Pioneers of Hillsborough County

1843-1911

1843-1911

James Lauren Young, known and remembered as Colonel Young, was one of the most honored and respected citizens of Plant City. An attorney, he came to Plant City in 1886, and for thirteen years was legal representative for the Florida Central and Pacific Railroad which, in 1889, extended its line south to Plant City.

Colonel Young was born in Laurens County, South Carolina, December 1, 1847. He was a son of Reverend James L. and Margaret (Todd) Young. The senior Young was also born in South Carolina, but his wife, Margaret Todd, was born in the North of Ireland, of Scotch ancestry. Two of Colonel Young’s brothers died while serving the Confederacy in the War Between the States.

James, one of six children, was four years old when the family moved to Mississippi, and from that state, when he was fifteen years of age, he joined the Confederate Army, serving until the close of the war. Loyal to the cause, he joined the United Confederate Veterans and was an active and long-time member of Hillsborough Camp No. 1 at Plant City.

In 1869, Colonel Young was graduated in the law department of the University of Mississippi and from 1870 until 1885 he was established in the successful practice of his profession at New Albany, Mississippi. He then went to Lakeland, Florida, where he remained only four months, coming to Plant City in 1886 to continue his career and to make his permanent home.

Colonel Young’s interests were not limited to the law. He became involved in several endeavors, including real estate and lumbering operations. Eventually, he retired from active law practice. In 1902, he was one of the organizers of the Hillsboro State Bank and served as its president until his death. The success of the bank has been credited in large measure to his able and discriminating executive policies have been continued by successor presidents.

Colonel Young, staunch Democrat, was active in election campaigns and was himself an office holder. In 1889 he was elected to the Town Council and served several terms. He was named chairman of the body in 1890. He served in the Florida House of Representatives in 1899 and again in 1901. While still living in Mississippi he had held the office of deputy commissioner of immigration for two years.

Colonel Young was a thirty-third degree Mason, being affiliated with both the Scottish and York Rites. He was also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He and Mrs. Young were members of the Presbyterian Church in Plant City, where he served as Elder. Mrs. Young was the former Jennie F. Thompson of Lee County, Mississippi. She was born November 22, 1849 and died April 21, 1933. Colonel and Mrs. Young had two sons, Roger L., who lived in Brooklyn, New York, and Dr. Calvin T. Young, who practiced medicine for a while in Plant City and served four years as president of the Florida State Board of Health, after having served many years in active field work as an officer of the State Board of Health. He succeeded T. E. Moody as president of the Hillsboro State Bank in 1928 and continued in that office until his death in 1955. He was seventy-seven. His wife died in 1938.

The large home of Colonel Young built at the southwest corner of Reynolds and Evers streets was a landmark for many years. After the senior Youngs died, Dr. and Mrs. Young occupied it until their deaths, following which it was moved to the north side of East Baker Street, a short distance west of Whitehall Street, where it still stands. Also still standing is an earlier home built by Colonel Young on the west side of Franklin Street between Mahoney and Reynolds streets. It is now the home of Mrs. James A. Henderson.

1852-1923

In 1887, Dr. Olin S. Wright began his medical practice in Plant City where he remained until his death, December 17, 1923. Born at Covington, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1852, the son of George Mercereau and Charlotte E. (Evans) Wright, he attended high school in Hornell, New York, then, in 1875, graduated from the University of Michigan with a M. D. degree. Before moving to Plant City, he practiced medicine at Hornell, New York; Pine Level, Manatee County, Florida; and Jacksonville, Florida. He was one of the first members of the Hillsborough County Medical Association. History of the association shows Dr. Wright as its only member in Plant City at that time.

Interested in civic affairs, Dr. Wright served several terms as mayor, as a school trustee in Plant City, and as a member of the Hillsborough County School Board. He believed in compulsory education for the youth. He also believed in the building of good roads, which he felt would provide better transportation and would develop the area. Perhaps his purchase of one of the first four automobiles shipped into Tampa, influenced this latter attitude.

In addition to property in Hillsborough, Manatee, and Pinellas counties, he owned two drug stores, the Magnolia Pharmacy and White Brick Drug Store, and was a director of the Hillsboro State Bank. A part of Dr. Wright’s philosophy was that by abolishing the credit system, merchants would be protected against bad debts and customers against themselves.

He was a member of the Episcopal Church, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, and, at the time of his death, was the highest ranking Mason in the State of Florida. In addition to these activities, he was a musician; he played both the piano and the violin, and composed music for the piano.

Dr. Wright’s lineage has been traced, through his Revolutionary soldier ancestor Silas Wright and his wife Mercy Freeman Hayford, to four members of the Mayflower: Isaac Allerton, William Bradford, Richard Warren, and William Brewster.

