn., in the class of 1880, and
coming to Jacksonville in the following
year, entered at once upon the practice of
law, in which he has been very successful.
At present he is the senior partner of the
firm of Fletcher & Wurts, which stands very
high in Florida. As long ago as 1885 he was
a member of the City Council, and has been
in the City government almsot
uninterruptedly since then. For two
consecutive terms he was President of the
Council. He is an exceptionally good
campaign orator, and a fine all round
speaker, which qualifications make him
grently in demand on all public occaions.
He was elected to the
Legislture in 1892, and while there rendered
most valuable services to his City and
State. He was chiefly instrumental in
having enacted the new City charter of 1893,
which restored the elective franchise to the
people, and embraced all the best features
of the Australian Ballot Law. It also
authoried the issue of $1,000,000 in City
bonds for public improvements, which have
since been going on. He also had enacted
Chapter 4300, Laws of Florida, which
provided a more just and equal mode of
levying taxes. This enabled the City to
reach large property interests of
corportions, which hitherto had largely
escaped their just taxation. These and
other valuable services have fixed his
popularity on an enduring basis. Aside from
his extensive law practice and political
interests, he has given some time to
industrial enterprises, and is President of
the Florida Fibre Company, interested in the
development of the gret fibre interests of
Florida. As Mayor of Jacksonville, to which
office he was elected in July, 1893, Mr.
Fletcher has been all that could be wished
of a chief executive. Under his
administration the City has prospered and
grown as never before in its history. He is
conservative, progresive, and just, deeply
solicitous of the City's honor and fair
fame, and unfaltering in devotion to the
duties and dignities of his high office. He
was married, in 1883, to Mrs. Anna Louise
Paine, of Jacksonville, and has two
children: Ellen Aeby and Louise Chapin.
pp. 183-184
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Jonathan C. Greeley was
born at Palermo, Waldo County, Maine, July
6th, 1833. His father was an industrious
farmer, but in straitened circumstances, and
the son had not only to work early and after
while attending the district school, but
also to earn the money during vacations with
which to pay his board and tuition at New
Castle Academy. His father was not only
poor, but in debt, and it is indicative of
the character of the son that he devoted his
first earnings, after leaving college, to
paying off a mortgage on his father's farm.
Soon after his graduation, ill health
forcing him to seek a milder climate, he
removed to Florida, where, with renewed
health, he soon took an active part in
public affairs, and was elected to the City
Council of Palatka. During the Civil War,
while outspoken for the Union, he remained a
non-combatant. In 1862-63 he represented
Putnam County in the Legislature, and soon
after, having removed to Duval County, he
was its Treasurer until 1876. In 1873 he
was elected Mayor of Jacksonville, and in
1882 he was elected State Senator. In the
Senate he served with distinguished ability,
his conservative and consistent course
making him warm and valued friends, even in
the ranks of his political opponents. So
strong, indeed, was this element that Mr.
Greeley was induced, in 1884, to become a
candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, but
strong as was his personal following and
general popularity, they failed to break
party lines, and he was defeated. He was
also, in 1886, a candidate for Congress,
which, from the same cause, produced a like
result. He was a member of the
Constitutional Convention of 1885, which
promulgated the present Constitution of
Florida.
In 1874 the Florida Savings
Bank and Real Estate Exchange was organized,
of which he was President for thirteen
years, and until it went out of business.
In 1888 the Land Mortgage Bank, of London,
England, was organized in Jacksonville, with
Greeley, Rollins & Morgan, as resident
agents. It has a capital of $2,500,000. He
is President of the Florida Finance Company,
with a capital of $250,000; President of the
Indian River Pineapple and Cocoanut Grove
Association, which owns vast tracts of land
on the famous Indian River, and in other
parts of the State, including some fine
phosphate property near Dunnelon. Mr.
Greeley, aside from politics, has always
been prominent in public enterprises, and
has ever taken a keen interest in public
affairs. He was one of the original
Trustees of St. Luke's Hospital, of the
Daniel Memorial Orphanage, and also of the
Jacksonville Public Library. When the Board
of Public Works was established, in 188, he
was made the first Chairman. For sevral
years he held the responsible position of
Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue for
Florida. During the epidemic of 1888 he was
First Vice-President of the Board of Trade.
Of some men it is said that
their friends are among the best and most
prominent people. Of Mr. Greeley, it is
remarked that his friends include all
classes, and that he is as ready to lend a
sympathetic ear to the distresses laborer --
white or colored -- as to the highest in the
land.
Mr. Greeley has one fo the
most attractive home in the City, in
Riverside suburb, overlooking the St.
Johns. He was first married, in 1858, to
Lydia, daughter of Judge W. A. Forward, of
Palatka, by whom he had one son. Mother and
son were lost at sea in October, 1865. His
second marriage was to Miss Leonora Keep, of
Lake City, in 1867, who died in April,
1886. He has three children: Allan, who
has just graduated from the University of
Michigan, at Ann Arbor; he was previously
graduated from Yale; Florence, now Mrs. Dr.
James G. DeVeaux, of New York, and Mellen,
aged fourteen, at school in Lawrenceville,
New Jersey. Mr. Greeley comes of a
long-lived family. His mother, who was
Sally Choate, cousin of Rufus Choate, was
buried on her eighty-seventh birthday, while
her brother Rufus was ninety-seven last
March. Some of his grand-parents passed the
century mark.
pp. 180-181
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Was born
January 11th, 1838, at Philadelphia, Pa.
His father, William Harkisheimer, was of
German descent, and his mother, Margaret
Douglass McLean, of Scotch ancestry. He was
the second child of five children; was
educated in the Public Schools of
Philadelphia. At the age o sixteen was
apprenticed to learn the trade of watch-case
making. So thoroughly did he measter this
trade that in his eighteenth year he mar a
watch case that was awarded the first prize
at the exhibition of the Franklin Institute
in Philadelphia. He has carried the watch
ever since and takes much just pride in
showing it to his friends to this day. The
disastrous panic of 1857 almost ruined the
watch case business, so he gave it up, and
took a clerkship in the Philadelphia
Department of Public Highways. The stirring
times which followed the nomination of
Lincoln for the Presidency drew him into
politics, and he took an active part in the
campaign. He was made Secretary of one of
the Executive Committees which had the
management off the campaign that resulted in
the triumph of the Republican candidate.
Then the war came on. At the first call for
volunteers by the President, he was offered
a lieutenantcy by Colonel George P. McLean,
who was raising a regiment, but as he
preferred to win his spurs before wearing
them, he declined and enlisted as a private
soldier, April 21st, 1861. He was
subsequently promoted through all the grades
from Corporal to Major. During this time he
saw much service in the Shenandoah Valley
and in the Army of the Potomac. He was
severely wounded in yhe batytle of
Fredericksburg, December, 1862, and received
honorable mention for gallantry in that
battle.
During his eight years of
military service Major Harkisheimer held
many positions of danger, honor and trust.
As an example: While aide-de-camp on the
staff of General William R. Montgomery, from
October, 1861, to April, 1862, while the
Army of the Potomac was being organized, he,
staioned at Alexandria, Va., was appointed
to the important position of chief officer
to manage and control all traffic and
intercourse with that army. All persons
having business of any kind in the lines of
the Army of the Potomac, all persons
traveling to or from the South, had first to
be examined by him as to the nature of their
business and their loyalty to the
Government, and obtain a pass from him. The
chief part of this consisted of traffic,
tradesmen supplying the army, which amounted
to throusands of dollars every day. Many of
the asses issued by the Major at that time
have been preserved as relics, some of which
have come under his eye quite recently.
After two years service as aide-de-camp and
Assistant Adjutant-General, he was ordered,
in June, 1866, to duty at Columbia, S. C.,
where he remained until his retirement from
the service in 1869. By his humane and
soldierly conduct at this station he won and
still retains many warm friends in his
"hotbed of secession." After his retirement
from the army he returned to Philadelphia,
where he resided for several years, and in
the Spring of 1876 removed to Jacksonville
and engaged in the wholesale and retail
grocery business, where he met with signal
success. His aim was to revolutionize the
business by methods entirely different from
and far superior to those in vogue when he
came; nor in vain. He has always taken a
keen interest in public affairs and is ever
foremost in any movement for the upbuilding
of his adopted City. He has not only never
sought politcal referment but has
persistently declined many offices that have
sought him. Although a Republican, he yet
has the confidence and regard of the
Democratic Council to such a degree that he
was unanimously chosen by that body to
succeed the late Judge Summers as a Police
Commissioner. It was only after much
insistence that he was prevailed upon to
accept the position, and then only because
he regarded it as duty he owed to the
City. He is associated with many public and
private enterprises, to which he gives much
of his time and energy. Chief among these
are the Building and Loan Associations, the
first of which he established in 1884, and
is now President of the Duval Building and
Loan Association. Also President of the
Merchants' Steamship Company of Florida;
Vice-President of the Savings and Trust Bank
of Florida; a director in the National Bnk
of Jacksonville, the National Bank of
Fernandina, the Putnam National Bank of
Palatka, the Seminole, Club, and Director
and Treasurer of the National Peace River
Phosphate Company. He was also one of the
originators of the Jacksonville Board of
Trade. He is a member of the military order
of the Loyal Legion of the United States,
the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union
Veteran Legion, and has been in the Masonic
fraternity for thirty-two years. He was
married in 1868 to Miss Jennie E. Crane,
daughter of Judge W. E. Crane, of Yonkers,
N. Y. Of four children, two survive:
Howard E., and Mattie R. Major Harkisheimer
has done much for Jacksonville, and with his
fine character, his gentle and courtly
manners and kindly disposition, he has
greatly endeared himself to the people of
the community, who hold him in the highest
esteem.
