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Chapin, George M., FLORIDA 1513-1913, Past,
Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of Wars and Peace and Industrial
Development, 1914, Vol. 2, 742 pages.
CHARLES SULLIVAN ADAMS.
Charles S. Adams acquired his early education in
the Williston Seminary of Easthampton, Massachusetts, and afterward
entered Amherst College at Amherst, Massachusetts, paying his own
expenses, from which he was graduated in 1883, taking several prizes for
oratory and thus first showing promise of a talent for forceful and
effective speaking which he has since developed. He studied law in the
Boston University Law School, and received his degree of LL. B. in 1886.
Immediately after his graduation he began the practice of his profession
in Jacksonville, associating himself first with A. W. Cockrell & Son. He
was afterward a partner with Judge R. M. Call and then with E. J.
L’Engle and finally with Judge W. B. Young, who recently retired from
practice. He today controls a large and representative patronage
connecting him with a great deal of notable litigation and he has
been very successful in the conduct of a number of important cases. Mr.
Adams has had a great deal of experience of a semi-judicial nature,
being frequently selected as special master in chancery cases and
referee in common law cases. He serves also as counsel for two trust
companies and has in addition done a great deal of non-professional
work, having been carried forward into important relations with
community life. He was secretary of the Sub-Tropical Exposition at the
time of the yellow fever epidemic in 1888 and during that epidemic
became secretary of the Jacksonville Auxiliary Sanitary Association, of
which four out of nine members of the executive committee died during
the period. Mr. Adams prepared a report for the association in 1889,
showing contributions of funds of a half-million dollars, giving the
names of the contributors alphabetically by states, cities and
individuals and accounting for the distribution of the funds through
committees. He served from 1891 to 1894 as United States commissioner
for the United States district court of the southern district of
Florida, was a member of the city council from 1889 to 1892, and is now
standing master in chancery and referee in bankruptcy.
On the 25th of September, 1889, Mr. Adams was
united in marriage to Miss Claudia C. L’Engle, a daughter of Dr. J. C.
L’Engle. She passed away February 11, 1895, and on February 17, 1898,
Mr. Adams was again married, this union being with Miss Ella MacDonell,
a daughter of Colonel T. A. MacDonell, deceased, who was colonel of a
Florida regiment during the Civil war and a prominent lawyer, serving as
state’s attorney at the time of his death. Air. and Airs. Adams have two
children; Marion Emily, born July 5, 1901; and Charles Sullivan, Jr.,
born December 5, 1907.
Mr. Adams attends the Episcopal church and is
connected fraternally with the Masonic order, belonging to the
commandery and shrine. In national affairs he is a republican of the
progressive type but votes independency in local matters. He is a
charter member of the Seminole Club and the Florida Country Club, of
which he has been president. He is well known in social circles of the
city and has a wide acquaintance, having won the high esteem, regard and
confidence of all with whom personal, professional or political
relations have brought him into contact.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida, 1513 - 1913, Past, Present and
Future, Four Hundred Years of War and Peace and
JOHN J. AHERN.
Recognizing something of what the future had in
store for Jacksonville because of its natural advantages and the fact
that the tide of settlement was largely flowing southward, in November,
1902, he opened a real-estate office in that city and has since been
successfully engaged in that business. He handles both city property and
outside lands, now managing his interests from well appointed offices in
the Bisbee building. No one more stanchly supports Jacksonville or has
firmer faith in its interests and in its future than Mr. Ahern, and his
fellow townsmen, appreciative of his attitude in this connection, have
twice elected him to the city council, of which he has been president
pro tem for four years. He is ever seeking the city’s improvement and is
now putting forth earnest effort to improve its lighting system, to
paving and widening its streets and to regulating the building of
sidewalks which shall be ten feet or more in width. His efforts are of a
practical nature and productive of tangible results. He is also a member
of the Bay street beautifying commission and a member of the Board of
Trade. He is likewise a member of the Elks Club, and while successful
and enterprising in business and progressive in citizenship, he also
possesses the social qualities that make for popularity and high regard.
On the 8th of September, 1910, Mr. Ahern was
united in marriage to Miss Isabelle Boston, of Detroit, Michigan, and
they have one child, Mary Catharine. Jacksonville counts Mr. Ahern as
one of its valued citizens and regards that day fortunate which linked
New England enterprise with Florida resources. Mr. Ahern is president of
the National Security & Investment Company and the Fosyth Realty
Company; vice president of the City Security Company, the Home Telephone
Company and the Southern States Refining Company; secretary of the Grand
Boulevard Investment Company; chairman of the paving committee of the
city council; and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He is a member of
the Roman Catholic church and in politics is a democrat.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
GEORGE WHITING ALLEN.
Florida is proud to number Mr. Allen among her
native sons. His birth occurred in Jacksonville, September 1, 1854. He
is descended from sturdy New England ancestry, represented in the
Revolutionary war. His grandfather was George Allen, a prominent citizen
of Connecticut, who served in the state legislature as a colleague of
Gideon Welles. Elis father was William Smith Allen, a native of Enfield,
Connecticut, born February 16, 1823. The year 1852 witnessed his arrival
in Florida, at which time he took up his his abode in Jacksonville but
in 1862 he removed to Key West where he continued to reside throughout
his remaining days. For many years he conducted business as a wholesale
merchant, being a partner in the firm of Allen Brothers, and as such
played a leading part in the commercial development of the city. He was
also mayor of Key West, was special deputy collector of customs and
clerk in the United States district court for the southern district of
Florida. He passed away October 10, 1891, his remains being laid to rest
in the Key West cemetery. William Smith Allen was united in marriage to
Mary Jane Sprague, who was born at Lyons, Wayne county, New York,
January 16, 1827, a daughter of Nehemiah Sprague. Her death occurred at
Ithaca, New York, September 12, 1869.
For a half century George W. Allen has been a
resident of Key West, coming to this city with his parents in his
boyhood days. In his youth he spent six years in school at Ithaca, New
York, — from 1863 until 1869 — and a part of his education was also
obtained in the public schools of Jacksonville and of Key West. In early
manhood he held several official positions including that of deputy
clerk of the circuit court of the sixth judicial circuit of Florida.
Later he was deputy clerk of the United .States court. While holding
that position he studied law and in 1879 was admitted to the bar, since
which time he has practiced to a greater or less extent in Key West.
However, various other duties have devolved upon him. Even before his
admission to the bar he was elected, in 1878, to the state senate from
the twenty-fourth senatorial district of Florida and in 1882 was
reelected but resigned the office in 1884 for the purpose of devoting
his entire attention to his law practice and to the banking business, in
which he had become interested. It was in 1884 that he aided in the
organization of the Bank of Key West, serving as one of its directors
and as its cashier from that date until 1891, when the bank went out of
existence. He organized the First National Bank of Key West on the 24th
of December, 1891, was elected its president and has since remained in
that position, directing its activities and shaping its policy. He is
likewise a director of the Florida National Bank of Jacksonville and
thus his name has become a prominent one in connection with financial
interests in the state. In addition to supervising his banking affairs
he has found time to devote to public service and his official record is
most commendable, being characterized by the utmost fidelity and
capability in the discharge of his duties. In 1879 he was appointed
deputy collector of internal revenue in which capacitv he continued for
twelve years. In 1896 he was nominated as the republican candidate for
governor but declined the nomination. The following year President
McKinley appointed him collector of customs at the port of Key West. He
enjoys the distinction of holding the position longer than any other
appointee and was the last to serve in that connection, the office
passing out of existence on the 30th of June, 1913. In 1900 he was the
republican candidate for secretary of state and in 1908 received his
party's nomination for congress, while in 1912 he was the republican
candidate for congressman at large. For many years he has been a member
of the republican state committee and was a member of the notification
committee in 1908 that waited on James S. Sherman and informed him of
his nomination for the vice presidency. In 1904 and again in 1908 and
1912 he was a delegate to the republican national conventions and is one
of the foremost leaders of his party in the state.
On May 26, 1880, Mr. Allen was united in
marriage to Miss Leonore Browne of Key West, who was born in this city
and comes of an old Virginia family represented in the Revolutionary
war. Two children have been born unto them, Mary Lilia and Genevieve,
the latter now the wife of Dr. William R. Warren, a prominent physician
and surgeon of Key West. There is one child of that marriage, George
Allen Warren, now about two years of age.
