HISTORY OF PASCO COUNTY

Early Residents of Pasco County

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ALICE FRYER HALL (1904-1996), a teacher and journalist, moved to Zephyrhills in 1941. She was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Garden Club, veteran’s associations and the Democratic Party. She devoted herself to bringing a hospital to the community, which she did in the 1980s. She then raised $750,000 for state-of-the-art cardiovascular equipment. In the early 1970s she helped open the community’s first nursing home. Hall supported the establishment of parks, museums and a rescue squad in Zephyrhills. She was born in Mississippi.

BENJAMIN H. HAMPTON (1841-1939) came to Florida in 1890 "in search of relief from a severe attack of rheumatism," settling in Avon Park. Upon recovering, he traveled to Colorado and Colorado in search for gold. He subsequently returned to Florida, coming to New Port Richey in 1918, when he planted a ten-acre orange grove, even though he was approaching 80. He was known locally as "the rancher of Rancho Glen Haven." He planted a new grove on his 91st birthday and lived to pick much citrus from his new grove before he died at age 98. He was born in West Philadelphia (later Fairmont Park), Pennsylvania, and he fought for the Union in the Civil War. In 1929 he said that one of his most treasured memories was seeing and hearing Abraham Lincoln.

HENRY WILLIAM HANCOCK (1822-1895) was born in Georgia on Sept. 19, 1822. In 1846 he married Sarah Caroline Townsend (1892-1910), a daughter of Capt. Jack Townsend, in Alachua County. He received his deed for his homestead on Hancock Lake on April 1, 1854, as a compensation for service with the Florida Volunteers. Mr. Hancock served in the Confederate Army as a private in Capt. John Parson's Florida Guards. A notice in the Sunland Tribune in 1881 reads: "Mr. Henry Hancock resident of Hernando County for 30 years has eleven children and eighteen grandchildren. He possesses one of the finest places in the county bordering on Lake Otter, which has a fall of some 20 feet, 400 orange trees and 20 acres of corn." He died at his home on Hancock Lake on Jan. 18, 1895. Their children were:

• Eliza, born 1847, married Durham H. Hancock
• Emeline, born 1848, married Malcolm Hill
• Thomas R. or H. (1850-1919), married Mary Margaret
• Isadora M. (1852-1919), married Eli Johnson
• Ida, married Wesley Gant
• George J. (1857-1929), married Mary Frances Jackson (see below)
• Margaret "Maggie" (1859-1937), married Joshua Mizell
• Nancy (1860-1942), married Green Absalom Abdaba Hope (1861-1894), son of Henry and Alatha Frances Garrison Hope
• Horace Jackson (1862-1914), married Alatha Frances Nicks (1876-1949) (see below)
• John Breckenridge (died 1943, age 83), married Elizabeth Alexander
• Monteray "Montie," married Richard Hancock

GEORGE J. HANCOCK (1857-1929) was born near Hancock Lake. He married Mary Frances Jackson of San Antonio. His black-bordered obituary in the Pasco County News said, "In all Pasco County there was not a man more widely known nor better loved than George Hancock. He is a living personification of the old time Southern hospitality." He died on May 3, 1929, at his home in the Darby neighborhood and was buried at Townsend House Cemetery. His children were Henry, J. Ward, and Mrs. Ida Campbell.

HORACE JACKSON HANCOCK (1862-1914) married Alatha Frances Nicks (1876-1949) in 1895 in Brooksville. Alatha Frances Nicks, who went by Frances, was born April 29, 1876, in Brooksville, and died March 25, 1949, Tarpon Springs. They are both buried at Townsend House Cemetery. Frances never remarried. This information comes from their grandson Steven Hancock, who writes, "Alatha and Horace Hancock lived on a farm on the south shore of Hancock Lake down the lane from Townsend House Cemetery, so technically they lived in Pasco County, but just barely. Their sons George (b. 1898) and Robert (b. 1902, my father) were born out there." A picture showing them on the farm is here and a picture of Horace Hancock with H. R. Nicks is here.

GEORGE B. HARSHAW (died, 1914) is described as a Port Richeyite in a 1903 newspaper article, although an article about his widow in 1932 said that she had lived in Tarpon Springs for 40 years. He was buried in Cycadia Cemetery on Nov. 22, 1914. Jim Lang writes:

George Harshaw owned most of the property north of the Anclote River (Alt. 19) between the river and Dixie Hwy (Alt. 19 today). There is now a Tarpon Springs wildlife park where the homestead used to be. As a kid, I used to play in that old house. One of his daughters, Laura, married Peter Kapsalis and they had a dairy on the northwest side of the river and Alt. 19. One of the old dipping vats is next to my property. My father used to help round up the cows for them. My father also used to herd cattle for Sam Mickler along with his son Bart. Daddy said that sometimes they worked as far north as Main St. in New Port Richey (on the east side). When they were up that far, they would tie their horses up at the Hacienda Hotel and eat lunch there for a quarter.