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pp. 153-55
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To be a
member of the Jacksonville City Council, at
the age of twenty-two, and State Attorney at
the age of twenty-four, is surely no mean
distinction; but this is the record of Mr.
A. G. Hartridge, and it has probably never
had its counterpart in the history of
Florida.
Mr. Hartridge was born in
Jacksonville, May 27th, 1869. He is the
youngest son of the late Dr. Theodore
Hartridge, and brother of Hon. John E.
Hartridge. He graduated from the High
School in this City in June, 1886, and
afterwards attended the South Carolina
Military Academy. In 1887 he entered the
law office of his brother, Hon. John E.
Hartridge, where he commenced the study of
law. He was, in December of the same year,
appointed to a United States Deputy
Marshalship, which office he filled for
several months, after which he returned to
the study of law. He was admitted to the
bar in Jacksonville in June, 1890. He then
took a course of law in the University of
Virginia, returning to Jacksonville in the
autumn to begin the practice of his
profession In June, 1891, Mr. Hartridge was
appointed assistant to Hon. R. M. Call,
County Solicitor for Duval County, which
position he filled creditably. The same
year he became a member of the Jacksonville
Aldermanic Board, where he distinguished
himself as a ready speaker and a keen
debater. Early in 1893 he was appointed
State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial
Circuit of Florida, which position he still
holds. On his return from the military
academy at Charleston, he joined the local
militia and was made Lieutenant in the
Jacksonville Light Infantry, and afterwards
promoted to Adjutant of the First Florida
Battalion. He resigned on his appointment
as State Attorney. For one who has held so
many positions of trust and distinction in a
career so brief, it is easy to predict a
brilliant future. A gentleman of sterling
honor that is thrust upon his serves but to
stimulate him to a fuller discharge of his
duties, and nerve him for newer and greater
achievements.
p. 177
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John Earle
Hartridge was born in Madison County,
Florida, in 1851. His father was the lage
Doctor Theodore Hartridge, a native of
Savannah, Georgia. Of him it has been
said: "Doctor Hartridge was a man of noble
and generous impulses, and broad and
boundless benevolence. To him the burdened
hearat could pour out its sorrows, and
distress prefer its suit, and many, very
many, of the poor and distressed of earth
have been made to rejoice because of timely
assistance received at his hands. He was
held in the highest estimation by all
classes of the peoole, and of him it can be
truly said that every place wa made better
by his presence, as he invariably commanded
the most profound respect and inspirted
unabounded confidence." Mr. Hartridge's
mother was Miss Susan Livingston, of South
Carolina, who still survives -- a woman of
rare Christian virtues, and just the mother
to bring up owrth sons to useful
citizenship. Doctor and Mrs. Hartridge
moved to Jacksonville when their son was a
child, and this City has been his home
since, save during the Civil War. He
entered the University of Georgia, and won
the sophomore medal in 1871, and graduated
as anniversarian in 1873, that being the
highest literary honor in the literary
societies.
He has continuously
practiced law in the City of Jacksonville
since his admission to the bar.
He was elected to the State
Senate on the Democratic ticket in October,
1894. He has canvassed the State in behalf
of the Democratic Party in every campaign
since the Tilden campaign of 1876-76.
During the dark days in
Florida, when political feeling ran high,
and the people were being arrested all over
the State, and being brought to Jacksonville
for trial in the United States Court, Mr.
Hartridge defended them without reward, or
the hope thereof, and his father, whose
acquaintance was large in the State, was
invariably the bondsman of all Democrats
arrested for political offenses.
In 1888 Mr. Hartridge was
appointed by President Cleveland United
States Judge for the Northern District of
Florida, to fill the vacancy caused by the
death of Hon. Thomas Settle. Republicans
being in the majority in the Senate, and Mr.
Harrison having been elected to succeed Mr.
Cleveland at the time of Mr. Hartridge's
nomination, he was refused confirmation.
The appointment wa subsequently given to
Charles Swayne, of Pennsylvania, who had
lived in FLorida only a short time. He has
served Jacksonville as City Attorney, and
was appointed Commissioner to the Paris
Exposition, but did not attend. Mr.
Hartridge is an orator of great force and
eloquence, which has been used with powerful
effect on his auditors, whether in Court, on
the hustings, or in the Senate Chamber. He
was married in September, 1880, to Miss
Susan Fatio L'Engle, yougest daughter of F.
F. and Charlotte J. L'Engle, of
Jacksonville. They have four sons: Julian,
John Earle, L'Engle and Theodore. Their
residence in Riverside, recently completed,
is one of the handsomest in the City.
pp. 175-176
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It may be stated without
fear of successful contradiction that no
City in the United States of the size of
Jacksonville can quite equal this City in
the excellence of its daily journals. They
give all the news, both local and
telegraphic, and in this respect they cover
the news fields as thoroughly as the
metropolitan "blanket sheets," with the
advantage of greater abridgement [sic],
which is more satisfactory to the busy man.
Jacksonville has five daily, ten weekly, and
six monthly papers, of which the oldest and
most widely known is the
FLORIDA TIMES-UNION.
When, in February,
1883, Mr. Charles H. Jones, now
proprietor of the St. Louis Post,
consolidated the Times and the
Union, the two leading dailies of
Jacksonville, he laid the foundation
for one of the greatest journals in
the South, which the Times-Union has
since become. Five years later Mr.
Jones sold his paper to the Florida
Publishing Company, at that time
owner and publisher of the
News-Herald. This company was
composed of leading citizens of
Jacksonville, of whom Mr. T. T.
Stockton as the central figure. On
purchasing the Times-Union, the
publication of the News-Herald was
abandoned. The company, backed by
ample capital, immediately began
such improvements in the paper as
were necessary to bring it up to the
standard of other first-class
journals and make it the leading
daily of the State. Their efforts
were seconded by the public in such
a manner and their service improved
to such an extent that in a few
years the Times-Union came to be one
of the best known and widely
circulated papers in the South. It
is an eight-page, six column paper,
issued every day in the year, with a
Sunday edition of twelve pages. The
Times-Union has the exclusive
Southern Associated Press, United
Press, New York Associated Press,
New England Associated Press, and
splendid cable service from all
parts of the world. During the
yellow fever period of 1888, the
management, with commendable
enterprise and magnificent courage,
issued their paper every day, giving
to an anxious world the daily record
of events in a stricken city and the
details of life and death among a
suffering and imprisoned people.
During this period the Times-Union
gained a reputation world-wide, and
its readers were increased by
thousands. In keeping with its line
of policy to keep abreast the times
in all improvements affecting modern
journalism, the Times-Union has
recently added to its splendid
equipment the type-setting machines
which have so revolutionized
printing. Six of these machines are
now in use by the paper, and in this
respect it is the equal of any
metropolitan journal. Telegraphic
wires run direct to the office,
making connection with every country
on earth, and every facility is
afforded for giving the news of the
world each day.
The Evening
Times-Union is issued under the same
management as the Times-Union. It
is a four-page paper put up in
convenient form, and containing all
the telegraphic as well as the local
news.
In the selection of
his staff Mr. Stockton has displayed
his usual keen business judgment,
and has surrounded himself with a
corps of assistants able and
reliable. Mr. A. S. Hough, the
chief editorial writer, is a
Georgian, a graduate of the best
Colleges of that State, and at one
time a professor in the University
at Oxford. He is a scholar and
statistician of exceptional
attainments, and a fluent and able
writer. Mr. Hamilton Jay, the
Florida Poet, is editor of the
Evening Times-Union, and a man of
conspicuous ability. His poems have
become celebrated, and are copied
all over the United States, where
they are eagerly read by his
admirers. Mr. H. G. Myrover, also
on the editorial staff, has had
thorough training in journalism, and
his natural ability, coupled with
his extensive travels abroad and at
home, have eminently qualified him
for the elevated position he
occupies. The City department is in
charge of Mr. W. T. Bauskett, who,
assisted by a corps of able
reporters, serves up the City news
in a most readable shape, that
covers the local field thoroughly.
The Times-Union also publishes a
weekly edition.
THE FLORIDA CITIZEN.
The Florida
Citizen is the youngest
daily in Jacksonville, but
it was born a giant. It was
established in December,
1893, by Mr. Lorettus S.
Metcalf, the veteran New
York journalist. It is an
eight-page, six-column
daily, with a four-page
Sunday supplement. It has a
thorough telegraphic and
cable news service, covering
the entire world. Mr.
Metcalf is one of the most
widely known journalists in
America. For nine years he
was business manager of the
North American Review, for
five years of which he was
also its editor. He founded
the Forum, and edited and
managed that spendid [sic]
publication for five years,
until his voluntary
retirement in 1891. Under
his excellent management the
Citizen became a leading
journal from its first
issue, and has shown a rapid
growth ever since, in both
business and influence. The
managing editor of the
Citizen is Mr. Henry George,
Jr., a son of the celebrated
Henry George, of New York.
His wide experience in his
chosen profession, and his
natural and acquired ability
make of him a thorough and
finished journalist. He is
assisted in the editorial
department by Mr. E. E.
Roberts, an able and
attractive writer. The City
editor is Mr. A. N. Adams,
who worked his way up from
the ranks. He is a shrewd
newsgatherer and a clever
writer, and covers the local
field with admirable
ability, in which he is ably
assisted by a full corps of
reporters. The Citizen also
has a weekly edition.
THE
METROPOLIS.
