Lake County Biographies

C

David J. CALDWELL

D. J. Caldwell

    David J. Caldwell, during his residence in Eustis, was an outstanding figure in the business and financial circles of the city. He was born July 22, 1863, at Cohoes, New York, son of David and Margaret Caldwell, both of his parents having been born in Scotland.
    He was educated in the schools of New York State, and feeling the need for establishing himself in a less populated state, Mr. Caldwell came to Florida and located in Eustis in 1885. He bought land soon after his arrival and started at small orange grove; at the same time working at the carpenter’s trade. When his parents came to Florida he moved to Higley, where he had an orange grove and where he cared for groves for several other people. Here he established a packing house to handle the fruit under his care. He also had a store at Higley, and was Postmaster for twelve years.
    He finally came back to Eustis in 1908 and purchased the Clifford store on Bay street. He changed the name to D. J. Caldwell co., and it became the leading hardware and furniture store of the town. He also established a branch store in Leesburg under the name of the Leesburg Hardware and Supply Company, which he operated until the time of his death.
    Mr. Caldwell was always interested in the civic affairs of his town, and was a member of the city council and served one term as mayor.
    He was a trustee of the Methodist Church, a 32nd degree Mason, a member of the Shriners, and the Knights of Pythias.
    He was married at Higley to Mary Corbin, a native of Massachusetts, and they had two children: Alexander, deceased, and Vida of Eustis.
    Mr. Caldwell died August 21st, 1923.
    from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p171-172
from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p153

Dr. Osmer L. CALLAHAN

    Dr. Osmer L. Callahan, one of the outstanding physicians of Lake County, was born at Waterford, Ohio, son of Dr. Aaron Callahan and Locia Callahan. Dr. Callahan received his early education in the schools of Ohio and studied his profession at the College of Medicine and Surgery of Chicago, Ill., which institution granted him the degree of M. D. in 1907.
    He started to practice at Evanston, Illinois, and practiced for a short time in Chicago. In 1913, he moved to Mt. Dora, where he has since resided and where he has built up a very successful practice.
    Dr. Callahan has important business interests outside of his practice; he is the owner of several orange groves and considerable real estate in Lake County, and is interested in grape-growing, being Vice-President of the Taylor Grape Corporation of Lake County.
    During the World War, Dr. Callahan served in the Medical Corps, in the beginning as First Lieutenant and subsequently being promoted to Captain and later to Major. He was stationed at Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia, and at Ft. Taylor, Key West.
    He has various affiliations, being a member of the American, Southern, State and County Medical Associations, of the Mt. Dora Kiwanis Club and of the Masons.
    He was married in Iowa to Rose McNeal.
from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p172

H. P. CARPENTER

H. P. Carpenter, founder and President of the Montverde School at Montverde, Lake County, is a native of Kentucky, having been born in Boyle County of that State on September 5, 1877, son of James B. and Augusta Carpenter. His father was a farmer and stock-raiser in the famous Blue Grass section of Kentucky. Mr. H. P. Carpenter graduated at the Sue Bennett Memorial School at London, Kentucky, and worked his way through Kentucky Wesleyan College, where he received the degree of A. B. in 1909. Very soon after leaving college he became business manager of Asbury College at Wilmore, Kentucky, where he remained a year when he accepted the same position with his Alma Mater, Kentucky Wesleyan College, where he also remained a year, and then became President of the Epworth Training School, continuing in this capacity also for one year. Believing that there was a clarion call for a more practical type of education for American boys and girls, Mr. Carpenter came to Florida in 1912 for the purpose of founding an institution which would train the heart, head and hand, and after making a complete survey of the state he decided to found his school at Montverde, where he purchased considerable acreage and built one small school building. Beginning in an inconspicuous way the Montverde School has gradually grown until it has become one of the largest and best known boarding schools in the entire south. At the present time, there are about 200 private pupils and about 100 public school children in attendance, and twenty States and several foreign countries are represented in the student body. The school has 200 acres of land and 17 buildings, and the staff of teachers and workers of various kinds numbers 25. The institution was established as a non-profit corporation, operating in the interest of industrial and literary training, especially to befriend boys and girls of limited means. It is unique in the fact that students build their own dormitories, make their own furniture, produce their own provisions, including vegetables, fruit, meat, milk, etc., and even do their own cooking. In other words, students, teachers, and directors do all the work, and no student is accepted unless he is willing to render such service. This, of course, means that students form industrious habits, habits of earning and thrift, besides receiving training that puts many of them ahead of their fellows as they go out into life. That this idea has proved popular is shown by the fact that the best people of Lake County and Florid have supported the school, and that it has become so well known throughout the entire United States. In addition to his connection with the Montverde School, Mr. Carpenter has found time to deal quite extensively in real estate and in orange growing in Montverde, in which he has been very successful, and apart from his connection with the school he is recognized as one of the outstanding men of the southern part of the county. In 1909 he was married to Halcyon Parrish, who is lady principal of the Montverde School.
from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p172 and p 175 (p 173 is blank and p 174 is a portrait)

