History of Leon County Florida United States of America

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William D. Bloxham, governor of Florida, was born in Leon county, Fla., July 9, 1835. His father was one of the pioneer settlers of that county, having removed from Virginia in 1825. The son was sent to a preparatory school in Virginia at the age of thirteen, and afterward to William and Mary college, where he was graduated in June, 1855. He settled on a plantation in Florida, where a fondness for politics led him early into political life. In 1861 he was elected to the state legislature. He opposed the reconstruction measures of Congress after the war, and was presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1868. In 1870 he was unanimously nominated as lieutenant-governor by the state Democratic convention, to fill a vacancy, and was elected after a spirited canvass, the first Democrat elected in Florida after the war. In 1872 he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for governor without opposition, but was defeated. In 1876 he was appointed secretary of state under the administration of Governor Drew. In 1880 he was again nominated for governor. Resigning the office of secretary of state, he made an active canvass of the state, and was elected by over five thousand majority, and served as governor until Jan. 6, 1885. His administration was very successful, and under it Florida developed more rapidly than in any previous period of her history. In May, 1885, President Cleveland appointed Governor Bloxham minister to Bolivia, but he declined the office, and in November, the same year, accepted the appointment of United States surveyor-general for the district of Florida, which he held until October, 1889. Mr. Bloxham was, in August, 1892, unanimously nominated by the Democratic state convention for comptroller of the state of Florida, and was elected for a term of four years by over 23,000 majority?the largest majority ever given in the state. At the Democratic state convention held at Ocala, Fla., in June, 1896, he was unanimously nominated as the Democratic candidate for the governorship, and in October was elected for a term of four years.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Leon County Florida

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