GIDDINGS ELDON MABRY

The Law firm of Mabry, Reaves & Carlton
OTHER PAGES:
Mabry Family Ancestors
Milton H. Mabry Sr's Descendants

 

"Two heads are better than one, even if they’re both cabbage heads"
Giddings E. Mabry
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GIDDINGS ELDON MABRY
 FIRST SON OF MILTON H. MABRY, SR. & ELLA DALE BRAMLETT

Born on Oct 8, 1877 in Tupelo, Miss., Giddings E. Mabry was influenced in his choice of a career by his father, Milton Harvey Mabry, who had a distinguished career as a lawyer and public servant.

EDUCATION
Giddings was educated in West Florida Seminary (1894-96) and Richmond College, VA. (1896-98). He received his law degree from Cumberland University Law School in Lebanon, TN, in 1901. In the same year he was admitted to practice in Florida, commencing his practice of law in Tampa in 1901.

 

 

Giddings E. Mabry
1918
FATHER & SON PARTNERSHIP

In 1903 Giddings was joined by his father, Milton Harvey Mabry, and they became "Mabry & Mabry."  Milton had practiced law in Tupelo from 1872 to 1878. In 1879, Milton was persuaded to come Florida for his health by his friend and future law partner, William A. Hocker,  At around two years old, Giddings and his younger brother Jesse were brought by their parents to Leesburg in Sumter Co., Florida from Tupelo, Miss. From 1883 to 1884, Milton represented Sumter Co. in the Florida House of Representatives. In 1884, he was elected Lt. Governor of Florida, but upon adoption of a new Florida Constitution in 1885, that office was eliminated; Mabry served out his term.  Milton was elected to the Supreme Court of Florida in 1891. He later became Chief Justice, serving two terms on the Court until 1903. Declining then to seek reelection, he returned to his home in Leesburg from Tallahassee and shortly thereafter he and his family moved to Dade City.  He then came to Tampa to join his son in the practice of law.

Giddings Mabry practiced law with his father for about two years in Tampa in 1903 and 1904. Milton then returned to Tallahassee. According to David E. Ward, Justice Mabry said he “didn’t care for the private practice of law.” Upon his return to Tallahassee, Milton became Clerk of the Florida Supreme Court where he served until 1915.
 

GIDDINGS MABRY MARRIAGE

On Nov. 1, 1906, Giddings Mabry married in Tampa to Mabel Robey, daughter of Rev. George C. and Rebecca J. (Kelly) Robey. Giddings and Mabel had one daughter around 1910, Mabel Mabry. Daughter Mabel was a pleasant, friendly woman, always supportive of the firm. She married happily late in life and moved with her husband to New York.
 

GIDDINGS MABRY CITY AND COUNTY ATTORNEY

Giddings Mabry served as City Attorney from 1910 to 1913, during which time some of his accomplishments were securing for the city the land needed for the estuary development and the property on Zack St. where the new Fire Station #1 was built.  He served as County Attorney from 1917 to 1923. 
 

GIDDINGS MABRY, THE MAN

D. Wallace Fields noted that Mr. Mabry was a thoughtful and generous man. He cared about those who worked with him. This was his legacy. He was a fine citizen, an able lawyer and a quiet, but effective influence upon partners more publicly prominent than he. He left the active practice with his firm in the mid-1960s.  He was a solid rock on which to build. Throughout these times, the Firm’s founders were leaders in public, religious and civic activities. Their partnership soon began to take the forefront in the building and shaping of Tampa’s legal and real estate development.

Some of the information above is from “A History of Our Firm” compiled by Wm. Reece Smith, Jr. in 1990. It is a collection of information gathered from many sources, including interviews with then senior members of the firm including Peter J. Winders.

 

 
 

DETAILS AND SUPPORTING SOURCES

MILTON MABRY SR. AND FAMILY, 1880 Census, Leesburg, Sumter Co., Fla.

Giddings was enumerated as "Elding;" an attempt by the enumerator to spell "Eldon." 
The Hockers were living 5 dwellings away, the dwellings in between them have been removed here.

 
GIDDINGS MABRY'S EDUCATION

Giddings Mabry was educated in the Leesburg public grade schools and Leon County High School in Tallahassee.  In 1894 he entered the West Florida Seminary in Tallahassee until 1896. 
 

Photo courtesy of Florida Memory, State Library and Archives of Florida.
          

THE WEST FLORIDA SEMINARY
In 1851 the Florida legislature commissioned two state “seminaries” of higher learning—one east and one west of the Suwannee River. So these date their origin from that act. However, the West Florida Seminary did not actually begin classes until 1856. During the 1882-85 period, it was called the Literary College of Florida University, and after 1885 it was the Academic Department. It offered three degrees—Bachelor of Arts emphasizing Greek and Latin; Bachelor of Science emphasizing natural science and modern languages; and Bachelor of Letters, emphasizing English, German and Romance Languages. In 1901 the school advertized three branches: the academy, the normal school, and the college. After a name change to Florida State College in 1902, it added a fourth branch—the school of music. The 1901 Argo shows a student body of 171—35 in the college, 77 in the academy, and 59 in the normal program. There were also seven “special students.” The two rival student groups were the Anaxagoras Literary Society and the Platonic Debating Society—each with more than 20 members. The highlight of their year was commencement week, when each society had a day to display its talents. The school also had a Dramatic Club and an Oratorical Association. The 1905 Buckman plan reorganized higher education in Florida, segregating state-supported schools by race and gender. At that point Florida State College became Florida Female College. It was not until the aftermath of World War II that the school once again accepted male students, becoming the school we know today as Florida State University.  Information above from West Florida Seminary, 1851-1905 at lostcolleges.com.

 
 

GIDDINGS MABRY AT RICHMOND COLLEGE, VA.

Giddings then attended Richmond College at Richmond, Va. from 1896-1898, where he studied Latin, Greek, English and philosophy, obtaining his undergraduate degree in English and Latin.

Detailed history of Richmond College

RICHMOND COLLEGE, RICHMOND VA. 1898
Images courtesy of Richmond College Catalogue, 1897-1898
 

On March 4th, 1840, the Virginia Legislature granted a charter for “a Seminary of learning for the instruction of youth in the various branches of science and literature, the useful arts and the learned and foreign languages, which shall be called and known by the name of Richmond College.” Richmond College is not defined by bricks and mortar, but as a community of students who strive to respect others, discover their best selves, and pursue lives of purpose.

This “Seminary of learning” grew out of an actual seminary; The Virginia Baptist Seminary was founded in 1832, and the Virginia Baptist Education Society had been formed two years earlier. The seminary began admitting students who had not had a calling to the ministry, and in due time it made sense to expand the mission of the institution. The first campus was located on the grounds of an old mansion once owned by the Haxall family, who at the time owned the largest milling operation in Virginia. The mansion was named “Columbia” and stands to this day at the corner of Grace and Lombardy Streets. In the early days, Columbia was Richmond College.  Sixty-eight students were enrolled in the early years, and the first bachelor’s degrees were conferred in 1849 to Poindexter Smith Henson and Josiah Ryland.

The College increased its student body and endowment in its first twenty years, then the College ceased operations during the Civil War as most of the students and faculty went to fight for the Confederacy. When the war was over, one fifth of the alumni and many members of the student body had died, the campus was a camp for the Union Army, the endowment was worthless, and the equipment and books of the College were lost. Through the generosity of alumni and the Virginia Baptist Society, funds were raised to reopen the College in the fall of 1866. Over the next 50 years a beautiful campus thrived within the borders of Ryland, Broad, Lombardy, and Franklin Streets.

In 1895 Frederic Boatwright was appointed president of Richmond College. During this time, Richmond College had 200 students and 11 faculty members. Although there were no entrance requirements for the College, the courses were of such quality that students without preparation could not make passing grades. Roughly two-thirds of the matriculates failed to earn a degree. Although women had been enrolled in Richmond College toward the end of the 19th century, the prevailing wisdom at the time was that higher education was the dominion of men. In the early 1900’s, President Boatwright and the Board of Trustees set in motion the series of events that ultimately moved the campus to its current location in the West End in 1914 and established Westhampton College as a “coordinate” college, “of equal grade, and having similar courses of instruction.” Westhampton College existed on one side of the lake, and Richmond College on the other. To this day, we refer to the Westhampton and Richmond “sides” of the campus. In 1920, the name of the institution was changed to the University of Richmond, but the Colleges remained as separate entities well into the later part of the 20th century.