BALTON A. CASSADY

Balton A. Cassady, the efficient and popular Sheriff of Lake County, is a native of Lake County, having been born at Lisbon on March 11th, 1873, the son of A. J. and Mary J. Cassady. Neither of his parents were natives of Florida, but his father was one of the earliest settlers in what is now Lake County, and was one of the well-known pioneers, having served as Tax Collector and later as Treasurer of the county. Mr. Balton A. Cassady received his education in the country schools of Lake County and he attended normal school at White Springs, Florida. He has engaged in farming and orange growing for the past twenty-five years, in which he has been very successful. Mr. Cassady has the honor and distinction of having been elected Sheriff of Lake County three times, which elections are a remarkable tribute to the manner in which he has conducted what many people consider the most important office in the county. He is a Mason, and was married at Lisbon to Minnie E. Freman and is the father of the following children: Mary J., Lena M (Mrs. G. L. Shinn), Dorothy (Mrs. W. Lawson), Evelyn and Reginald G.
from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p175

C. A. CHILDS

C. A. Childs, who is one of the prosperous and successful citizens of Eustis, was born at Millbury, Massachusetts, on the 9th day of December, 1857, son of T. W. and Elizabeth Gleason Childs. He is of English descent on both sides of his family, and his mother’s family goes back to the early days in this country.

    Mr. Childs attended school in his native State. Shortly after the Civil War he was taken to Toledo by his parents and he resided in that city for many years and engaged in the wholesale grocery business there.

    In 1882 he went to Texas where he engaged in the cattle business on a large scale, and subsequently he moved to Oklahoma and also spent some time in Kansas.

    About 1905 he moved to Abbeyville, Georgia, where he remained for four years and where he built the Light and Water Plant.

    Mr. Childs can be numbered among the men whose activities have been of distinct value to the upbuilding of Lake County, as he came to this county in 1909, settling in Eustis, where he immediately built the Light and Water Works, which have been of such tremendous benefit to the community. He also built the Light and Water Works at Mt. Dora and at Tavares. Mr. Childs owned and operated these three light and water plants until 1923 when he sold them to the Florida Public Service Company.

    Mr. Childs has taken an active and important part in various other directions in Lake County: he has been President of the Lake County Country Club since its organization, and the success of this club has been due very largely to his untiring efforts in its behalf. He is a member of the Eustis City Council and has always taken an active part in civic affairs.

    Although retired from active business duties now, Mr. Childs is largely interested in orange growing in Lake County and owns, with Barney Dillard, Jr., a number of valuable groves.

    He was married at Manchester, New Hampshire, to Ida L. White and has one son, T. W. Childs of Daytona Beach.
from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p176