JOHN GORDON HATCHER (1885-1945) was born in Levy County. He married Lizzie Tillis (1892-1950) in 1909. He lived in Cedar Key, Webster, Groveland, and Tarry Town before moving to Hudson in 1920. He worked in the fishing industry. According to his obituary he was prominent in the affairs of the Hudson community. Lizzie was murdered by her second husband, who subsequently committed suicide.

SALEM B. HATCHER (1900-1989) arrived in Hudson from Levy County in 1922, according to one source, although in a 1978 newspaper interview he said that he had been living in Hudson since 1923. He was a commercial fisherman and owned a fish business. He married Eda Collum (1911-1990) on May 15, 1929, in Bushnell. Mrs. Hatcher recalled that when she arrived in Hudson in 1929, there were two churches, three stores, one garage, one hotel, one fish house, and about forty houses. She recalled that there was a lot of sponging and commercial fishing at the time. The two stayed at the Kentucky Inn of Hudson for at time after their marriage and in 1943 purchased the building. Eda was born in Boston, Ga., on April 18, 1911, and died on May 26, 1990. They had nine children, one of whom, Florence Nan LeFils Balogh (died, 1978, at age 46), was a member of the New Port Richey city council in the early 1970s. His obituary:

HATCHER, SALEM B., 89, of Hudson, died Wednesday (Dec. 20, 1989) at HCA Bayonet Point/Hudson Medical Center. Born in Bronson, he came here 67 years ago from Miami. He was a retired commercial fisherman and a Presbyterian. He was a World War I Navy veteran and a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6180, Port Richey. Survivors include his wife, Eda; four sons, Paul and Andy, both of New Port Richey, Austin and Calvin, both of Hudson; two daughters, Vada Keller, Wilmington, N.C., and Eleanor Pratt, Crystal River; 19 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren. Wellwood Funeral Home, Hudson.

ABRAHAM HAY (age 49 in the 1850 census) and his wife Sarah were among the earliest settlers in the Hudson area. They arrived from Alabama, according to Ash, although census records show that their children were born in Georgia. According to Ash, Abraham Hay died at age 77 and was buried in the field in Hudson. The children of Abraham and Sarah Hay were:

• Isaac (age 19 in the 1850 census)
• Julia Ann (age 15 in the 1850 census), who apparently married Daniel Joseph Strange (1844-1923), who enlisted on July 19, 1861, at Brooksville
• John Thomas (age 13 in the 1850 census)
• William Byrd (1839-1895), q.v.
• James Alford or Alfred (1841-1916), who enlisted in the Confederate army in Brooksville on July 19, 1861, and married Elizabeth Fennel in 1877
• Joseph M. (born 1842), who married Rebecca Fennel
• Sarah J. (age 5 in the 1850 census)
• George W. C. (age 3 in the 1850 census)
• Jefferson (Jesse) Taylor (1850-1928), q.v.

WILLIAM BYRD HAY (1839-1895), a son of Abraham Hay, enlisted in the Confederate army in Brooksville on July 19, 1861. He married Mamie Baker in 1886. Their children were:

• John Olan, b. Oct. 6, 1889, d. July 11, 1918, died in military service, never married
• Sadie, never married
• Mattie, m. Louis Smitzes; no children
• Ella Mae, b. Mar. 1891; d. Mar. 1, 1994; m. Henry Patterson (d. 1971) in 1970; no children

This document was provided by Laurie Baker. Another recollection of Ella Mae Hay Patterson is on the Sapling Woods page.

I was born three or four miles east of Port Richey. I was descended from Abraham and Sarah Hay, who lived north of Hudson and are buried there. My father, William Byrd Hay, was a Civil War Veteran. When I was about five years old, my father died. My brother, Olan, was about seven years old then. My sister, Sadie (Sallie) was about six years old and my youngest sister, Mattie Parker, was about six weeks old.

When my mother's mother died, Uncle Sam and Aunt Lizzie Baker took my mother to raise, as they had no daughters living. Several times when I was young, we visited Uncle Sam and Aunt Lizzie at Bailey's Bluff and Elfers (known as Sapling Woods then). My mother, Mary (or Mayme as she was called) took us by horse and wagon and we especially liked to go to Bailey's Bluff because then we could go swimming. At Bailey's Bluff they called the place the sponge crawls, where the sponge fishermen cured the sponges to sell. When we visited them there, Uncle Sam had a store and lived either in or near there.

