Franklin Elmore Saxon

He had two marriages/partners. His first wife was Marena H May, who he married on 25 DEC 1866. The place has not been found. They had no known children.

His second wife was Tulula victoria Hope, who he married on 10 FEB 1876 in Florida. They had no known children.

Pedigree Chart (3 generations)

Franklin Elmore Saxon (1840-1922)	Benjamin Wadsworth Saxon (1798-1861)	James Saxon (1754-1836)	Benjamin Saxon (-c1785)
		James Saxon (1754-1836)
		Ann Nancy Elmore (1754-c1842)	Archelas Elmore (1730-1786)	+
		Ann Nancy Elmore (1754-c1842)	Susannnah Morris (c1730-?)
	Mary Collingsworth Terry (1812-<1875)	Elijah Terry (c1772-c1842)	James Terry (1746-1816)	+
		Elijah Terry (c1772-c1842)	Anne Robards (c1756-1801)
		Mary Ann Prickett (c1770-?)	James Prickett (c1750-?)
		Mary Ann Prickett (c1770-?)	Sarah Kimbrough (c1750-?)

Events

Notes

Note 1

Researcher Linda Hill, a descendant of E. M. Harville, scanned these records at the Florida State Archives in Tallahassee. They are from: Series 21, Roll 4, Division of Elections, Election Returns by County, Hernando Co., 1843-1865. They indicate many of the men who survived the Civil War. Many also voted three years later in the 1868 Statehood Election. Several died thereafter, including F. R. Nicks and Henry Hope. The scanned document was transcribed by Charles Blankenship.

Capt. WALTER TERRY SAXON (1836-1924) was born on Apr. 23, 1836, in Autauga, Ala. He married Susan Burns Simmons, daughter of Holman Freeman Simmons and Sarah Eliza H. Burns. She was born 1840 in Alabama and died 1918 in Hamilton, Texas. Children:

Saxon enlisted at Brooksville on July 19, 1861. According to his obituary in Confederate Veteran:

A native of Alabama, born at Autoga, Falls County, just across the Alabama River from Montgomery, April 23, 1836, young Saxon completed his education at the Alabama Military Institute, and entered upon his life work as a surveyor. As a young man of twenty-five, he was located in Brooksville County, Fla., in 1860-61, and his most important work in that State was in surveying the Everglades. For that he received $20,000, which money he used in advancing the cause of the Confederacy. He organized the Hernando Guards, in July, 1861, which he commanded as Company C, of the 3rd Florida Regiment, serving with the Army of Tennessee under Generals Bragg, Johnston, and Hood. He was wounded at Perryville, but led his company at Murfreesboro, and was in many other memorable engagements of the war. On July 12, 1863, his company captured four hundred Federal troops. After the war Captain Saxon returned to Florida, and was his county’s representative in the State legislature for two terms, 1866 and 1867. In 1868 he organized a den of the original Ku-Klux-Klan in Southern Florida.

Recent research by Dr. Joe Knetsch indicates that Saxon did not do any surveying in Florida. Saxon later moved to Texas where he was a surveyor, taught school, and edited a newspaper. He died on Dec. 23, 1924, in Hamilton, Texas. [Information provided by Charles Blankenship]

FRANKLIN ELMORE SAXON (1840-1922) was born in Alabama. He first married Marena H. May on Dec. 25, 1866. She died on Feb. 10, 1869. He married second Tulula Victoria Hope on Feb. 10, 1876. Franklin Saxon died on Feb. 25, 1922, in Brooksville.

ohn L. May was a contractor who built several houses in Brooksville. He lived in a house on the corner of the street that now bears his name - May Avenue - with his wife, Marena, and their two daughters: Matildas, who married John Barnes, and Annie, who married C. P. Rogers. It is believed he moved to the Stringer House sometime between 1855 and 1858, when he died. His wife and children remained in the house.

Eight years later, on Dec. 25, 1866, Marena married Frank Elmore Saxon, whose picture is now hanging next to the fireplace in the living room.

Saxon was a Civil War hero who was a member of the Hernando Wild Cats, a unit of the Florida 3rd Regiment of the Confederate Army. He was the first to be wounded in a battle called Honeymoon, which took place near Jacksonville. After the Civil War, he became a delegate to the Florida Legislature, representing Hernando County, and in his later years became clerk of the Hernando County Circuit Court.