The
Metropolis has been
one of the most
conspicuous
successes among
Southern afternoon
papers. It is a
tea-table visitor to
nearly every home in
Jacksonville, and
makes a special
feature of local
news, society
events, rail and
river items, etc.
The Metropolis was
founded in 1887, by
W. R. Carter and R.
A. Russell, both of
whom had served
their time in
newspaper work. The
Metropolis was the
first afternoon
paper to start the
ten cents per week
subscription rates,
and coming, as it
did, after the
suspension of the
Herald, it appeared
at an auspicious
moment, and was a
success from the
very start. It is
ably conducted and
well patronized,
both in the
subscription and
advertising
departments. Mr. W.
R. Carter is editor;
Mr. Rufus A. Russell
business manager;
and Mr. William
Wallace Douglass
City editor. They
constitute an able
corps of newspaper
men, thoroughly
representative of
Jacksonville and her
varied interests.
Of
the weekly papers,
the Journal of
Commerce is one of
the leaders. It is
a twenty-four-page
illustrated trade
paper, established
in 1892, and has
been very
successful. Mr. J.
W. White, editor and
proprietor, is a
wide-awake and
energetic man of
business. The
Chicago National
Printer Journalist,
of July, 1894, says
of him: "J. W.
White, editor and
proprietor of the
Jacksonville (Fla.)
Journal of Commerce,
can claim the honor
of publishing one of
the best commercial
papers in the
Union. Mr. White is
active, thorough,
and capable, and has
made his pubication
a big success from
the start. His
paper has a large
circulation among
the business men of
Florida, who hold it
in the highest
esteem. He has
traveled all over
the United States,
British America, and
the West Indies,
advertising Florida,
and has published a
large number of
books, showing the
advantages which
Florida offers to
the home-seeker."
Mr. White as one of
the founders of the
National Good Roads
Association of the
United States, and
he is one of the
vice-presidets of
the Association at
the present time.
He is also a general
organizer of the
American Federation
of Labor, and a
member of the
National Editorial
Association. In Odd
Fellowship, Knights
of Pythias, and
other organizations,
he has taken an
active part. He is
a member of the
Jacksonville Board
of Trade, and much
interested in all
matters pertaining
to the growth and
development of the
City and State.
Other publications
are the Grove and
Garden, monthly, and
the Southern
Tourist, weekly, by
Frank & Wagstaff;
Echoes of the South,
an illustrated
literary and
intellectual
journal, by the
Misses Essie and
Bessie Williams; the
Free Lance, a
temperance organ, by
K. D. Chandler; the
Advocate of Common
Sense, by August
Buesing; several
papers by colored
people and sundry
other periodicals.
There are several
professional
journalists and
special
correspondents in
Jacksonville, not
especially
identified with the
local press, but who
stand high in their
profession. Of
these Mr. Solon A.
Adams was for many
years editor of a
number of country
journals, and was
for quite a while
City editor of the
Florida Citizen. He
is special
correspondent for a
number of outside
dailies, besides
doing special
newspaper work in
other fields. Mr.
Adams is the proud
father of that
wonderful boy,
George N. Adams, who
has been winning all
the Southern bicycle
championships.
F. W. HAWTHORNE.
Mr. Frank W.
Hawthorne is
one of the
best known
of Southern
newspaper
men. He is
from Maine,
a graduate
of Bowdoin
College, a
learned
scholar and
an able
writer. He
came to
Florida in
1885, and
early in the
next year,
in company
with the
late John P.
Varnum,
established
the
Jacksonville
Morning
News, of
which he
became
business
manager. In
May, 1887,
the Morning
News was
consolidated
with the
Daily
Herald, and
Mr.
Hawthorne
became
associate
editor of
the
News-Herald.
One year
later this
Company
purchased
the
Times-Union,
and Mr.
Hawthorne
accepted a
similar
position on
it. During
the terrible
scourge of
1888, it was
Mr.
Hawthorne,
who, with
splendid
heroism,
nailed the
Times-Union
colors to
the mast,
and held
them there
throughout
that entire
trying
period. He
retired from
the
Times-Union
in 1894, and
since then
has devoted
his time to
special
magazine and
newspaper
work.
Brown, S. Paul
The book of Jacksonville: a
history
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: A.V. Haight,
printer and bookbinder, 1895, pp.
127-130
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Raymond Demere Knight was
born at White Springs, Hamilton County,
Florida, November 11th, 1857. He is a son
of the late Doctor Albion W. and Caroline
(Demere) Knight. His father was, for twelve
years, Health Officer of Jacksonville, and
one of the most widely known physicians in
the South. On completing his education, in
1879, Mr. Knight, in company with F. W.
Mumby and J. N. C. Stockton, established a
house furnishing and crockery store, under
the firm name of F. W. Mumby & Co. In 1881
the style of the firm was changed to Mumby,
Stockton & Knight. This firm continued,
with steay increase of business, till 1889,
when Mr. Mumby withdrew, and Raymond D.
Knight & Co. succeeded. At the beginning of
1893 the Raymond D. Knight Company was
incorporated, with Mr. Knight as President
and Manager. Meanwhile this house, in
common with many others in Jacksonville, was
destroyed, with its contents, by fire in
1891. Their losses were very heavy, but
they immediately rebuilt, the handsome
three-story brick building they now occupy
being the result. Their business, wholesale
and retail, has come to be the most
extensive, in its lines, of any in Florida,
the wholesale trade reaching over the entire
State, and covering Southern Georgia as
well. Every kind of goods comprised in
crockery and house furnishings are handled
by them, with superior facilities for
delivering them at conservative prices.
In 1889 Mr. Knight was
appointed Alderman from his ward by Governor
Fleming, under the old Charter, but after
two years service resigned. Upon the
adoption of the new Charter of 1893 he was
elected to the Council by a large majority,
and became at once a leader in the Council
Chamber. He was made chairman of the
Committee on Officers and a member of the
Committes on Finance and Sanitation, and a
member of the City Board of Health. In the
Council he has been a fearless and active
worker, always on the alert for the City's
interests, and never missing a meeting. In
addition to his other business Mr. Knight is
Vice-President and Director of the National
Bank of the State of Florida; President and
Director of the Citizens' Investment
Company; Second Vice-President and Director
Jacksonville Loan and Improvement Company;
Director Florida Investment and Savings
Bank; Director in the High Springs Phosphate
Company; Treasurer of the Trustees of the
University of the South, located at
Sewannee, Tennessee, and Treasurer of St.
John's Parish and of the Diocese of
Florida. He was also for some years a
member of the standing committee of the
Diocese of Florida, and a Vestryman in St.
John's Church, Jacksonville. As a business
man Mr. Knight is able and successful; as a
public official, faithful and efficient, and
as a christian, earnest and consistent.
Mr. Knight was married in
November, 1882, to Miss Kate Varina
Telfair. They have three children, all boys
-- Raymond D., Jr., Telfair, and Albion W.
Knight.
pp. 161-162
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"The man for various arts
renowned,
Long exercised in toil, O muse
resound!"
Charles
Ondis Livingston is possessed of a peculiar
genius in eing a mater of more arts and
trades than most men, and in exercising them
always to advantage. It is said of him that
he can drawn the plans of a structure, erect
a house, make a buggy, or a shoe for man or
beast; plough a field, plumb a house,
manufcture a harness, congeal water for
commercial and domestic purposes, double the
value of property by the mere act of buying
it, shoe a horse, or preach a sermon, all
with equal facility. Most men, to undertake
so much, would be a failure in all, but
strange to say, he has been successful in
all. Mr. Livingston was born in
Contookville, New Hampshire, December 10th,
1841, eldest child of Ondis Livingston, a
native of Scotland, and Christena
Livingston, a native of Sweden. His parents
were married in the Province of Quebec,
Canada, and soon afterward moved to New
Hampshire, where they engaged in farming.
At an early age the son was obliged to go to
work to help support the family. His school
education was confined to two winter terms
at a country school of the most primitive
kind. He supplemented this by having an
open spelling-book beside him on the bench,
while he pegged shoes during the seasons of
ice and snow, being his own teacher, and
studying under difficulties so great that
most lads of his age would have given up all
attempts at an education. Afterwards he
learned the wheewright's trade at
Manchester, New Hampshire. In three years'
time he became a thorough mechanic, and on
leaving his employer, traveled as a
journeyman. Of his war record Mr.
Livingston is justly proud, for he served
his country faithfully throughout the
struggle. At the breaking out of
hostilities he enlisted at Nashua, New
Hampshire, and was sent immediately to
Washington to help defend the Capital.
Later he joined the Quartermaster's
Department and accompanied Sherman's
Expedition to Port Royal, South Carolina,
and was at the capture of that port and of
Beaufort. At Port Royal Ferry, while in
charge of the wagon trains, he ran into a
masked battery and was slightly wounded.
Subseuqently he became attached to the Army
of the James. He was attached successively
to the Tenth Connecticut, Twenty-fourth
Massachusetts, and the Tenth Army Corps,
with which he saw service in South Carolina,
Georgia, Florida and Virginia. He helped to
dig the Dutch Gap Canal before Richmond, and
was at Bermuda Hundred and Yorktown. At the
close of the war he received an honorable
discharge, and came to Jacksonville to grow
up with the town. He has been conspicuously
successful here, and it is said of him that
he has built more houses than any man in the
City, outside of contractors, and the City
has to hustle to keep pace in its growth,
with his own. He is the oldest furniture
man in the State, having entered the
business in 1869. It is also stated that he
was the first man to manufacture ice in
Florida. But his fortune was made chiefly
in the furniture business and in real estate
operations. He also derives handsome
revenues from rents of houses and business
blocks, of which he owns nearly fifty in
this City, and a number at other points.