Dr. Wright first married, September 5, 1888, Palestine Hamilton Collins, daughter of George Hamilton of Polk County, Florida. They had three children: Juno, who married Roy Crabb and had one son, Olin S. Crabb, then married Arthur Coleman; Pallas Athene, who married Dr. James Wilhite Crum and had one daughter, Doris Athene, who married Harry L. Wheeler (c. Suzanne Annice m. Frank Smith); and Victor Olin, who married Odessa Chapman and had one son, Seymour Chapman, who married Pauline Scott (c. Charlotte Jean m. Marvia Thin; Olin Seymour IV m. Margaret Diamond; and Paula Jo).

On June 17, 1921, Dr. Wright married, in Lakeland, Florida, Dorothy Athene Holloway of Moultrie, Georgia. Their son, Olin Seymour Wright, Jr., was born in Plant City, July 25, 1922. Olin, Jr., resides in Brandon, Florida, with his wife, Margaret Grace Row, whom he married January 21, 1944, in Mexico, New York. Olin, Jr., graduated from the New York State Merchant Marine Academy, September 30, 1942, and Margaret Grace from the University of Rochester School of Nursing, March 20, 1942. After spending seven years at sea, Olin Jr. moved his family to Florida where, following in the footsteps of his grandfather Wright (who was a railroad and hotel employee), he began his present career with the Seaboard Coastline Railroad. Olin, Jr. and Margaret have six children: Olin Seymour III, married to Toni Burroughs (c. Ivey Burroughs); Dorothy Ann, married to Daniel E. Stone (c. Brian Alexander, Jennifer Elizabeth, Adrian Mitchell); Christine Sue, married to Edgar Oswald Morris (c. Heidi Michelle); Paul Glen; Margaret Lee, married Larry Johnston Allen; and Kenneth Lynn.

1841 – 1920

When Dr. Benjamin L. Wills came to Plant City in 1896 he was fifty-five years of age and had been practicing medicine for thirty-one years. A native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, he was born August 10, 1841, son of George W. Wills, Jr., a native of Virginia, who had gone to Kentucky with his father, George W. Wills, Sr., in 1810. George, Jr., was killed by guerrillas at the beginning of the Civil War

In 1861, Benjamin enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private in a cavalry company. He served under Nathan Bedford Forrest during the entire period of hostilities, taking part in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Nashville, Murfreesboro, Perryville, Fishing Creek, Franklin, and others. He was once captured but managed to escape. Graduated from the medical department of the University of Philadelphia in 1865, he began practice at Garrettsburg, Kentucky.

Dr. Wills was twice married, in 1867 to Ellen Thomas of Clarksville, who died in 1868, in 1885 he married Jennie Buckner, cousin of General Simon Bolivar Buckner. By this marriage there were two sons, Benjamin L., Jr., who became a well-known real estate broker in Plant City, and George B. Wills. After moving to Plant City, Dr. Wills became a member of the Florida Medical Association and the Hillsborough County Medical Society. He was a Mason and a member of the Baptist Church. He had a dairy and a ten-acre orange grove near the corporate limits of Plant City on the east side, which was later developed into Wills Subdivision.

1870 – 1959

George Hamilton Wilder, following in the footsteps of his father, played a prominent role in the political life of Florida. He was born February 22, 1870, in a log cabin on the home place located on Wilder Road. He was one of the few “old-timers” who was living on the place on which he was born at the time of his death. His early education was received in the local schools, the first of which was held in the Methodist Church at Old Shiloh, then at Knights. After finishing in Plant City, he graduated in 1893 from Stetson University in Deland. In August, 1894, he went to Washington, D. C., where he was an attache in the United States Senate for two years. Later he became private secretary to the Congressman Stephen M. Sparkman and held that position for fourteen years

Mr. Wilder ably represented Hillsborough County as a member of the State Legislature for six years, being at that time the first person to serve three consecutive terms. He was elected to the 1915 session by the largest vote cast for a representative in the primaries. He was Speaker of the House in 1918 for special session (extra session) and also for the regular session of 1919. Mr. Wilder was the first and only Speaker of the House from Hillsborough County until 1973, when Terrell Sessums of Tampa was elected Speaker. His portrait hangs in the Florida House of Representatives. As chairman of the Public Roads and Highway Committee in 1915, he was instrumental in getting a system of paved highways in Florida. While in the House he took an active part in legislation for schools and in other beneficial matters. Since he owned one of the first automobiles in Hillsborough County, he was especially interested in good roads.

For several years he was chairman of the Democratic Exective Committee for Hillsborough County and was State Motor Vehicle Commissioner under Governor Dave Scholtz from 1932 until 1935.

George H. Wilder was very active in Hillsborough County Old-Timers’ Association, helping to establish the annual picnic held each October in Gilchrist Park in Plant City. Some time before his death, he was elected lifetime president of the association and attended every picnic until failing health kept him at home.