Mr. Allen is a member of the Monroe County Bar
Association and of the Florida State Bar Association and is president of
the Florida State Bankers Association. He is a member and vestryman of
St. Paul’s Episcopal church and belongs to the Masonic, Odd Fellows and
Elks lodges. He is a member of the Metropolitan Club of New York; of the
Metropolitan Club of Washington, D. C.; of the Seminole Club of
Jacksonville; the Elks Club of Key West, and is a member of Florida Red
Cross board, the Florida Historical Society, the National Geographic
Society and the National Rivers and Water Ways Commission. All these
indicate the extent and scope of his interests and his activities. He
keeps informed upon all the significant and vital questions of the day
and is ever arrayed on the side of progress and improvement. He has wide
acquaintance among the thinking men of the country, especially along the
Atlantic coast, and his worth is acknowledged by all with whom he has
co-operated in efforts to promote social, intellectual, political and
moral progress and to secure the adoption of higher ideals for the
betterment of the individual, the community and the country.
JAMES W. ARCHIBALD.
James W. Archibald was a lad of about six years
when the family home was established in Rockford, Illinois, and there he
began his education as a public-school pupil, mastering the branches of
learning taught in consecutive grades until he left school to enter
business life. He became a bookkeeper for N. C. Thompson, banker and
agricultural implement manufacturer of Rockford, in 1865, when a youth
of seventeen years. He remained in that position for about two years and
then took up the study of law to which he devoted the succeeding year.
He next entered the employ of the Reaper City Insurance Company as a
solicitor and at the time of the Chicago fire in October, 1871, was
assistant secretary of the company. Following the fire the company
retired from business but paid its losses in full. Mr. Archibald next
obtained a position as bookkeeper with the Winnebago National Bank of
Rockford, Illinois, where he continued until 1874, when for the benefit
of his health he came to the south with Jacksonville, Florida, as his
destination. A year later, his health being greatly improved, he again
took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar of this state in
1877. The same year he was elected city treasurer of Jacksonville, in
which capacity he served for three years. With the assistance of the
finance committee of the city council he placed the city upon a cash
basis. Previous to this time it had been issuing script for its
obligations but has since been upon a strictly cash basis whereby the
city’s credit has become thoroughly established. Following his
retirement from the office of city treasurer, in which he made a most
creditable and satisfactory record, Mr. Archibald served for one year as
city attorney. He was also a member of the city council for twelve
years, during which period he exercised his official prerogatives in
support of many progressive public movements which are still elements of
value in the municipal affairs of Jacksonville. For five weeks Mr.
Archibald acted as mayor of the city during the yellow fever epidemic in
1888 when Mayor C. B. Smith was absent from the city. Since the close of
his twelve years’ service as a member of the city council he has taken
no active part in local politics, feeling that he has fully discharged
all of his duties as a citizen and office-holder, yet at no time has his
interest in the welfare and progress of Jacksonville abated. His
influence is always on the side of upbuilding and improvement and his
opinions carry weight with those who have the welfare of the city at
heart. He is now a member of the board of trustees of the public library
and its present chairman.
In 1884 Mr. Archibald was united in marriage to
Miss Isabelle Spafford, of Rockford, Illinois, and they have one
daughter, Mary Elizabeth, the wife of Theodore F. Byrd, of Jacksonville.
The wife and mother passed away in 1901 and in June, 1909, Mr. Archibald
wedded Miss Florence Snider. Their home is at No. 1417 Main street, and
its hospitality renders it most attractive to their many friends. Mr.
Archibald is a member of the Country Club and the Masonic fraternity.
His interests have been wide and varied yet his attention is now chiefly
concentrated upon his professional duties and he has gained for himself
a creditable position at the Jacksonville bar.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
WILLIAM H. BAKER.
Reared in the city of his nativity, William H.
Baker supplemented his public-school education by a course in Davidson
College, of North Carolina, in which he won the B. A. degree upon
graduation with the class of 1888. With broad literary learning to serve
as the foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of professional
knowledge, he entered the Washington and Lee University at Lexington,
Virginia, where he pursued his law studies and was graduated in 1889.
The same year he was admitted to practice at the bars of Florida and
Virginia and at once opened an office in Jacksonville where he has risen
rapidly in his profession, being now regarded as one of the foremost
members of the bar of this city.
In the course of his professional career Judge
Baker soon demonstrated his power to handle involved legal problems and
has always been notable among his fellow practitioners for the profound
care with which he has prepared his cases as well as for the clearness
and force with which he has presented his cause before the courts.
Appreciative of his ability and recognizing his fitness for judicial
honors, his fellow townsmen elected him to the office of county judge
when he was but twenty- four years of age and at the close of his first
term of four years he was reelected in 1896, remaining on the bench
until 1901. His decisions were characterized by strict fairness and
impartiality, combined with a comprehensive knowledge of the law. When
he retired he resumed practice in connection with his brother under the
firm name of Baker & Baker, and to them is accorded a large and
important clientage. He is a member of the Jacksonville Bar Association
and enjoys the highest respect of his colleagues and contemporaries
because of his close conformity to a high standard of professional
ethics.
Judge Baker is a member of the Board of Trade
and has been prominently associated with various interests of a public
and semi-public character. In 1893 he was one of three appointed under
an act of state legislature to establish the Australian ballot system in
Jacksonville.
On the 12th of February, 1895, Judge Baker was
united in marriage to Miss Kate L. Graves, of Louisville, Kentucky. They
have a son, James M. Baker, so called in honor of his distinguished
grandfather. Judge William H. Baker holds membership with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World, and his
religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church. He is yet a
comparatively young man, having scarcely reached the zenith of his
powers, and he is continuously advancing in his position at the bar. He
has been a close student, not only of professional but also important
political, sociological and economic questions and is usually to be
found where prominent men are met in the discussion of vital and
significant questions of the day.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
THE BAKER-HOLMES COMPANY.
This city has grown to its present importance
through a series of disasters that would have quelled the spirits of
less indomitable citizenry. When the pestilence of yellow fever
overwhelmed Jacksonville in 1888, striking down more than five hundred
inhabitants; when the visitation of frost, in 1894 and 1895, brought
ruin to the groves of the state and the consequent shaking of commercial
credits in this city, even then the industrial capital of Florida ; when
the great fire of 1901 scourged the city with a tangible loss of
millions of dollars, it took men of nerve and character to stand firm
and to face the future with courage. But such men were at the helm and
with unflinching hearts they have brought prosperity out of ruin.
Disaster seemed only to bring a quickened pace in the march toward
better things, for it is a fact that each of these events was made the
starting point for a greater and a better development of Jacksonville
and of its resources than had been known before.
It was in the period following the yellow fever
epidemic that two young men combined their limited resources and formed
the partnership of Baker & Holmes. J. Dobbin Holmes and John D. Baker,
each claiming the grand old commonwealth of North Carolina as their
birthplace, had come to Florida a few years earlier, seeking wider
fields and larger opportunity. It was in the year 1889 that they came
together to handle grain and building materials, and their capital was
two thousand dollars. The partnership was incorporated as The Baker &
Holmes Company in 1898 with a capitalization of fifty thousand dollars,
and this was increased in 1900 to one hundred thousand dollars. With the
expansion of the business a department was added to handle groceries,
not as retailers but by wholesale, and from the beginning the firm has
reached the consumer with all its wares through the medium of the retail
dealer.
The territory of the business has expanded as
the firm, and later, the corporation have expanded. At first the market
was limited to Jacksonville and its immediate surroundings. Gradually
the well earned reputation for square dealing and the push of
enterprising representatives brought an increasing trade from far down
the east coast of the state, then across the state to the west coast
cities and those of middle Florida, then into the far southern sections
and finally into southern and southwestern Georgia. Enterprise and
energy may erect a superstructure of imposing appearance and
proportions, but unless the foundations are laid upon personal and
commercial honor, it is merely a matter of time when it will come
crumbling to earth, burying its builders in ruin. It is this
characteristic, this foundation, that has won for the Baker-Holmes
Company a place of honor among Florida’s commercial leaders. It has
brought wealth, and reward more substantial than wealth. It has
established on a firm base a business that will be handed down from
fathers to sons through generations to come. For twenty-five years this
business has been under the personal management of the two men who
founded it. Its growth has brought increasing responsibility, and to
share this burden Mr. Thomas Pollard, who came from Pennsylvania, became
a member of the company. At the quarter-century anniversary of the
company, Mr. Holmes was the president, Mr. Baker vice president, and Mr.
