The Mabrys

The Mabrys were a prominent family in Tallahassee and Sumter Co, Florida who originated in Mississippi.
Jesse Hughes Mabry (b. 1815 in S. Carolina) and wife Martha (b. 1820 in Alabama) were on the 1860 and 1870 census of Verona, Miss. and Tupelo, Miss.
	Children of Jesse and Martha Mabry	Born	In
A.)	John Hughes Mabry	1845	Pickens Co., Alabama
B.)	David P. Mabry	1847	Pickens Co., Alabama
C.)	Malcolm Mabry	1849	Pickens Co., Alabama
D.)	Milton Harvey Mabry	1851, June 17	Pickens Co., Alabama
E.)	Martha C. Mabry	1852	Alabama
F.)	Graves Mabry	1856	Alabama
G.)	James B. Mabry	1859	Louisiana



D.) Milton Harvey Mabry married Ella Dale Bramlett (b.1856, Pontotoc, Miss., daughter of John Woodson Bramlett and Eliza G. Turner Bramlett). By 1878, Milton and Ella had moved to Sumter Co, FL and Milton was in the citrus industry.
	Children of Milton H. and Ella Mabry	Born	In
1	Giddings Eldon Mabry	1877, Oct.	Tupelo,Mississippi
2	Jesse Hughes Mabry	1879, July	Miss.
3	John Bramlett Mabry	1883	Fla.
4	Milton Harvey Mabry, Jr.	1888, June	Fla.
5	Dale Mabry	1891	Fla.
6	Elyse Mabry	1895, June	Fla.
They also had 3 other children who died young, before 1900
Milton H. Mabry, Sr. and Ella are on the 1880 Federal Census of Sumter Co, FL, the 1885 Florida State Census in Sumter County, and the 1900 Census of Dade City, Pasco Co., with their children. By 1885, Milton H. Mabry, Sr. had been appointed as the Lt. Governor of the State of Florida. After this position was discontinued by the Florida legislature, Milton H. Mabry, Sr. became a Florida Supreme Court Justice. Milton H. Mabry in 1885 on the steps of the capitol bldg with members of the Florida senate in Tallahassee. 1885 - Florida Supreme Court Justice Milton H. Mabry, Sr., on the first step, taller man on the left.


1. Giddings Eldon Mabry, son of Milton and Ella Mabry, was educated at West Florida Seminary in Tallahassee, the University of Richmond, VA, and Columbia University, Lebanon, TN, where he obtained his LL.B. He came to Tampa at the turn of the century and opened his private law practice in Tampa 1901, in the area of what is now Platt St. and Franklin St, downtown.

Giddings' father, Milton H. Mabry, Sr., upon retiring from the FL. Supreme Court, joined his son Giddings in private law practice in Tampa, and the firm became Mabry & Mabry. Giddings' mother, Ella Dale Bramlett Mabry, died in Dade City in 1904. Milton Sr. didn't particularly care for private law practice, and moved back to Tallahassee after a couple of years and became a clerk of the Supreme Court. (Often forgotten in the history of the Mabrys, is that in 1907, Milton H. Mabry Sr. remarried, to Kentucky-born Irene W. and had one more son. In the Mabry household of 1910 in Tallahassee was head of house Milton H. Mabry, age 52, wife Irene W. Mabry, age 24, son Dale Mabry, age 19, and son Harton Mabry, age 1. Milton Harvey Mabry, Sr. died in Tampa on March 3, 1919. Soon thereafter, by 1920, Irene and her son Harton W. Mabry, moved to Sanford, FL to live with her brother-in-law and sister, G.F. and Nellie Smith. By April of 1930, Irene W. Mabry moved to Rockbridge, VA where she and her 21-year-old son Harton W. Mabry lived as lodgers in a boarding house at 20 Main St. Harton was single. Irene's 1920 census age was not recorded. Her 1930 census age shows 48, giving her a calculated 1881-1882 birth year. If this age is correct, her 1910 census age should have been 27 or 28.) At left, Giddings E. Mabry Giddings E. Mabry served as Tampa city attorney from 1910 to 1913 and county attorney from 1917 to 1923. He would be joined by Doyle Elam Carlton and former Judge OK Reaves (that was his first name, OK, not initials), forming the firm of Mabry, Reaves & Carlton. Doyle Carlton was elected as Florida's governor during the depression years, then rejoined Mabry and Reaves in private practice after his governorship. (During the time Carlton was governor, Morris White joined the firm. Upon leaving after Carlton came back, White joined attorney Cody Fowler to form the firm of Fowler, White.) The Mabry firm was later joined by D. Wallace Fields and became Mabry, Reaves, Carlton & Fields. The firm of Mabry, Reaves and Carlton (and later, with Fields) was instrumental in the development of early Tampa. Among their accomplishments was obtaining the rights for D.P. Davis to build Davis Islands, the formation, surveying and development of the Seminole Heights area in 1912, and the formation of the Tampa Television Broadcasting Co. to lobby the FCC for WTVT to obtain its broadcasting license. (Eventually, this firm became Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith and Cutler in the 1960s and is still in business today as Carlton, Fields, P.A.) Giddings Eldon Mabry (b. Oct. 9, 1877, Tupelo, Miss.) married Iowa-born Mabel Robey in 1906. They had only one child around 1909-1910, a daughter named Mabel Mabry. Giddings was a member of the Masons and the Seminole Baptist church, and enjoyed playing golf. Their home still stands at 1503 Bayshore Blvd, between S. Oregon Ave. and S. Dakota Ave. It is the big, red brick house with a huge oak in the front yard. It was built for the Mabrys in 1925. A doctor lives there now, and the old rose bush that Giddings would pluck a fresh rose from to wear on his lapel to work every day, still exists. Giddings E. Mabry died Sept. 24, 1968 in Tampa and is buried in Oaklawn Cemetery. His wife Mabel died on Oct. 5, 1946 and is also buried in Oaklawn Cemetery.
	Child of Giddings and Mabel Mabry	Born	In
	Mabel Mabry	1910	Tampa, FL