George H. Wilder was an avid deer hunter, knew the best places to hunt, kept good dogs, and always had friends wanting to go with him. He was a good hunter who believed in roughing it and could walk many miles in a day, often out-lasting younger men.

While in Washington, he met and married May Virginia Walling on June 12, 1900. She was the daughter of Joseph Walling and Elizabeth Birckhead. After spending their summers in Florida and their winters in Washington, they returned to Tampa. For several years they lived in an orange grove on the south side of Lake Thonotosassa. After the death of his father, he returned in 1912 to take over the old family homestead, where he resided until his death, June 3, 1959.

George Walling Wilder, the only child of George H. Wilder and May V. Wilder, was born October 15, 1906, in Tampa, Florida. He married, on Jun 12, 1930 to Sarah Elizabeth Henderson, daughter of James W. and Minnie P. Henderson. Their children are George W. Jr., James Henderson, Paul D., John W. (deceased), Sarah E. Wilder, and Virginia A. Jerkins. There are eight great-grandchildren of Calffrey LaFayette Wilder; James Henderson Wilder Jr., Michelle Wilder, John David Wilder, Paul Gregory Wilder, Brian Mitchell Jerkins, Lara Denise Jerkins, William Edgar Jerkins and John Perry Jerkins Jr. There is one great-great-grandchild, Chad Wilder.

1867 – 1930

Edgar William Wiggins was the oldest of ten sons born to William L. and Gabriella Blocker Wiggins, who also had three daughters. He was born June 10, 1867 near Plant City and worked on his father’s farm, later becoming more interested in marketing and shipping produce than farming.

He was a pioneer in the shipment of strawberries and was credited with introducing the use of portable ice chests, pony refrigerators, for shipping strawberries. He also had one of the largest and best equipped packing houses for packing and shipping citrus. Mr. Wiggins was an important factor in building up and f.o.b. market for growers at Plant City, selling their fruit and vegetables for cash throughout most of the year.

In the early years of his career he traveled to other fruit and produce sections of the United States in the interests of wholesale commission houses. The experience gained while engaged in this work assured the success of his business which he established in Plant City in 1908.

Mr. Wiggins took a prominent part in city affairs. He was a member of the old City Council from 1913 to 1921 and served again in 1926. He was president of Public Works from 1915 to 1917 and president of the Charter Board which drafted the new charter when Plant City changed to commission-city manager form of government in 1927.

Mr. Wiggins served on the new commission from 1927 to 1930, being elected mayor-commissioner for 1929. He was vice-president of the Bank of Plant City, a director of the East Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Kiwanis Club.

Mr. Wiggins was married on October 8, 1901 to Mary Wilder, a daughter of the Honorable Calffrey L. Wilder, a pioneer settler in Ichepuckesassa. Edgar Wiggins died August 18, 1920, and Mary Wilder Wiggins died September 9, 1935. They had no children.

1880 – 1952

Fred R. Wiggins, son of William and Gabriella Blocker Wiggins, was born in 1880 in the Mt. Enon Community of east Hillsborough County. He was a member of a family of thirteen: ten boys – Ed, Harry, Sim, Jack, Mart, Oscar, Frank, Rob, Rabe, and Fred – and three girls – Minnie, Rebecca, and Zema. All members of this family are deceased. In 1902 Fred R. Wiggins married Edith Hull, born in 1880 to Milton and Martha Claville Hull. The Hull family came to east Hillsborough County from Lake County. Milton and Martha lived in the Springhead community for a while and then moved to the community of Mt. Enon. To them were born five boys and five girls. The boys were Thomas, Evie, Willie, Calvert and Walter. The girls were Edith, Elizabeth, Georgia, Mattie and a little girl who died in infancy.

Both William Wiggins and Milton Hull served in the Civil War. Their children and grandchildren liked to hear them tell about their experiences.

Fred and Edith Wiggins bought a home in the Mt. Enon community and here reared their children: three girls and two boys. The girls were Zeda, Wilma, and Hazel; the boys were Fred and Jack.

Strawberries and peppers were the main money crops grown on the Wiggins’ farm, but green beans, tomatoes, squash and other vegetables in small quantities were also grown. A small citrus grove yielded fruit for family and friends and some for the market. Fred worked with his borther, E. W. Wiggins, as a buyer during strawberry season. After his brother’s death he was a buyer for Wishnatzki and Nathel. Fred died in 1952, and his wife Edith died in 1965 after suffering many years from arthritis. The family home on Wiggins Road was sold in 1968.

Zeda married John T. Alderman in 1920, and they established a home in the Mt. Enon community. John was killed in an automobile accident in 1945. Zeda died in 1962.

Wilma graduated from Plant City High School in 1923 and began teaching that same year. She acquired a college degree by attending summer schools and taking classes during the school term. All of her teaching career was in east Hillsborough County. She retired in 1973 and makes her home at 507 North Merrin Street in Plant City.

