Florida Pioneer Biographies

Submitted by Descendant:  Joyce Louise Russell BEVEL John Russell was born in South Carolina at the time it was a possession of the British Crown.  During the American Revolution.  The South Carolinian Loyalist sought sanctuary in the Bahama Islands and was granted acreage on at least three islands by King…

Submitted by Descendant:  Tally Sanborn BROWN Robert Sandlin was born 3 April 1790 in Duplin County, North Carolina.  He was the son of John and Catherine Sandlin. He served in the War of 1812, and about 1822 was living in Duval County, Florida.  On 12 December 1822 he was married…

Submitted by Descendants:  Dr. Richard Daniel CASON and Caroline Hollis Cason PRANGE Robert Sandlin, the son of John Sanderlin, was born in North Carolina on 3 April 1790.  (Robert and his son Jessee changed the last name from Sanderlin to Sandlin in the mid-1800s.)  Robert spent his early years in…

Submitted by Descendants:  George Sr., George Frederick Jr., Rebecca Brown, and Robert Franklin SAUNDERS William Saunders was born in Florida October 1848, the son of Alexander Saunders and Margaret Hutchison, who were both born in the Bahama Islands. William Saunders had established a homestead in Hillsborough County before March 1877…

Submitted by Descendant:  Dorothy Seabrook Welch SMITH According to records in two family bibles, Joseph Henry Seabrook was born 7 November 1804 at “Point Tranquil” Wadmalaw Island, SC, the son of Joseph Smelie Seabrook and Harriet Reynolds.  A small notebook among his papers gives his date of arrival in Quincy…

Submitted by Descendant:  Hilma Dickson ARDITO Josiah Seckinger was born on 26 Jan., 1809, in Effingham Co., GA.  He came to Florida as a soldier to fight in the Indian Wars.  He reenlisted numerous times, he’s found in the Muster Rolls from 1835-1837 Josiah was one of the 157 signers…

Submitted by Descendants:  Thomas Pope BURNETTE; Ansley Elizabeth, David Thomas, Jordan Alana, Melissa Myers Burnette, and Mikayla Myers CORSON Martha Ann P. Sever is believed to be the daughter of William Sever and Priscilla Lewis who were in Madison County and recorded on both the 1830 and 1840 censuses.  Martha…

Submitted by Descendants:  Gregory N., Jon L., and John L. COURSON III Theodore Shemetyllo was born in Minsk, Poland, on 27 September 1814.  Little is known of his childhood except that he was born of nobility and well educated.  This probably led to him being exiled to Siberia in the…

Submitted by Descendant:  Paula Townsend MARCZYNSKI For too many years, women’s contributions to history have been overlooked or ignored as unimportant, even though they provided the foundation and background for all future generations.  They endured many hardships as they cooked, cleaned, gave birth, educated, and instilled values in their families. …