Pollard secretary and treasurer.
Men whose business acumen builds such
enterprises as this, are not allowed to remain unmolested in private
life. Both of the original partners of twenty-five years ago, have been
called to serve their home city in responsible and onerous positions,
positions which have brought only the reward of public service well
performed and the knowledge of the betterment of civil welfare. Both are
prominent in church activities, in society and club life. Both occupy
beautiful homes in the exclusive residence section of the city, and
these are homes of charming family life surrounded by all that makes
life most worth living.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
WIlliam B. Barnett.
FindAGrave - additional family information can
be found at this link.
Buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Jacksonville, FL. Photo in FindAGrave
The life record which an American citizen holds
in highest esteem and honor is that of a man who, in spite of obstacles
and difficulties, can prove his worth of character and ability and win
for himself a position of prominence in which his activities are of
value not only in attaining individual success, but also in promoting
public prosperity. Such was
the record of William B. Barnett, formerly president of the National
Bank of Jacksonville, which is now the Barrett National Bank, who at the
age of fourteen years was thrown upon his own resources and steadily
worked his way upward advancing step by step until his even-paced energy
carried him into prominent business relations.
He was recognized in his day as a leading figure in financial
circles throughout the state of Florida.
Mr. Barnett was born September 2, 1824, his
birthplace being Nicholas county, Virginia, now West Virginia.
He was a son of William Barnett who was born in Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania, and became a prominent stone and brick contractor,
building the bridges for the government over New and Gauley rivers in
Virginia, which remained substantial structures from 1823-4 until
destroyed during the Civil war.
Mr. Barnett was a soldier in the War of 1812
His wife, who bore the maiden name of Jane Murray, was also a
native of Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of James
Murray, who emigrated from Scotland to the United States prior to the
Revolutionary war and served as a captain in the Colonial army.
In 1825 William Barnett, Sr., removed with his family to Highland
county, Ohio, and it was there that his son and namesake was reared,
acquiring a good, practical education in the public schools.
The father turned his attention to the livestock business in that
state and through industry and close attention accumulated a comfortable
fortune, but lost most of it through indorsing notes for a large packer,
who was at about that time, drowned in the Mississippi.
William B. Barnett was at that time preparing
for college. The father's
losses forced him to change his plans and necessitated his entrance into
the business world when he was but fourteen years of age.
He served a four years' apprenticeship at the harness-making and
saddlery trade and during that period saved a small sum of money which
he used in opening and equipping a little harness shop inf Greenfield,
Ohio. There he conducted
business for two years, when with a capital of one hundred dollars--his
profits in the Greenfield venture--he started for Leesburg, Indiana, in
April, 1846. At that point
he opened a harness shop, which he carried on until 1854, when he sold
out and turned his attention to general merchandising, in which he
continued for four years. He
next removed to Kansas, where he successfully conducted a mercantile
enterprise until 1870, having in the meantime purchased and laid out the
town of Hiawatha Kansas, where he conducted business as a general
merchant until he made his entrance into banking circles.
In January, 1870, with three business associates he organized the
first bank in that part of Kansas at Hiawatha under the firm name of
Barnett, Morrill & Company, one of the partners being the Hon. E. N.
Morrill, who subsequently served as governor of Kansas and congressman
from that state. He was
later president of the bank, which is now conducted under then name of
the Morrill & James Bank.
After a few years Mr. Barnett withdrew from that institution and on the
17th of March, 1877, arrived in Jacksonville, Florida.
Thinking this a favorable field for further operations in the
banking line, he opened a private bank on the 1st of May, 1877, under
the firm name of the Bank of Jacksonville, continued business under this
name as a private bank until April 15, 1888, when it received a National
Charter and became the National Bank of Jacksonville, with Mr. Barnett
as president, which position he retained until his death, October 21,
1903. At the expiration of
the National Charter on April 15, 1908, the old bank went into
liquidation and the Barnett National Bank began business, taking over a
majority of the assets of the National Bank of Jacksonville.
The name was changed and the new Bank was started in honor of the
original founder, Mr. W. B. Barnett.
The bank is capitalized at seven hundred and fifty thousand
dollars and has resources of more than eight millions of dollars.
It is one of the safest and most conservative institutions south
of the Mason and Dixon Line
The institution owns its own bank building, an imposing and attractive
structure with a colonade [sic] front of the Colonial style.
It is thoroughly equipped, has splendid vaults and is a fireproof
building. The policy
maintained has been a most commendable one.
Progressiveness is tempered by a safe conservation and the
interest of depositors is carefully guarded.
The bank has enjoyed a continuous period of prosperity and the
results achieved prove the value of the business methods employed.
On the 9th of November, 1849, at Leesburg,
Indiana, Mr. Barnett was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Blue and
for more than a half century they traveled life's journey happily
together, but were separated in the death of the wife on the 8th of
April, 1901. The children of
this marriage are the sons, W. D. and B. H. Barnett, who are now
majority stockholders in the Barnett National Bank.
Mr. Barnett gave his political allegiance to the Republican party
and while inn Kansas represented his district in the state senate, in
which he made a most creditable record.
For nearly two-thirds of a century he was identified with the
Masonic fraternity, being initiated into the lodge at Goshen, Indiana,
in 1846. He was member of
the Royal Arch chapter and the Mystic Shrine.
His was a notable record of a successful and honorable
achievement. For many years
prior to his death he lived practically retired his sons relieving him
of the active business management of the bank.
He died October 21, 1903, in his eightieth year.
One of his achievements in Jacksonville was the building of the
Masonic Temple. In
recognition of his services to Masonry, Jacksonville Lodge 187, A. F. &
A. M., has been named the W. B. Barnett Lodge.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida, 1513 - 1913, Past, Present and
Future, Four Hundred Years of War and Peace and Industrial Development,
(c) 1914, Volume 2, p. 30-33.
CHARLES CHESTER BETTES.
In Mason, New Hampshire, Mr. Bettes was united
in marriage in 1892 to Miss Laura A. Dixon, a daughter of James Henry
and Harriet Tilyou (Morrison) Dixon. Mr. and Mrs. Bettes have become the
parents of six children, Charles Chester, Jr., James Jerome, Laura
Augusta, Harriet Tilyou, Catherine Elizabeth Dixon and Eva Frances.
Mr. Bettes is a member of St. John’s Episcopal
church, belongs to the Florida Country Club of Jacksonville and is a
progressive democrat in his political views. He has always taken an
active interest in community affairs and has held various public
offices, serving for six years, from June, 1901, to June, 1907, as a
member of the city council and being at present port commissioner of the
city of Jacksonville. He is not only the oldest active pharmacist in the
city but is also one of the early residents and has witnessed
practically the entire development of the community, watching it grow
from a country village to a prosperous city of seventy-five thousand
inhabitants. He has seen it scourged by frost, yellow fever and fire and
become after each visitation, bigger, stronger and better. In the work
of development which has been carried forward he has taken an active and
honorable part and is numbered among the men who have contributed
largely to community expansion and growth.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida, 1513 - 1913, Past, Present and
Future, Four Hundred Years of War and Peace and
RICHARD FLEMING BOWDEN.
Richard F. Bowden was a pupil in private schools
of Jacksonville and in early life became connected with farming
interests. Pie also entered public office at a comparatively early age,
serving as deputy sheriff under his father, who for twenty years was
sheriff of Duval county. Richard F. Bowden has also held other political
positions, having for four years been a member of the city council from
the Seventh ward, during which time he introduced and, in spite of
strong opposition, secured the passage of what is known as the “Jim
Crow’’ law and various other important ordinances which are now in
effect. For eight years he has filled the office of sheriff of Duval
county and his record is in harmony with that of his honored father, for
he has ever discharged his duties without fear or favor, protecting in
every possible way the interests and liberties of the law-abiding
citizens. He has always given his allegiance to the democratic party and
has labored earnestly to promote its success in this district.