Read more at the school's website, where the above history was obtained.

  

   

Giddings' brother, Jesse Hughes Mabry, also attended Richmond College.  Jesse went on to a medical doctor career and practiced in Newport News, Va.

 

 

PATRIOTIC ASPIRATIONS
It was in mid-1898 when the Spanish-American war broke out that young Giddings was fired up with patriotic enthusiasm to help Col. Roosevelt free Cuba from Spanish rule and oppression.  He was ready to join when his family convinced him into completing his education. (1963-03-14 Tampa Tribune, Giddings Mabry,  Faith that works. )


Teddy Roosevelt and troops at the summit of Kettle Hill, San Juan Heights, Santiago de Cuba - July 1, 1898.
Troops from left to right are the 3rd, 1st (the Rough Riders), and 10th cavalry regiments.
 From War History Online

LAW DEGREE AT CUMBERLAND UNIVERSITY

Upon graduating from Richmond College, Giddings entered Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1898 and obtained his Bachelor of Law degree in Dec. 1900.  This was the same institution where his father, Milton, obtained his law degree in 1872.

1900-06-10 FLORIDA TIMES UNION
Giddings E. Mabry, a student at Cumberland University, Tenn., attended the West Florida Seminary exercises.

Cumberland University

Established as Cumberland College at Lebanon in 1842 under the patronage of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Cumberland University received a charter as a university in 1843. Except for the period from 1962 to 1982, when the name was officially Cumberland College of Tennessee, the institution has operated continuously as Cumberland University and is the oldest institution of higher education in the central South operating under its original chartered name. Shortly after its founding, Cumberland University occupied a large new Greek Revival-style building. Robert L. Caruthers, lawyer, soldier, jurist, and congressman, took a leading role in the subscription drive that produced ten thousand dollars for the new college; he became the first president of the board of trustees. In 1847 trustees at Cumberland University established a school of law. It opened a theological school and a school of engineering in 1853. By 1859 the law school was among the largest in the United States.

 


Catalogue of Cumberland University, 1900
 

 

Memorial Hall, University building, front

Memorial Hall, University building, rear

Divinity Hall

Caruthers Hall
 
 
GIDDINGS MABRY RETURNS TO FLORIDA

After obtaining his law degree, Giddings came back to Florida to join his parents and siblings at the fine 10-room home his father had built in Dade City. Giddings came to Tampa briefly in late Jan.1901 and immediately left for Ocala to study Florida law in the law office of his father's former law partner and friend, Judge William A. Hocker. 

1900 CENSUS, PASCO CO., DADE CITY

1901-01-29 The Florida Times Union (Tallahassee)
Giddings Mabry, son of Justice Mabry of the Supreme Court, has returned home from Lebanon Law School, where he graduated.


 

GIDDINGS MABRY ARRIVES IN TAMPA

1901-01-29 The Tampa Tribune
Giddings Mabry arrived in Tampa in late January, 1901, and left for Ocala to join Judge Hocker to study Florida law.

 

 
 
JUDGE WILLIAM ADAM HOCKER

Service: January 6, 1903-January 5, 1915.

Born December 5, 1844 in Buckingham County, Virginia. Educated at Hampden-Sidney College of the University of Virginia. Admitted to bar, 1869. Moved to Florida, 1874. Member of Florida Legislature in 1877 representing Sumter County and in 1891 representing Lake County. Member of 1885 Constitutional Convention. Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit 1893-1901. Died in Jacksonville, July 16, 1918.

Portrait courtesy of Florida Memory Archives & State Library
 

About Judge Hocker
   
 

 

GIDDINGS MABRY AT OCALA

1901-02-01 The Ocala Evening Star
See the whole article.
Mr. Giddens [sic] Mabry, the polished and gifted son of Judge M.H. Mabry of the state supreme court, has just returned from Lebanon, Tenn. where he graduated with honors from the law school at that place. He now fills a position in Judge Hocker's office in Ocala, where he hopes to acquire as expeditiously as possible a full knowledge of Florida law.  He is certainly a promising young man and will no doubt make his mark as a lawyer.

According to the revised Florida statutes of 1892, revised in 1899, anyone desiring to practice law in Florida was required to pass an exam given by the Circuit Judge and at least two members of the Bar.  Upon passing the exam, the lawyer was entitled to practice in the several circuit and inferior court of Florida. 

 

 

GIDDINGS MABRY EXAMINED IN OCALA

1901-03-20 The Ocala Evening Star
William Hocker presented to the court the name of G. E. Mabry, who desired to be admitted to the practice of law at this bar, whereupon Judge Hocker appointed Messrs. R.L. Anderson and R. McConathy to assist the court in the examination of the young applicant, which examination will take place Wednesday morning in open court.


 

 

 

 

GIDDINGS MABRY PASSES THE BAR EXAM

1901-03-21 Ocala Evening Star
CIRCUIT COURT - Wednesday's proceedings: The committee, Messrs. R. L. Anderson, W. S. Bullock and R. McConathy, appointed by the court Tuesday to examine into the qualifications of Mr. Mabry, with the court, proceeded to examine the applicant for admission to the bar.  Mr. Mabry passed a most creditable examination and demonstrated the fact that he has a quick and retentive mind.  He is a son of Judge Mabry and has been reading law for some time in Judge Hocker's office.

 


 

 
GIDDINGS MABRY RETURNS TO TAMPA TO OPEN HIS LAW OFFICE

Upon arriving in Tampa at age 24, Giddings Mabry established his residence in a rooming house at 409 East Street in Ft. Brooke.  There he shared a room with Herbert S. Phillips, who was admitted to practice in Tampa in Feb.1901 and would soon serve as U.S. District attorney for 25 years. in Oct. 1901, Giddings opened his private law practice in the Knight Building at the southeast corner of Franklin & Lafayette St., 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FORT BROOKE

Fort Brooke was an area separate from the City of Tampa which had not yet been annexed.  It originally consisted of all the land south of Whiting St. extending north to the area later that became Ybor City. 

  See The Final Battle of Fort Brooke at TampaPix.

 

 

 

 
 

 

GIDDINGS MABRY OPENS HIS OFFICE IN THE KNIGHT BUILDING

1901-10-11 TRIB
LAWYER MABRY
Mr. Giddens [sic] Mabry, son of Judge Mabry of the Supreme Court, has decided to cast his lot in Tampa and will practice law in this city, occupying elegant quarters in the Knight building.  Mr. Mabry is an exceedingly bright young gentleman and will no doubt gain fame and fortune in his chosen profession.

 

 

 
 

THE KNIGHT BUILDING
Located on the southeast corner of Lafayette St. (now Kennedy Blvd.) & Franklin St., articles mentioning it as "the new Knight building" begin in April of 1893.

At the far left of the photo can be seen the back side of the old City Hall which was built in 1892 and demolished in 1915 to build the old City Hall that still exists today at that same location.

This photo was originally published in the Jan.1900 Tampa Tribune mid-winter edition.  Some years later, the Burgert Brothers obtained this issue from Tribune archives and photographed most of the pages that pertained to the development of Tampa, thus producing glass-plate negatives.  When Burgert glass plate negatives were discovered in a backyard shed of a Tampa home, the Library organized to obtain funding to print the over 20,000 of the negatives, scan them and put them online.

LOCATION OF THE KNIGHT BUILDING, 1903
The 1903 Sanborn map presented below shows the location of the Knight building which was next to saloons, a liquor store and a billiard hall, places Giddings Mabry likely abhorred.

 

The first City Hall seen looking southwest from Florida Avenue and Lafayette St. in 1900.
Photo from the Jan. 1900 Tampa Tribune mid-winter edition, rephotographed by the Burgert Bros.
and available from the Tampa-Hillsborough Co. Public Library System.

Below: The rear of the Knight building can be seen at far right in the photo below.
Notice that the City Hall rooftop structure has been removed.  Find out when and why.

The signage on the building is an indication that the photo was taken after Oct. 1911. When the Fire Department moved out and into its new building on Zack Street in late 1911, the old City Hall building was then repaired and renovated in Oct. of that year. The remodeling was done to accommodate the Police Headquarters almost entirely . (These events are detailed in this feature.) When originally built, the signage showed "Head Quarters Tampa Fire Department." The Burgerts were commercial photographers and a newly completed repair/ renovation would have been a good reason to hire them to photograph the building at this time.