From 1872 to 1879 he operated a line of
schooners between Boston and Jacksonville,
and also three steamers on the St. Johns
River. He is a Maason, a Trustee of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and a warm
supporter of all charities, irrespective of
creed or race. He had a steeple erected on
his church, and a bell placed in it; and has
done many other charities. He was twice
married. The first time, in September,
1885, to Roxine Arey, of Woodsville, New
Hampshire, and a second time to Martha
Johnson, daughter of C. B. Johnson, Esq. of
Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The latter
marriage took place at the World's Fair in
Chicago, September 19th, 1893. Mr.
Livingston has two remedies in every case to
beat bad luck; industry and economy; if they
do not succeed it is because they are not
properly applied. By their applications he
has achieved the great success in life he
now enjoys.
pp. 174-175
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Lewis Henry
Mattair is a native of Lake City, Florida,
where he was born January 29th, 1868. He
was a son of Lewis H., a prominent merchant
of Lake City, who conducted a business
extending over the entire State. The family
are of French Huguenot descent, but have
lived in Florida for many years. After
attending the Jacksonville schools, Mr.
Mattair was sent, at the age of fourteen, to
Dr. Porter's School, in Charleston, S. C.,
which was then known as the Holy Church
Collegiate Institute. He remained in this
institution till he was seventeen, when he
entered the University of the South, at
Sewannee, Tenn. He was graduated from there
in 1889, at the age of twenty-one, with the
degree of C. E. Returning to Jacksonville,
he entered actively upon his profession of
civil engineeringin the Government service
in Florida waters. He also aided in the
construction of railways, canals, and other
engineering work, and wa one of the
engineers employed on the St. Johns River
improvement, after Duval County had voted
$300,000 for that purpose. He received the
appointment of City Engineer for
Jacksonville in 1894, and still fills that
position with great credit, and to the
entire satisfaction of hte public. Sewannee
is a military school, hence his military
training began at a very early age, and it
was thorough. After his return to
Jacksonville, he joined the Jacksonville
Light Infantry as a private. While he was
away attending an encampment of this
Company, he was elected Captain of the
Metropolitan Light Infantry, of
Jacksonville, which is Company C, First
Battalion, F. S. T. He had a complete
reorganization of the Metropolitan Light
Infantry, and by his excellent discipline
and admirable soldiership he has brought the
company up to a high standard of proficiency
that is second to none in the State. It
musters forty men, rank and file. Captain
Mattair was married December 6th, 1893, to
Miss Mary Eagan, daughter of Honorable
Dennis Eagan, of Jacksonville. They have
one child, Lewis H. Mattair, Jr.
pp. 182-183
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Patrick E. McMurray was
born in Ireland in 1841, and emigrated to
the United States at an early age. He
settled in New Haven, Connecticut, where he
learned the carriage making trade. At the
breaking out of the late Civil War he
enlisted in the Ninth Connecticut
Volunteers, and served for three years,
being honorably discharged at Hartford,
Connecticut, in 1864, where he again took up
his trade; but following the general advice
of Horace Greeley, in 1867 he went to
California, where he still pursued his
business as a carriage maker.
In 1874, when the wonderful
resources of Florida were attracting
attention all over the States, he came and
settled in Jacksonville, where, in company
with his brother, he started a carriage
factory under the firm name of McMurray &
Company.
Taking an active interest
in the public affairs of his adopted City,
he was elected City Marshal in 1877, and
served for the period of one year, when his
rapidly increasing business interests caused
him to resign, though they still claimed his
ctive atention; his fellow citizens elected
him a member of the Board of Aldermen in
1880, and again in 1881. Recognizing his
worth, he was member of the Board of
Aldermen in 1880, and again in 1881.
Recognizing his worth, he was elected by an
overwhelming majoirty to the State Senate,
where he distinguished himself by his
eloquence and methodical business manner.
He succeeded, against a powerful opposition,
in placing upon the statute book some of the
most beneficient and liberal measures,
especially the mechanics' lien law, and the
late charter of the City of Jacksonville,
that grace the statutes of Florida.
During the terrible
epidemic of yellow fever in 188, whose
devastations have become historic, he
gallantly served as one of the members of
the Sanitary Auxiliary Association, which
managed the affairs of the City during those
trying times and dark days. His name, with
that of his brother members, have been
recorded in a nihe in the history of his
adopted City and State, so that it can ever
be before the eyes of future generations.
The services so eminently rendered at this
period no doubt greatly influenced Presidnt
Harrison, when he selected and appointed him
Postmaster of the City of Jacksonville.
Eminently qualified by his past public
service for the position, his mode of
conducting the office has brought forth the
highest encomiums and praise, even from his
political enemies. When the terrible fire
of 1891 completely wiped the Post Officr
Block out of existence, the public press and
merchants of the City spoke in the highest
terms of his speedy reorganization of his
forces, never losing a single delivery of
his mails.
In 1891 the present firm of
P. E. McMurray & Baker was established, Mr.
Will Baker, of Atlanta, being the junior
member. The great fire the same year
destroyed the establishment, but Mr.
McMurray immediately built the present large
business block on the site of the old one.
The firm manufactures every class of ehicle,
from an ordinary dray to the largest wagons
and carriages. Their business extends all
over Florida and Southern Georgia. They
carry also a full line of buggies, and the
various makes of carriages, harness, etc.
Mr. McMurray stands high in
church and club circles, and is a prominent
leader in business affairs. He is a
director in the Savings and Trust Bank of
Florida, and in the Peace River Phosphate
Company, and is a member of the Board of
Trade. He was twice elected Commander of O.
M. Mitchell Post, G. A. R., and is now
Commander of the Department of Florida. He
is a safe and conservative business man, and
possesses the esteem of the community in a
marked degree.
pp. 157-158
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Alexander R. Merrill,
brother of the former [J. E. Merrill], is
also a Charlestonian, and was born May 12th,
1861. He didn't do any work on Confederate
gun-boats, unlike his brother, but he early
contracted a habit for making boilers and
doing general blacksmith work, and soon
became a master. As already stated, he
formed a partnership with J. E. Merrill, in
1880, and when the Merrill-Stevens Company
was chartered he was its Secretary, and
Superintendent of the boiler-making
department. The history of this company is
recorded in thechapter on manufacturers. Mr.
Merrill is a member of the Elks Club,
Knights of Pythias, and Marine Engineers.
He is Royal Arch Mason, a Mystic Shriner,
and also a Master Engineer. He was married
in 1884 to Miss Eloise J. DeMedecis, of St.
Augustine.
p. 173
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James Eugene
Merrill is a native of South Carolina. He
was born at Charleston, February 8th, 1855.
His parents removed to Florida in 1866,
settling in Jacksonville, where the young
man received his education. At an early age
he learned blacksmithing, under his father,
James G. Merrill. His first work of this
kind was on the Confederate gunboat Pedee.
He remained with his father until he was
twenty years of age, when he started an
establishment of his own. This was in 1875;
and upon the retirement of his father from
business, four years later, he and his
brother, A. R. Merrill, formed a partnership
under the firm name of J. E. Merrill &
Brother. The firm conducted an extensive
boiler-making business, in addition to their
general blacksmithing, and ubilt up a
flourishing business. This continued until
1887, when the Merrll-Stevens Engineering
Company was incorporated, and began business
upon a greatly enlarged scale. He was made
Treasurer, and Superintendent of the
Blacksmithing Department. Mr. Merrill is a
member of the Board of Trade, and of the
Masonic Fraternity. He is President of the
Woodlawn Club. He was for a term Captain of
hte local Harbor Number 24. Masters' and
Pilots' Assocition, and holds papers as
Master, Pilot, and Engineer. He is a
skilled workman, and an all-around actie man
of businrss, always ready to aid in public
enterprises. He was married in 1880 to Miss
Perley Small, of Jacksonville. They have
two sons: James Campbell and Kenneth
Alexander, and one daughter, Helen Joanna.
p. 173
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Lorrettus
Sutton Metcalf was born in Monmouth,
Kennebec County, Maine, October 17th, 1837.
He is descended from the Beare Park and
Nappa Hall branch of the English family of
Metcalf, of Norfolk County. The first
representative of the family in this country
was Michael Metcalf, of Norwich, England, a
Puritan, who, being driven from his home by
ecclesiastical persecution, sailed from
Yarmouth with his wife and family on April
15th, 1637, arrived in Boston on June 17th,
and settled at Dedham, Massachusetts.
The father of the subject
of this sketch, Mason Jerome Metcalf, owned
a manufacturing business in Boston, and mill
property in Maine, and the son passed his
boyhood between city and country. He was
fitted for college in the schools of Boston
and Monmouth, but instead of entering on a
collegiate course, continued with private
tutors the study of branches in the line of
his taste. He subsequently received the
degree of M. A. from Bates' College,
Lewiston, Maine, and of LL. D. from Iowa
College. Mr. Metcalf has always been a
diligent reader, and early showed a taste
for literary pursuit. When a young man he
contributed quite largely, on a variety of
subjcts, to a coniderable number of
newspapers, including the Commonwealth, the
Boston Journal, the Congegationalist, the
Boston Traveler, and Zion's Herald.
Subsequently he edited a local weekly paper,
published in the vicinity of Boston, and
then he became the proprietor and editor of
five such papers. When the North American
Review was purchased by A. T. Rice, and
removed to New York, Mr. Metcalf became its
Business Manager. He continued in that
position for nine years, and during the last
five he also perfomed the editorial duties
of the publication.