Hazel graduated from high school in 1930 and attended Florida State University. She married Frank H. Moody in 1931. They make their home at 710 Pinedale Drive in Plant City. They have four children, Kay, Gail, Frank, and John; and seven grandchildren, Kathy, Tricia, and Charlie Johnson; Joe and Jim Wills; and Allison and Ben Moody.

Fred, a 1934 graduate of Plant City High School, married Minta Oliver of Ft. Lauderdale. They reside in St. Petersburg, where Fred is in freight traffic with the Seaboard Coast Line. They have two daughters, Polly and Karen, and four grandchildren, Todd and Tammy Brolin; and Greg and Matthew Horne.

After graduating from high school in 1939, Jack became associated with the Seaboard Coast Line. He now works for this company in the freight department in Orlando. He married Sara Howell of Springhead, who teaches elementary school in Orlando. They have one son, Jackie.

1876 – 1960

Joseph Robertson White and wife Louisa (Edwards) White came to Plant City in the early part of 1917 from Ocala, Florida, where they were married January 2, 1898, to join his brother, Paul G. White, in the Central Pharmacy, now White’s Pharmacy. Their first home was located on what is now North Palmer Street. Later they purchased a home on West Grandfield, where they resided until 1940.

In 1940 they moved to West Reynolds Street, whre they ran a floral shop until the death of Louisa in 1958. At this time, Joseph Robertson White retired. They had four children: Richard Newton, Charles Stewart, Sarah Elizabeth, and Joseph Crutchfield.

Robert Newton White, oldest son of Joseph and Louisa White, owned the Orange State Oil Agency until his death in 1960. His wife, Irene, resides on Pennsylvania Avenue. Their son, Robert and wife live in Sarasota, Florida. Their daughter, Louisa, and husband reside in Palmetto, Florida.

Charles Stewart White‘s wife Corinne now lives in Ashland, Kentucky, and his son Charles Stewart, Jr., and wife Jenny, live in Odessa, Texas.

Sarah Elizabeth White lived in Plant City until 1959, then in Titusville, Florida, until her death in 1976.

Joseph Crutchfield White was born in Plant City and attended local schools, graduating from Plant City High in 1936. In June, 1941, Joseph joined Tampa Electric Company but left in 1943 to serve his country as an electrician’s mate in the 71st Naval Construction Battalion during World War II. After two and one-half years in the South Pacific, Joe returned to Plant City and resumed his employment with Tampa Electric Company, where he presently serves as a line supervisor. Joseph and Eva Jewel White’s son Charles graduated from Plant City High School and the University of Florida College of Law. Following his marriage in 1972 to Lianne Vorce Keiser, he served in the Army Reserve at El Paso, Texas, returning to Plant City to join the law firm of Edwards and Sawyer. Charles and Lianne have one son, Andrew Addison White (born 1974), and a daughter (born 1976). They presently reside at 1317 Durant Road, Brandon, Florida.

Joseph Robertson White was the son of Charles Henry White and Aurora Crutchfield, who were married June 24, 1874, in Ocala, Florida. Joseph had four sisters: Lelia Stewart White, who married Wesley Benjamin Herring; Mary Crutchfield White, who married Dr. William Gray Mason; Matilda (Tee) Moore White, who married James Austin Pearce; and Evelyn Gray White, who married William Isaac Williams. He had two brothers: Charles Morgan White, who died at age sixteen; and Paul Gray White, who married Bertha Hester Hull.

Louisa Edwards White was born February 21, 1878, in Williston, Florida. She died January 9, 1958, in Plant City, Florida. The daughter of Joseph Newton Edwards and Elizabeth Sarah Mixson, she had six sisters – Allene Edwards, who married William Birt Anderson; Ethel Edwards, who married Retis Limbaugh; Anne Edwards, who married George C. Gramling; Eleanor Edwards, who married Drew E. Matthews; Elizabeth Edwards, who died at age one; Inez Edwards, who married Herbert M. Webb, and a brother, William Percy Edwards, who married Gertrude Christian.

1818 – 1883

The family of William Henry Wheeler came from Scotland around the mid or late 1700’s, settling in Beaufort County, South Carolina, later moving to North Carolina, where William Henry was born in 1818. From there the family migrated to the Georgia Colony, where they engaged in farming, raising cotto, tobacco, and cane. There William Henry married Nancy Jane Allen, daughter of Dennis Allen (1792-1846) and Mary Fussel (1792-1848) from Ireland.

In 1851, Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler decided to migrate to Florida. They settled in the Suwannee Valley area of Madison County, where all their children were born – four sons and three daughters. In addition to farming, Mr. Wheeler made barrels which were used to ship naval stores, such as resin, turpentine, and tar. On the farm he raised hogs, cattle, and general produce. In 1869, at which time it was considered safe to move farther south, the Wheelers sold their farm for eight hundred and fifty dollars, loaded all their farm tools and household goods on two covered wagons, and began the slow journey south. A mule team pulled one wagon and an ox team the other. Wagon trails had been chopped out of the dense forests and had been rather heavily used since trouble with the Indians had diminished. Forts for protection had been built at the settlements, which were increasing in number.