Today the site of the Knight building is the
courtyard in front of the City Hall annex.

Known as the "Knight building" from the time it was built, the name change to the "Hendry & Knight" building was a gradual one over the years.  The address of the 1915 City Hall was 315 Lafayette St. and the Knight building occupied a handful of lots from 301 to 309 Lafayette. 

In 1923 the building was sold by Jack Knight to the Florida Mortgage Title & Bonding Co. (according to a May 16, 1930 Tampa Tribune article described below.)

A May 7, 1925 Tampa Times article shows that the Civil Service board was located in Room 9 of the Knight building.

City Hall and the Hendry & Knight building, Nov. 13, 1925
Photo by Burgert Bros.

THE LIFE OF THE KNIGHT BUILDING

A Tampa Times Dec. 31, 1925 article listing the "Outstanding Events of 1925 states "May 11, 1925. W. L. McNevin Co. announces sale by Chas. H. Brown of 3-story Hendry & Knight building to northern investors for $350k or more than $6k per front foot." This price was a good example of how the peak of the land boom in Florida affected property values. Property was being bought with the intention of selling it a short time later at great profits.  Charles H. Brown was Tampa's mayor under a commissioner form of government from Jan. 1921 to Jan 1924.

Just over 3 months later, the Tampa Tribune published on Sep. 2, 1925, that the Hendry & Knight building was purchased for $500k by W. L. McNevin & Associates who intended to alter the structure to provide more office facilities.  The seller was George W. Ward of Washington, D.C.  Tentative plans were to demolish the building and build a thoroughly modern office building, or the old structure would be renovated throughout.

On Apr. 16, 1930, the Tribune announced that the Hendry & Knight building at Franklin & Lafayette had been sold to "Northern interests."  Described as "considered to be one of the most valuable corners of downtown Tampa."    Sold by Florida Mortgage Title & Bonding Co., president Dr. G. C. Rankin, to a buyer who requested "this phase of the deal be not disclosed at present."  At this time the building consisted of business offices on the 1st floor, 26 offices on the 2nd floor, and a lodge hall on the 3rd floor.

On Apr. 23, 1930, the Tampa Chapter of the D.A.V. (Disabled American Veterans) moved their headquarters from 212 Franklin St. to the 3rd floor of the Hendry & Knight building.

On Feb. 25, 1945, the Tampa Tribune announced that the property known as the "Hendry-Knight" building at the southeast corner of Franklin & Lafayette was being purchased by the New York Bakery and Delicatessen Co. for reportedly $80k. The bakery currently had quarters at 607 Tampa St. but planned to move the the H-K building in "the near future."  The building housed a billiard parlor and cigar store on the lower floor, offices on the 2nd floor, and lodge rooms on the 3rd floor.  County tax rolls valued it at $42k for 1944.

On Apr. 14, 1945, the Tampa Tribune announced that county tax collector Sparkman, whose office was in a cramped office at the county courthouse, wanted offices in City Hall for himself and his employees because of their cramped quarters in small offices on the 2nd floor of the Hendry-Knight building, which was costing the county $540 a year. The article ends with "The Hendry-Knight building was purchased recently by a large bakery concern.  A bakery will be established on the ground floor, and a billiard parlor formerly on that floor is being moved to the 3rd floor. 

In May 1945 the county made another plea to mayor Curtis Hixon for space in City Hall when county tax assessor Sparkman complained about the noise from the billiards parlor on the 3rd floor.  "The installation of a bakery on the 1st floor caused the billiard parlor to be moved to the third floor.  Pool balls falling on the floor and pool cues banged on the floor by disgusted players proved a great annoyance to the assessing staff on the floor below.  I'm through trying to make any request of the city.  We asked them once, and they turned us down.  I don't feel like begging."

The New York Bakery & Deli opened in this location on Sep. 24, 1945 and closed up shop in March 1950. The tower seen above the building was on top of the Tampa Times building which was home to WDAE radio station at Washington & Franklin St.


The Hendry & Knight building in August,1953 as seen from the vacant lot across Lafayette St. 
The lot was the former location of of the 1891 brick Hillsborough County Courthouse demolished in early 1952.
See the whole photo which includes City Hall.

The building was demolished in Jan.1976 along with all the other buildings along Franklin St. between Kennedy Blvd. and Jackson St. in order to build the new Tampa City Hall annexes.

 


Giddings Mabry soon found himself being frequently appointed by Judge Graham to defend suspects in the criminal courts.

MERRITT SENT UP
1901-10-18 The Tampa Tribune
Grant Merritt, the negro who carried away a considerable portion of the goods of L.D. Geiger...was convicted of grand larceny and sentenced to 18 months in the penitentiary.  Giddens [sic] Mabry, who has just begun the practice of law here, was appointed by Judge Graham to defend the negro, and made a creditable showing in a clear case of guilt.

GIDDINGS MABRY DEFENDS WALKER
1901-11-12 The Tampa Tribune
Doc Walker, burglary, was successfully defended by Attorney G. E. Mabry.
 

GIDDINGS APPLIES FOR HILLSBOROUGH CO. BAR ASSN. MEMBERSHIP
1902-02-09 The Tampa Tribune
GUNBY IS CHOSEN as president of the Hillsborough Co. Bar Association.  The meeting was held in the office of Circuit Judge Joseph. B. Wall.  Applications for membership were received from G. E. Mabry and G. E. Lucas of Tampa.  E.R. Gunby was elected as president, Thomas M. Shackleford as vice-president.

GIDDINGS MABRY ADMITTED
1902-02-14 Tampa Tribune
Four young attorneys have been admitted this term to practice in the court.  They are Victor H. Knight, G. E. Mabry, W. B. Dickenson and C. A. Drumwright.

LAWSON IS FREE 
1902-08-06 The Tampa Tribune
Jury Agreed At Late Hour Last Night
Attorney Mabry cleared his client of assault with intent to rape after a hard fight against trained lawyers. Lawson was defended by G. E. Mabry; Solicitor Simonton and Samuel Borchardt represented the State.

FORMER ROOMMATES TRAVEL TO TALLAHASSEE
1902-09-11 The Florida Times-Union
Giddings E. Mabry, a promising young lawyer of Tampa, and Hon. H. S. Philips, nominee for State Attorney in the Fifth Circuit, are on a visit to the capital.
 

THE START OF MABRY & MABRY

When Milton H. Mabry, Sr's term as a Florida Supreme Court justice was over, he declined re-election and moved to Tampa to join his son in the private practice of law in the Knight Building.  Giddings E. Mabry, attorney at law, became "Mabry & Mabry."

MILTON MABRY (SR.) COMING TO TAMPA
1903-01-01 The Tampa Tribune
Giddings E. Mabry has returned to Tampa from Tallahassee; his father, Judge M H Mabry, will arrive in a few days to locate here for the practice of his profession.

A DiSTINGUISHED ACQUISITION
1903-01-01 The Tampa Tribune
Judge Mabry who retired from the Supreme Court today has already arrived in Tampa where he will make his future home. Judge Mabry will practice law in this city and the acquisition of himself and his estimable family is greatly appreciated by Tampa.  He is considered on of the shrewdest and most successful lawyers in this State, and the Tribune is confident that his most sanguine anticipations will be more than realized in his new home.

MILTON MABRY, SR. ARRIVES IN TAMPA
1903-01-06 The Tampa Tribune

FIRST AND ONLY MENTION OF MABRY & MABRY IN FLORIDA NEWSPAPERS
WANTS HER MAIDEN NAME
1903-02-06 The Tampa Tribune
Mrs. Mary M. Watson is represented by Mabry & Mabry in a divorce lawsuit against her husband, Richard L. Watson.  She also asked that her original name, Mary M. Carpenter, be restored.  "She is the same gentle lady of approximately 70 summers who shot at her husband several weeks ago for trespassing on her property.

1904-02-02 Tampa Tribune
Death of Ella Dale Mabry on Jan. 31, 1904, mother of Giddings Mabry

 

 

 

HILLSBOROUGH CO. BAR ASSOCIATION ELECTS OFFICERS
1904-02-18 The Weekly Tampa Tribune

Giddens [sic] E. Mabry is elected treasurer.

