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, […]
Wm. C. Gunn, proprietor of the Liberal, of Cuthbert, Ga., was born in Walton County, Fla., June 30, 1844. His parents were Daniel G. and Margaret (Campbell) Gunn, both born in North Carolina. The father was taken to Florida when a boy by his parents and settled in Euche Valley. There he was reared on the farm and received an academical education. In early […]
First graduate of the University of Florida College of Law to become Justice (1940) – and Chief Justice (1949) – of the Florida Supreme Court. Noted for incisive analysis and short, clear opinions (referred to by press of the day as “inventor of one-page opinions”). Born in Florida Panhandle, near DeFuniak Springs in Walton County, in […]
In the fine little City of Bonifay, judicial center of Holmes County, is to be found in the person of Mr. Creel an able and popular official, he being the incumbent of the position of clerk of the Circuit Court for this county, in which office he initiated on the 1st of January, 1921. his second […]
Thomas W. Johnson is a popular citizen whose sterling character and distinctive ability splendidly qualify him for the responsible office of which he is now the incumbent, that of sheriff of Holmes County. Sheriff Johnson was born in Walton County, this state, on the 12th of April, 1880, and is a son of Lafayette and […]
Hon. Charles Oscar Andrews, judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, and now a resident of Orlando, is not only a strong advocate for law enforcement, but a firm supporter of the Government fundamentally. The law represents the stability, the habit of our social life as opposed to creative, reformatory energy, and therefore those […]