When we visited our aunt and uncle at Sapling Woods, (Elfers) I always went right to the bookcase to look at the books. While others play, I loved the books. My mother predicted then that I would be a teacher; but I loudly denied that. I especially liked the pictures in the Bible, even the gruesome ones like Absolom hung in the tree.

In the kitchen at the Baker House which was separate and on the east side of the house, was a big dining room table in the middle of the room. In the corner was a "pie-safe", screened in front. Aunt Lizzie made light bread. When her grandchildren came, they asked for this, but my mother said this was not nice and we must never ask for things. I was glad when we came at the same time as the grandchildren, because we received some also. I especially remember Mayme and Badge Baker.

Once when we were traveling to visit the Bakers at Sapling Woods, the horse stopped and lay down and would not get up, or balked. Someone living nearby came over and invited us to spend the rest of the day and the night at his home, and probably the horse would get up in the morning—which he did.

This Baker House faced west and there was a porch across the front. We slept upstairs when we visited there. The children usually slept on pallets on the floor.

Again, regarding my relationship to Samuel Baker, he was my mother's father's brother. They had all lived in Key West, where my mother was born.

When it was time for us to go to school, we moved to Sapling Woods. The building was called something like Gulliford.

When I was very sick, I remember Miss Sue Baillie helping care for me. I remember Mrs. Pinkie Brown, who had two daughters, Vassie and Rene. We liked to visit at their house.

We moved to Hudson soon after and I finished the eighth grade in school there. A Hudson teacher, Miss Fannie Mobley, invited me to go to Dade City to live with her and her family, which I did for seven years. I taught school six months in the winter and worked in the tax collector's office in the summer. Both Fannie's father and sister Mattie were tax collectors for Pasco County at one time. I attended Professor Kar's [Corr's] Normal School and obtained a teaching certificate before I had even graduated from high school. About 1912 or 1913, I went to Tallahassee to college for one year. Cedora Futch and I lived together in the dormitory there.

I taught in various schools, Ormond Beach, Arcadia, Plant City and Tampa. I was teaching when I remember Hillsborough and Pinellas County being divided.

Meantime, my brother Olan died while in the service (of flu) and my mother moved to Tarpon Springs. I worked in the citrus packing house at Ozona, and then started teaching in Tarpon Springs (about 1924). I retired from teaching in June, 1962, after teaching 47 years. Most of the time, I taught second grade.

My mother died in 1949. My sister Mattie married Louis Smitzes and died of heart trouble in 1971. Sister Sadie was in a nursing home from about 1964 to 1971, when she died.

In 1970, I married Henry Patterson and continued to live on in the home place. My husband, Henry, only lived a year and a half after we were married, and passed away from a heart attack in .1971.

Now I enjoy the companionship of my cat, Baby, who can be quite bossy at times!

JEFFERSON (JESSE) TAYLOR HAY (1850-1928) was a son of Abraham and Sarah Hay. In 1872 he married Jane T. Stevenson (1854-1934), the fifth child of Samuel Stevenson and Elizabeth Osteen Stevenson, in Seven Springs. According to Jane's obituary, she was born in Clearwater on Oct. 10, 1854, and died in Elfers on Sept. 24, 1934. Among their children were:

• Ida Mioma Hay Mitchell, q.v.
• William, died at age 6
• Mrs. Nettie Hudson of Dade City
• Nellie, m. George Baker
• Mrs. Mae Jackson of New York
• Susan Mae, m. Claude Mitchum. They had two daughters

According to Ash, they had five children. Thus some of the above names could represent the same person.

JOHN (JACK) JOSHUA HELVENSTON (1854-1930) was an early resident of Port Richey. He was the son of George N. Helvenston and Charlotte Louise Pyles (sister of Frances Louise Hope Clark). On Jan. 1, 1880, he married Susan (Sudie) Mary Hope of Anclote (1861-1881), the daughter of Samuel Hope. She died with an infant child. He married Leola Whidden (1872-1955) in Pasco County on June 6, 1894. [This surname is spelled Helveston in Levy County and Helvenston in Alachua County.]

HOMER C. HENDERSON (1876-1929) came to Hudson from Goodman, Miss., early in 1900, working as a grocer. He married Eva Bush, a native of Hudson and daughter of Henry C. Bush. He moved to Zephyrhills in 1915, then to Tarpon Springs, and then to Elfers in 1916. Their children were Roscoe, q.v., J. Marvin, and H. Cecil.