Mr. Bowden was united in marriage to Miss Flora
M. Genth, a daughter of Henry and Matilda Genth, the latter connected
with the De Colthieu family of France, with a complete family tree from
821 A. D. and a coat of arms. The children of this marriage are James U.
and Mae. The family attend the Episcopal church and aside from his
membership therein Mr. Bowden is a Knight Templar and thirty-second
degree Scottish Rite Mason, also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the
Modern Woodmen of America and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. His social
nature finds expression in his connection with the Germania and the Elks
Clubs. He has a very wide acquaintance in Jacksonville and throughout
Duval county, where he has always made his home and where his upright
life, his high principles and his fidelity to duty won for him the warm
and enduring regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
JAMES GORDON BOYD.
He was born in Lumber City, Georgia, December 4,
1874, and in the acquirement of his education attended Emory College,
from which he was graduated with the class of 1897. On the 1st of
January, 1901, he became connected with the naval stores business,
having been reared on a turpentine place and thus was familiar with the
business in some of its phases from his boyhood. He remained a resident
of his native state until 1903, when he came to Florida, taking up his
abode in Polk county, where he opened the largest naval stores house in
the state, under the name of the Callahan-Fort & Boyd Company, of which
he was the vice president. In that connection he developed a business of
extensive and gratifying proportions, and from time to time he has
extended the scope of his activities as his cooperation has been sought
in different directions or as he has seen opportunity for judicious
investment. Entering the field of banking, he became one of the
organizers of the State Bank of Bartow, and in 1905 was elected to the
presidency of the Polk County National Bank, in which position he
remained until 1909, when his increasing business in Jacksonville
necessitated his removing to this state, where he has since made his
home, winning immediate recognition as one of the leading business men
here. At the present writing he is vice president of the Polk County
National Bank, of which he was one of the organizers; and vice president
of the Heard National Bank.
The latter institution was organized in 1911 and
is today one of the strongest financial houses of the state. Its growth
has been marvelously rapid and its development has been along the most
substantial lines, for the chief stockholders in the enterprise are all
experienced bankers, thoroughly acquainted with every phase of the
business and thoroughly equipped to direct its policy in such a manner
as to produce the best possible results. The bank now occupies a
splendid home in the Heard National Bank building, a fifteen story
structure, which is the finest office building in the state and one of
the finest in the south. It is supplied with every modern facility for
the banking business, which is carried on in commodious quarters on the
first floor, while the remaining floors are used for office purposes.
In addition to his financial connections, Mr.
Boyd is also president of the Herty Turpentine Company and has large
interests in naval stores. He is a man of determined purpose, brooking
no obstacles which can be overcome by earnest, honorable effort, and
what he has accomplished in the business world represents the fit
utilization of his innate powers and talents.
Mr. Boyd married, on April 16, 1902, Miss Annie
Kate Fort, of Blakely, Georgia. They have five children, four sons and
one daughter, as follows: Fort, James Gordon, Jr., Randolph Wilson,
Annie Kate and Jack Martin. Their ages range from ten to three years.
Mr. Boyd is a Mason, an Elk and a Knight of Pythias. He is a member of
the Jacksonville Board of Trade and the Country and Seminole Clubs.
Politically he is a democrat and, although public-spirited in his
citizenship, not an office-seeker. He is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, South.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
Volume 2, p. 134
SAMUEL CORDES BOYLSTON.
With the close of the war Lieutenant Boylston
took up the pursuits of civil life and has made continuous progress in
that connection until he has reached a prominent position in railway
circles. In February, 1866, he became general freight and passenger
agent of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad and continued to act in that
capacity for twenty years — a fact indicative of his capability and
faithfulness. During that period he was also president of the General
Passenger Agents Association of the United States and Canada. He
resigned his position with the Charleston & Savannah Railroad to become
union ticket agent of all railroads and steamships entering Charleston.
After fifteen months he accepted the position of general freight and
passenger agent of the Brunswick & Inland steamship line and, removing
to Jacksonville, he became connected with the Florida Southern Railroad
and the DeBarry Merchants Line on the St. John river in the same
capacity. For six years he was commercial agent of the East Tennessee,
Virginia & Georgia Railroad. He is now in charge of local claims of the
Atlantic Coast Line. In railway circles he is widely known, his business
ability being generally recognized, and as the years have gone by he has
advanced step by step, proving his worth and merit at each point in his
career.
On the 15th of September, 1863, Mr. Boylston was
united in marriage to Miss Margaret Cloud DuBose, of Fairfield county,
South Carolina, and they became the parents of seven sons and five
daughters. Mr. Boylston is well known in fraternal circles. He is a past
master of LaCandeur Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Charleston, South Carolina;
and he belongs to the Elks Club and to R. E. Lee Camp, No. 58, of the
United Confederate Veterans. He is an ex-brigadier general of the Second
Brigade of the Florida Division of that organization. In matters
pertaining to local progress and improvement he is greatly interested
and his cooperation can always be counted upon to further measures for
the public good. In 1901, just after the great conflagration in
Jacksonville, he was a most active worker to relieve the critical
situation and was placed in charge of the homeless of the city, doing
much to provide immediate shelter for the thousands who were left
without adequate protection. This was characteristic of the
resourcefulness of Mr. Boylston, who is ever ready to meet the duties
and demands of the hour, and his work in that connection won him high
praise and gratitude.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
FRANK BROWN.
Frank Brown was reared in Jacksonville and
educated in the public schools of the city, starting out in business
life when very young, entering the employ of T. Murphy, an iron
manufacturer. His position was a humble one, but he gradually worked his
way upward as he proved his ability, fidelity and trustworthiness.
Gradually he was advanced from one position of responsibility to another
until he became secretary and treasurer of the company upon its
incorporation, serving in that dual office until elected circuit clerk
in the fall of 1912, entering upon the duties of the position on the 7th
of January, 1913. He was elected on the regular democratic ticket,
defeating P. D. Cassidey, one of the most popular democrats in the
county, at the primary, after Mr. Cassidey had filled the office for
sixteen years and had served for seven years as chief deputy. This alone
indicates the personal popularity of Mr. Brown and the confidence
reposed in him by his constituents.
He is always approachable, a genial, courteous
man, and the public have reason to believe in his high standards of
citizenship. In June, 1901, he was elected to the city council from the
third ward and was reelected for six consecutive terms of two years
each, acting as president of the council for two terms and as chairman
of the finance committee, when he resigned. He also served on the laws
and rules, taxation and finance committees, and exercised all his
official prerogatives in support of progressive public measures looking
to an economical administration and one productive of reforms and
improvement.
In September, 1890, Mr. Brown was united in
marriage to Miss Dora Lee Hobbs, of Jacksonville, and they have become
the parents of three sons and a daughter: Frank W., Timothy M., Robert
A. and Dorothy Lee. A lifelong resident of Jacksonville, Mr. Brown is
well known in the city and all recognize the fact that he has been an
earnest and effective worker for its advancement and improvement. While
standing stanchly in support of the principles in which he believes, he
never places partisanship before public good or seeks personal
aggrandizement at the sacrifice of the general interest.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
NATHAN P. BRYAN.
In October, 1898, Mr. Bryan was married to Miss
Julia Smith, a daughter of Mumford and Annie (Cecil) Smith. Mr. Bryan is
much interested in the cause of education as a factor in raising the
standard of citizenship as well as developing individual talent and
powers. He has been honored with appointment to the educational board of
control, having in charge the University of Florida, the Florida Female
College, the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and the Colored Normal
School. In politics he has always been a democrat, actively interested
in vital and significant problems of the day, yet prominent in every
movement for the public good whether accomplished along political or
other lines. Of him it has been said: “Mr. Bryan has many warm personal
friends, not only in Jacksonville but all over the south, and his
standing in the community is that of a fine gentleman, a generous friend
and a pleasant neighbor.”
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
HENRY HERBERT BRYANT.