2. Jesse Hughes Mabry (b. July 30, 1879, Verona, Miss.) married Virginia-born Marie Elizabeth Boatright around 1904. In 1910 they lived in Newport News, VA. where Jesse was a physician. They apparently had no children and Marie probably died by 1918 because in 1918, Jesse registered for the WW1 draft at age 39 and listed the "person who will always know your address" as his father, M. H. Mabry in Tampa, FL. On his draft registration, he listed that he was a physician and lived at 2414 Chestnut Avenue. Jesse then married Ohio-born, 13 years his junior, Eleanor Cook, in 1918. In 1920, Jesse and Eleanor lived on Chestnut Avenue at the same address as a dentist named Howard Boatright and his family. Jesse still lived and practiced medicine in Newport News, Virginia where on April 26, 1942, he registered for the WW2 draft at age 62. He gave his home address as 6400 Huntington Ave. and his medical practice office as 2414 Chestnut Avenue. For "Person who will always know your address," he listed his wife.
	Children of Jesse and Eleanor Mabry	Born	In
	Eleanor C. Mabry	1921	Virginia
	Jesse H. Mabry, Jr	1923	Virginia

3. John Bramlett Mabry (b. Aug. 1883, FL, d. Dec 1909, FL, age 26) Nothing is known about him at this time.

4. Milton H. Mabry, Jr. (b. June 26, 1888, FL) married Wisconsin-born Gertrude Emma Dean in 1907, possibly in Tennessee. By 1920, Milton and Gertrude and their 3 daughters lived in Seminole Heights, on N. Nebraska Ave. in Tampa, where Milton Jr. was a real estate agent. On the 1930 census in Tampa, they were living at 4215 Sylvan Ramble in Palma Ceia. Milton Jr. was the president of a mortgage company. He died in Hillsborough County in Nov. 1964.
	Children of Milton Jr and Gertrude Mabry	Born	In
	Dale (female)	1908 Mar. 26	Tenn.
	married James R. Boring, Jr in 1930
	Jane G.	1912	Fla.
	Alice Dean	1914	Fla.
	married Mr. Cochran
	Barbara Lucile Mabry	1921 (d.2004)	Fla. (d. Valdosta, GA)
	married Wm. Drew Smith in 1943, one daughter and two sons live in Valdosta, GA.

5. Dale Mabry, b. March 22, 1891 in Tallahassee, FL. He fought for the United States Army during World War I. After the war, the Army commanded Captain Mabry and his crew to return the Italian semi-rigid airship Roma back to the United States. On February 21, 1922, while flying the Roma in Norfolk, Virginia, Captain Mabry and others in his crew crashed the airship and died. The city of Tallahassee, Florida, commemorated the local hero and named their first municipal airport after him, Dale Mabry Field. Unmarried, no children.

6. Elyse Mabry (b. June, 1895, FL). Nothing is known about Elyse Mabry at this time. Knowledge of her comes from Milton H. Mabry, Sr's 1900 census where Elyse Mabry is listed as his daughter, age 4, born June 1895. She may have died by 1910 because her father appears on the 1910 Census in Tallahassee, in his second marriage (to Irene W.) and the only children in his home are son Dale Mabry, age 19, and son Harton Mabry, age 1. It is possible also that her name may have been Alice and the enumerator recorded "Elyse" due to sounding similar.