 

 

 
THE END OF MABRY & MABRY -  GIDDINGS GOES SOLO AGAIN

1904-04-12 The Tampa Tribune
By mid-April 1904, Giddings Mabry had moved his practice into the Hampton Building. 
Giddings Mabry, a leader in the temperance movement, was giving out badges to members of the WCTU (Women's Christian Temperance Union).  Over 800 women had been pinned.
 

1904-05-15 The Tampa Tribune
Mabry, G. E., Hampton Block. Pen (Peninsular) Phone 1123

 


The Hampton building was located on the east side of the 700 block of Franklin St. on the SE corner at Polk St.
The Hampton Building, 1921

Behind the far right lamp post can be seen one of the three 1-story businesses that were demolished to build the Tampa Theater in 1926. Construction on the Hampton building began in late Sept. 1900 after the wood frame structures on the corner were demolished (meat market, tailor shop, barber shop, restaurant, and laundry) and was completed in late Feb. 1901. (1900-04-08 Tampa Tribune - "ANOTHER BRICK BLOCK - Hampton to Erect Handsome Structure at Franklin and Polk.)
 

On the 1903 Sanborn Fire Insurance map below can be seen outlined in blue where the Tampa Theater office tower and auditorium were built in 1926.


The bank at lower left was the Citizens Bank.
 

The Hampton building on Mar. 1, 1934, home to McCrory's 5 & 10.
Burgert Bros. photo.

 

In early Oct. 1934 it became the home of an air-conditioned Walgreen Drug Store. 
Notice the removal of the top decorative facade of the right side of the building.

    

WILLIAM WADE HAMPTON

The Hampton block and the building were named for William Wade Hampton, Sr, a Gainesville attorney who owned a large amount of valuable property in the state, including in Tampa.  Born in Albany, Georgia in 1856, he came to Florida in 1876 at Gainesville where he  founded the town's first law firm, Hampton and Hampton, with his brother Edwin, William was the first president of the Florida Bar Association. He was the first of three generations of Wade Hamptons who practiced law in Gainesville from 1875 until 2006.  In early April, 1900, he announced plans to build a new brick business block on his property at Franklin and Polk St.
 

Courtesy of "Men of the South" 1922

  

Courtesy of Florida Memory, Archives & State Library

 Looking north from Franklin St. and Zack toward Hampton block in 1911.
At far right is the Citizens Bank Building.  Place your mouse on the photo to see the Hampton Building highlighted.
Burgert Bros photo courtesy of the Tampa Hillsborough County Public Library System


 

 

MILTON H. MABRY SR. RETURNS TO TALLAHASSEE AS CLERK OF SUPREME COURT.

1905-03-31 The Weekly True Democrat (Tallahassee)
Mr. B. B. Wilson today retires from the office of clerk of the Supreme Court and turns over that office to Judge M. H. Mabry....of Tampa, an ex-Judge of the Supreme Court and is of course thoroughly conversant with the duties upon which he is entering, as well as a gentleman very highly esteemed, especially among the legal fraternity of the State.

 

 

GIDDINGS MABRY JOINS TAMPA BOARD OF TRADE, 1905

Is your name on this list?
1905-03-12 The Tampa Tribune
Official list of the member of Tampa's Board of Trade, Mabry, G.E., attorney-at-law, Hampton building.  Other members have been omitted.

 
GIDDINGS MBARY CAMPING TRIP
1905-06-13 The Tampa Tribune
Giddens [sic] Mabry yesterday chaperoned a hunting and fishing party to Green Springs, where the boys will spend about 10 days

MABRY WAS CHIEF COOK, demonstrated rare culinary ability in Green Springs Camp.
1905-06-20 The Tampa Tribune - Read the whole article.
Seven boys, counting Mabry, returned from Green Springs where they camped out for a week and enjoyed life to the fullest.  Besides his other duties, Mr. Mabry acted as chief cook and gained 10 pounds on the menu he prepared.  He was so successful that he was offered a steady salary of $4 a week to surrender his legal career in Tampa and devote himself exclusively to the culinary art at the Springs, an offer which his natural modest and retiring disposition impelled him to refuse.  Two tents and a house were needed to accommodate the Tampa youth. Mr. Mabry, who is an expert carpenter as well as a cook and barrister, building a handsome and commodious one story residence, designated "Giddings' Castle," on the bluff near the hotel, during leisure moments when not cooking, cutting wood, bathing, fishing, hunting, sleeping, or otherwise occupied.

MARRIAGE OF GIDDINGS MABRY & MABEL ROBEY

MABRY - ROBEY
1906-10-07 The Tampa Tribune
A wedding that will be of general interest all over Tampa and especially in Hyde Park, will be that of Miss Mabel Robey and Mr. Giddings E. Mabry.  This will take place the first part of November.  Both Miss Robey and Mr. Mabry have endeared themselves to a host of friends in Tampa and their future happiness is the wish of all who know them.

MABRY-ROBEY
1906-10-16 The Tampa Tribune
The following invitations were issued yesterday:  "Rev. and Mrs. George W. Robey invite you to be present at the marriage of their daughter, Mabel, to Mr. Giddings Eldon Mabry, on the evening of Thursday, the first of November at 7:30 o'clock, First Baptist Church, Tampa, Fla."

On Nov. 1, 1906, Giddings married Iowa-born Miss Mabel Robey, a daughter of the Rev. George C. and Rebecca J. (Kelly) Robey.

1906-11-02 Tampa Tribune  Read a detailed article about the wedding.
1906-11-04 Tampa Tribune - Read another detailed account of the wedding.
 

 

  FRAZIER & MABRY PARTNERSHIP IN THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING 
 
1907-01-08 The Tampa Tribune 

In Jan. 1907, Giddings Mabry entered into a partnership with Joseph Wheeler Frazier as Frazier & Mabry in the First National Bank building on the 400 block of Franklin St. (the southwest corner of Franklin and Madison street.) 

Mabry had previously opened his office in the Hampton Building; the bank was the location of J. W. Frazier's office at the time they formed their partnership.

 

The First National Bank of Tampa moved from Franklin & Washington St. to this building in early 1895,


The First National Bank bldg at at 414-416 Franklin St., the northwest corner of Franklin St. and Madison. Photo from the Tampa Tribune Midwinter edition, Jan. 1900.


The First National
Bank building in 1920

Read more about this building, the third home of First National Bank of Tampa

 

From "Men of the South, A Work for the Newspaper Reference Library" 1922, Southern Biographical Association.

JOSEPH WHEELER FRAZIER
Joseph Wheeler Frazier, attorney-at-law, was born in Rhett County, Tenn., Feb. 24, 1875.  He was educated at the University of Tennessee, graduating in 1900.

Mr. Frazier came to Tampa in 1901 and was admitted to the bar the same year.  He has practiced law in Tampa ever since.  He has had a large practice, mainly in commercial law, and is one of the most extensive owners of real estate in the city.

Mr. Frazier is an Elk, a Knight of Pythias, a Woodman of the World, a member of the Tampa Yacht and Country Club and the Golf Club.

He was married June 8, 1904 to Miss Nellie Hendry of Fort Myers, Fla.  They have four children, to boys and two girls.
 
Mr. Frazier has offices at 915-916 Citizens-American Bank building.  He has never aspired to public office but has devoted himself strictly to the practice of his profession and to his real estate interests.  He is specially versed in the law applying to business dealings and has had remarkable success in special branches of law

According to his 1910 Census in Tampa, Joseph W. Frazier (38) was born circa 1871 in Tennessee. He had been married for six years to wife Nellie (Lydia Cornelia Henry), who was 27, born in Florida. their children were Joseph Jr., Katherine and Edward, all born in Florida.  According to a user-submitted tree of this family, Lydia was a daughter of William Marion Hendry, of the prominent Hendry family in Tampa, and Susan C. Wall, a daughter of Judge Perry Green Wall.  Susan's brothers included John P. Wall, physician and mayor of Tampa.
 

FRAZIER & MABRY IN THE HAMPTON BUILDING

By 1910, Frazier & Mabry occupied rooms 6, 7 & 8 in the Hampton building at Franklin & Polk, where Mabry previously had his office.  The bank location may have lacked space for growth.


                              Nellie was Frazier's wife.
 
