HISTORY OF PASCO COUNTY

Early Residents of Pasco County

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CHARLES ALMANZOR TANSILL (died, age 66, in 1936) was a veteran of the Spanish-American War and served in an executive capacity in the occupation of the Philippines until 1920. While there, he met Mabel Dobbs, a nurse from Baltimore and New York, whom he married. He and his wife settled in New Port Richey in 1920. Mr. Tansill had a role in the Indian pageant in the first Chasco Fiesta in 1922. His wife taught at the New Port Richey school and became its principal in the 1924-25 school year.

JOHN THRASHER (1818-1899), the founder of the city of Norcross, Ga., and an original pioneer of Atlanta, died in Dade City on Nov. 13, 1899. Late in his life, according to an article in Wikipedia, he and his wife followed his sons to Dade City, where he grew oranges and was instrumental in bringing the railroads to that town.

FRED L. TOUCHTON (1892-1947) was a state senator and businessman. He was born Aug. 28, 1892, in a log house on a farm in Lowndes County, Ga. After completing the eighth grade, he went to Valdosta and was hired as a clerk in a drug store. On Aug. 8, 1947, the New Port Richey Press reported, “Fred L. Touchton of Dade City, formerly a state Senator for Sumter and Pasco counties, and for many years connected with drug stores, both in Dade City and elsewhere in the state, died Sunday, July 27 of a sudden heart attack which came upon him about eight o'clock in the morning as he reached the Service Drugstore following the walk from his home to his place of business. Immediate survivors included his wife, a son Fred L. Jr., and a daughter, Mary Letha. Burial was in Dade City cemetery.”

Capt. JOHN T. "JACK" TOWNSEND (1793-1867) built a log cabin about 14 miles northwest of what is now Dade City about 1846 to 1848. He was a son of Light Townsend III. He was born in South Carolina. He married Nancy Leigh (Lee) in Georgia. During the Second Seminole War he raised a company of Mounted Volunteers and was elected its Captain in February 1840. After some months of service as a unit of the Florida Militia, it was mustered into the service of the U. S. He was elected a County Commissioner in Hernando County in Jan. 1852, in 1855, 1857, and 1863. He died in Hernando County on Dec. 28, 1867 (his tombstone in Townsend Church Cemetery reads “died Dec. 28, 1868, age 78 years”). His wife died in Hernando County on Dec. 2, 1868. The children of John Townsend and Nancy (Lee) Townsend were:

• Eliza Livonia, b. in Georgia in 1817, d. in Brooksville in 1890, married Joseph Obida Hale, q.v.
• Thomas Jefferson, killed before the Civil War by his overseer
• Elizabeth, b. in Georgia in 1820. She married John S. Taylor (1813-1895) in 1852 and died on Mar. 3, 1854, two days after the birth of their first child, Nancy Elizabeth Taylor. Nancy Elizabeth Taylor married Dr. Bethel McMullen (1845-1940) at Brooksville in 1874.
• Jane Elizabeth, b. in Florida in 1827. She married Stephen T. Hancock in Alachua County.
• Sarah Caroline, b. in Jefferson Co. Florida in 1829. She married Henry William Hancock, q.v., and died Jan. 18, 1895, and was buried in Townsend House Cemetery.

ROSEMARY TROTTMAN (1901-1990) was a long-time teacher and the author of The History of Zephyrhills 1821-1921. According to her obituary, she was a lifelong resident of Zephyrhills, and a schoolteacher for 40 years until her retirement in 1965. She attended Zephyrhills Consolidated schools, graduating in 1919. She earned a bachelor's degree in education from Florida Southern University and a master's degree from Florida State University in 1950. Her husband, Warren E. Trottman, died in 1985 at the age of 90. Their only child, Warren Trottman Jr., died in World War II.