J. Y. CLARK

    J. Y. Clark was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 7th, 1872, the son of Jonathan and Alice Clark. His father was an early settler in Chicago and became one of that city’s largest contractors, among the many buildings he erected there is the famous Art Institute on Michigan Avenue. He was an early comer to Lake County, having started a country home and grove at Fruitland Park about 1896, which estate is still in existence and is noted as one of the show places of Lake County.
    J. Y. Clark first saw Lake County when his father came to establish his winter home there, but he did not come to reside permanently until 1902 when he came to Fruitland Park and remained there until 1906 when he moved to Leesburg.
    Soon after settling in Leesburg, he established the Light and Water Plant there. Having been engaged in the contracting business in Chicago with his brother prior to coming to Florida, he was well qualified for the work of building up in Leesburg a modern and capably managed utility plant. Mr. Clark also early engaged in the automobile business in Leesburg and for several years operated a successful agency.
    A few years before his death Mr. Clark sold the Light and Water Plant to the City and soon after became president and active head of the Crystal River Rock Company, a very large, important business with headquarters at Leesburg. His principal associate in this business was Mr. George G. Ware of the First National Bank.
    Mr. Clark was unsparing of his time and effort in working for the benefit of his adopted city. He served a term as a member of the City Council and was a Director for many years of the local Chamber of Commerce and also served as Vice-President for one term.
    Mr. Clark was a very generous man with his wealth and presented to the First Baptist Church of Leesburg a magnificent pipe organ which was installed a few weeks after his death and which will serve as a fine memorial to him.
    He was married in Chicago to Miss Mae Knight of Port Hope, Canada. Two children were born to this union: Alice C. (Mrs. F. C. Wilson), and J. Y. Clark, Junior, an alumnus of Ohio Western University, and who has succeeded to his father’s business interests.
    Mr. Clark died at Leesburg on March 21, 1928. He was known as a fair and just man, honest and upright, and left a name and reputation which is revered by all who knew him.

from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p176 and p 181 (pp177 nd 180 are portraits, pp 178 and 179 are blank).

GUILFORD DAVID CLIFFORD

G. D. Clifford

    Guilford David Clifford, one of the best known pioneers of Lake County, was born at Rome, New York, on July 7th, 1843, son of Peter Cromwell and Charlotte Lovina Brown Clifford.
    The Clifford family dates back in America to 1775, to John Christian Klepper, a native of Prussia, whose sons changed the family name to Clifford. His mother’s family dates back to the Mayflower, so Mr. Clifford can well be rated as 100 per sent America.
    He was raised on his father’s and grandfather’s farms in New York State, and attended the small country schools of Oneida County, New York. Two of the original school buildings where he attended are still in use. At the age of sixteen, for one year, he attended Whitestown Seminary, near Rome, and there began the study of woodworking and cabinet making, which interested him all his life.
    His first work after leaving school was to tend a store on a lock of the Erie Canal. He was employed at storekeeping and at various kinds of building until he came South. In 1870 he went to Saltville, Virginia, where he entered the mercantile business for himself, continuing there for two years when he moved to Abbington, Virginia, remaining there one year when he went to Rome, Georgia, where he entered the mercantile business with the late C. T. Smith, with whom he was subsequently to be associated in Eustis, Florida.
    It was in September, 1875, that he and Mr. Smith arrived at Eustis, where he immediately took up a homestead on the west side of Lake Woodward. Here he built a small house, opened a small store and became the first merchant at or near Eustis. He continued to live on the property and operated his store there until 1881 when he built his building on the corner of Macdonald Avenue and Bay Street in Eustis, where the Miller Hardware Company is now located. This was the first store building to be erected on Bay Street, and is the oldest business building in Eustis.
    Mr. Clifford was one of the leading factors in the upbuilding of Eustis. Besides erecting a number of structures for himself, including a dock and warehouse at the foot of Macdonald Avenue, he served on the building committees of the first three churches erected in Eustis, and he supervised the erection of the school building that is now the Baptist church. He was Chairman of the Building Committee of the new Presbyterian church which replaced the first church built by the Presbyterians in Eustis.
    He gave much of his time and effort to civic betterment of the community, serving on the Town Council for many years. He served as School Trustee for over thirty years, being a Trustee of the first school here in 1876.
    Mr. Clifford was interested a large part of his lifetime in agricultural pursuits. In 1890 he purchased the Nathan Norton and James M. Bryan places, north of Eustis, where the Haselton Dairy now is located. He cultivated the large groves of old trees that were on both places, and which produced unusually fine fruit. He experimented in the growing of various kinds of vegetables, and found to the surprise of many people that practically any kind of vegetables, also berries, corn and tobacco, could be grown. He also experimented in sheep-growing on this property, but found it was impractical because of the difficulty of preventing dogs from killing them.
    Among his many other activities, Mr. Clifford was the developer of Glenwood Cemetery in Eustis. He owned the cemetery until 1902 when he sold it to the Cemetery Association, who changed the name to Greenwood.
    He was married March 6th, 1872, to Unity Bell Walker of Burkes Garden, Virginia, to which union six daughters were born: Lottie Bell (Mrs. L. C. Taylor), Bertie (Mrs. Harry Hoag), Kate Louise (Mrs. Sasser), Mayme Clifford, Gertrude (Mrs. N. R. Herrick), Ruth (Mrs. Frank E. Owens).
    Mr. Clifford died at Eustis on March 6th, 1919.
    Few men will be remembered with such honor as Mr. Clifford, as he was one of the men who put up with the struggles and hardships of pioneering in a raw country and laid the groundwork for the wonderful development which has taken place in Eustis, and many other parts of Florida.

from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p181-182.