In March, 1886, he issued
the first number of the Forum, and for two
years thereafter he again did double duty,
acting both as Editor and Business Manager.
Then he confined his attention to the
editorial work exclusively for three years,
retiring in 1891.
Mr. Metcalf is an untiring
worker, and attributes to this quality such
measure of success as has followed his
efforts. While engaged on his newsppers in
Massachusett he was accustomed ordinarily to
give as much sixteen hours a day to labor,
and during his conection with the North
American Review the usual length of his
working day wa fourteen or fifteen hours.
He is very methodical in his habits, and of
unerring memory in regard to business
engagements. The routine editorial work of
the North American Review and the Forum was
conducted by him with such system that it
moved with the precision of clock-work.
Though religious in his tendencies of mind,
he has a strong dislike to dogma; and in
social matters he is very democratic, having
little respect for the claims of wealth and
position, and conceiving that character and
mental ability are the only things of real
value.
Mr. Metcalf is naturally a
lover of adventure, and in his earlier days
devoted all of his spare hours to wild
sports, such as hunting, yachting, and
mountain climbing. He has been thoroughly
over the United States and Canada, has made
several trips to Europe, and has met most of
the men that have been prominent in public
affairs during the past twenty-five years.
He is a member of the Century Club and of
the Author's Club, of New York, and of
several scientific and philosophical
societies.
The chief work of Mr.
Metcalf's life, and that by which he will be
remembered, has been the establishment of
The Forum. The pubication was founded for
the purpose of giving an absolutely
unprejudiced discussion of important
subjects. The first announcement of the new
review set forth its aims in the following
words:
"This publication addresses
itself to the mass of intelligent people.
"It discusses subjects that
concern all classes alike - in moral, in
education, in government, in religion.
"It is genuinely
independent, both of partisan bias and
counting-room influence.
. "It is constructive in its
aims, presenting opposing views, not for the
purpose of exciting strife, but in otder to
assist the reader to form wise coclusions.
"It employs the best known
essayists; and it also invites to its pages
men and women connected with important
business and social interests who have
special opportunities for information."
To this statement of its
purpose The Forum has steadily adhered. It
avoids all sensationalism, and, as stated
above, is distincly constructive. Thus, in
religious matters, a fair hearing is given
alike to Protestants and Roman Catholics, to
Jews and Christians, to Calvinists and
Unitarians; but the enemies of all religion
are not given a place. In politics,
representtives of the various political
parties are treated with equal
consideration; but no encouragement is given
to those who would destroy all government.
In morals, all arguments as to the best
method of accomplishing results are
admitted; but nothing is countenanced that
tends to weaken the sense of moral duty.
At the end of Mr. Metcalf's
fourteen years' connection with the North
American Review and the Forum, his eyes were
in such a condition that he was compelled to
take a long rest, and to abandon the hope of
doing any more review work.
In December, 1893, he came
to Jacksonville, Florida, and established
the Florida Citizen, and at the present time
is in charge of that publication. The
Citizen is a daily and weekly paper, that
gives the news of the world very fully. It
has special correspondents in the principal
cities of the country, and controls a
telegraph wire to Washington and New York.
It is an organ of the Democracy of Florida,
and devotes much space to the moral,
intellectual, and material development of
the State.
pp. 186-188
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Henry Bethune Phillips is a
native of Duval County, Florida. He was
born November 29th, 1857, on his father's
plantation at Point Phillips, now Point
LaVista. His father, Albert G. Phillips, a
prominent planter, came here from Georgia
early in the present century. His
great-grandfather on the maternal side,
William Hendrix, of North Carolina, was one
of the original Spanish grantees of large
tracts of land in Duval, and other
counties. His grand-father, Isaac
Hendricks, to whom these grants reverted,
was in the Spanish service, and was the
first settler in what is now South
Jacksonville, which was a part of his
grant. This was about the beginning of the
century, and long before Jacksonville was
settled, the place being then known as Cow's
Ford. Here Mr. Hendricks operated the first
ferry over the St. Johns River. In his
early youth young Phillips attended the High
School in Jacksonville, and was afterwards a
private pupil of Rev. F. Pasco. He attended
Emergy College in 1877-78, and entered the
law department of Vanderbilt University in
1880. Here he distinguished himself by
taking the full two years' course in one
year, breaking all previous records in this
institution, with the single exception of
John M. Barrs, of this City, who did the
same thing the year before. He graduated
from Vanderbilt in 1881, with the degree of
Bachelor of Law. He returned to
Jacksonville, was admitted to he bar, and
formed a partnership with J. M. Barrs for
practie. Aterwards he practiced in company
with J. W. Whitney, but his health failing,
he retired to his plantation to recuperate.
For two or three years, then, he engaged in
a variety of occupations, and in travel,
till early in 1889, when, his health being
restored, he returned to Jacksonville, and
once more resumed the practice of law. In
1891 he was appointed, by Governor Fleming,
to fill the unexpired term of Judge Loton M.
Jones, deceased, as Judge of the Criminal
Court of Duval County. He was reappointed,
by Governor Mitchell, in 1893 for the full
term of four years. He presides over this
Court with dignity and impartiality. He is
a master of law, and his opinions have great
weight in legal circles. Although he is on
the bench, he has not given up his practice
by any means, and in all other courts,
except his own, he continues to appear as
formerly, and has a steadily increasing
pratice. He as married December 11th, 1883,
to Miss Stella M. Tuttle, of Cherry Valley,
Ohio. They have four children, Charlotte
H., Matthew P., Henry B., and Harold T.
pp. 155-156
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James Madison Schumacher
was born in Mohawk, Herkimer County, New
York, November 18th, 1843. His father,
Andrew Schumacher, was a well-known leather
manufacturer of that place. His mother,
born Jeannette Clements, was of Puritan
ancestry, her parents havig removed from
Massachusetts to New York in the early part
of this century, and sttled in Herkimer
County. The schumacher family is of German
descent, and have been living in Herkimer
County since 1710. Some of them were
Magistrates when the country was an English
colony, notably the great, great,
grand-father of this subject, John Jost
Schumacher, a loyalist leader during the
Revolutionary War. His grand-father,
Rudolph I. Schumacher, commanded a New York
Regiment in the War of 1812, was a member of
the New York Legislature for a number of
year,s and was officially connected with the
building of the Erie Canal. Being among the
largest land holders in their section, the
Schumachers were the leaders of the early
settlers, their name being a part of the
history of Herkimer County.
James M. attended the
public schools of his native town until he
was thirteen years of age, then attended the
Fairfield Seminary for two years.
Subsequently he attended the Liberal
Institute at Clinton, Nw York, where he
passed the full course, and won a prize for
oratory. He entered Tufts College in 1863,
and was graduated from the literary
department in 1866, with the degree of
Bachelor of Philosophy. In 1867 he began
his studies in the law department of the
University of Michigan, but after a few
months returned home and studied law in the
office of Hon. Amos H. Prescott. He was
admittd to the bar inthe fall of the same
year. Being a ready debater, and a keen
politician even as a lad, when he grew older
he became identified with politics, and was
associated with the prominent Republicans of
the State.
In June, 1874, he removed
to Jacksonville and organized what is now
the First National Bank of Florida, of which
he is still President. Among the
stockholders were General F. E. Spinner,
Treasurer of the United State during the
Civil War, at whose suggestion he made his
home in Florida, the Reimingtons, of Illion,
New York, United States Senator Squire,
Colonel T. W. C. Moore, and others. This
bank has come to be one of hte soundest
financial institutions in the State. He was
admitted to the practice of law both in the
State and United States Courts soon after
his arrival in Florida, and immediately
entered upo na career of activity and
usefulness that made for him a wide
reputation in the State. He served a term
as State Senator, 1888-90, and was one of
the Joint Legislative Committee which framed
a bill, now the Health Law of FLorida, which
has been recognized as a model of its kind,
and adopted by other States. He ws a
Commissioner of the Board of Public Works,
1890-93, President of the State Bankers'
Association for two terms, a Director in the
Florida Central & Peninsular Railway Company
for two years, andis Vice-President of the
Springfield Land and Improvement Company.
He is Vice-President of the Main Street
Electric Railway; was President of the
Jacksonville & Atlantic Railroad for seven
years; one of the incorporators of the first
phosphate companies, the Dunellon, organized
in Florida; is Vice-President, Secretary and
Treasurer of the Stonewall Phosphate
Company; a Director in the Southern Savings
and Trust Company, and of the Jacksonville
Loan nd Improvement Company. He was one of
the organizers of the telegraph line between
Jacksonville and Pilot Town, and was
prominent in the movement which led to the
building of the South Bound Railroad, and
its Florida connections. He was one of the
"central Committee," which inaugurated the
St. Johns Bar and River Improvement, and
chairman of its special Committee of Ways
and Means. During the yellow fever epidemic
of 1888 he was Vice-President of the
Citizens' Committee, who had charge of the
City affairs, and Chairman of the Financial
Committee, which had charge of all the funds
contributed for the relief of sufferers.
During this trying period he exhibited the
highest courage, and developed a high order
of executive ability. His committee,
sometimes consisting of only himself and
Hon. P. E. McMurray, fed 16,000 people, had
500 men under arms, 25 physicians, and 400
nurses under their direction, and employed
from 3,000 to 5,000 men daily to place the
City in good sanitary condition, and keep
the idle from becoming mere beggars. It
will be seen that Mr. Schumacher's life in
Florida has been both active and useful, and
in all the many positions of public and
private trust,e which he has been called on
to fill, he has always acquitted himself
with satisfaction to all. He was married to
Josephine Caroline Spinner, youngest daughtr
of General Spinner, November 6th, 1871, at
Mohawk, New York. She died May 10th, 1892.
