In 1949 Paul and Margaret Benedict bought a beachfront lot for $1,750 from Seagrove founder Cube McGee Sr, on which McGee built a concrete block cottage for them in 1951. The Benedicts bought 300 feet more gulf front property from McGee in 1952 for $15,000, on which four duplexes were built. The Benedicts named the […]
Harley Emmett Wickersham (1877-1953) and his wife Coralie (1875-1944) lived on Circle Drive in a home designed by Duncan Gillis, a well-known architect. Harley operated a funeral parlor a few blocks from their home that his father, Jonathan Adoniram Wickersham, founded in 1885. Coralie was from a prominent family that included her brother, Donald Stuart […]
In the late 1920s, Carrie “Fennie” Humphries Allison (1903-2000) and her husband Wayne (1903-1958) hauled fruit up to DeFuniak Springs from central Florida and sold it out of the back of their truck. They liked the town and moved to DeFuniak Springs in 1931 with their two daughters to open a small business. Allison’s Grocery […]
William Henry Wesley (1865-1947) (left) and Katie Maria Strickland (1875-1953) (below) were married in Point Washington on March 30, 1893. Katie’s mother died in 1891, so she was not there to see Rev. J. A. Daly sign the marriage certificate. W. H. and Katie had nine children born between 1894 and 1912. In addition to […]
Robert E. Lee McCaskill (1871–1946) was a wealthy land developer and timber tycoon who inherited vast land holdings from the estate of his father, John Jett McCaskill. Robert McCaskill’s promotional booklet, “The Road to Health, Happiness and Prosperity,” interlaced facts and photographs with folksy prose designed to lure farmers and ranchers to Walton County. The […]
William Rogers manufactured and distributed dressed lumber as early as 1893 under the name William Rogers and Company. His son, Henry Jewett Rogers (1875-1930) (left), graduated from the Florida State Normal School and began teaching in Portland at the age of 19. While at a summer school course in Lake City, Henry met his future […]
Maude Saunders was born in DeFuniak Springs on June 24, 1885. She spent most of her career teaching science and Latin at Walton High School and was promoted to principal. When she retired, mayor Stealey M. Preacher honored her by proclaiming June 30, 1955, as “Miss Maude Saunders Day.” She died on September 7, 1964, […]
In August 1884, the Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville reported, “Dr. A. H. Gillet with a party are touring in Florida looking out for a suitable locality for a winter Chautauqua and will return to Jacksonville on the 12th inst.” Charles C. Banfill saw that notice while attending a conference in Jacksonville and contacted Gillet, inviting […]
Legend has it that Frederick de Funiak, who immigrated from Europe in 1861, won the right to name the town that now bears his name in a card game. Many prominent newspapers across the country published his death notice or obituary. “Louisville, Ky., March 29. — Col. Frederick de Funiak, capitalist and distinguished citizen, died […]
In one of her “Bits and Pieces of Walton County History” columns, Anna Reardon wrote: “Wallace Bruce was born in Hillsdale, N.Y. on January 10, 1844. He was well-educated, graduating with honors from Yale University about 1868. . . . He married Anna Becker of Scodak Depot, N.Y. about 1870. She was born October 22, […]