Two children were born to Frank and Marena Saxon - a son, Frankland Schmidt Saxon in 1867, and a daughter, Jessie May Saxon, in 1869. Their son lived only one month; their daughter died in 1872. Unfortunately, these were not the only tragedies to strike. Marena also died, on Feb. 19, 1869, while giving birth to Jessie May.

After Marena's death, Frank Saxon married Tululu Hope, daughter of William Hope (one of the earliest settlers of Hernando County). Saxon had another house built, south of May Avenue, for Tululu and himself. This house was constructed of cypress and is now known as the Scarborough House.

The May home was sold several times after Frank Saxon left. The records of those transactions, however, were lost in the courthouse fire. The first records after the fire are dated 1883, when J. H. Reddic sold the May-Saxon house to Jennie Johnson for $600.

Soldiers of Florida, first published in 1903 and again in 1983 by Richard J. Ferry, compiles the Muster Rolls of three distinct companies of Hernando County, Florida Confederate Soldiers.

SOF, pages 40-41, lists the Old Guards [many who were Seminole Indian War Veterans] who mustered in on March 29, 1862 and mustered out on May 17, 1862. The list includes early Hernando settlers: Hill, Hope, Law, Townsend and Wall.

SOF, pages 105-107, lists the entire roll of Captain W. Terry Saxon's C Company (Hernando Guards & later known as the Hernando Wildcats) of the 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment. The Regiment was formed in 1861 and after combining with the 1st and 4th Regiments remained until April 1865. Action included Perryville, KY and Murfreesborough, TN.

SOF, pages 211-212, lists Captain Samuel E. Hope's C Company, 9th Florida Infantry from June 21, 1862 to April 1865. The Company originally mustered in at Bayport. They saw action at Olustee and later in major battles in Northern Virginia.

Many CSA Veterans are buried throughout Citrus, Pasco and Hernando County and elsewhere. Additional sources of sketches, cemetery locations and pension files are:

1. Biographical Rosters of Florida's Confederate and Union Soldiers 1861-1865 by Hartman & Coles.

2. Florida Confederate Pension Application Files, on line at http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/Pensionfiles.html

3. Veterans' Graves Registration Project, Work Projects Administration (1940-1941). [Bound Editions in most Florida Libraries]

Transcribed Letter from Senator Samuel Pasco for Florida Confederate Pension: Franklin Elmore Saxon, Hernando County, Florida

I hereby certify that during the year 1862 I was a member of Co. H. 3d. Regiment of Florida Volunteers M H Strain being the Captain of the Company and W S Dilworth the Colonel of the Regiment; that on the 8th day of October in that year I was present as a member of said Company on the battle field at Perryville, Ky. With Geníl J. C. Brown who was then our Brigade Commander. I being at the time detailed as Clerk at his Head Quarters; that I well knew Frank E. Saxon, who was then a member of Company C. of the same Regiment, his brother W. T. Saxon, being the Captain of said Company; that Company C. was next in line to Company H and the two Companies were afterwards consolidated; that the said Frank E. Saxon was wounded in action in the line of duty in the said battle; that I knew this of my own knowledge at the time and as Clerk and while actually discharging the duties of Adjutant General of the Brigade I made up the list of those who were killed and wounded in said battle from the official lists which were received from the several Regiments in the Brigade and the said list so made up contained the name of the said Frank E. Saxon and was the official consolidated list of the said Brigade losses in the Perryville battle.

Franklin Elmore Saxon (1841-1922), also known as Frank E. Saxon was born in Autauga Co., Alabama as was his brother, Captain Walter Terry Saxon. He is listed in Soldiers of Florida, page 166 and Hartmanís Biographical Rosters, page 292, Third Florida Infantry, Company C. Frank was married to Talula V. Hope, daughter of William Hope, Jr. of Brooksville. Both drew his Confederate Soldierís Pension (A02380) from the State of Florida.

Transcribed September 22, 2006 by Charles Blankenship, distant cousin of Tulula Hope.

Franklin Elmore Saxon

Personal and Family Information

Pedigree Chart (3 generations)

Events

Notes

Note 1

Note 2