GIDDINGS MABRY CAMPAIGNS FOR D. B. McKAY FOR TAMPA MAYOR
1910-02-13 The Tampa Tribune
MCKAY RALLY TO BE HELD AT COURTHOUSE TONIGHT- G. E. Mabry will preside - Municipal Band to be Present - Several speakers to be heard.  With G.E. Mabry presiding, the first rally at the Courthouse Square since the first municipal primary in the interest of candidate D. B. McKay, will be held tonight beginning at 8 o'clock.  Judge Raney, John P. Wall, M. B. Macfarlane, and Rev. Joe Sherouse are scheduled as the speakers of the evening and the McKay forces are expecting a large crowd present.

FRECKER CAUSE GETS HOT SHOT - McKay Forces Hold Enthusiastic Rally
1910-04-22 The Tampa Tribune  Speaking Continues Until 11:45 With Mabry, McKay, Raney, Sherouse and Wall Holding the Floor
The meeting was presided over by G. E. Mabry, who made the first address.  Mr. Mabry opened by stating that this is an important period in the growth of the city and that at this time, important issues confront the people...   Read all of Mabry's comments about why he supports McKay and not Frecker, the incumbent.
 
 Donald Brenham McKay - Tampa’s  38th & 42nd Mayor
1st, 2nd, & 3rd terms: June 7, 1910 - June 10, 1920
(Elected 1910 for a two-year term; re-elected in 1912 for four years, and 1916 for four years.)
 4th term: January 3, 1928 - October 27, 1931 (incomplete term, resigned)

Mayor Donald Brenham McKay was one of the giants in Tampa journalism and a legend in his time.  He was a native Tampan, born in 1868, the son of John Angus McKay and Mary Jane McCarthy, and grandson of Scotsman Capt. James McKay; former mayor and pioneer, merchant , and cattleman who had a skill for evading Navy blockades during the Civil War. 

 

McKay was a hard-hitting, outspoken editor who voiced his opinions on the burning issues of the day. He slapped around his rival, The Tampa Tribune, which returned in kind.  Simultaneous with being editor and publisher, McKay served a total of nearly 14 years as Tampa Mayor.  While he was serving as Mayor, McKay didn't give much time to his paper, in fact in the four (three consecutive) terms ending in 1931 he averaged less than 10 minutes a day around The Times office.


 


Mayor D. B. McKay
 Photo courtesy of Fla. Memory
State Library & Archives of Fla.

Read about this period in Tampa political history and the friction
between Donald Brenham McKay & the controversial Wm. Frecker.

GIDDINGS MABRY AMD FAMILY ON THE 1910 CENSUS

The April 1, 1910 Census in Tampa finds Giddings E. Mabry, living at 207 Cardy St. in Hyde Park, age 32, married for 3 years to 32 year old Mabel R. Mabry,  Giddings's occupation was "lawyer, general practice" In their home was their 7 month old daughter, Mabel Mabry.  Listed last is Bessie Brown, their cook, a 28 year old widow.. 

 
 
 

THE END OF FRAZIER & MABRY

1910-06-04 The Tampa Tribune
The last listing for Frazier & Mabry appears in the June 4, 1910 Tribune, but the legal section of court case schedules shows Frazier & Mabry representing clients until March 1, 1911.  These listings were called "cards" back then.

Frazier and Mabry probably parted ways in mutual agreement due to Mabry's appointment as City Attorney.  No article about the dissolution of their partnership could be found.

 

 

   
 
GIDDINGS MABRY, TAMPA CITY ATTORNEY

MAYOR MAKES APPOINTMENTS
1910-06-22 The Tampa Tribune
On Jun. 21, 1910, Giddings Mabry was chosen by newly-elected mayor Donald Brenham McKay to serve as City Attorney, serving until 1913. Among the first of his many accomplishments, Giddings secured land that enabled development of the Ybor channel and estuary area. 
Construction of Ybor Channel, the key project in Tampa's harbor development program, was made possible by a Federal appropriation of $1,750,000 authorized June 25, 1910. The channel was dredged in a marsh which had once been part of the Fort Brooke military reservation and was then owned by four businessmen.  Another large tract was held in the name of Charles Ballit had been deeded to him by his father-in-law, Stephen M.
Sparkman, before the latter became congressman: The U.S. government insisted that the city must secure at least 700 feet on each side of the channel before dredging would be started. Giddings Mabry, as city attorney, immediately started negotiations with the property owners and the necessary land was secured late in 1911,  The arrangements provided that the owners should be paid with certificates which could be used to pay taxes on remaining lands for eight years. Dredging was started February 19, 1912, and proceeded rapidly thereafter.
 
 
In 1911, Giddings Mabry published a professional card in the Martindale legal directory. His Martindale card (abbreviated version shown at right, displayed in the Heritage Conf. Room at Carlton Fields) read: “Careful, personal attention given to every item of business, large or small. I hold no Claims. I either collect them within a reasonable time or return them. No inquiries necessary on claims sent to me. I report frequently and regularly with each claim. All commercial reports are thorough, reliable and up-to-date and are made promptly.”

His references were American National Bank, Citizens Bank, Exchange National Bank, Bank of Commerce, Bentley Gray Dry Goods, J. Q. Brantley Wholesale Grocer, and Tampa Brokerage Co.

Martindale's Directory was first published in 1868 by James B. Martindale, a lawyer and businessman. The first edition of Hubbell's Legal Directory was published in 1870. By 1896, Martindale's Directory included basic information that still appears in today's Martindale-Hubbell Directory. This edition introduced law digests for all the states and provinces. The same year, the 26th edition of the Hubbell's Legal Directory was published.  By combining the Martindale's Directory and Hubbell's Legal Directory, the first edition of the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory was published in 1931 as a two-volume set.  (Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE LAST MENTION OF FRAZIER & MABRY
1911-03-01 The Tampa Tribune

This March 1911 court session was the last mention of Frazier & Mabry representing clients together. Other cases have been edited out.
 
 
GIDDINGS MABRY HANDLES LAND ISSUES FOR A NEW FIRE STATION

As city attorney, in March 1911, Mabry was called to negotiate contracts with property owners of land surrounding the site of the planned, new Tampa Fire Station at Zack and Jefferson St.  This location would be only the 2nd site of Fire Station #1, after being housed in the ramshackle City Hall built in 1892 at Lafayette between Florida Ave. and Franklin St.  Today this building on Zack Street is the Tampa Firefighters Museum, and the old 1892 City Hall building was replaced in 1915 by the old historic City Hall we have today.  See Burgert Bros. page 4 for close ups of the men.

 
After about four months into Mayor D. B. McKay's first term, plans were progressing to build a new Fire Department headquarters at Zack and Jefferson streets. Architect Fred Curtis had the plans nearly completed for the property which had been recently purchased by the City from Adam Katz of Ybor City
 

The new brick headquarters at Zack St. would be two stories with concrete floor, measuring 100 feet along Zack St. and 69 feet along Jefferson, with entrances at both streets. The ground floor would be used for offices, one for Fire Chief Mathews and one for public business. Also on the ground floor was storage for hose racks, horse wagons, automobiles, and stalls. The second floor would house dorms for the firemen and lavatories, as well as three rooms for the Chief, Asst. Chief and the Captain in charge of Station 1. Racks for drying the firemen's clothing would be located on the gravel roof, but out of view the general public. The new headquarters would result in more room at City Hall for other branches of City government.

The photo of City Hall below is dated 1901 and a tower can be seen on the rooftop. It was intended to house the fire alarm system, but was too weak to support it. A separate tower had to be built for the system instead, which can be seen at the left rear corner of the building. Read about this at TampaPix.  Displayed on the street are the truck, wagons, pumper and horses stored in the old City Hall building. At far left can be seen the old Dr. Sheldon Stringer house.

Previous Fire Station #1 in City Hall, 1901
This photo shows the east-facing front of the building, Florida Avenue.


These photos are courtesy of Bill Townsend's "Tampa's Bravest".

.
 

 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEMINOLE HEIGHTS AND SUWANEE HEIGHTS

In 1910, shortly after the Tampa & Sulphur Springs trolley line traversed the section, Giddings Mabry, T. Roy Young and R. J. Burnett as the Seminole Development Company purchased and developed 40 acres three miles north of downtown Tampa and Seminole Heights was born. The sale of lots resulted in the construction of beautiful homes, schools and churches.  The development was later taken up on a larger scale, with at least 200 homes by 1920.  