Margaret Jane Wheeler, third daughter of William and Nancy Jane, married Thomas A. Rodgers who was born in a fort. The family tells the story of how his father, Samuel, took his wife, Margaret Ann (Hollingsworth) Rodgers into a fort for safety. There the baby was born, amid flying arrows and gun-fire.

The Wheeler family settled in the Griffin (Polk County) settlement in 1869. Having obtained a land grant, Mr. Wheeler built a log cabin on his one hundred and sixty acres, using the timber cut in clearing the land for farming. The good virgin soil produced crips in abundance. The surplus was canned at harvest time. Canning was a group project for the women, as was quilting, which was done in the winter time when farm work was less demanding. They would also card the wool or cotton for batting to insert in the quilts. There was also the special time for cane grindings and for the twice-a-year trip to Tampa for supplies. It took one full day by wagon and mule team to reach Six Mile Creek, where they camped overnight, cooking out of doors and sleeping in the wagon. They completed the trip the second day, did the buying, and returned to the creek for another night and returned home before sundown the third day.

Butchering had to be done in the winter months so the meat would chill properly This was the only time they had fresh beef and pork. The rest of the year they ate the meat cured in salt or in the smokehouse and fresh game caught in the woods, supplementing with fresh-caught fish.

The Wheelers were good carpenters and helped build churches in the Griffin settlement which were used both for worship services and for community affairs. Some of the Wheeler family were Methodist and some Baptistl. Freedom of worship was very precious to them, as this was on of the reasons they had left Scotland and Ireland. Since they shared the minister with three other churches, service was held only once a month. It was an all-day affair, with a morning and an afternoon service and dinner on the ground.

Because of the absence of a resident minister, funeral had to await the return of the pastor. Following a death, the family and friends took care of the burial right away, usually the next day, then the funeral service was held as soon as the pastor returned to the community. Mr. Wheeler always kept coffin boards in the barn and would build a coffin whenever needed, oftentimes working into the night. Sandstone markers for the graves were also handmade.

William Henry Wheeler died in 1883, leaving the log cabin and eight acres to his widow, and dividing the rest equally among his children. His trusted friend, Stephen T. Hollingsworth, was executor of his will. The widow and children continued to farm the land. As they married, each child received his or her shar, built a home and raised a family. The oldest son and two oldest daughters never married, but remained with their mother on the homestead.

Margaret Jane Wheeler married Thomas A. Rodgers and had four children: Mary Frances, William Samuel, Pasco, and Clarence; William David Wheeler married Lilla Jane Williams and had Lillian C., William Lester, James Alton, James Russell, and Dorothy Margarette; James Jackson Wheeler married Maria Susan Rodgers. She died in 1898 when her son, Carl Brysn, was born. In 1901, Mr. Wheeler married Texas Cornelius Wilder and had two more sons, Joseph Wilder and Henry Hopkins.

George Washington Wheeler, the seventh child of William Henry and Nancy Jane Wheeler, married Sarah Lou Robertson. Their six children were Martin Luther, Oren Henry, Mildred Ruth, Elma Elizabeth, Hazel Gertrude, and Alpha Louise. George purchased an additional eighty acres of farmland about 1900, paying only eighty cents an acre. His land is still owned by his three youngest daughters, who make their home there. It is located on the George Wheeler Road, named for the father by his son, Oren Henry.

James J. and Maria Susan Wheeler moved Knights Station on the Varn Road near her sister, Martha Jane Hawthorne. He took a job as a meat cutter in a Plant City store. His brother, William David, had bought land on the Polk County Line Road when the South Florida railroad was built through his portion of the homestead land.

Two of William Henry Wheeler’s grandsons, Carl Wheeler and Clarence Rodgers, served in France in World War I under General John J. Pershing. Other grandsons served in the Navy, worked in the shipyards in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in the automobile factories in Akron, Ohio. Most of the descendants of pioneer William Henry Wheeler are still residents of Hillsborough County or nearby Polk County. Some few have established homes in Duval, Dade, and Manatee counties. They are to be found in may fields of endeavor, including the legal, medical, and teaching professions. Some are business executives, bankers, industrial engineers, ranchers, ministers, insurance agents, and realtors. Other are legal secretaries, bookkeepers, and office managers. All are grateful for the opportunities that hae been theirs in America, afforded them by the sacrifices of their gentle and hard-working pioneer ancestors.