Three of the brothers were soldiers in the
Confederate army, Henry H. Bryant enlisting during the last year of the
war, although but a youth in his teens, as a member of Abell’s Battery,
Johnson’s army. He was at the surrender at Greensboro, North Carolina,
and was paroled May 3, 1865.
Mr. Bryant had resided in Florida until about a
year before his enlistment, when the Federals captured Jacksonville and
took possession of the St. Johns river. In 1867 he returned to Putnam
county and has been a resident of Welaka for the past forty-six years.
He has been continuously engaged in farming and fruit growing, and also
has charge of the wharf on the St. Johns river at Welaka, which he owns.
His life has been one of continuous and well directed activity and the
success he has achieved is the merited reward of his own labors. He has
been a notary public since the days of reconstruction and for many years
has filled the offices of collector and assessor in Welaka. His father
was a supporter of the whig party and Henry H. Bryant early became an
advocate of democratic principles, which he has since supported.
On the 22d of June, 1875, occurred the marriage
of Mr. Bryant and Miss Mary J. Stephens, who was born near Ocala, Marion
county, Florida, April 17, 1855, and has resided in this city throughout
her entire life save for a period of three years during the war. Her
parents were Clark and Augustina (Fleming) Stephens, the former a native
of Alabama and the latter of Florida. Mr. Stephens was reared in Georgia
but was married in Florida and became a planter of Marion county. He
died in Welaka, December 19, 1903, at the age of seventy-five years,
while his wife passed away in 1900 at the age of sixty-nine. He served
for a short time in the war but was discharged on account of disability.
He was a brother of Captain Winston Stephens. Mrs. Bryant was one of
five children and the third in order of birth. The others were: William
W., now deceased; Louis I., of Jacksonville; Charles Seaton, of Norfolk,
Virginia; and Edward L., of Brunswick, Georgia. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Bryant
have been born five children: Ruby A., the wife of Frank R. Reeder; Mary
O., the wife of W. E. Tydings, of Montbrook, Florida; Henry Herbert, of
Brunswick, Georgia; Caroline F., the wife of E. C. Wilkinson, of South
Jacksonville; and Edith, who died at the age of six years.
The Bryant family is one of the oldest of this
section of the state. When they arrived, there were still many evidences
of Indian activity. In fact, it is doubtful whether all the red men had
left the neighborhood, and Mr. Bryant’s older sister would sleep next to
the cabin door so that the Indians might get her before they could reach
her small brother — now the subject of this review. When the family
returned after the war there were only two families living in Welaka.
Mr. Bryant’s home and that of his father-in-law were burned during the
period of hostilities and everything possible taken from the place, so
that they were practically left penniless. When the Stephens’ family
returned they were a week in making the trip from Silver Springs to
Welaka, journeying on a cotton barge which was poled during the day. Mr.
Bryant has lived to see the wonderful development of this section of the
state as the work of progress and improvement has been carried for-
ward, and at all times has borne his part in the work of general
improvement. He is one of the esteemed residents of the community and
has an extensive circle of warm friends in Duval, Marion and Putnam
counties.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
Courtland
Buckman. Real-estate
activity stands indisputably as one of the strong sources of a city's growth, improvement and
adornment and the men who are active in that field of labor have
much to do with public progress, controlling and directing the
character of the work accomplished for the city's benefit.
Prominent in this connection is Courtland Buckman, who for almost
eighteen years has handled Jacksonville property, negotiating
many important realty transfers and winning a large clientele.
He was born December 8, 1862, in Madison, Florida, where his
mother had taken refuse during the Civil war.
The father, Thomas E. Buckman, removed with the family to Jacksonville, in
which city his children, of whom Courtland Buckman was the third son,
were reared and educated. After attending the public schools
Courtland
Buckman, at the age of twenty-one became deputy to his father, who was
then filling the position of county clerk of Duval county, and
upon the establishment of the criminal court of that county in 1885, he
was appointed by the governor as the first clerk of that court,
in which capacity he continued until October, 1887.
He then resigned and became connected with the mercantile business in Daytona,
Florida, where he not only won a prominent position in business circles but
after six months' residence there became an acknowledged power in
political affairs through his election as mayor of the town,
serving for one term.
In June, 1894, Mr. Buckman returned to
Jacksonville and for a year thereafter was connected with the Singer
Manufacturing Company, at the end of which time he turned his attention to
the real-estate business, in which he has since engaged, ranking
now as one of the leading real-estate men of the city.
He is thoroughly conversant ith property values, anticipating a possible
rise or diminution in price, and so conducts his interests that buyers
and sellers are alike satisfied while there is accorded to him the
legitimate and well earned profits of his labor.
In February, 1908, Mr. Buckman completed, on the southwest corner of Forsyth and Hogan
streets, Jacksonville, what is known as the Buckman building, the first
strictly fireproof building ever constructed in Jacksonville.
It i built of steel and concrete, is five stories in height, is one of
the most substantial of Jacksonville's new improvements, and located
as it is, in the heart of the business center, diagonally across the
street from the Federal uilding, or postoffice, it is one of the most
desirable business and office buildings in the city and is a monument
to Mr. Buckman's foresight and business acumen.
Mr. Buckman is one of the directors of the Florida National Bank.
Mr. Buckman married Miss Mamie A. Berne, of
Cincinnati, Ohio. They are well known socially and are
communicants of St.
John's Episcopal church. Mr. Buckman is a member of the Board of
Trade,
the Seminole Club, the Country Club and the Florida Yacht Club, serving two
years as its commodore, and his attractive social qualities render him popular
wherever hs is known.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida, 1513 - 1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of War
and Peace and Industrial Development, (c) 1914, Volume 2, p. 28
HENRY HOLLAND BUCKMAN. Among the many able men, today pushing
Florida
forward to a great and brilliant future, no one is doing more effective
work than Henry H. Buckman, attorney, of Jacksonville. He is a native of
Jacksonville, born June 20, 1858. His father, Thomas Ellwood Buckman, came from Bucks county, Pennsylvania,
to Jacksonville in 1848. His mother was Selina
Margaret Cleland. She was a cousin of Francis Scott Key,
who wrote the Star Spangled Banner. Her parents came to Florida in 1837, from Charleston, South
Carolina, when she was about six years of age.
William Buckman, the first American ancestor,
came from the parish of Billinghurst, Sussex,
England, in 1682, and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
He was a friend of William Penn. The family was
Quaker for generations. A direct descendant of William,
one Thomas Buckman married Hannah Yardley and they were the parents of Thomas E., and grandparents
of Henry H. Buckman. The Yardleys were prominent in Pennsylvania during several generations, and
an old family in England, where we find Sir William Yardley’s coat of arms appearing first on right
as one of the knights sponsors to the Magna Charta. The Clelands were connected with the Fox and Holland
families of England. Dr. Andrew Turnbull was
great-grandfather of Mr. Buckman’s mother. Dr.
Turnbull was a venturesome and far-seeing man. In 1769 he located at New Smyrna, Florida, a colony of
people from the Mediterranean islands and coasts, and
spent immense sums in development. The colony was a failure, but Dr. Turnbull’s forecast of the
possibilities has since been justified. Many of the
descendants of his colonists can be found in the St. Augustine section today. Colonel Thomas Ellwood Buckman,
father of Henry H., came to Florida in 1848. Born April
26, 1822, he was then twenty-six years of age and
had learned the lumber business in Pennsylvania, and
he engaged in the same business in Florida with a
branch at Darien, Georgia. He built the first railroad
in Florida, from Jacksonville to Lake City, and was
its first general superintendent. His war record was picturesque, he
arose to the rank of colonel in the Confederale army. His particular arm was the
artillery, and at the battle of Olustee, he mounted a big gun on a flat car, and running it up and down the
track, did immense execution. By the same method he
drove the Federals out of Jacksonville. He had a most original and inventive mind, and worked out models
for several inventions now of world-wide use. After
the Civil war, he engaged again in the sawmill
business. He was brigadier general of state troops, and
from 1877 to 1889, was clerk of the circuit court of Jacksonville. He died February 20, 1891, in his
sixty-ninth year. His wife survived until September 24,
1901, when she died, being then seventy years of age.