ROSCOE BUSH HENDERSON (1906-1998) owned and operated Roscoe's Rexall Drug Store in New Port Richey for twenty years until he retired in 1960. He was born in Hudson. His family moved to Zephyrhills in 1915, then to Tarpon Springs, and then to Elfers in 1916. Roscoe Henderson was the valedictorian of the first graduating class of Gulf High School in 1924. School board records show him as a 21-year-old teacher at Gulf High School in the 1928-29 school year. In 1946 he moved to New Port Richey.

JEFFERSON ALEXIS HENDLEY (1854-1947) was a member of the Florida Constitutional Convention of 1885. He was born in Farmington, Kentucky, and graduated from Neophogen College and Washington and Lee University. He wrote that he began practicing law at age 14 and that in 1879 he moved to Texas, where he organized Mitchell county and was elected its first prosecuting attorney. He later moved to Florida, settling north of Blanton. In 1883 he was elected county surveyor of Hernando County. In 1886 he married Dolly Maynard of Perryville, Indiana. He was one of the organizers of the Bank of Pasco County. He was elected to the state senate in 1896. In the 1930s he wrote a series of newspaper articles on the history of Pasco County which were published in book form about 1943, when he was living in Dade City. A newspaper article about Hendley is here.

BENJAMIN HELMAR HERMANSON (1868-1944), according to a 1929 newspaper article, started the first store in New Port Richey, a hardware store, on the Boulevard, in 1914, and started a drug store next door to the hardware store in 1915. In a letter to the Port Richey Company dated Aug. 20, 1912, Hermanson wrote, "I have been in Cuba for five years raising fruit and vegetables, but found that Cuba was too far south to raise good grapefruit so decided to move to Florida. Last Fall I traveled South Florida, first along the East Coast, then inland and the West Coast from Ft Meyers to Port Richey. I was looking for an ideal location for fruit and truck gardening and found it at Port Richey, where I bought fifty acres on the Gulf Coast." He worked in real estate, helped organize the local Masonic lodge, and organized the first band in the community. He served on the New Port Richey city council for 12 years. A 1923 newspaper article reported that Hermanson was traveling to Cuba to inspect a tobacco plantation he owned there. According to a newspaper article at the time of his death, he was born in Minnesota and came to the area in 1912. According to a 1930 obituary of his wife, he came to what is now New Port Richey in 1911. A 1929 newspaper article about him stated he was born in Calumet, Michigan, and was taken to Finland when he was a few days old. In 1900 he married Louisa Putkomen (1863-1930), who was born in Viborg, Finland, according to her obituary.

OSCAR WILLIAM HERMS (1872-1947) operated a horticulture business, shipping his product to Northern markets. An article in the New Port Richey Post in Jan. 1916 reported that he came here from Portsmouth, Ohio, about three years earlier, having operated a similar business there. He was a member of the first New Port Richey City Council. According to his obituary, he married Ruby Eugene Clark (1887-1950) at the Clark home, which later became the Bay-Lea Inn, on June 30, 1912. He taught the Methodist Sunday school in Port Richey in 1915 and 1916. He was vice president of the First State Bank in New Port Richey and was on its board of directors. He was and a deacon of the Community church. The 1920 census shows they had two children, Louise and Clara. The 1930 census shows Oscar Herms' father, Charles F. Herms, and his wife, Minnie M., were living two houses away on Dixie Blvd. Oscar lived adjacent to Elroy M. Avery and James W. Clark II in 1930. In 1920, he was one house away.

CLEMENT (CLEM) or CLINTON HICKS (born, 1863), originally from Lee in Madison County, moved to Hudson around 1900. He and his family went into the wholesale fish business, shipping fish to northern and other southern states (Ash). He married Julia Wheeler (died, 1897). Their children included:

• Sarah, m. married Richard D. Stevenson (q.v.) in 1905
• Latona (Tony), m. Wiley Hudson
• Elvina (Vinie), m. Mickael Knowles Jr. about 1913.
• Ellie
• Marshall
• Shellie

CHESLEY D. HILL (1807-1882) married Elizabeth Munden (died, 1879). They are both buried in the Dade City Cemetery. A photo which may show Chesley and his wife is here. [Information from Linda D. Hill] Children:

• Robert Madison (1831-1886), q.v.
• Elisha Allen (1833-1907), born in Leon County. He married Mary Ann; they divorced about 1869. He subsequently married Eunicy Ann Carroll. After Eunicy died, he married Emma Olivia Roberts. Mary Ann Jane Cooper Hill married Daniel Orr and moved to Hillsborough Co. She died 1897 and was the first grave in the County Line Cemetery (aka the Willie Grantham Cemetery) on the south side of County Line Rd. between Cypress Creek Rd. and Livingston Ave.
• Thomas J. (1838-1864), m. Sarah Ann Elizabeth Cooper (b. 1844, in Georgia) on Jan. 8, 1858, in Hernando County. Thomas died on Feb. 20, 1864, at the Battle of Olustee. After he died, she married Joseph Miller.
• Amanda (1843- ?), m. Columbus Alexander. They had a daughter Elizabeth and a son Thomas Rutherford Alexander, q.v.
• Malcom Nicholson (1844-1936), q.v.

[Some information from Jim Dennison]

ROBERT MADISON HILL (1831-1886) was born in Georgia, the oldest son of Chesley D. Hill (1807-1880) and Elizabeth Munden. He and his brothers and father served in the Civil War. He was an inspector for the election of Nov. 4, 1856, in Hernando County. His name appears on the voter registration lists for Hernando County in 1867-68 and in the census records of 1870 and 1880 in Hernando County. He was a farmer. He was buried on land he homesteaded in Hudson, but his remains were moved to the Geiger Cemetery in Zephyrhills because of a lawsuit. A daughter was Nan Hill Cooper (b. 1875). [Information from Linda D. Hill.]

MALCOLM NICHOLSON HILL (1844-1936) and his wife Emma E. Hancock (1848-1916) were among the earliest settlers in the Port Richey area. Malcolm Hill was born on Nov. 3, 1844, in Marion County. Aaron McLaughlin Richey's daughter recalled that “Mrs. Malcolm Hill was the other woman in that section, and she lived some distance away.” In 1881 Hill moved from Brooksville to New Port Richey. According to a 1935 newspaper article, he moved to Tarpon Springs in 1903, but according to a 1932 Tarpon Springs Leader article, he moved to Tarpon Springs in February 1908. According to F. C. Mallett, Hill was discharged at Appomattox along with James Washington Clark; they remained friends for the remainder of their lives. History of Tarpon Springs (1964) has: “Malcolm Hill, at the risk of his life, went to the rescue of Capt. Sam Hope on the battlefield in 1863 and brought him to safety.” Some researchers are skeptical of this claim. The Tarpon Springs Leader spelled his middle name Nickelson.

According to Avery:

Malcolm M. Hill, a native of Florida, came hither at about the time that James W. Clark, Sr., came. With his came his wife, whose maiden name was Emma E. Hancock. They made their home on what is now the Casson property on Massachusetts avenue. They had six children, one of whom, George, is dead. The others, Thomas J., John T., Clarence M., Carrie E., and Alice (now Mrs. Henry Nicks) are living. Mr. Malcolm Hill now lives in Tarpon Springs.

Children:

• Alice (b. 1879), m. Henry J. Nicks Sr., a son of H. R. Nicks
• Thomas J. (1872-1947), a prominent resident of Elfers (see below).
• John T. (1874-1943)
• Clarence M. (1875-1949), who was a marshal of Tarpon Springs.
• George
• Carrie E. (d. 1949), known as Aunt Cap'n. She was a practical nurse.

THOMAS J. HILL (1872-1947) was a long-time resident of Elfers who engaged in farming and citrus growing. He was a deacon of the Anclote Baptist Church and was a member of the original city council of Elfers when it was incorporated in 1925. He was a school trustee and served a term as a member of Pasco County school board. He was born in what is now Pasco County. He married Martha (Mattie) Brown. Children:

• Forrest Dell (1906-1983), m. Lillie Mae Burney. A son, Forrest Dell Jr., graduated from Gulf High in 1965.
• Clarice (sp?)
• Ione or Iona, who played on the Gulf High girls basketball team in 1926-27
• Sylvester or Lester
• Graydon

CHARLES HOWORTH HIMMELWRIGHT (1871-1942) was a citrus grower for 22 years. He came to the Dade City area from Doylestown, Pa., in 1919, and purchased grove property which he and his son Fred L. developed into one of the finest groves in the county. He was born in Chester, Pa. He was married to Mrs. Ida Evelyn Himmelwright. Their children included Mrs. Harry T. Lucas of Ashland, Va., and Fred L. Himmelwright of Dade City.