Following their lead, in 1911, the Mutual Development Company surveyed and plotted 40 acres of equally attractive land, adjacent to Seminole Heights. By 1912, they owned 120 acres and began extensive development. Named Suwanee Heights, it too, was a restricted subdivision.  Giddings Mabry and brother, Milton Mabry Jr. were stockholders and served as directors.  In 1913, when the company amended its charter, Giddings Mabry was the secretary Milton Jr. assistant secretary.  By 1920, over 100 homes had been built.
 
 

The Tampa Times - Mar. 8, 1912  See this ad larger.

 

See this ad larger.
 


 

See this full page ad larger
When it opens, click it again to see it full size.

THREE THINGS TAMPA NEEDS
1912-04-26 Tampa Times

City Attorney Giddings Mabry spoke at the first luncheon of the Tampa Civic Club on the 3rd floor of the YMCA building.

  • Playgrounds

  • Jobs

  • Municipal gardens

Read the whole article.

 

 MAYOR DONALD BRENHAM MCKAY RE-ELECTED.

In June 1912, Mayor D. B. McKay was re-elected for a 2nd consecutive term; this time for 4 years.

 

MABRY RESIGNS AS CITY ATTORNEY

On May 27, 1913, Giddings Mabry resigned from the position of City Attorney to continue his private law practice and business ventures. Mayor McKay chose Judge Charles B. Parkhill to replace him.

Charles Breckinridge Parkhill was the son of Captain George W. and Elizabeth Bellamy Parkhill and was born in the family farm in Leon County, Florida on June 23, 1859.Parkhill obtained his degree at the University of Virginia, and was admitted to the Florida bar in 1882 after moving to Pensacola. For several years he was a member of the Escambia Rifles, then Captain of the First Regiment of the Florida State Troops and finally Major of the Third Battalion of the Florida State Troops. He was a member and president of the Hillsborough County Bar Association, a Florida State Bar Association member, and also a member of the American Legion, The Elks, Beta Theta Phi and a grand master of the Knights of Pythias.

Parkhill was a State Senator for Escambia County, Florida from 1888 till 1890. He then became a county solicitor, before becoming a Judge of First Judicial Circuit from 1904 till 1905.

A Democrat, he took an active part serving on councils and making speeches. He was appointed to the supreme court when Francis B. Carter resigned in 1905, he then stood and was elected for the next six year term in 1906.


Painted portrait of Florida's 34th Supreme Court Justice Charles B. Parkhill.
Courtesy of Florida Memory, State Library and Archives of Florida

He was known for his "careful application, fairness and conscientious discharge of his duty". At the end of Justice Parkhill's term, the supreme court was reduced from six to five justices. Therefore when Justice Parkhill resigned at the end of his term there was no replacement. He retired from the court intending to run for the third congressional district of Florida in place of his cousin Dannite H. Mays the current serving congressman. He had also been encouraged to run in the previous congressional elections[9] but declined to run citing that he was not willing to seek another position at the start of his current office.  After his unsuccessful attempt for congress he returned to his law practice and in 1913, his legal career as Tampa city attorney. At the onset of World War 1, he served in Washington D.C. and abroad as a Major in the department of judge advocate. In 1920 he returned to Tampa and was elected state attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit and served until his death. Judge Parkhill married Genevieve Perry in 1885, the daughter of Governor Edward A. Perry.  They had one daughter together before Genevieve died just one year later in 1886.  Later in 1891 he married Helen Wall, the daughter of Judge Joseph Baisden Wall.  In total he had five daughters and three sons, one dying a year before he did. Parkhill died in Houston, Texas on May 13, 1933 at the house of one of his daughters, and was taken back to his Tampa home 2 days later before being buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.  (Wikipedia)

 

   

In 1912, Doyle E. Carlton joined Giddings Mabry to form Mabry & Carlton

DOYLE ELAM CARLTON

At left, Albert and Martha McEwen Carlton with their daughter and eight sons.

Doyle Elam Carlton (Jul 6, 1885* - Oct 25, 1972) Twenty-fifth governor of Florida.

Doyle E. Carlton was born on July 6, 1885* just west of present-day Wauchula; he was one of at least seven sons and one daughter of Albert Carlton & Martha Winfield McEwen Carlton. 

.

Place your cursor on the photo to see their names. Photo courtesy of Florida Memory, State Library & Archives of Florida.

*Many sources list Governor Carlton's birth date as 1887. However, there is credible evidence that 1885 is the correct date.

Albert Carlton (1845-1925) & Martha McEwen Carlton (1851-1944), Wauchula, Fla.  Photo at right courtesy of Rootsweb freepages "Cracker Barrel - Albert & Martha Carlton Family"

 

 

 

EDUCATION - STETSON UNIVERSITY, DELAND, FLA.

Doyle Carlton received his primary school education in the public schools of Wauchula in DeSoto County, Florida.  There being no local high school, he attended the Stetson Academy and Stetson law school from 1903 to 1909 where he served as an editor for the school newspaper and officer of the Phi Kappa Delta Society (later to become Delta Sigma Phi).  Carlton would maintain a lifelong interest in Stetson.

The article at right indicates Carlton was a student at Stetson in Feb. 1903; his name appears as one of the many students who supported the school's president by signing the resolution.

THE FEUD: JOHN B. STETSON, FOUNDER, AND PRES. DR. JOHN F. FORBES
The students resolution was prompted by prior accusations in 1902 by the school's founder, John B. Stetson, attacking President Dr. John F. Forbes' character and reputation. 

Stetson had previously made what Forbes and the university trustees, and students, considered to be libelous and slanderous statements about Forbes in area newspapers in the previous six months of 1902.  This included a "blue book" that was being handed out to young boys at the university and being sent all over the state by his "hired man." for the purpose of prejudicing those people against Forbes, killing the school, and thus gaining his object--the downfall of Forbes.  Forbes was persuaded by many supporters and his lawyers to bring a libel and slander lawsuit against Stetson which he did in early Feb. 1903 for $250,000.  Three more lawsuits were filed against Stetson by other parties claiming damages as well.  

The previous year, on Sep. 25, 1902, it was announced that the Stetson University board of trustees heard testimony from 21 persons, meeting in a session lasting 16 hours.  By unanimous vote, they  declared charges against Forbes as positively false and expressed confidence in Dr. Forbes in every way.

"Persons who heard the proceedings say that Dr. Forbes need not have made any defense against the evidence presented against him, which when sifted down, could be traced back directly to a discharged steward."  "The steward referred to was an ex-preacher, who was discharged for good and sufficient reasons, and seemed to have sought revenge by creating a sensation."

"Some of the trustees were angry for having to come all this way and listen to such 'rot' and some of them did not hesitate in expressing their indignation."

As a result of Dr. Forbes being cleared, John B. Stetson announced in late Jan. 1903 he had cut the University out of his will, depriving it of over half a million dollars, believing the trustees did wrong in clearing Dr. Forbes.


See all the names of the signers.
 

 

  


1904

 

 

 

 

 

STETSON UNIVERSITY
GLEE CLUB


1905

Photos courtesy of the Stetson University Archives


Doyle Carlton, middle row, far left, 1905

 


Doyle E. Carlton (center, standing) clowning around with classmates before a school play, 1906.


Doyle Carlton, front row, 2nd from left, 1907

1909 Senior Class graduates get together.
See the whole, uncropped image.

 

Carlton graduated from Stetson in June 1909.

   

CARLTON AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Carlton entered Chicago University in 1909, from which he received the degree of A.B. 

 

1909-09-06 The (Chicago) Inter Ocean
Carlton was listed as one of next year's Florida candidates for degrees.  This article has been edited to show only the Florida graduates.

 

While at Chicago, he was captain of the University’s debate team and gained national recognition as a budding orator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ultimately, he also received five honorary doctoral degrees from various universities. Admitted to the Florida Bar in 1912, Carlton joined in a partnership with Giddings E. Mabry on July 1, 1912.
 

1910 CENSUS, COOK COUNTY, CHICAGO, ILL.

Doyle ("Doil") E. Carlton was living as a lodger on the campus of the University of Chicago, age 24. The census was in April and he was born in July, so he would turn 25 in July, putting his birth year at 1885.  All the students had an occupation of "none."

 

CARLTON AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NY.
The "A.B.: degree next to his name was his degree from Chicago University.  "Wauchula" was misspelled every time.
The circled X means his location may be outdated.