They had two children, only the younger of
which, Rudolph Spinner Schumacher,
survives. The Frankie Schumacher Hospital
is a memorial to the elder son, and was
founded by Mrs. Schumacher in 1884 as an
asylum for the sick and needy. This most
benevolent institution contains wards for
both white and colored, and has accomplished
great good in the community.
pp. 158-160
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John R.
Scott was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, July
30th, 1863. He received his early training
as a mechanic and draughtsman under his
father, Joseph Scott, in a large wholesale
pump manufacturing business. He also
received private instruction in
architectural branches from Professor Roby,
of St. Louis, from 1880 to June, 1882. From
June, 1882, to August, 1883, he was employed
by the large contracting firm of Kirgan
Bros., of St. Louis, as draughtsman. In the
fall of 1883 he removed to Florida, and was
variously occupied in the section between
Tampa and the Manatee River, until
September, 1885, when he took charge of the
extensive building operations of the
Sarasota Land and Improvement Company, at
Sarasota, Florida. Having completed his
contracts with this Company he, in 1885,
removed to Key West. This was just after the
big fire, and he arrived in time to give his
skill in the rebuilding of the city. He was
closely identified therewith most of the
larger building operations, among which were
the County Court House, City Hall, and many
large factories and the finer residences.
He remained in Key West for three years. In
1891 he went to Chicago and opened his
office in the Oxford building, where he
remained during the building of the World's
Fair buildings, in which he had his afir
share until 1893. During this time there
were erected, after plans prepared by Mr.
Scott, amongst other large buildings, the
United State Starch Works, and the Women's
Christian Temperance Union Temple, at
Waukegan, Illinois, and in Chicago the large
and elegant apartment building known as the
Tolman, corner Fifty-ninth Street and
Michigan Boulevard.
Since locating in
Jacksonville, in February, 1894, Mr. Scott
has built many very fine residences and
business blocks, some of which are shown in
the cuts in this book, among them being the
elegant residence of Mr. A. H. King, and the
flats of Mr. W. F. Coachman, in Riverside.
In August, 1894, a patnership was formed
between Mr. Scott and M. W. I. Acosa, than
whom ther there are no superior architects
in the State. They have been largely
instrumental in the movement to secure the
large cigar factories soon to locate in
Jacksonville, and in every way have shown
themselves to be public spirited and
energetic citizens, who have gained a strong
foothold in the City which they are doing so
much to build up. Mr. Scott is
Superintendent and Assistant Architect of
the new City Hall building in Jacksonville.
While in Key West he met and was married, in
June, 1886, to Miss Mary I. Weatherford,
daughter of Captain Wm. Weatherford, of the
Havana and Key West Steamship Company. They
have no children.
William Isadore Acosta was
born at Gainesville, Florida, in December,
1861. He is a son of Mr. J. J. Acosta, of
Fernandina, where the family resided. He
was educated in Fernandina, and took special
courses in architecture. After extensie
trasvels, in which he gained a valuable fund
of experience, he came to jacksonville and
settled in 1894. During the same year he
formed the partnership with Mr. Scott, and
has since resided here. He is unmarried.
pp. 168-169
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Arthur D. Stevens was born
in November, 1862, at Calais, Maine. When
he was two years of age, his father, Thomas
H. Stevens, who was a shipbuilder, removed,
with his family to Jacksonville, where, in
company with Captain Brock, he built the
marine railway now owned by Drew &
Hazeltine. When Arthur was elevent years of
age, he went back to Calais to attend
school. After graduating at the High School
there, he entered the Polytechnic Institute,
at Worcester, Mass. He graduated from it,
in 1884, with the deree of B. S. in
mechanical and electrical engineering. He
then returned to Jacksonville, and became
superintendent of the Citizens' Gs Company,
and, in addition, two years later, of the
American Illuminating Company. He
superintended the consruction of the present
electric station of these companies, until
it was safely on the way to completion.
In the fall of 1887 the
Merrill-Stevens Engineering Company was
orgganized, and Mr. Stevens was chosen
President. As the chief officer of this big
manufacturing establishment, he has
distinguished himself as a business man of
splendid attainments. He is a thorough
scientific engineer, and complete master of
his calling. He has never had the time nor
inclination to seek political preferment,
but was prevailed upon to represent his Ward
in the City Council in 1892. In business
affairs hr is more conspicuous. He is
Vice-President of the River Front Terminal
Company, which has for its object the
opening of a new street along the river
bank, back of the business blocks on By. He
is a director in the Citizens' Gas and
Electric Company, and the Jacksonville
Electric Light Company; also Secretary and
Engineer of the Florida Dredging Company.
Mr .Stevens has never married, but lives
with his mother in Jacksonville.
p. 174
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John Edgar
Stillman was born at Eau Claire, Wisconsin,
February 27th, 1866. His father of the same
name, removed to Florida in 1873, for the
benefit of his health. In conjunction with
other emigrants from the same place, he
founded Orange City, which is now a
prosperous village in Volusia County. He
died there in 1883. The subject of this
sketch attended the public schools in Orange
City, and in 1882 entered the High School at
Washington, D. C. He afterwards attended
the East Florida Seminary at Gainesville,
where he graduated in 1885. For a year he
was a contractor at Orange City. In 1887 he
went West and spent a year in travel.
Returning home he was, in 1888, elected Tax
Collector of Volusia County. He was then
only twenty-two years of age. In 1889 he
was elected Mayor of Orange City, and in the
same year was appointed United States Sugar
Inspector for the State.
In 1890 he and his brother
purchased the Orange City Bank, and they
conducted a flourishing business. On his
appointment as Deputy Collector of Internal
Revenue for the State, in 1892, he sold out
his interest in the bank to his brother. In
1892, he received the nomination for Clerk
of the Courts in Volusia County, but
declined to make the race. In the meantime
he had become associated with the Little
Brothers Fertilizer and Phosphate Company of
Jacksonville, and in April, of 1894, he
removed to this place, and was elected
Secretary and Treasurer of the Company. In
1895 he was appointed by Governor Mitchell a
member of the Board of Education of the East
Florida Seminary, an honor both to himself
and his Alma Mater. In 1887 Mr. Stillman
was married to Miss Martha C. Deyarman, of
Orange City. They have three children. For
one so young, Mr. Stillman has held many
positions of trust, in all of which he has
acquitted himelf with honor. For one who
has started out so well, it is easy to
predict a brilliant future.
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p. 188
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The Stocktons are of
English extraction. The family, which, in
point of descent, ranks with the most
ancient houses in England, is styled de
Stockton in ancient Latin deeds. The family
name is derived from two Latin words, Stock
and Tun. The meaning of the word Stock is
"a place," the "stem of a tree," and Tun is
a word signifying "inclosure."
In a pedigree of the
Stockton family, taken from an English
history at a British museum, we find the
name was written de Stockton in primitive
days, and, in later times, Stockton. This
is the only change the name has undergone in
eight hundred years, and is caused merely by
the English spelling of the original Saxon
words.
The Stockton family,
ancient and patrician, in England has been
distinguished since since the time of the
conquest; and, in this free country, where
"worth makes the man," it has been equally
distinguished since 1660.
Their ancestors were
anciently Lords of the Manor of Stockton,
which they held under the Barony of Malpas.
Stockton Manor is in the Town of Malpas, in
the Hundred of Broxton, in the County of
Cheshire, England, and was granted in the
year 1250, in the reign of King Henry III.
Besides Stockton Manor, there is a place in
the Parish of Malpas called Stockton's
Bmank, and a dwelling place called Stockton
Hall. In the Church of Malpas are many of
the Stockton memorials. One remarkable
memorial was that of Right Honorable Sir
John Stockton, night, Lord Mayor of London,
1470-71, was knighted in the field by King
Henry IV. The coat of arms granted to the
Stockton family has been borne by the family
during many centuries of its history in
England and America. The arms are described
thus: "Gules; a chvron vaire, argent and
azure, between three molette or."
Translated, the last two words mean "the
rowel of a spur." The crest is a lion
rampant, supporting an Ionic pillar. The
motto of the Stockton family is "Omnia Deo
Pendent" (all depends on God), and is
founded on piety, loyalty, and valor. The
coat-of-arms is registered at the Herald's
College.
Richard Stockton, son of
John Stockton, and grand-son of Owen
Stockton, of the Parish of Malpas, Cheshire,
England, was born in 1606. He emigrated,
with his wife and children, from England
previous to the year 1660, on account of
either religious or state persecution during
the protectorate of Cromwell, to America,
and resided a few years on Long Island, at
Flushing, near the City of New ork. From
there he removed to New Jersey. He died,
leaving a widow, three sons, and five
daughters.