George Washington Wells, born in Georgia (1843), and Mary Jane Drew, born in Tampa, Florida (1850), were married in Madison County, Florida, in 1864. They settled just south of the future site of Plant City, where their four sons and a daughter were born. The daughter, Mary Jane Wells, married Dr. John Clarence Knight, a native of Plant City. One son, George Benjamin, became a well-known lawyer, and served in the Florida House of Representatives. He also served Plant City as town clerk, then as mayor and in later years as city attorney. Another son, Walter Charles, and his father, started a hardware-furniture store in Plant City in 1884. Sheldon Cornelius, owner of the S. C. Wells and Company Pharmacy on Collins Street, sold out and joined the family business. The youngest son, William Jason Wells, after teaching school two terms in nearby Kathleen, also joined the firm. Lawyer Ben, who handled the company’s legal work, was a member of the family business firm for a while.

In 1915, fire demolished the newly-occupied three-story building on the northeast corner of North Drane and Evers Streets which the Wells had only recently purchased from S. E. Mays. This was a severe setback to their business but they rebuilt and carried on in that location for many years.

When the father died in 1916, the brothers reorganized the business and pulled through some hard times together. After Sheldon’s death in 1932 and Walter’s in 1937, Sheldon’s son, Perry, was president of the company for several years. William, the last surviving brother, continued to maintain Wells Hardware on a smaller scale for a few more years. His son Harry was the last family member to operate the business, which in the final years was limited to sale of paints and accessory supplies. This small business was sold in 1968 and now operates under the name of Brown and Hardee.

William J. Wells’ widow, Mrs. Nellie (Franklin) Wells, still lives in the home she went to as a bride in 1911. It is located at the northeast corner of West Baker and Thomas Streets. Mrs. Wells was the fourth daughter of William King Franklin and Ellen (Brannen) Franklin. Mr. Franklin had been an early merchant at Old Cork. Ellen was teaching school in Mt. Enon and living with her uncle, Jim Powers, when she met Mr. Franklin. He was a native of Brooks County, Georgia. In 1885, Ellen and Mr. Franklin were married at her home in Welborn, Florida. They made their home in Plant City where he was a partner in the Collins and Franklin Store, believed to be the first store built in Plant City. Their home was on Collins Street where the First Baptist Church now stands.

Ellen died in 1895, leaving six small children, five daughters and a son, all of whom went to live with Grandmother Brannen, who had moved to Plant City some years earlier with her widowed daughter, Edmonia (Mrs. Jesse McLeran), and her two children. For a while the two women operated the Central Hotel (also called Blocker House), then moved to a large house on the east side of North Palmer Street between Baker and Mahoney streets. There Grandmother Brannen lived until her death in 1932.

Grandmother Brannen, the former Frances Emily Powers, had been widowed early. In 1860, she had married Elder E. B. Brannen from Dublin, Ireland. Her father, John W. Powers, was also a native of Dublin, coming to Georgia in 1816 at the age of twelve. Frances Emily was one of three daughters born to him and his wife, Eliza Ann Wadsworth, a native of Alabama, whom he married in 1837. Elder Brannen was a widower with several children when Frances Emily Powers married him. They had three daughters, Sarah Edmonia McLeran was one of these, as was Ellen Franklin. The other daughter, Janie Eliza, married A. W. McLeran.

Ellen Franklin’s widower, W. K. Franklin, survived her only five years. Their children were: Philura, who never married; Florence (Mrs. D. M. McKinnon); Willie (Mrs. Curtis C. Anderson); Fannie Clare (Mrs. Lester N. Hayes); Nellie (Mrs. William J. Wells); and son, Carl V., who married Eunice Hancock.

Children of William J. and Nellie Franklin Wells are: Franklin Drew Wells, who married Leona Wagner; George William Wells, whose wife is the former Mary Catherine Medley; Wilbur James Wells, who married Mary Lou Gardner; Helen (Mrs. Thomas Elvin Chason); and Harry Ray Wells, whose wife is the former Edith Anderson.

Sylvester Walden was a cowhand on a cattle drive in South Georgia when he met Edna Bryant. Courtships were short in those days, and Sylvester asked Edna to marry him on his second visit. They were married three weeks later and began their lives together in southwest Georgia in a log cabin with a built-up fireplace. About the mid-1800’s, they packed up their belongings and with their three children, traveled south in a covered wagon to homestead near Turkey Creek, Florida.

Edna taught her husband to read. Each night by the light of the fire, she would help him read the bible. As a result, Sylvester became the first of a number of Walden pioneer preachers to serve this area.

Sylvester and Edna had nine children: Larry Green, Sylvester, Rueben, Bryant, Irvin, Sallie, Mollie, Julia, and Lou.

Larry married Catherine Annette DeShong, whose family also had come from Georgia, and homesteaded about six miles west of the Waldens. They set up housekeeping in the late 1800’s near the DeShong property and began raising strawberries, vegetables, cattle, and a family. They had ten children: Georgia, who married Burch Mott; Edna, who married Braxton Simmons; Ves, who married Jessie Simmons; Jessie, who married Utah Pass; Annie, who died in her early twenties; Sallie, who never married but took care of the home and her parents; Agnes, who married Marvin Sparkman; John, who married Callie Sanchez; and Larry, who married Dorrie Hatcher. Most of Larry and Catherine’s children stayed in the Dover area and took up farming.