DOYLE CARLTON RETURNS FROM COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
1912-06-09 The Tampa Tribune

 

In order to take the examination for admission to the Florida Bar at an earlier time than Chicago curriculum permitted, he transferred in his last year of law study to Columbia University. He received his undergraduate degree and his law degree from Columbia University in New York, receiving the degree of L.L. B. there in 1912.

 

MABRY & CARLTON PARTNERSHIP

The Mabrys and the Carltons were prominent Florida families who were closely associated. There is no record of the circumstances that brought Giddings Mabry & Doyle Carlton together, but it was probably a result of a family association between Milton Mabry, Sr. and Albert Carlton.

In July 1912 Doyle Carlton joined Mabry in his private practice, and once again, Mabry had a law partner.

 
 

Original announcement in the Heritage Conference Room of Carlton Fields, PA.

  

Wauchula news - Carlton leaves for Tampa
1912-07-07 The Tampa Tribune


Doyle E. Carlton left this morning for Tampa where he has formed a partnership with G. E. Mabry for the practice of law.

 

 

 

 

CARLTON - RAY WEDDING ANNOUNCED
1912-07-15 The Tampa Times
 

On July 30, 1912, Doyle married Nell Beauchamp Ray whom he met at Stetson University. She was born in Meridian, MS on January 27, 1891, and died February 18, 1982 in Tampa. For years they lived in a stately two-story home on the north corner of Bayshore Blvd. and Carolina St. The home was demolished in the 1970s to make way for town houses which now occupy the site and are identified as “Governor’s Place.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carlton-Ray wedding
1912-07-31 The Tampa Times
 

Read the whole article.
 
GIDDINGS MABRY & THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN HYDE PARK

Giddings Mabry was a devout Baptist and member of the old First Baptist Church in Hyde Park. In March 1914, he went before City Council with a request to change the paving on the SW corner of Plant Ave. and Lafayette St. for the purpose of building a "handsome church edifice" on that corner. The existing paving made a sharp corner on the SW of the intersection and Mabry's proposal was to round off the corner and carry back the sidewalk.  Church members were willing to donate the additional property of the street to the city if the city would pay the expense of changing the paving.  Plans were to build a church and Sunday School building which would cost around $100,000.  It was to be built on the west side of the site occupied by the old tabernacle which was being used as a Sunday School.

First Baptist Church building nearing completion on corner of West Lafayette Street and Plant Avenue, Mar. 22, 1924.   Burgert Bros. photo courtesy of the Tampa-Hillsborough Co. Public Library System.
MABRY & CARLTON PROSPERS

Soon after Doyle Carlton joined Giddings Mabry, the firm began to prosper. The Hubbell Law Directory listed nine clients including Tampa Dairy Company, which eventually became a part of the Borden Company.

Carlton was a superb public speaker and handled the firm’s trial work during this period, while Mabry specialized in title examinations. Carlton went on to have a distinguished political career. He was elected to the State Senate from 1917-19 as the State Senator from the 11th District, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. He is credited with leading the fight in Tallahassee for women’s suffrage, for free school books and for creation of the first state road board. The Florida land boom commenced in the early 1920s, and the following years brought the Firm prosperity through real estate development and litigation. 

 
 
 

MEMBERS OF BENCH & BAR, TAMPA
1915-01-28 The Tampa Tribune

 

The image at right is a crop and rotation of a full size page image showing other members of the bench and bar.  Judge F. M. Robles was Francis Marion Robles, a son of Tampa pioneer Joe Robles.

 

 

 

 

 

It is not known why Peter O. Knight was cut from the page.
Click to see it larger.

 

 

 

 

 
.
July 30, 1915 - SERIOUS AUTO ACCIDENT INJURY, but which Mabry was it?

The July 31, 1915 Tampa Times says it was Dale Mabry.
The July 31, 1915 Lakeland Ledger says it was G. E. Mabry.

The Times article MABRY "MEAT" IN "AUTO SANDWICH" subtitle is "REAL ESTATE MAN PINNED BETWEEN TWO CARS."  It says Dale Mabry of the Mabry Realty Co. drove a Henderson automobile with Mr. & Mrs G.E Mabry and Mr. & Mrs Trice to Lakeland to attend a meeting at the Lakeland Baptist Church. From this point on, only "Mr. Mabry" is referred to. The car was parked in front of the church and when the meeting was over, "Mr Mabry" came out to crank start the car. (Before cars had battery powered ignition, a turn-crank was located in front of the car, usually in front of the radiator or above the bumper.)  Not realizing he had left the car in gear, the car started forward, pinning Mr. Mabry between it and the car parked in front of it.  The cars proceeded 75 to 100 feet down the street with Mabry pinned between them, ultimately stopping when the front car ran up on a sidewalk and smashed into a telephone pole. It ends with Mr. Mabry not having any broken bones or internal injuries, and except for a little soreness, feels no effects of the experience.

 
The Lakeland Ledger says "COL. G.E. MABRY OF TAMPA PAINFULLY INJURED.." it claims it was G.E. Mabry who had cranked the car and was pinned and makes no mention of his brother Dale having driven the car to Lakeland. However, it is made credible by the the use of "Col." Mabry and the conclusion of the article.  When describing the damage to the front car, a new Ford owned by D. H. Sloan, it says "Col. Mabry told Mr. Sloan to have his car repaired and send him the bill, but the latter feels that Col. Mabry did the Baptists a favor by coming to Lakeland to speak, and with his customary desire to give every man a fair deal, he does not entertain any desire to allow Mr. Mabry to repair his car..."  But the statement that "Col. Mabry told Mr. Sloan to have his car repaired..." doesn't rule out the possibility that it was Dale Mabry that was pinned because it was likely that the car DID belong to Giddings Mabry, and so it would be Giddings who would tell Mr. Sloan to send him the bill.

 

DOYLE CARLTON ELECTED STATE SENATOR FROM HILLSBOROUGH & PINELLAS COUNTIES  IN 1916


 

THE TAMPA TRIBUNE
Nov. 5, 1916
The sample
ballot at right shows Carlton
ran unopposed

 

 

 

 

 

1917-01-02 THE TAMPA TIMES Carlton begins his term as state senator,  April 1917

See the caption larger.

  

 

1917-04-01 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE -  CARLTON, ANTI-SALOON SPEAKER
He was elected on his prohibition platform.

1917-05-02 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE -  Carlton appreciated by Floridians

 

GIDDINGS MABRY WW1 DRAFT REGISTRATION

Giddings Mabry registered for the WW1 draft in late 1917 or early 1918, according to his age of 40.  He was living at 207 Cardy St.  His occupation was Attorney at Law with his business located in the Hampton Building.  He said his nearest relative was his wife, Mrs. Mabel R. Mabry.  His description was "Tall, slender build, blue eyes, light hair." 

His son, Dale Mabry, also registered for the WW1 draft at this time.

 

GIDDINGS MABRY BEGINS POSITION AS COUNTY ATTORNEY
1917-01-02 TAMPA TIMES

The new board of commissioners went into into business session and on a motion by T. P. Lightfoot, J.G. Yeats of Port Tampa City was elected chairman.  County officers were appointed as follows:  G. E. Mabry, county attorney; Dr. Roscoe E. Glass, physician; W. P. Bispham of Plant City, superintendent of the county farm; T. L. Hackney, captain of the convict camp. The commissioners adjourned at noon to meet at 2 o'clock at which time they went to the county farm to inspect that place and familiarize themselves with conditions there.

Giddings Mabry served as County attorney from 1917 to 1923 and as vice president of the Hillsborough Co. Bar association in 1917.  He was elected president of the HCBA in 1918.  Mabry was a member of the bar associations of Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida, the American Bar Association, Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, Masonic Lodge, board member of the YMCA, Old Peoples Home of Tampa, and Baptist Children's Home of Lakeland.
 

 
 

MABRY & CARLTON IN THE STOVALL OFFICE BUILDING

On Jan. 2, 1921, Mabry & Carlton moved to the 4th floor of the brand new 7-story Stovall building at the southwest corner of Tampa St. and Madison, occupying 6 offices.


The opening of the building made front page news in Section 2 of the Tribune--and why not, Stovall owned the Tribune.
 