His oldest son, Richard,
settled in Princeton, and, about 1700,
purchased six thousand acres of land, of
which the present Town of Princeton is
nearly the center. The Stocktons were the
first Europeans to occupy this land after
the discovery of country by Columbus, and
still hold a portion of it. Richard
Stockton resided, until his death, at an
advanced age, in Princeton. He died in
1709, leaving a widow and six sons:
Richard, Samuel, Joseph, Robert, John, and
Thomas. His fifth son, John Stockton,
devised the family seat, Morven. John
Stockton was one of the first Presiding
Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the
County of Somerset, under the Royal
Government. He was a man of education,
wealth, and great influence in the early
history of New Jersey, and was prominently
instrumental in securing to Princeton the
College of New Jersey. He occupied the
plantation known now as Morven, which was
devised to him by his father, Richard
Stockton, Esq. He was the most prominent of
six sons. He was born in 1701 and died in
1757, leaving a widow, four sons, and four
daughters. These four sons, Richard, a
signer of the Declaration of Independence,
Captain John Stockton, the Rev. Philip
Stockton (the great-grandfather of the
Stockton, who fought in the battle of
Princeton, was called the "Revolutionary
Preacher." He studied theology with the
Rev. John Witherspoon, and received the
degree of Master of Arts. He was a
Presbyterian, and was ordained a minister by
the Presbytery of New Brunswick, New Jersey,
in 1778. He wa born in Princeton, July
11th, 1746, and Miss Katharine Cumming, to
whom he was married April 13th, 1769, was
born on the 6th of April, 1748. She was a
sister of General John Noble Cumming, of New
Jersey.
The Rev. Philip Stockton
was a man of fortune and influence. He
resided at his home, Castle Howard, in
Princeton, until his death, January 12th,
1792, leaving a widow and five sons: Lucius
Witham Stockton, John Stockton, Elias
Boudinot Stockton, William Tennent Stockton
(the grand-father of the Stockton family in
Florida), and Richard Stockton. William
Tennent Stockton, his fourth son, was born
at Castle Howard, in Princeton. He married
Anna Williamson, of New Jersey, and then
removed to Philadelphia, and entered into
partnership with his uncle, General John
Noble Cumming. He resided at his country
home, Roxborough, six miles from
Philadelphia, until his death, in 1823. He
left a widow, four sons, and three
daughters.
William Tennent Stockton (father of the
Stockton family in Jacksonville) was born at
Roxborough, on October 8th, 1812. In July,
1834, he graduated at the United States
Military Academy, at West Point, and
subsequently did service on the Northern
Frontier, in Georgia, and in the Florida
War, gaining for himself distinction as a
soldier and an officer. Resigning his
office in the army, he removed to Florida
and settled in Quincy, Gadsden County, and
became a planter. "But so conspicuous was
his military talent that again and again,
and without solicitation, he was called by
his fellow citizens, by election, and by
appointment from the Governor, to fill
important positions in the State. At the
commencement of the late war Colonel
Stockton, feeling that duty to his adopted
State and his loved ones called him to the
field, promptly offered his services and was
appointed Captain in the Regular Army of the
Confederate States. In a short time he was
made Major and then Lieutenant-Colonel of
Cavalry." He was detailed to muster in the
service all the troops in Florida, and when
his work in that State was finished he
immediately went to the front. He was taken
prisoner at the battle of Missionary Ridge
and sent to Johnson's Island, where he was
confined until several months after the war
ended. "By education a soldier, by instinct
a hero, he belonged to that race of noble
men whose names adorn the historic page, and
whose character added lustre and gave tone
to the social life in the South. He was a
typical Southern soldier, the incarnate
spirit of the Confederacy. His handsome
face and form, his lofty bearing, now
towering in the forefront of battle, now
falling back before overwhelming numbers,
contesting every inch of ground until,
finally, overcome but not conquered,
victorious even in defeat, he hurled
defiance in the face of the foe, breaking
his sword and throwing away hilt and blade
and scabbard as a token of an unconquerable
spirit. Such a picture marked Colonel
William T. Stockton, the very
personification of knightly chivalry"
The above two quotations are extracts
from the book, "Dickinson and His Men."
William Tennent Stockton was married to his
first wife, Sarah Strange, in 1839. They
had one son, named William Tennent, and one
daughter, Harriet. He married his second
wife, Julia Telfair, third daughter of
Doctor Thomas Telfair, of Washington, North
Carolina, December, 23d, 1845. They had
seven sons: Richard, Warwick Rush, Thomas
Telfair, Guy Henry, John Noble Cumming,
Telfair and George T. Ward, and two
daughters, Julia Vipont and Mary Stuart
Stockton. William Tennent Stockton died in
Quincy, Florida, March 4th, 1869, leaving a
widow, four sons and two daughters, who
removed to Jacksonville in 1870. Mrs. Julia
Telfair Stockton died June 10th 1892,
leaving three sons and one daughter, Mrs.
Mary Stockton Young, widow of the Rt. Rev.
John Freeman Young, Bishop of Florida.
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pp. 177-179
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Thomas
Telfair Stockton, journalist, was born in
Quincy, Florida, October 8th, 1853. He was
educated at private schools and the Quincy
Academy. When eighteen years old he
commenced business life as a civil
engineer. In 1871 he connected business
life as a civil engineer. In 1871 he
connected himself with the Southern Express
Company, remaining with that company for
twelve years in various capacities, until he
had attained the highest available place,
that of Route Agent on the entire State. In
1883 he removed to Jacksonville to engage in
mercantile business, in which he was
eminently successful. But, not satisfied,
he, with two brothers and a few friends,
started a daily morning paper, the
News-Herald, made-up by combining the
Morning News with the Evening Herald,
already well established journals. In May,
1878, the first issue appeared. In 1888 the
business was transferred to a stock company,
the Florida Publishing Company, and the
corporation secured contracts of all the
daily papers published in the City, and
combined them under the name of the oldest
and most successful, the Times-Union. Mr.
Stockton becae the General Manager, and the
newspper the leading journal of the State,
and was one of the four that shaped the
policy and dictated the sentiment of the
whole South for many years. Mr. Stockton,
on May 16th, 1877, married Willie A. Lawton,
daughter of Colonel W. J. Lawton, of Macon,
Georgia. They have one son, Winborn, and
three daughters, Julia, Mildred and Helen.
John Noble Cumming
Stockton, President of the National Bank of
the State of Florida, owes his success in
life to his indomitable energy, courage of
his convictions and honesty of purpose, both
in personal and public matters. As
President of the Board of Trade, and
Chairman of Public Works, he left no
occasion untired that would benefit his
adopted City and fellow-citizens. He was
also prominently connected with and aided in
the building of St. Andrews, the Bishop
Young Memorial Church, East Jacksonville.
For a number of years he was one of the
Wardens of the Church, and was also a member
of the Standing Committee of the Diocese.
He was born November 17th, 1857, in Quincy,
Florida, and was married to Miss Fannie
baker, daughter of Judge James M. Baker, of
Jacksonville, Fla., September 27th, 1883.
They have two sons, William Tennent and
Gilchrist, and one daughter, Frances.
Telfair Stockton, at an
early age, developed a practical knowledge
of business methods, which has been largely
instrumental in his eminently successful
career. He has been, and is, thoroughly
identified with the growth and prosperity of
Jacksonville, and through his keen to make
their homes in this City. He was born in
quincy, Fla., Januaruy 31st, 1860, and was
married to Miss Florence Fitch, daughter of
James Roosevelt Fitch, of New York, January
15th, 1885. They have one son, James
Roosevelt, and one daughter, Florence.
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pp. 179-180
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It is always
gratifying to see young men taking leading
parts in the affairs of a community whether
it be in business or politics, in the pulpit
or the forum. Jacksonville has many such in
each of these vocations. Foremost among the
young men in business leadership is Charles
B. Towns, State agent for the Penn Mutual
Life Insurance Company.
Mr. Towns was born in
January, 1862, at La Grange, Ga., and is the
eldest of seven children. His father,
Colonel Oliver TOwns, after the war removed
to his plantation and sought to recuperate
his shattered fortunes in agricultural
pursuits. Like thousands of other southern
gentlemen in that trying period, the
struggle for him was a hard one, and his
limited means prevented him from giving his
elder children the benefits of an education
other than was to be obtained from the
common country schools, which were at that
time very inadequate.
As young Charles grew older
he became his father's chief assistant on
the farm, leading the hands and laboring
early and late. He finds pleasure to this
day in remembering that he could pick more
cotton and plough more furroughs in a day
than any man on the farm. On one occasion
he broke the record for cotton-picking in
his neighborhood, and won against all
competitors with three hundred and sixty
pounds in one day. That was a triumph that
none but a farmer boy can fully appreciate,
and though Mr. Towns has broken many other
records since that time in other fields of
usefullness, it is doubtful if any has ever
afforded him more genuine pleasure than this
first early victory.
When Mr. Towns grew to
manhood he decided that farm life was not
congenial to his tastes, so at the age of
twenty he came to Florida and settled first
in Palatka. His only capital was good
health, indomitable energy, and correct
principles. His first work in Palatka was
that of clerk in a hotel. At the end of one
year he went with the Jacksonville, Tampa &
Key West Railway as check clerk, and in a
few months was made chief clerk in the
Palatka office. At the end of a year he was
made the Company's agent at Jacksonville,
the most important agency on the line. In
this position he remained for five years, in
which time the road grew from fifty-six
miles to its present numerous lines and
connections. During his agency in
Jacksonville he had entire charge of all the
Company's local business, and was held
personally responsible for all the numerous
employees at this end of the line. When he
resigned it was with great reluctance that
the Company parted with him, as his services
had always been so eminently satisfactory.
In 1889, on quitting the
railroad business, he formed a partnership
with Mr. Crosby Dawkins, to conduct fire,
life, and accident insurance. In this line
he seems to have found his true vocaiton,
and ZDawkins & Towns rapidly built up a
flourishing business. From the first Mr.
Towns took a keen interest in the life
feature, and at the end of a year the firm
decided to divide the business, he taking
the life feature and Mr. Dawkins the
others. He at once secured the State agency
for the Manhattan Life Company of New York,
and his success was phenominal from the
start.