From this brief summary it can be seen that
Henry H. Buckman comes of virile and original people,
both thinkers and doers, and he is living up to the
best traditions of his race. He was educated at St.
John’s Academy, Jacksonville, and Cumberland
University, Lebanon, Tennessee, where he was graduated in
1879 with the degree of B. L. In that same year he
began the practice of law in Jacksonville, and
speedily won a prominent place at the bar, and in the
community.
He has served on the police commission of
Jacksonville; as assistant United States attorney of the southern district of Florida; as member of the lower
house of the general assembly; and was chairman of the house judiciary committee in 1905. In 1907 he
was elected to the state senate, for a four-year
term, and became chairman of the senate judiciary
committee. Though a democrat Mr. Buckman declined to
support the nomination in 1896, and was a delegate to the Indianapolis convention which nominated Palmer and
Buckner. In the legislature Mr. Buckman has been especially active and efficient. In 1905 he
secured the passage of the measure known as the Buckman
bill, by which nine so called colleges were abolished,
and a university and girls’ college substituted. This measure has been
highly commended, and one of the dormitories of the University of Florida has been
named in his honor, Buckman Hall.
He believes in honesty as a virtue rather than a
policy, in the practice of temperance in all things without fanaticism, in conservatism, not radicalism.
But he does not allow conservatism to breed
inaction, his conservatism is of the constructive type, not
the “do-nothing” kind. As to how best promote the best interests of
state and nation, he believes a more conscientious and earnest interest by conservative
citizens and business men in politics, would result in the elimination of mere politicians and demagogues, a
higher type of public men, and stricter accountability,
all of which would greatly promote the general welfare.
Mr. Buckman has been twice married, first to
Miss Sallie C. Allison, the youngest daughter of Dr.
R. P., and Alethea (Saunders) Allison, of Lebanon, Tennessee. She died April 20, 1897, and on
September 6, 1906, he married Miss Katherine Pillsbury,
youngest daughter of D. R. and Elizabeth Pillsbury, of Jacksonville. He has three children, Alene H., Henry
H., Jr., and T. Ellwood.
A general reader, he has found especially
helpful, the classics, the Bible, Blackstone and
Shakespeare. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church.
He has been attached to the Florida militia from
private to commissioned officer. His literary tastes led
him into authorship to the extent of one book,
“Merope” or the destruction of Atlantis.
Of social and fraternal temperament, he holds
membership in nearly all the local societies, such
as the Seminole, Country, Germania, Wheelmens and Motor Boat Clubs, the Elks, Odd Fellows, Masonic
societies, Business Men’s Association, Florida Historical Society, Duval
County Bar Association, State Bar Association, and American Bar Association and other organization.
Anything that is of interest to any section of
the people of Florida appeals to Mr. Buckman, and in consequence of his active interest, his sympathy
and his sefulness, he stands in the front rank of the
strong men of the state, and second to none in the
general esteem.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
HON. RHYDON M. CALL.
His birth occurred January 13, 1858, in
Fernandina, Florida, his parents being George W. and Starke (Mays) Call,
natives of Kentucky and South Carolina respectively. The family came to Florida
while his uncle, Richard K. Call, was territorial
governor, the paternal grandfather, George W. Call, who
was a practicing physician, settling in Leon county,
Florida. Major George W. Call was attorney for the Cedar Keys Railroad during the period of its
construction and laid out the town of Fernandina, in which he made his home. He was a gallant officer of the
Second Florida Regiment in the Civil war and met death
at the battle of Seven Pines in 1862. He went to
the front as captain of his company, serving with
the rank of major when he fell. He left two
children: Rhydon M.; and Sarah, who died in 1871.
Judge Call was but four years of age at the time
of his father’s death and was reared in the home of
his maternal grandparents, Dr. Rhydon G. and Sarah
B. (Smith) Mays. It was while spending his youthful days upon their orange ranch in Putnam county
that he acquired his primary education. He attended private schools and pursued his academic course in
the Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, after which he entered upon the study of
law in that institution and was graduated with the
B. L. degree in 1878. He was at once admitted to the
bar of Virginia, but did not begin to practice until
two years later, when he opened an office in
Jacksonville and entered upon the active work of the
profession. In this connection it has been said of him: “In
a remarkably short time he thoroughly established himself as a lawyer of unusual ability and from
that time he has been prominently identified with the legal profession of the state. Both in the capacity of
an
advocate and as circuit judge has he won the
golden opinions of his contemporaries.” Judge Call is
now the third oldest practitioner in Jacksonville
and from the first has maintained an enviable position at
the bar of this city, early proving his ability to cope
with the intricate and involved problems of the law. His fellow townsmen, appreciative of his public spirit
and his ability, have frequently called him to
positions of honor and trust, and his record has at all times
been most creditable. The first office that he ever
held was that of member of the city council, to which he
was chosen in 1882, continuously serving for six
years, during which period he exercised his official prerogatives in
support of many progressive public movements. He was district attorney under President
Cleveland’s first administration and was county solicitor of Duval
county. He served in the former position for two years, or until succeeded by a
republican appointee, and in 1891 Governor Fleming
appointed him county solicitor, in which position he
continued until June 3, 1893, when he resigned to accept a position on the bench of the fourth judicial
circuit, tendered him by Governor Mitchell. Judge Call remained upon the
circuit bench by reason of successive appointments, and his twenty years’
service were characterized by a masterful grasp of the problems presented for solution. On March 26, 1913,
Judge Call was appointed by the president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, district judge
for the southern Florida district, entering upon his
duties April 1, 1913. Judge Call is well fitted for this important and distinguished position on account of
his profound legal knowledge, his ability and his extensive experience.
On the 2d of March, 1887, was celebrated the marriage of Judge Call and Miss Ida
Caroline
Holmes, a daughter of Henry E. Holmes of Jacksonville.
They had one child, George W., now a student in the Washington and Lee University. Mrs. Call died
December 16, 1896. Judge Call belongs to the Seminole
Club and the Church Club. His interests chiefly
center along those lines which have most to do with the welfare and progress of city and state. The record
of few men in judicial service extends over a
longer period, and none has been more faultless in
honor, fearless in conduct or stainless in reputation.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
FRANK CASSIDEY.
Frank Cassidey has been a resident of this city
from the age of ten years, or since April, 1881.
Following the completion of his school days he entered
public service and has been almost continuously
connected with municipal affairs. He was first made chief
clerk in the city comptroller’s office, acting in that
capacity until the office was abolished and that of city
auditor was created in July, 1911. Mr. Cassidey was then elected the first city auditor of Jacksonville
and so continues. Over the record of his official
career there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil.
He has ever been faithful and loyal and his capability is recognized by all who know aught of his public
service.
On the 12th of December, 1900, Mr. Cassidey was
united in marriage to Miss Goertner T. Boston, daughter of William King
Boston, of Alachua county, Florida, and they have one child, James Ansel. Mr.
and Mrs. Cassidey have a broad acquaintance in this
city and the hospitality of many of Jacksonville’s
leading homes is accorded them. Mr. Cassidey holds membership with the Germania Club and is also a
popular member of the Elks. Plis life record, like that
of his father, comprises an interesting military
chapter, for he served during the Spanish- American war as quartermaster
of Company K, First Louisiana Regiment Volunteers, giving thereby evidence of his
patriotic spirit, which influences his actions in time of peace as
well as in times of war, when volunteers are needed to protect the honor of the country against a foreign
foe.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
EDWARD ALONZO CHAMPLAIN.
Edward A. Champlain was born in Charleston, South Carolina, December 10, 1844, and,
although
he was only in his sixteenth year when the
secession of that state and the question of the relief of
Fort Sumter agitated the north and south, he entered the state military service in the Chichester Zouaves,
serving
under Major Stevens at the Morris Island battery on
the occasion of the firing on the United States ship
Star of the West. He was a member of this company
eight or ten months and then entered the Confederate
states service as private in the Marion Artillery, with
which he served about Charleston, participating in the
battle of Secessionville and in other engagements. A
year later he enlisted in Colonel Charles J.
Colcock’s Cavalry
Regiment and served as a private in Company A
for a short time, the next command to which he was attached being the Twenty-seventh South Carolina Infantry,
in which his father, Alexander J.