JOHN W. CLORE

    The second oldest resident of Lady Lake and one of the pioneers of this section of the State is John W. Clore of Lady Lake. He was born in Henry County, Tennessee, March 1, 1869, son of Frank and Betty Clore. He came to Florida with his parents, who came to this frontier State for his father’s health. They settled in Lady Lake in 1882, where his father took up a homestead and planted a grove. John W. Clore worked and helped his father plant his grove, and now lives on the same homestead. He added to his planting until he has about 40 acres in the grove.
    In addition to his grove, Mr. Clore is one of the largest watermelon growers in Lake County. He now has 380 in watermelons, and is well known wherever the watermelon industry is followed. He was a factor in the early growth and development of his community, and has always been highly honored throughout the northwestern part of the county where he is so well known.
    Mr. Clore was married at Lady Lake to Katie Fussel and they have six children: John, Jr., Hazel (Mrs. Vanderbleek), Frank, Minnie Lee, Evelyn, and Catherine.

from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p182-183

O. K. COLE

 O. K. Cole was born in West Virginia. He received his education in the schools of that State and followed various occupations in different parts of the United States before coming to Florida.
 Although Mr. Cole has only been a permanent resident of Florida since 1922, he has been coming to this State during the winters for the past twenty-two years, and during all of this period he has dealt extensively in Florida acreage, especially in the central and southern part of the State, In 1922 he established his residence in Sarasota and operated and managed a lumber mill at Woodmier, a few miles from Sarasota. In 1924 he moved to Eustis where he has since resided, and where he is known as an outstanding citizen. He developed and subsequently sold out “Northshore,” one of the most beautiful and successful developments in Lake County, where he now resides and where a number of handsome homes have been erected.
 Mr. Cole has taken an active part in civic affairs of Eustis, and is at the present serving as President of the Board of Trustees of the Eustis Memorial Library; he was Trustee for the Bond Holders for the Eustis Lake Region.
 He was one of the organizers and has the distinction of having been the first President of the Kiwanis Club, one of the most active civic clubs in the County.
 Mr. Cole has the following children: Mrs. John Pritchard, O.K Cole, Junior, and Gilbert D. Cole. from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p183

CARROLL C. CONKLIN

    One of the leading citrus men of Lake County is Carroll C. Conklin, who was born at Bluffton, Indiana, April 28th, 1889, son of C. L. and Lola Conklin.
    After completing his education in the schools of Indiana, Mr. Conklin engaged in the newspaper business for several years, and during the World War he was a Corporal in the 309th Engineers, being attached to the 84th Division, and saw service overseas.
    Immediately after the war, he was in the manufacturing business in Detroit and in 1922 he came to Eustis where he had resided before, and where he has since been connected with the Eustis Packing Company, at the present time serving as Assistant Manager. The Eustis Packing Company was owned and operated for many years by Charles C. Oyler of Cincinnati, and at his death in 1927, a group of his business associates took over the property and formed a new corporation, naming it the Eustis Packing Company, which has grown to be one of the largest packing houses in Lake County.
    Mr. Conklin is a member of the American Legion.
    He was married in Indiana to Mazie Hermance and has two children: Peggy and Jim.

