A. C. Armistead

File contributed for use on the Polk County GenWeb by: Nancy Rayburn. Originally posted on Jnauary 28, 2008 by Odell Robinson; reposted April 10, 2017. Transcribed from: The History of Florida: Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol III, page 176, 1923.

ARMISTEAD, A. C. is one of the older residents of Lakeland, has been active in its affairs for many years, and is one of the best known men in the county. He is city treasurer and tax assessor of Lakeland.

Mr. ARMISTEAD was born at Abingdon, Virginia, September 9, 1875, member of an old and honorable family of Virginia. His parents, JAMES J. and OLLIE (ARNOLD) ARMISTEAD, were also natives of Virginia, and in 1888 came to Florida, spending two years at Brooksville, and then locating at Bartow, where they lived out their lives. All of their nine children reached mature years,A. C. ARMISTEAD being the sixth in age.

He was a boy when he came to Florida, and he finished his schooling in Bartow. Mr. ARMISTEAD for about twelve years was engaged in the drug business. For one year and one-half his home was at Kissimmee. He returned to Lakeland in 1905, and for several years operated a profitable business in the tanning of alligator hides.

Mr. ARMISTEAD was appointed by the city council as treasurer and tax assessor of Lakeland in 1912, in 1913 was reappointed, and in 1919 was regularly elected to that office. In 1921 he was reelected, and at that time received the largest vote ever given any candidate in the city, getting 1,130 out of the 1,316 votes cast. Mr. ARMISTEAD has now been in this office for eleven years and is thoroughly familiar with every detail connected with the finances and taxation of the city.

In 1903 Mr. ARMISTEAD married MAY IRENE GRIFFIN. Her father is J. E. GRIFFIN, a venerable resident of Lakeland, now eighty-six years of age, and one of the pioneers of Polk County. He was the builder of the W. & B. V. Railroad for the development of the phosphate resources of Florida. Mr. And Mrs. ARMISTEAD have one daughter, OLLIE, now seventeen years of age. They lost their two sons, JAMES and A. C. Jr., in infancy.