Champlain, also served. Going to Virginia with Hapgood’s Brigade in 1864, father and son fought against
Butler’s army at Port Walthall Junction, Swift Creek and Drewrys Bluff,
under Beauregard, protecting the Confederate capital while Lee was at the
Wilderness, and with Lee’s army aided in repelling the assaults
of Grant at Second Cold Harbor and in the battle of
Petersburg, June 16-18. After this they were on duty in the trenches before Petersburg or Richmond,
participating also in the fighting on the Weldon Railroad and
at Reams’ Station and in other important
engagements until December, 1864, when Hapgood’s Brigade was sent to Wilmington, North Carolina, where Butler
was defeated and where the brigade was on duty
at the front until Fort Fisher fell. Mr.
Champlain’s last battle was at Bentonville, where the
remnant of his brigade did gallant service, and there he
was wounded severely. Being sent to the hospital at Charlotte, North Carolina, he was still there when
General J. E. Johnston surrendered his army at
Greensboro. His father had fallen months before in one of
the battles in front of Petersburg and in December,
1862, his brother, William Ervin Champlain, had been
fatally wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg.
In his life since the war Edward A. Champlain
made a similar record of devotion to duty and his
activity and enterprise in business brought him a gratifying
measure of success. He came to Florida for the southern Express Company, and was its agent at Cedar Keys
for three years, after which he embarked in the
wholesale grocery business there, as a partner of C. B.
Rogers. In 1886 the firm moved its business from Cedar
Keys to Jacksonville, and later formed the
Consolidated Grocery Company, Mr. Champlain becoming vice president. He was also a director in the Florida
National Bank.
Mr. Champlain married, February 13, 1878, Miss
Mary H. Hodgson, a native of Florida, and they became the parents of five children : Guy R., who
lives in Jacksonville; Annie J., who married J. C.
Reynolds; Edward Alonzo, Jr., w r ho died at the age of
two years; Gertrude W., who lives at home; and Ernest, who resides in Jacksonville.
Mr. Champlain belonged to the Jacksonville Board of Trade, was a member of the Seminole
and other clubs, and the Confederate Veterans Association.
For almost a quarter of a century he was a prominent resident of Jacksonville, taking a high place among
the leading merchants of the city. Continuously
connected with its development and improvement, he watched the progress of the city for many years and took
an active part in all that pertained to the general
good and the substantial upbuilding of the community. His death was, therefore, widely regretted, for it
deprived Jacksonville and Duval county of a
representative and honored citizen.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
Judge John Moses Cheney
In Bristol, New Hampshire, on the 23d of
November, 1886, Judge Cheney was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth
Alexander, of that city, a daughter of Horace T. Alexander.
Mrs. Cheney belongs to the Florida chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution and is connected with several prominent literary and
social clubs. The children of this marriage are Miss Glenn A.,
Donald A. and Joseph Y.
Judge Cheney has ever given his allegiance to
the republican party and has een one of its foremost leaders since
coming to this state. He was twice a candidate for congress in the
second district of Florida--in 1900 and again in 1904, and in 1908
he was a candidate for gubernatorial honors.
His study of the political situation of the country is comprehensive and thorough and he
displays a statesmanlike grasp of affairs.
His fraternal relations ae with Orlando Lodge, F. & A. M. of which he was worshipful master in
1894; the Royal Arch Chapter, of which he was high priest in 1899; and the
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.
He also belongs to the Orlando Country Club and has attractive social qualities which bring him
personal
popularity, while his ability as a lawyer and judge has gained him
professional prominence.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida, 1513
- 1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of
War and Peace and Industrial Development, (c) 1914, Volume 2, p.
55-56.
WALTER BERNARD CLARKSON.
Mr. Clarkson was a native of Virginia and was a descendant of English ancestors on both
his
father’s and his mother’s side. He was born in Richmond, Virginia, June 24, 1857, a son of Colonel Joseph
Albert and Annie (Anderson) Clarkson, representatives of old Virginia families. The father was
born in Essex county, that state, in 1820 and removed
to Richmond in 1840, there engaging in the
wholesale hardware business. At the outbreak of the Civil
war he commanded the militia as colonel, espousing
the southern cause, but a second attack of blindness prevented his active service. His wife was a
daughter of John T. Anderson, of Verdon, Hanover county, Virginia.
Walter Bernard Clarkson spent his early
childhood in his native state and first attended a country
school in Charlotte county. In 1869 he removed to Baltimore, where he entered the male grammar school,
No. 1, attending that institution until 1872 and graduating with first honors out of a class of two
hundred and fifty students. In the same year he began a
four-year course in Baltimore City College and from
this institution was graduated in 1876 with first
honors. During the first two years in Baltimore College
he took also a business course in Maryland
Institute School of Bookkeeping, and in 1876 entered the
Johns Hopkins University, where he remained for two
years. At the end of that time he removed to Florida
and here first began his connection with educational interests, becoming principal of the Peabody high
school at St. Augustine. He resigned from that position in 1880 and came to Jacksonville to become
principal of the Duval high school. In the meantime he was graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1882
with the degree of B. A. After four years’ service as principal of the Duval high school he resigned
in 1884 and turned his attention to the real-estate
business in Jacksonville, continuing active at that work
until 1898 and being also prominent in educational,
political and public affairs generally, being honored with numerous positions of responsibility and trust.
From 1885 to 1889 he was a member of the board of
public instruction of Duval county and during the last
year of this period served as superintendent. He was
a member of the board of governors of the
Jacksonville Board of Trade from 1890 to 1893, and in the following year served as vice president of that
body.
In 1891 he was a member of the Jacksonville city council, and from 1895 to 1897 was a member of the
board of public works. During his term the city hall
was completed, the crematory built, numerous new
streets were opened, a large number of streets were
paved with vitrified brick and the newly erected city
electric light plant, owned by the municipality, was
placed upon a paying basis.
Mr. Clarkson was one of the great individual
forces in securing all of these reforms and
improvements and worked tirelessly in the promotion of the
city’s interests. At the same time he conducted a large
and profitable real-estate business, but being a man
of broad and varied interests did not find in these
things sufficient exercise for his active mind and
turned his attention to the study of law. He was admitted
to the bar in 1898 and at once forged to the front
in the practice of that profession. So prominent did he become and so widely recognized as a strong and
able lawyer, possessed of a comprehensive knowledge
of underlying legal principles and unusual ability
as an instructor that he was called to the Yale Law
School in 1902, and during that year and 1903 was
assistant professor and a member of the faculty of that
body. He resigned in 1903 and returned to
Jacksonville, where from that time until his death he ranked
among the able lawyers and prominent men of affairs in
the city. He was not only learned in the law but successful in its practice, his knowledge being
supplemented by keen and incisive qualities of mind and the
power of analysis and deduction indispensable to achievement in that field. He drew around him a large
and representative clientage and was very successful
in its conduct, while at the same time he continued
to take a practical and active interest in public
affairs and in the promotion of the general good.
Himself a man of high degree of culture and learning, he
was ever a friend of young men, devoting much time
and labor to helping them on, especially along
educational lines. Lie founded the Florida Law School of Jacksonville in 1904 and became dean of the
institution in 1907. His contributions to the cause of public education and his friendliness for that cause
may
be judged from the fact that his law school work as
well as the service which he rendered as a member of
the board of public instruction were practically gratuitous. He was honored with official recognition
by his fellow members of the bar, having served as
vice president from 1905 to 1906 and as president
from 1906 to 1907 of the Jacksonville Bar
Association. As president he was chairman ex-officio of the
executive committee. In 1906 he was elected vice president
for Florida of the American Bar Association, and
this position he held until his death. He was a
member of the International Law Association, of the
American Society of International Law and of the
International Geographic Society, connections which indicate something of his high standing in professional
circles and the variety of his interests. In 1907 he was
elected trustee of the free public library and was
especially interested in the work of this institution.