After two years' experience
in life insurance, he discovered that the
Penn Mutual had many features of insurance
which were bettr adapted to the needs of the
FLorida public than any Company represented
here. He accordingly induced that Company
to come to FLorida, and he was made general
agent for the State. After a year and a
half his territory was increased by the
addition of Southern Alabama.
Few men have been more
successful in the insurance line than he.
In 1892 he wrote more insurance than was
ever written before by any other Company in
the history of the State. It was the second
largest business done in the country that
year by the Penn Company, the first being by
the general agent at Boston, whose territory
included all New England.
In February, 1894, he
organized the Industrial Insurance & Banking
Company, in Jacksonville, of which he is
President, and Mr .George M. Noaln is
Secretary and Treasurer. This is the first
introduction of industrial insurance into
the State, and its success has been unusual
and gratifying. At the end of the first
five months the Company had written over
2,500 policies in Jacksonville alone.
Mr. Towns is a man full of
energy and enterprise. He leads, rather
than follows, and constantly originates new
plans and methods and improves old ones.
Whatever he undertakes is pushed with such
vigor that opposition cannot withstand his
onslaughts, and these are the secrets of his
success. He is ever ready to aid any public
enterprise and to act in harmony with every
effort that has the community's advancement
for its object. He is especially
enthusiastic on athletics and physical
culture. He has made a thorough study of
the latter and of all appliances for
athletic training. his early experience on
the farm endowed him with an excellent
constitution, which he has never neglected,
and to-day he is one of the most perfect
athletes in the State. He is a Director in
both the Jacksonville Athletic and Bicycle
Club and the Driving Park Association. Is
an active member of the Board of Trade and
the Seminole Club. The enviable success
which Mr. Towns has achieved in business has
een due wholly to his own individual
efforts. He has never received financial
aid from any source whatever, sae from his
own labor and ingenuity.
Mr. Towns, always patriotic
and believing that the best way to cement
the broken ties between the North and South
is for them to get married, did his part in
this respect by marrying a Yankee girl, a
most charming one. She was Miss Mary M.
Barbour, of Providence, R. I., and the event
occurred October 12th, 1887. They have one
child, a beautiful daughter, and a lovely
home in the charming suburg of Riverside,
where they live happily with all the
comforts of home. Mr. Towns' business is in
that flourishing condition where he can well
afford to rest upon his oars and enjoy the
fruits of his achievements in the business
world, enjoying the respect of the community
and the admiration of younger men who are
ambitious to win equal success.
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pp. 165-168
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Michael P.
Turner is a native of Ireland, but came to
America with his parents when he was only
four years old. He wa sborn in Cork in
1856. His parents immigrated in 1860, and
settled in Augusta, Georgia. Mr. Turner was
educated at Pelot's Academy, in Augusta,
where he received a good education, and
afterwards gained a thorough business
training, which fitted him for the important
duties he has since been called on to fill.
In 1877 he went to Savannah, where he
handled dry goods for three years, and for
two years was engaged with the Southern
Express Company. Coming to Jacksonville in
1882, he took a position as Claim Clerk with
the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway
Company. He remained with them three years,
and in June, 1885, when the Florida Fruit
Exchange was organized, he was elected its
Scretary, and has held the position ever
since, being re-elected from year to year.
In this position Major turner has had
opportunity for exercising those business
qualifications which he possesses in so
marked a degree, and he deseves much of the
credit for the uniform success that has
atended the operations of the Exchange. He
has always been an enthusiast in military
matters, and entered the Georgia Militia
when quite young. He became a member of
Wilson's Battery, this City, in 1887,
joining as Fourth Corporal. After this his
rise was rapid. The following year he was
promoted to Second Sergeant; in 1889, to
First Lieutenant, and in 1890 he was elected
Captain of the Company. Upon the
resignation of Major Call, in 1893, he was
made Major of the First Battalion, FLorida
State Troops. He is an able officer, with a
fine soldierly bearing, and is very popular
in military, as well as business circles.
It was he who commanded the troops in the
riot of July, 1892. He was married in 1881.
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p. 165
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William
Stratton Ware comes from the "City of
Brotherly Love," and all who know him well
agree that he fully exemplifies in his life
the beautiful interpretation of the word.
He was born in Philadelphia, March 15th,
1851. His early years were spent on a New
Jersey farm. He learned the carpenter's
trade and became a successful builder. He
remained in this business until 1882, when,
in co-partnership with Mr. H. D. Stratton,
he engaged in the manufacture of ice.
Previous to that time there
had never been an ice machine in successful
operation, but Mr. Stratton had for a long
time been engaged in perfecting a machine
that was destined to revolutionize the
business of ice manufacturing. It was
completed and put in operation at Charlotte,
N. C., in 1887, but after a short time was
destroyed by fire, a total loss. With
unfailing courage these two men gathered
their little earnins together and rebuilt.
Like many other great inventors, Mr.
Stratton was laughed at by the incredulous,
but he persevered and the result was all he
ever hoped for.
In 1885 Mr. Ware came to
Jacksonville and established, in company
with Mr. Stratton, the Jacksonville
Refrigerator Ice Works, which had been a
success from the start. These works have a
capacity of forty-five tons per day,
supplied with three separate and distinct
machines. In summer they are all kept
busy. They have other plants in this State
at Pensacola, Waldo, and Cdar Keys, all in
successful operation.
Mr. Ware is public
spirited, energetic, and progressive, has
long been a member of the Board of Trade,
and one of its governors. He was married in
1878 to Miss Nellie L. Wooster, the daughter
of a prominent farmer of Litchfield,
Connecticut. They have no children of their
own, but have adopted little Nellie and
Harry Keller, children of Mr. Ware's
deceased half-brother. A lovely and
interesting pair they are, and the pride and
delight of their adopted parents. Mr. Ware
has just completed one of the handsomest
residences in the City, at a cost of about
$15,000. He feels additional pride in it
because he built it himself, designed the
architecture and superintended the
construction. It is a home of comfort,
elegance and refinement, and contains as
happy a household, doubtless, as any in the
State.
Mr. Ware's residence is
brick veneered, with slate roof. The
architecture is Gothic in the main, with
original modern features. The dimensions
are 38 x 74 feet. On the north and east
sides are long, roomy verandas. The first
floor contains the parlor, reception room,
library, dining room, pantries, buttery,
kitchen, and Mr. Ware's "den" or private
office. The parlor and library are finished
in polished sycamore with fine effect.
These rooms have large, massive mantles with
heavy ornamentation and tiled fireplaces.
The reception room is finished in birch.
The main hall and stairway are finished in
quartered antique oak, with wainscoting and
grillwork, and are lighted by large bulged
stain glass windows. All the styles and
coloring of finish harmonize delightfully
and present a pleasing effect. The large
open fire-place and massive mantle in the
hallway are attractive features. The
dining-room is semi-circle bay, extending
almost the entire width of the room. It is
finished in natural quartered oak and
wainscoting. It has open fire-place and
china closets. By means of large folding
doors the library, parlor, main hall, and
dining-room can be thrown into one large
room. The "den" is finished in the famous
Florida curly pine.
The second story consists
of sleeping apartments, bath rooms, etc.,
with a hallway extending through the
centre. Thse ae finished in pine, except
the bath rooms, which are tile floored and
wainscoted, with exposed plumbing of the
latest designs. On the east side opening
from the second floor is a shaded veranda
directly over the port-cachere. The
building is heated with hot water, and
lighted with both gas and electricity
throughout; electric bells in the rooms.
The plumbing is of the most approved
sanitary methods of the day. The plastering
is adamant. Besides the regular water works
a force pump in the cellar supplies the
house with rain water from a large cistern.
The house is complete in every detail.
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pp. 163-165
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John Wurts was born in
1855, at Carbondale, Pa. He is a son of the
late Charles Pemberton Wurts, who for many
years was General Superintendent of the
Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, and of
Laura, the eldest daughter of John Clarkson
Jay, Esq., of New York, and great
grand-daughter of Chief Justice John Jay,
whose name is so conspicuous in American
history.
Mr. Wurt's early education
was gained in France and Italy; his
collegiate course was taken at Yale
College. WHile at College he was connected
with several daily newspapers as editorial
writer. In 1876 he went to New Zealand, and
for the next two years traveled in Australia
and among the islands of the South Pacific.
In 1878 he went to West Virginia and engaged
in sheep-raising, which, however, did not
prove a conspicuous success. In 1882 he
returned to Yale and entered the law School,
from which he was graduated in 1884. In
1883 he was known at Yale as the "John A.
Porter" man, as being the recipient of the
only honor open to every department of the
university for competition.
Immediately upon his
graduation in 1884 he removed to
Jacksonville and began the practice of law,
in which he has been highly successful.
After the death of Judge Settle, four years
later, President Harrison was strongly urged
to appoint Mr. Wurts to the vacancy on the
bend as Judge of the Norther District of
Florida. The President refused to do so,
expressly for political reasons, although it
is well known that Mr. Wurts was in every
way qualified to fill this high position .
He is perhaps betst known as the athor of
Wurts' Index-Digest of the Florida Reports,
a highly valuable work, which is exensively
used and a revision of which is now in
preparation and will be published in 1895.
Since 1885 he has been a member of the law
firm of Fletcher & Wurts, than whom none in
the Stte have a higher standing. He was
married in 1878 to the youngest daughter of
the late Cornelius LaTourette, of Bergen
Point, N. J., by whom he has six children,
John, Conrad, Bertha, Albert, Laura J.,
Burkhart, and Eleanor.
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p. 160
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