JOSEPH STANTON HODGES (1880-1950) came to New Port Richey from Quitman, Ga., in 1929, according to his obituary, and managed the C. S. Register Grocery in the Arcade Building for 18 years. His wife was Clemmie Leithan Hodges (1886-1981). His obituary listed his surviving children as Mrs. Howard Hodson of St. Petersburg, Mrs. Henry Williams of New Port Richey, and Mrs. John Zoffay of Frostproof. A son Lamar (1909-1946) was killed in an automobile accident.

GEORGE HOLLAND (died in 1929, age 74) was a regular winter resident of New Port Richey beginning in 1915. The New Port Richey Press reported on May 1, 1925, that he was sworn in as city tax assessor. According to a 1929 newspaper article, he was born in Alden, N. Y., and had been the assessor in Sidney Township, Michigan, for 34 years.

MILLS HOLLOMAN was a free black man apparently living in what is now eastern Pasco County in the 1840s and 1850s. On Dec. 14, 1842, Mills Holliman (sic) applied for a homestead permit. A permit was issued on January 23, 1843, for property located in the Chicuchatta Hammock, specific location unknown at this time. This permit and final deed were eventually denied and he did not receive title to the property. The reason stated was “Refused on account of his color, (not white).” The Armed Occupation Act of 1842 did not allow non-whites to apply for land. He is shown as paying taxes as a free man of color in Benton (Hernando) County from 1845-1856. The 1850 census shows him a 50-year-old farmer born in North Carolina and living in the Buddy Lake Settlement census district. In 1857-58 Holloman's tax was paid by his guardian Nathaniel Moody. In 1860 Tampa attorney James Gettis was listed as his agent. In 1863 Gettis was listed as his guardian. The 1870 census shows Holloman as 60 years old, white, born in Florida, using the Cedar Tree post office. In a letter to the Governor dated February 1, 1871, Judge James T. Magbee recommended that Holloman be appointed to the Hillsborough County Commission. The appointment was not made. However, Holloman was appointed to the Hillsborough County Commission by Governor Stearns in 1875. Holloman is reported to be one of the early settlers in Bealsville, a town in Hillsborough County near Plant City. Another source says he homesteaded in Seffner. A daughter Margaret married Levin Armwood in 1878. [Information provided by Jeff Cannon.]

Florida's Black Public Officials 1867-1924 has: "Born 1795, Virginia. Mulatto. Farmer. Died January 6, 1882, Hillsborough County, Florida. Hillsborough County Commissioner 1868-70, 1870-71."

JOHN G. HOLZSCHEITER (died, 1939, age 77) was a large property holder in the area and an early justice of the peace. He was a president of the city council and acting mayor of Port Richey and the first president of the Board of Trade which was organized during the winter of 1915-1916. He was from Kansas City, but was born in Germany.

KENNETH EDWARD HOPE (born, 1891) was a son of Samuel E. Hope Jr. He was born in Dunedin on Sept. 19, 1891. He moved to Pasco County in 1922, where he operated the Seven Springs Poultry Farm. After World War II he returned to Port Richey, where he built cottages and apartments for tourists on his property and later became a licensed real estate agent. A 1968 newspaper article said that Hope was a septuagenarian living in New Port Richey. A son of Kenneth Hope is Duane Fowler "Bucky" Hope (GHS '42).

For information on earlier Hopes, see the Hernando page.

JOHN JOSEPH HOWELL (1848-1915) settled near Fort Dade in 1865. In 1869 he married Sarah Elizabeth Smith. A daughter Rachel (1891-1938) married Francis Behring Kirman (1879-1955). Rachel Kirkman taught school at Trilby, the New Port Richey elementary school, and Gulf High School. More information on this family is on the Blanton Town web site.

HILL WILLIAMS HOWSE (1828-1899) was born in North Carolina. He enlisted on Sept. 28, 1862 (or according to another source at Bayport on Oct. 10, 1862), and was a member of C Co., 9th Florida Infantry Regiment under Capt. S. E. Hope, the same Company as Malcolm N. Hill. They saw action at the Battle of Olustee (Ocean Pond) near Sanderson and Lake City. Apparently he was first married to Sarah Dickson/Dixon. On Oct. 24, 1865, he was second married to Rebecca Jane Hope (born, 1844) in Brooksville. According to a newspaper article:

The late Hill Williams Howse ... moved from North Carolina to Ocala immediately after the Civil War, purchasing from the government a large tract which included Silver Springs. He was active in the early beginnings of the Ocala area, building and operating a sawmill, a cotton gin, the Palatka-to-Brooksville stage line and, in later years, represented his district in the Florida State Senate. He also constructed Ocala's first hotel.