from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p183

R. F. E. COOKE

R. F. Cooke

    R. F. E. Cooke is the son of the late Geo. F. Cooke, attorney-at-law, and was born in London, England, on the 8th of May, 1863. After leaving school he entered Cambridge University, from which he graduated in 1884, and two years later, in 1886, he came to Florida, settling at Fruitland Park. He is one of the best known citizens, and the oldest banker in point of service, in Lake County.
    Mr. Cooke was one of the band of 150 English colonists who settled in Fruitland Park between 1885 and 1890, and it is interesting to note that he and Mr. Louis Bosanquet are the only two left of these sturdy Englishmen who did so much to develop Fruitland Park in those early days. Although Mr. Cooke early engaged in orange growing, which he has kept up until the present time, he is best known as a banker, being the President of the Leesburg State Bank, which has the distinction of being the fifth oldest bank in the State of Florida.
    The Leesburg State Bank celebrated its 40th anniversary on the first of April, 1926. It opened for business as a private bank in 1886 under the firm name of Morrison, Stapylton & Co., Bankers, the partners being W. H. Morrison, a New Yorker, who spent his winters in Florida and who did not take a very active part in the management; G. C. Stapylton and H. S. Budd, both Englishmen, who up to that time had been associated together in the real estate business at Fruitland Park.
    In 1890, Mr. Morrison retired from business and the bank was incorporated under the new State bank laws, as the Leesburg and County State Bank, with a capital of $20,000, G. C. Stapylton being President, H. S. Budd, Cashier, and R. F. E. Cooke, who became affiliated with the bank at this time, as assistant cashier. These with F. S. A. Maude and Walter Neve were the directors.
    The next five years were prosperous ones, and the bank raised its capital to $25,000. The outlook was very bright, until the terrible freeze of December, 1894, and the following one in 1895. These two freezes resulted in the closing of many banks in South Florida, and every one within fifty miles of Leesburg, except Leesburg and County State Bank. Although the deposits dropped from $175,000 to $40,000 in four years, this bank kept its doors open and everlasting credit is due to the able management of the bank officials in practically saving the city of Leesburg from financial ruin at this time. So many people left the State after the freeze, including the bank’s stockholders and directors, that it was impossible to carry on as an incorporated bank, and in 1903 the charter was surrendered and Budd and Cooke forming a partnership bought out the other stockholders and carried on the business under the name of Budd and Cooke, Bankers.
    In 1907 a new charter was applied for, Budd and Cooke dissolved partnership, and the bank once more changed its name to the Leesburg State Bank, with a capital of $15,000, H. S. Budd being President, M. P. Mickler, Vice-President, and R. F. E. Cooke, Cashier. Mr. Budd, however, resigned shortly afterwards, and ex-Governor W. S. Jennings was elected President in his stead. This office he held until 1914 when he was succeeded by J. J. Heard, who in turn was succeeded in 1917 by R. F. E. Cooke, the present President, and at the same time George W. Webster became cashier.
    In 1914, business had so increased that it was necessary to enlarge the banking room and the adjoining store was taken in, doubling the size of the old bank, but again this was found too small, and in 1925 the Directors decided to build the present magnificent four story building which is the largest office building in Lake County.
    During the World War Mr. Cooke was appointed Chairman of Lake County in the Liberty Loan Campaigns, when every town in the County raised its quota and went “over the top” in each issue. In 1914 he was chosen, with the late E. L. Ferran and E. E. Edge one of the Trustees for the first Good Roads Bonds issued by Lake County. Having been a Director in the Lake Region Packing house, at Tavares, the first house of its kind in Lake County, and realizing from his connection with that house, the importance a central packing house was to a community, he built the first public packing house in Leesburg, and with O. L. Fussell as a partner operated it until the death of Mr. Fussell, when he carried on by himself until 1928, when he sold out his interests. With J. H. Randolph, he built and operated the Dixie Steam Laundry at Leesburg but has recently disposed of this also.
    He has always been intensely interested, in a quiet way, in all public affairs, and is now Vice-President and Director in the Leesburg Chamber of Commerce and the Building and Loan Association, but he always says that the public achievement he is proudest of is the Thursday half holiday, of which he claims to be the father. He was the one who suggested to the Leesburg Board of Trade of that time that they should appeal to the local merchants to close their stores one afternoon a week during the summer, which they agreed to do, and since then the movement has grown until it is now universally observed throughout the State.
    In 1904 Mr. Cooke married Ada, daughter of Sam. Gibb of London, England. She died in 1909, and in 1923 he married Margaret Grace, daughter of P. S. Hopkins of St. Louis, Mo., and widow of D. F. Cameron of St. Louis and Leesburg.
    His home is at Fruitland Park, 5 miles from Leesburg, and he is still living on the same property where he stated the first night of his arrival in Florida. He is a member and vestryman of Holy Trinity Church (Episcopal) of Fruitland Park, is a Mason, Knight of Pythias, and a Kiwanian.

