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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 270/340

A History of Columbia Cozinty, Florida

United States. He came to Florida as a soldier during the Second
Seminole War. By the 1970’s the Dicks family was one of the larger
family groups in the county, and held annual reunions on the
grounds of the Hopeful Baptist Church.12
The Dicks family was just one example of many with colorful
stories to relate. The Cone family, as mentioned earlier, had an
interesting background, and by the 1970’s could boast of a Florida
Governor (Fred) and a Rear Admiral of the Navy (Hutch). The
Summerall family had a member (Charles P.) who rose to Chief of
Staff of the U.S. Army and a current television sports announcer
(Pat). Another English immigrant who became well established
was Henry Reginald Birley, who attempted to make his fortune in
the citrus industry near Orlando. He failed in that venture and
then traveled to the Live Oak area in the 1890’s. There he made the
friendship of an earlier German immigrant, Karl A. Pueschel,
married into the family, and eventually became one of the larger
cotton growers of Columbia County. Birley operated a saw mill
and gins for both long and short staple cotton. Robert Turmon
Rogers had a diverse and distinguished career including a term as
state senator, president of the Farmers’ Alliance, Mayor of Lake
City, and superintendent of state convicts. Obviously the cen­
tennial edition of the Reporter did not deal with all of the old-line
family groups, but the selections gave evidence that by the 1970’s
the people of Columbia County recognized the legacies of their
ancestors.
One important facet of the centennial edition was the blending
of stories and traditions of old rural Florida with some of the most
recent changes. Interspersed with bankers’ testimonials attribut­
ing to the soundness of the area’s economy and advertisements for
the most technologically advanced consumer products were found
such accounts as Sheriff Witt destroying a whiskey still found in
the woods. There was also Mrs. Joseph L. Gray’s recipe for the kind
,2“Runaway English Immigrant Was Early Columbia Pioneer,” Lake City-
Reporter, December 13, 1974.
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