Ves and Jessie Simmons Walden were no exception. In addition to being a farmer, Ves was a pioneer Baptist preacher, as were his brother, Jesse, his uncle, Rueben, his son, Rueben Jr., and his uncle, Irvin, after whom Walden Lake is named.

Ves and Jessie had three sons, Don, Dot, and Ivey. Ivey died when he was young. Dot married Margaret Hawkins and had one daughter. The eldest son Don, born in 1894, was raised in Dover, Florida. After finishing high school in Plant City in 1914, he came back to the family farm and married Lucile Gallagher. Four years later, after managing a local general store in Dover, and completing courses at Tampa Business College, he moved his family to Plant City to become a partner in the Strickland Hardware Store. In 1926 he sold that and became half-owner of the Arctic Ice Company with J. B. Porter. Eleven years later he sold his interest in the ice plant and bought the Chevrolet dealership in Plant city, which he owned until 1948. From then on until his death in 1957, Don was involved in citrus, cattle, and real estate.

Don was also active in Plant City civic affairs, serving many years as a city commissioner, with five terms as mayor. He was one of the founders of the South Florida Baptist Hospital and an organizer of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Plant City, now the Sunshine State Federal. He was an active member of the Kiwanis, serving as president in 1945, and was an executive board member of the Florida Baptist Children’s Home in Lakeland. He served as president of the State Baptist Brotherhood, and for thirty-five years was a faithful member of the First Baptist Church in Plant City.

Don and Lucile, during their forty-three years of marriage, had five children: Christine, Miriam, Dona Ve, Anna Sue, and Don, Jr. Christine married James Eberhardt in 1940 and after a prolonged illness passed away in 1942. Miriam married Fred Plenge and now lives in Taylors, South Carolina. Dona Ve married Dave Wehner and lives in Augusta, Georgia. Anna Sue Walden Forbes lives in Plant City. Don Jr., married Lois Berlin, and, after twenty-two years in the Army, is now living in Brandon, Florida.

1926 – 1972

David Carney Walden Jr., born October 23, 1926, was the great-grandson of Sylvester and Edna Bryant Walden who came to Florida about the time of the Civil War and homesteaded property near Dover, One of their sons, Irvin Walden, homesteaded property on Mud Lake, now known as Walden Lake. He married Fannie Branch.

Irvin Walden was a Baptist minister, school teacher, farmer, and county school board member. David Carney Walden, Sr., was the fourth of Irvin Walden’s eleven children. He was an employee of the Hillsboro Bank until his death in 1945. Carney Walden married Leila Farris, who was organist and secretary of the First United Methodist Church in Plant City for many years. She died in 1974. Carney and Leila Walden had two children: David Carney Walden Jr., and Lois Walden Felker. Lois lives in Clairton, Pennsylvania with her husband, Charles and their five children.

As a young man growing up in Plant City, David was active in the Boy Scouts program and attained the rank of Eagle Scout. A notable honor, the American Legion Citizenship Award, was presented to David in the ninth grade. While attending Plant City High School, David participated in all sports and became a four-letter man in athletics.

With enough high school credits for graduation from Plant City High School, David joined the United States Navy prior to the Class of ’45 graduation and graduated in absentia. He was stationed in Hawaii during most of his two years of service. During the Korean conflict, he was recalled to the Navy and spent a tour of duty in Japan. After his first tour duty in the Navy, he married Charlotte Ellen May in 1948. Their four children are: Peggy Diane Phillips, Virginia Paige Creach, David Carney Walden III, and Mary Jane Walden – all living in Plant City.

David attended Florida Southern College, the University of Florida, St. Petersburg Junior College, and later earned a degree from Hillsboro Community College. David Walden was an insurance salesman for several years. However, in 1959, he joined the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Departmen and served in the traffic division and the criminal department in charge of the juvenile division. He counseled and influenced many young people in the county. His last assignment was with the traffic division with the rank of lieutenant.

Active in civic and service organizations, David served in the Naval Reserve for more than twenty-five years; on the City Board of Adjustment, acting as chairman for several years; in the Norman McLeod American Legion Post, serving as post commander; and in the Forty and Eight Club. He helped promote Little League baseball; one of the baseball fields at Mike Sansone Park was named for him.

David was a faithful member of the First United Methodist Church, where he served as a choir boy, Sunday school member, Sunday school teacher, and steward, as well as in other positions in the church.

David died of a heart attack in Puerto Rico on September 8, 1972, when he and his wife Charlotte were visiting their daughter and son-in-law, Peggy and Alan Phillips, and their first grandchild, infant Cynthia Ann. It can be said of David that he served his church, his country, and his community in a distinquished manner. He was a good husband and father. He was a true friend, always willing to go the extra mile to help the other person.

