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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 31/340

Early Settlement

due in Alligator by eight a.m. on Friday. On the return trip it left
Alligator at four p.m. Tuesday immediately after the arrival of
mail from Jacksonville and was scheduled to arrive in Tallahassee
by six p.m. Saturday. The route from Jacksonville to Alligator was
also on a two week cycle leaving Jacksonville every other week on
Monday at six a.m. arriving in Alligator by four p.m. on Tuesday.
On the return trip it left Alligator every other Friday at eight a.m.
after the arrival of mail from Tallahassee and arrived in Jackson­
ville on Saturday by six p.m.28
Since John W. Roberts made his house available as the court
house of the newly-established Columbia County, it is not sur­
prising that the territorial governor turned to him in filling new
county offices. On February 12, 1832, Governor Duval appointed
Roberts as a justice of the peace and as the auctioneer and notary
public for the county. Other justices of the peace for the county
were Charles H. B. Collins, Robert Brown, Jacob Halbrook, and
James Prevatt. In 1833 the justices of the peace appointed by
Governor Duval for the county were William M. Reed, James
Edwards, Samuel Burnett, James Sparkman, and Joseph Dyall.29
In the expansive atmosphere of territorial Florida banking
operations were of the utmost importance as settlers needed money
to buy land and establish their farms. No branches of the Bank of
the United States were established in Florida, and it was not until
1828 that the Bank of Florida was chartered at Tallahassee. By far
the most important bank in Florida during the territorial period
was the Union Bank of Florida located at Tallahassee. This bank
was founded by John G. Gamble, a Virginian who had come to
Florida in 1827. Since currency was in such short supply in the
territory, Gamble hit upon the scheme of having stock in the bank
paid for by mortgages on land, slaves, or any property which

'^Carter, Territorial Papers, Vol. XXV, pp. 35-36.
29Appointments to Office by the Governor, February 12, 1832, February 17,
1833, Carter, Territorial Papers, Vol. XXIV, pp. 658-59, 813-17.
29

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