On the 22d of August, 1883, Mr. Clarkson was united in marriage to Miss Lillie
Hartridge, the youngest daughter of Dr. Theodore and Susan A. Hartridge, of Jacksonville. She passed away
after a brief married life of five years, leaving two children: Annie Clarkson, who in 1905 married Thomas
Frederick Davis, of the United States weather bureau, who is a son of the late Horatio Davis,
of Gainesville, Florida, who in his day was one of
the best known lawyers and jurists of the state; and Theodore Hartridge Clarkson, a well known real-estate man
of Jacksonville. On the nth of November, 1891, Mr. Clarkson was again married, his
second wife being Miss Rosa Moody, the youngest
daughter
of the late Paran and Mary L. Moody, of Jacksonville. To Mr. Clarkson’s second union was born
one son, Paran Moody Clarkson, aged twenty, who is
now a student in Yale University. Mrs. Clarkson
survives her husband and is well known in social circles
of Jacksonville, her excellent qualities of mind
and character having drawn to her many friends.
Mr. Clarkson was the author of resolutions
calling upon congress to recognize formally the
belligerency of Cuba when the revolutionists in that country
were making their struggle for liberty prior to the
Spanish-American war. He introduced these resolutions before the Jacksonville Board of Trade and secured their
adoption, this being quite a distinction
in view of the fact that these were the first resolutions
of this character adopted by any public organization in
the United States. Mr. Clarkson was prominent in
club and social life, holding membership in the
Seminole, the Florida Country, the Church, the Germania
and the Jacksonville Power Boat Clubs. He was connected fraternally with the Benevolent
Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was a devout member of the Southern
Methodist church. A wide and extensive reader,
it would be difficult to say what books or lines of reading he found most helpful. On two occasions his
library was destroyed by fire and yet at the
time of his death he left about four thousand volumes in
his general library besides a good law library. He
gave his political allegiance to the democratic party and believed firmly in the principles and policies for
which it stands. From 1904 to 1906 he was president of
the Young Men’s Democratic League of Jacksonville,
and in May, 1908, was nominated in the democratic primaries for
membership of the board of public instruction of Duval county for the four-year term, extending from 1909 to
1913. Since 1893 he had
held the view that there should be adopted in some
form a graduated income and inheritance tax to prevent
the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few,
and he worked earnestly to secure a more general acceptance of this idea. Mr. Clarkson died at his home
on Talleyrand avenue, Jacksonville, January 2,
1910, and in his passing the city lost one of her most
public-spirited, representative and progressive
citizens — a man whose ability, breadth of mind and force of personality were made the foundation of a most
effective and lasting work of public service. His name is
high on the list of those who build for all time, for
not only were his individual accomplishments
notable, affecting many vital phases of municipal
development, but his standards and aims will, moreover, be
carried forward by the young men whom he aided and instructed, so that his death cannot end his
useful and beneficial work.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
WALTER F. COACHMAN.
Mr. Coachman was born, December 31, 1864, a son of Colonel Benjamin A. and Caroline
(Ford) Coachman. His father, a native of Georgetown,
South Carolina, commanded a regiment of Confederate troops in the Civil
war and is now a valued resident of Jacksonville. He removed with his family
to Florida during the childhood of Walter F. Coachman, who pursued his education in the schools of
Key West and Cedar Key, and started out in life on
his own account when a lad of twelve years, having previously learned telegraphy when attending school
at Cedar Key. He entered the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company at Tampa, where he remained for
several years, and when seventeen
years of age he became station master at Bronson on
the Florida Railroad. For a number of years
thereafter he was connected with railway interests in
various capacities, acting as local freight agent at
Jacksonville for the Florida Central & Peninsular Railroad
for ten years, while from 1897 until 1899 he was assistant general freight agent of the same road
with headquarters at Jacksonville. Upon his
retirement from that position he turned his attention to independent business ventures, organizing the
Florida Naval Stores & Commission Company, which was incorporated with a capital of three hundred
thousand dollars and has become a very important factor
in the development of the naval stores resources of the state. He was vice president and general manager of
the company until its reorganization under
the name of the Consolidated Naval Stores Company,
of which he has since been the president. In this connection he has
developed a business of extensive proportions, its annual sales reaching a large
figure and placing him among the prosperous merchants of
the city. Mr. Coachman is furthermore connected with important business
affairs through his extensive interests in real estate in Duval county,
his holdings exceeding those of almost every other man. Success has come
to him quickly and he today occupies a commanding position in business circles. From time
to time he has become connected with other
important business projects, being one of the directors of
the Jacksonville Knitting Company and the Acworth Mining Company. His judgment concerning business matters is
sound, his discrimination keen and
his enterprise unfaltering. He seems to at once
recognize the difficulties and the possibilities of any
business situation and sets to work to obviate the former
and utilize the latter with the result that his
achievement has placed him in the foremost rank of Florida's successful business men.
On the 6th of November, 1886, Mr. Coachman was united in marriage to Miss Helen A. Moore
of
Green Cove Springs and they have four children: Mary Moore, Helen Anna, Walter F., Jr., and Charles Rogers.
The commercial prominence of the family
is manifest in the fact that the hospitality of Jacksonville’s best homes is freely accorded to
them, while their own home is the center of many attractive
social functions. Mr. Coachman belongs to the Seminole Club, to the
Country Club and to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. His political activity,
aside from exercising his right of franchise, has been confined to a
term of service as a member of the city council, for he prefers to concentrate his energies
upon his private business affairs. He is, however, never remiss in the
duties of citizenship, cooperates in movements for the general good and aids in all the
projects of the Board of Trade, of which he is a member,
to further the progress and prosperity of
Jacksonville. What he has already accomplished augurs well for the future, and it is a recognized fact that
his
efforts are not alone a source of individual benefit but
of public prosperity as well.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
COHEN BROTHERS.
every chance for advancement, have studied
conditions of trade, and by careful management and using
keen discernment have built up a business second to
none in the state.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
MARCUS CONANT.
Marcus Conant was educated in the public schools
and the Florida Agricultural College, now the University of Florida, completing the work of the
sophomore year in 1898. He then went to New York city with the Bell Telephone Company, with which he
remained until 1904. The following year he returned to Jacksonville and in March, 1906, engaged in his
present business at the location where he is now to be
found, having the largest establishment of the kind in
the state. He owns several automobiles and all
funeral equipments, being the only one able to conduct an automobile funeral in the south. He now has seven
large high power cars and a motor hearse. His establishment includes a chapel capable of seating sixty
people, and he is prepared to conduct funerals in a
manner entirely satisfactory to the friends of the
deceased.
This, however, represents but one phase of Mr. Conant’s business, for he has become
identified
with various other commercial and financial
interests, being the vice president of the South Jacksonville
Bank, a director of the Heard National Bank, and
president of the Conant Investment Company. Moreover, he cooperates in many movements directly beneficial to
the city and is serving as one of the port
commissioners, having in charge the Jacksonville municipal
docks. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and has taken
all of the degrees of the York Rite and also crossed
the sands of the desert with the Nobles of Morocco
Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He likewise belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Elks, and is
identified with other local organizations founded for purposes of sociability or for promoting public
progress.
On the 1st of August, 1906, Mr. Conant was
united in marriage to Miss Hattie P. Curry, of
Jacksonville, and they have two children: Kathleen and Marcus. Mr. Conant is one of Jacksonville's most active
and progressive citizens, and although a young man
has wide influence among those many years his
senior. He accomplishes what he undertakes, either in
his own behalf or in the public service, and is at all times actuated by a laudable desire to promote public
progress along the lines of permanent good.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
BEN F. CONE.
Ben F. Cone was educated in the public schools
of Florida and in the state university. He came to Jacksonville in 1900 and secured a position as clerk
in a law office, devoting every possible moment to
the study of law until qualified for practice by admission
to the bar on the 17th of Tune, 1910. He has since
become well known as an attorney at law of Jacksonville
and although one of the younger members of the profession here represents some of the large
corporations of the city. He has built up a very lucrative
practice and his position is the result of earnest
effort, close study and strong mentality. Nature endowed him with talents which he has used wisely and well
and his professional career has commanded for him
the respect of his fellow members of the
Jacksonville and the Florida State Bar Associations. He has
always confined his attention to civil practice and his clientage has
connected him with some of the most important litigation tried in the courts of the
district.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
MONTGOMERY CORSE.
Source for Biography:
Chapin, George M., Florida,
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