1884 – 1953

Perry Hughes Varn, born in 1884, was the son of William Roebuck Varn and Nettie Turner Varn. He was born at Knights Station on the property now known as the Wiggins Place.

When Hughes was two years old, the family moved to a place one and one-quarter miles south of Brandon. The community was made up of perhaps one hundred residents, a train station on the Seaboard Railroad, a post office, a general merchandise store, the New Hope School, and the Methodist Church. The same log building was used for both the school and the church. His father taught school there, and in his latter years was a pioneer citrus nurseryman. His nursery was on Lake Josephine at Cullen, in Hardee County. He sold the nursery in 1920 for forty thousand dollars.

Another son, Bryan, was born in January, 1889. The two brothers grew up at Brandon, but spent summers at Knights Station, living with the Wiggins and Mallory families. They hoed orange trees for twenty-five cents a day.

When Hughes was a very young man, he owned a team of oxen named Spec and Flint. He used this team in carrying on a cordwood business, selling wood mostly to the railroad for the woodburning locomotives. Cordwood was also used in firing citrus groves during occasional cold spells. Mr. Varn was postmaster for Brandon and owned and operated a general merchandise store. He bought the store from a Mr. Galvin for one thousand dollars, borrowing the money from Uncle Dan Kelly of Bloomingdale.

S. E. Mays of Plant City and Riverview, a good friend, in 1910 advised Mr. Varn to buy and sell citrus fruit, giving him the name of H. E. Shropshire, a fruit and produce dealer in Birmingham, Alabama. From a Fannie Hendrix, he bought a few boxes of seedling oranges which he picked himself, washing and polishing them in the back room of his store. These he shipped to Mr. Shropshire, who continued as a customer as long as he lived, buying the fruit in carlots.

Varn operated packing houses at Brandon, Durant, Knights, Welcome, Fort Green, and Arcadia. Later on, he concentrated all the shipping from one large packing house in Plant City. The first years all the fruit was hauled by teams of mules and wagons. In 1917, he moved his office to Plant City.

During his business career, he bought and set out numerous groves until he retired in 1950. His two brands were the “V Brand” and “Varn’s Special.” He developed his beautiful and delicious navels from the budwood taken from some of the same trees that he had hoed when he was a lad. These naval groves are widespread in Hillsborough, Hardee, and DeSoto counties. He had purchased the Campbell place at Knights in 1917, and some of the mother trees are still there in 1976.

Mr. Varn’s name commanded respect among growers in this vicinity because of his consistently fair dealings with them. During the period when Florida’s reputation for shipping green fruit was notorious, he stood out as one of the few Florida West Coast shippers not guilty of this practice.

On December 15, 1907, Hughes Varn and Olive Eugene Wood of Plant City were married. They had four children: Milton Hughes Varn, who died in a Japanese prison camp on July 22, 1942; Edward Varn, who lives on the Varn place at Knights; Mrs. Thelma (Edwin H. Chapman) of Plant City; and Mrs David N. Wright of Orlando. Mr. Varn passed away December 30, 1953. Mrs. Varn passed away January 18, 1973.

1847 – 1921

Eben B. Trask, an early postmaster at Plant City, was born in Maine, July 22, 1847. His father, the Reverend Eben G. Trask, a Baptist minister, was born in Maine about 1812 and was chaplain of the Fourth Illinois Cavalry during the Civil War. He married Mary Emery, also of Maine and of Revolutionary descent.

When seven years old Eben went with his parents to Illinois, where he received his elementary education. He taught school in Illinois three years then moved to Iowa, where he was engaged in buying grain and in the lumber business. In 1886 he came to Florida, locating in rural Plant City, and engaged in growing oranges.

During President Benjamin Harrison’s administration, Eben was appointed postmaster; he was reappointed by President McKinley. He served from 1898 to mid-1908. During his first appointment, the post office was in a wooden building on the north side of Reynolds Street, west of the Tropical Hotel. At this location the Trasks had a small business, a stationery store, and they lived in rooms upstairs.

Early in the century, Eben built the Trask Building at the northwest corner of Reynolds and Collins Streets, now owned by Henry Moody and occupied by the Magnolia Pharmacy. Mr. Trask relocated the post office in the new building. At his own expense, he fitted up the office with modern equipment and, as reported at that time, “provided a fine box cabinet outfit such as is rarely seen outside of the large cities.”

Mr. Trask was a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar, and a communicant of the Episcopal Church. On August 28, 1883, he married Ann M. Hansell of Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Trask had no children, but Harry Lomison, a protege, was taken into their home. Mr. Lomison was a postal employee at the Plant City post office for many years. Mr. Trask died in 1921 and Mrs. Trask in 1930.