The newspaper article indicates he came to the Port Richey area when his son Samuel was four years old. The 1870 Hernando County census shows him as 40 years old. The 1880 Hernando County census shows him to be a 58-year-old farmer. In 1885, Webb's Historical, Industrial and Biographical Florida lists him among the residents of Hudson. He died on Feb. 19, 1899, in Pasco County, and is buried at East Elfers Cemetery, according to a biography. Children included:

• Sallie (b. 1875) is shown as age 11 in the 1885 census.
• Samuel Oliver "Knott" Howse (1877-1965) is shown as 10 years old in the 1885 census. He was living at Anclote in 1900, married to Florida Anna Baillie (b. Feb. 10, 1878; d. Feb. 5, 1941). They married by 1899. In the 1910 census of Hillsboro County he is shown as a ship's carpenter, 33 years old with wife Annie, 32, and Ellen May, 8, Kora J., 6, Irene, 4, and James, 2. His second marriage was to Freda Margaret (b. Sept. 27, 1881; d. Jan. 31, 1954). He was living in Port Richey when he died. He is buried at East Elfers Cemetery.

James B. Howse (age 4 in the 1860 census) is shown in the same household as Hill Howse in the 1860 and 1870 censuses. He was a postmaster at Silver Springs.

[Some information provided by Charles Blankenship]

ISAAC WASHINGTON HUDSON SR. (1825-1892) married Amanda Luverna Cobb (1831-1922) on Nov. 9, 1848, in Marion Co. Georgia. They were parents of 11 children, 9 of whom reached adulthood and married. They left Alabama in 1868, locating first in Madison County, Florida. In 1870 they moved further south to the Chipco settlement, near what is now Blanton. Chills and fever from the undrained swamps and bayheads around Chipco and Hudson's bronchial trouble caused the family to seek the salt air of the Gulf. They arrived at what would become Hudson in late 1877 or early 1878. (Isaac W. Hudson Jr., who was born on Nov. 17, 1870, said that he was a little over seven years old when they arrived at Hudson. Hendley gives February 1878.) Hudson provided quarters in his home for the post office, with John William Hudson (1859-1927) named the first postmaster and Joseph Byrd Hudson (1856-1950) named his assistant. I. W. Hudson Sr. prospered through a shipping trade to Cedar Keys and was able to buy 200 acres of land from the state at $1.25 per acre. He employed Henry Clay Bush to survey and plot the town site. Many of the present day streets in Hudson bear the name of Hudson's wife and children. According to Ash, about 1890, Joseph Byrd Hudson (1856-1950) and William Hudson established the first mercantile business in Hudson. Isaac Washington Hudson Sr. was born in Laurens or Monroe County, Georgia, on May 15, 1825, and died in Hudson on Aug. 3, 1892. Amanda L. Hudson died at the home of her daughter in Dade City and was buried there. According to Stanaback, "Some of his neighbors were Mr. Worley, Jess, William, and Joseph Hay, W. D. Frierson, Bill Land, William Bailey, Bill Tillett, Crockett Whidden, Sam Stevenson, Bug Stevenson, Allen Hill, Malcolm Hill, and Hill House."

An advertismement for Parker's Tonic in the Olean Democrat of Jan. 20, 1887, has:

“For 20 years my father was an invalid, with Cough and Bronchitis, and tried everything he could hear of without obtaining more than temporary relief. Being advised of Parker's Tonic, he began to use it, and before he had taken five dollars worth was cured. He is 57 years old, and has been well now over a year.”—Jos. B. HUDSON, Hudson, Fla.

Their children were

• Mary A. K. (1845-1945), m. William Osborne
• Thomas Byrd (b. 1852), m. Emma Burnside
• George (1854-1854)
• Joseph Byrd (1856-1950), m. Sally Gillett
• John William (1859-1927), m. Sarah Jane Fortner (1874-1944)
• Ida Melissa (1861-1878)
• Franklin (1864-1919), m. Rivers
• Wiley Simon (1867-1940), m. Latoma Hicks (1892-1928)
• Isaac Washington Jr. (1870-1972), m. Nettie Elizabeth Hay
• Alfred Leander (1872-1968), m. Annie Caroline (or Mamie) Leopold (see below)
• Doxie (1875-1973), m. Judge A. Mobley
• James Thomas (?)

