HISTORY OF PASCO COUNTY

Early Residents of Pasco County

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This page was last revised on 12 Nov 2023 by Paul Herman, digital media archivist, West Pasco Historical Society.

Mrs. ANNIE FOGG (1882-1966) was the Principal of the Lacoochee School from 1927 to 1933 and taught later at Richland. She was born Annie B. O’Berry, daughter of Mary Ann Nicks and Dan M. O’Berry. She married George W. Fogg of New Hampshire in Alachua County. Both were residents and teachers in Waldo in 1910. Annie, also known as Susan A. Fogg, was the granddaughter of William R. Nicks and Sophronia Mitchell, early Hernando County residents. A tribute to her by one of her former students is on the Lacoochee School page. [Information from Charles Blankenship]

CHARLES FOX (1862-1939) was the founder and editor of the Port Richey Press newspaper (later named the New Port Richey Press) from 1918 until 1922. He was born in England and immigrated to the United States with his wife and children, settling in New Port Richey. They lived in a small wood frame home on the northwest corner of Main Street and Adams Street where the Arcade Building is now located. Charles and his son published the newspaper at that location. For a complete biography of Charles Fox and his family, click HERE.

WILLIAM FRIEDMAN (1875-1951) operated a department store in Dade City and served two years as Mayor of the city, beginning on Jan. 1, 1927, and was mayor again in 1932-33. He was born in Romania but grew up in New York City. Around 1919 Friedman moved from Tampa, where he had been a prominent merchant, to Trilby, and in 1922 he moved to Dade City. He was pictured in a 1927 issue of the American Hebrew, which said he was “the only Jew now occupying the office of mayor in the state of Florida.” The article reported that Dade City had a population of 4,000, but only four Jewish families. In 1932 Mayor Friedman was confined to his bed after being beaten apparently by political opponents. A 1943 newspaper article reported that Friedman, now a merchant of Dublin, Ga., visited Dade City on business. His gravemarker is here.

WILLIAM GRAHAM FRIERSON (1830-1898) moved here sometime before 1877, according to Brenda Knowles.

The following is taken from The Early Settlers of Hudson. Information was provided by Ione Carter Woodall, Myrtle Hernandez Boal, and Sussanah Goodman Frierson.

William Graham Frierson was born June 6, 1830. He was the second son of William James and Sussanah Keziah Graham Frierson, who were first cousins.

Frierson’s birthplace is unknown, but he grew up along Lynches Lakes, near the present day town of Cades, South Carolina.

Both the Friersons and the Grahams were Scotchmen, whose ancestors came to America by way of Ireland. Thus, they were known as Scotch- Irishmen.

William Graham’s father died when he was fourteen years old. Frierson and his older brother John assumed the job of running the farm to support their mother and three youngest children. They were Aaron Taylor. Adaline Amelia and Charles Robin.

He married Sussanah, youngest daughter of Henry and Sussanah Goodman, of the Shiloh area in Sumter County, South Carolina. The Goodmans were neighbors and friends of the Friersons for generations. The families lived along a branch of the Black River known as Pudding Swamp.

When the Civil War broke out, apparently William Graham moved his family to Williamsburg County to be near his mother and brother John.

He then went to Charleston County, South Carolina, where he was enlisted in the war by Captain Thomas Dickey Frierson, his uncle. He was wounded and hospitalized on two occasions. The second wound was received at the Battle of Petersburg, Virginia, where he was taken prisoner and held until the end of the war. He was paroled at Newport News, Virginia.

Tradition has it that because of the war he lost everything. So he collected his family and boarded a boat at Charleston to move his family to a new land in Florida.

They were met in St. Augustine by his uncle, Aaron Taylor Frierson, who was a major in the Seminole Indian Wars. His uncle took them to an area west of Brooksville, where they lived until the later part of 1884. In September 1884, Frierson moved his family to an area just north of Hudson. He cleared the land, built a home and filed for homestead. Later he planted an orange grove and his place became known as Frierson Scrub. Today it is the site of Grace Memorial Gardens along the west side of U.S. 19.

On August 14, 1893 Sussanah died at the “Scrub” and was buried at Vereen Cemetery. Then, on August 3, 1898, William Graham died at the home of his daughter, Jane, in Hudson, after being injured when his buggy overturned. He was buried beside Sussanah.

Children:

• Keziah Sidaline, b. 1854, d. 1854
• Adaline Amelia, b. 1855, d. 1894, m. John Brady
• William Edwin, b. 1857, d. 1895, m. Letitia Ann Smith
• John Taylor, b. 1859, d. 1928, m. Joannah Duett Bellamy
• Mary Sussanah, b. 1861, d. 1920, m. William Brady
• Jane Thincy, b. 1866, d. 1935, m. Mike Knowles. Her grave marker may incorrectly give b. 1886. Her obituary reads, “Mrs. Jane Knowles, pioneer resident of Florida, died at her home in Hudson last Saturday, July 27 [1935]. Burial was held the Sunday following in the Hudson cemetery. She was well known and much beloved in the Hudson section, where she mde her home. She had resided in the state for sixty years.”
• Lula Isabella, b. 1868, d. 1895, m. Henry Clay Bush
• Martha Elizabeth, b. 1871. d. 1898, m. John Knowles
• Ann Pyles, b. 1874, d. 1902, m. Charles W. Knowles
• Rebecca Goodman, b. 1877, d. 1958, m1. William A. Turner, m2. Rev. George S. Pritchard

Sussanah was the youngest daughter of Henry and Sussanah Goodman of the Shiloh area in Sumter County, South Carolina, and they were neighbors and friends of the Friersons for generations. These families lived along a branch of the Black River known as Pudding Swamp.

JOHN TAYLOR FRIERSON (1859-1928) lived at his home near Fivay for 45 years, according to his 1928 obituary. On Sept. 16, 1927, the New Port Richey Press reported, “Mr. Frierson is very strictly a pioneer, coming to Florida in 1868. His father was one of the early volunteers in the Confederate army, serving the full term of the war and being a Federal prisoner for some months.” The article said Mr. Frierson was “around 70.” [His 1928 obituary states that he was 73 years old, although his grave marker says he was born on Sept. 4, 1859, and died on Nov. 19, 1928.]

WILLIAM EDWARD “ED” FRIERSON (1881-1947) is shown as a 38-year-old farmer in the 1920 census of Elfers. His obituary stated that he had been a resident of Seven Springs for 45 years. In 1903 he married Laura L. Stevenson. In 1928 he married Willie Maude Garrett (1908-1992), born in Texas. According to Ash, in 1927 Ed Frierson bought the former Seven Springs schoolhouse from his mother and it became the home for Frierson and his second wife, Willie Maude Frierson. Their children had attended the school. Willie Maude Blair of Old Town died on Jan. 9, 1992. Children:

• Paul Edward (1909-1983)
• Mary Evelyn (1929-2004), a 1947 graduate of Gulf High School, m. James A. Russ (1925-1975). She left here in 1980. A son was Patrick Eddie Russ, a 1965 graduate of Gulf High School.
• Wilmon Doyle “Bucker” (1930-2000), a 1947 graduate of Gulf High School, m. Sally. A son was W. D. Frierson Jr. (1954-2018).
• J. C.
• Roger Lane, b. Feb. 24, 1942, Elfers; d. Jan. 29, 2015, Cumming, Ga.

According to Patrick Eddie Russ, the above children were only given initials at birth so that they could choose their names.