from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p184 and 187 (p 185 is a portrait and p 186 is blank)

THOMAS HAYES COOLEY

One of the comparative newcomers to the county who is taking an active interest in the town of his adoption is Thomas Hayes Cooley of Mt. Dora. He was born in Elbert County, Georgia, on April 30, 1896, son of Newton M. and Sallie E. Craft Cooley. Both his grandfathers were Civil War Veterans, and his paternal grandfather lost his right arm in the war. His father was a farmer.
Mr. Cooley attended the schools in Elbert County, Georgia, and received his degree of LL.B. from the University of Georgia in 1923. He started the practice of law at Elberton, Georgia, and was admitted to the bar in Florida in 1926; he has resided at Mt. Dora since 1925. He has just formed a partnership with E. H. Wilkerson under the firm name of Cooley & Wilkerson; Mr. Cooley will conduct the Mr. Dora office and Mr. Wilkerson will have charge of the Eustis office.
During the World War Mr. Cooley served with the United States Infantry, and was with the A. E. F. eleven months in France, four months of which he was at the front. He was in the first St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne drive. He enlisted as a private and subsequently became first lieutenant. He received his commission as captain of O. R. C. in 1920.
Prior to coming to Florida Mr. Cooley was commander of the Legion Post at Elberton, Georgia, and also President of the Elberton Kiwanis Club. He is now commander of the Legion Post of Mt. Dora, President of the Kiwanis Club, and President of the Mount Dora Golf Association. He is a member of the Methodist Church, the Phi Delta Phi international legal fraternity, the Phi Kappa Phi scholastic fraternity, and is a member of the Masons and Knights of Pythias. He was married at Elberton, Georgia, to Billie A. Teasley.

from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p187-188.

DAVI D CRAFT

David Craft was born September 1848 in Alabama, son of John and Nancy A. Craft. In 1860 they lived in the Southern Division, Pickens County, Alabama. The family cannot be located after the War. In 1880 David and his family lived in Sumter County, Florida. Part of Sumter became Lake in 1887. David Craft married Mariah “Mira” H. Jones on 17 Apr 1879, Sumter County, and she brought 2 daughters into the marriage. David’s children in 1880, all born in Florida, were Mattie C. Craft, age 6, Charlie Craft, age 4, and Minnie Craft, age 1. Mariah’s children were Sarah J. and Susan J. Mariah had died by 1885; children in David’s household were Mattie Craft, age 10, Minnie Craft, age 6, Sarah Jones, age 15 and Susan Jones, age 10. David left Sumter County sometime between 1885 and 1889.

Mrs. David Craft and Charlie Craft were buried in Lone Oak Cemetery, without dates or gravestones. The 1885 mortality schedule shows Maria Croft dying in May 1885 of dysentery.

David Craft was married third, 2 Jun 1889, in Monroe County, Arkansas to Rachel Gadera Loftice. Rachel was born December 1869 in Arkansas. They had 8 children, only 2 of whom were living in 1900: Floid Craft born Mar 1893 and Annie Craft born Feb 1900. The family wasn’t found after 1900.

Martha Jane "Mattie" Craft was born 19 Sep 1874 near Leesburg, then Sumter County, Florida.

Martha married first, William Edward Scruggs, 28 Jul 1895, in Monroe County, Arkansas. He was born June 1876 in Arkansas and died before she married again about 1905 to Willie Williams. He was born about 1866 in Missouri. He died about 1910, as Martha married William C. Paris in Lake County, Tennessee on 16 July1911. William was born about 1865 in Indiana.

Martha lived the following places: 1900 & 1910 - Des Arc, Prairie, Arkansas; 1920 - Cleburne, Monroe, Arkansas; 1930 - Vincennes, Knox, Indiana.

David had a brother, Tandy W. Craft, who came to Florida with him. Tandy was born about 1852. He married first, Rebecca J. Coleman, 24 Dec 1876, Sumter County. Rebecca is also buried in Lone Oak Cemetery without a date. She died by 1885,and Tandy married second, Julia E. Fox Butt, 14 Jun 1887, Sumter County. Tandy and Julia were still in Leesburg in 1910.

Cannot identify mother of David's children born before 1879. No evidence of Civil War service for David. No property in Florida for David or Tandy.

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