ISAAC WASHINGTON HUDSON JR. (1870-1972) was the seventh of eight sons of I. W. Hudson Sr. He was born at Chipco. He attended school at Clear Lake, now Lake Jovita, living with the J. L. Portner family. He recalled in a 1952 interview the log house where school was held three months of the year. His teacher was a Mr. Benson. His father and brothers planted corn, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, peas and peanuts, not only to feed the family but to produce good hog meat, which was their main crop. At age 25 he married Nettie E. Hay, daughter of J. T. Hay. He had known her since he was 3 years old. They first lived at Hudson but later moved to Elfers. At age 35 he was elected a Pasco County commissioner. He was defeated in a race for Sheriff by Bart D. Sturkie, the fourth sheriff of Pasco County, in 1908 and 1912, the second time by 48 votes. In 1916 he was elected Sheriff. He lost again to Sturkie in 1920, but was re-elected sheriff in 1924. In 1928 he lost a bid for re-election to C. E. Dowling. This information is from Ash. On Dec. 28, 1917, Sheriff Hudson sprung the trap door as Edgar London was executed by hanging at the old Dade City jail. It was the second and of two legal hangings in Pasco County history. In his first six months in office, Sheriff Hudson raided 164 moonshine stills and put them out of business, according to the recollection of a son, Leon. Hudson died on Oct. 16, 1972, one month prior to his 102nd birthday. Hudson had three sons, one of whom, Leon (b., Aug. 6, 1900), became the Police Chief in Dade City in 1951.

JOSEPH BYRD HUDSON (1856-1950), a son of I. W. Hudson Sr., was one of the original members of the Pasco County Commission in 1887. An excerpt from his obituary follows: "Mr. Hudson, a native of Alabama, moved to this section of Florida before Pasco county was formed. He resided for at time near Dade City, and was a member of the first board of county commissioners when Pasco county came into being. Later he moved to the west coast of Pasco, an original settler in what is now the community of Hudson. He was ever alert to the needs of his district and promoted the first hard surface roads in the western part of the county and was chairman of the bond trustees when these roads commenced building. He was also greatly interested in agriculture and his wise knowledge aided the development of this area." On March 31, 1892, Mr. Hudson married Sallie Gillett (1868-1946). She was born in Alachua County on Feb. 11, 1868, and died in Hudson on Nov. 4, 1946. They had one son, Claude W. Hudson, and three daughters: Bernice (Mrs. E. A. Thornton), Vida (Mrs. W. A. Smith), and Alice (Mrs. Walter Bliss).

JOHN WILLIAM HUDSON (1859-1927) was a son of I. W. Hudson Sr. He was born in Andalusia, Ala., on May 29, 1859. He served as postmaster of Hudson for ten years. On July 3, 1890, he married Sarah Jane Fortner (1874-1944) of Fort Dade. He moved to Fort Dade in 1892 and developed a farm there. According to his obituary, he died in a Tampa hospital from blood poisoning. Over 500 persons gathered at Mt. Zion Cemetery to pay last respects. According to his obituary, children who survived him were Mildred, Mabel, Dewey E., all of Fort Dade; T. Byrd and Alfred of Hudson; James Thomas of Inglis; Wyley A. of Clearwater; and Isaac W. of Dade City.

ALFRED LEANDER HUDSON (1872-1968) married Annie Caroline Leopold in December 1909. They had six children:

• Talmage D., b. Sept. 3, 1910, deceased, m. Juanita Rosser. Children: Charles, Harold, Karl
• Thelma Alberta, m. Wilber Moore. Children: Ronald, Norma; m. Doc Savage. Children: Susan
• Deluxie ("Luxie"), b. Aug. 20, 1913, deceased, m. Margaret. Children: Wyvon; m. Friedelle. Children: Barbara, Edward, Bonnie
• Hazel Blanche, b. June 28, 1915. She graduated from Gulf High School in 1934. m. Dillon Carter Sigmon (1916-1988). Children: Roger, Francis Carolyn (called Carolyn), Donald Wayne (called Wayne), Glenn
• Hershal, b. March 7, 1917, deceased. Children: Paul, Elaine.
• Robert Vernon (called "Vernon"), b. Oct. 28, 1924, deceased. Children: Donna, Linda, Kathy

[Information from Michelle McLaughlin]

JAMES W. HUFF (1840-1927) was a Medal of Honor winner who lived the last eight years of his life in New Port Richey. He is buried in Pine Hill Cemetery. Huff was awarded the medal on April 12, 1875, for "valiant conduct against the Apaches during the winter of 1872-1873." He was a sergeant in Company L of the 1st U. S. Cavalry. He was born Feb. 2, 1840, in Washington, Pa., and died Nov. 30, 1927, in Port Richey. His wife was Taliea; they had two sons, Edgar and James, and three daughters, Lucy, Josephine, and Taliea.