   WALLACE FISHER STOVALL  

From "Men of the South, A Work for the Newspaper Reference Library" (Stovall was the Tampa editor.) WALLACE FISHER STOVALL (1922) "W.F. Stovall, President and Manager of The Tribune Publishing Co. of Tampa and editor of The Tampa Tribune is not only a conspicuous example of success achieved by patient and untiring effort, but by reason of the well-directed work done through his paper for the benefit of Tampa and the State of Florida, has become one of the most valued and indispensable citizens of that great and growing commonwealth. Thrown at an early age entirely at his own resources, he has steadily climbed upward on the toilsome ladder of public life, and while yet a young man, has reached a position of great influence in the field to which is labors have been consistently and exclusively devoted."
 

Born in Elizabethtown, Ky on Jan. 4, 1869, the son of Jasper and Eliza (Duncan) Stovall. Left an orphan at age five, he spent his early years on a farm while attending public schools of his native town. He moved to Florida in 1886 at 17 years old and entered into the business life with a job at a country newspaper at Lake Weir and later Ocala, Sumterville, then Bartow. Starting at the "bottom" he learned the business first in the laborious print shops. In 1890 at age 21, he established The Polk County News at Bartow, at which he was the owner, editor and general manager, and often the printer and pressman. He saw an inviting opportunity in Tampa and so his Polk County News was left behind in Bartow for a promise of future commercial importance. In 1893 The Tampa Tribune was born. The paper soon kept the pace of development and advancement of Tampa and went from a "blanket sheet" with out-of-date equipment and limited circulation to become in 27 years the leading journal south of Jacksonville, with modern equipment, Associate Press service, and the largest, most complete, it became the most prosperous and progressive newspaper in South Florida. He recently completed the construction of the W. F. Stovall building, a modern seven-story office building. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and a Mason. Wallace F. Stovall died on Apr 16, 1950 at age 81. Read his lengthy obit in the Tampa Tribune. Read his obit in the Tampa Times.  Wallace F. Stovall died on Apr 16, 1950 at age 81.  Read his lengthy obit in the Tampa Tribune.  Read his obit in the Tampa Times

STOVALL BUILDING IN 1931 Outlined in red.
The new 13-story First National Bank Building was built in 1925 at the same location where the 1895 bank stood.

 

The Stovall Building occupied the southwest corner of Tampa & Madison streets with four handsome stores on the ground floor and 120 modern offices on the six floors above. Designed by architect B. C. Bonfoey, it was constructed of reinforced concrete fireproof construction, faced with attractive buff pressed brick, trimmed with cement window bases and stucco cornice at the approximate cost of $300,000. Mosaic tile floors were laid throughout the lobbies while the office floors were of maroon colored hard finished cement  An eight inch marble base set off the tile effect wainscoting and on each floor were automatic ice water fountains fed from an Isko refrigerating plant on the ground floor.  The woodwork was finished in mission and of green tint, while the wood was long leaf yellow pine of selected grain.  Each floor had two toilets.

 


April 15, 1930

Architect's sketch

  

 

Steam radiators were located in each office and in the lobbies.  Attractive rubbed brass electric fixtures, both wall and chain-effect overhead, increase the effect and the utility of the offices, where wee also piped for gas.  Running water with lavatories were located in each room, and with 360 windows in the building, the average was three cheery open windows to the room.  There were 59 windows on each floor and every office had at least two, some having as many as five.  Every office had an exterior view.  Two high-power , speed Otis elevators served the six upper floors insuring a maximum of service--one more rapid than in any other structures in the city. The elevator shaft, located in the center of the building, also served as a ventilating well.  Around it wound marble stairs from the bottom floor to the top. 

The entrance lobby was finished as was the remainder of the interior, with Mosaic tile in an attractive pattern, and mission finished wood.

The store fronts were "things of beauty" offering a maximum of plate glass display.  The baser of the show windows was only 18 inches high and made of marble and finished wood  The two inside stores had glass fronts in the lobby giving the same effect as obtainable on the corner.

The construction was of fireproof construction, designed by B. C. Bonfoey and built by General Contractor C. F. Aulick and superintendent of construction James McGucken.The tile was laid by the G.A. Miller company.

The building replaced two unsightly old structures before Stovall purchased the property.

Read more about the later years of this building, including its demise.

   

JUDGE O K. REAVES JOINS MABRY & CARLTON

In 1921, Mabry and Carlton sought “the best lawyer in Florida” to give assistance and so recruited Judge O. K. Reaves of Bradenton.  Judge Reaves joined the firm on July 1, 1921.

  

 

MABRY, REAVES & CARLTON
Original announcement in the Heritage Conference Room of Carlton Fields, PA.
Reaves' name was put ahead of Carlton due to his legal standing as a former judge.

 

 O.K. REAVES 

O.K. REAVES, MEMBER OF THE 1911 FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES  Top row, 3rd from right.

 


OK Reaves at 34

Photos courtesy of Florida Memory, State Library & Archives of Florida

 

O.K. Reaves was born on October 16, 1877 near Sarasota, Florida. He was a son of farmer Charles Lee Reaves and Martha Tatum Reaves.   

Reaves was educated in the public schools of Manatee County and Massey’s Business College in Jacksonville. He prepared for his long career by attending Stetson University Law School, graduating with his L.L.B. degree in the class of 1903, just 3 years after the institution was founded.

 

 

 

His initials “O. K. “ didn’t stand for anything, he wrote the initials without periods. When his father saw his new baby in 1877, he said, "This baby is OK”. His granddaughter Betty Lou Reaves Turner confirmed this; it was his actual name because of what his father had said.

It is reported that the Reaves family was not a well-to-do family. One story was that Judge attributed his long life to the fact that at age 18 he had his teeth extracted by a blacksmith.

Long before he joined the firm, O.K. Reaves married Minnie Kay of Bradenton in Atlanta in August of 1908.  Judge and Mrs. Reaves had one child – Charles K. Reaves, who became a friend of Wally Fields at Stetson. Charles K. Reaves married Virginia Morris, sister of the two brothers (from Houston) who owned and ran Stewart Title.

 

SINGLETARY & REAVES

O.K. Reaves began his law practice in Bradenton (Bradentown back then) in 1903, establishing himself in a highly competent fashion for the next 12 years, until 1915. 

From 1906 to 1915 he partnered with John B. Singletary as "Singletary & Reaves."  They sat across from one another at their “partnership desk” which Reaves later used during his judgeship. Several years before his death, he gave this desk to Wm. Reece Smith, Jr., who used it in his office until his death in 2013.   Reece regarded it as his highest compliment as a lawyer.

 First mention of Reaves and Singletary together.


 


Last mention of Singletary & Reaves.

Hundreds of court activity section articles from 1906 to 1910 mention Singletary & Reaves representing their clients.

 

THE SINGLETARY & REAVES PARTNERSHIP DESK
This unusual desk allowed Singletary and Reaves to sit across from each other at their law office.

         

 

O.K. Reaves represented Manatee County in the Florida House of Representatives from 1911 to 1913, but did not seek reelection. It may be Governor Carlton who once said that Reaves made such an impression in those two years that soon he would surely have been Speaker of the House.

In 1914, the Governor of Florida offered to appoint him as Attorney General of Florida, but later withdrew the offer without explanation. Reaves was appointed Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in 1915 and held that office until 1921. In 1921 the salary of a Circuit Judge was $5,000 a year.
 

At the time Judge Reaves was a Circuit Court Judge his circuit ran all the way from Manatee County to Key West and traveled by steamship from county to county trying cases. Carlton had tried many cases before Judge Reaves and on one of those occasions asked him if he’d be interested in joining the Mabry & Carlton firm to practice law. Later Judge Reaves accepted the invitation.

Reaves resigned from the bench in 1921 and moved his family to Tampa, practicing with Mabry and Carlton the rest of his life. The firm name of Mabry, Reaves & Carlton was used from 1921 to 1929 when Carlton left the firm to serve as governor.  Judge Reaves' resignation from the bench created considerable concern in the Sixth Judicial District. Its citizens petitioned him to reconsider.

In response, Judge Reaves wrote a powerful letter to the editor of the Bradenton Herald providing not only an explanation for his resignation but also an admonition in which he deplored the lynchings that were not infrequent back then. Referring to the guarantees of the U.S. Constitution, he noted that they were “violated in every lynching” and added: “Let no man assume to be wiser than the law…to keep within the law will deter crime; to get without the law is crime and will produce crime…this circuit must be altogether free from the mob spirit.”

READ HIS WHOLE LETTER

In 1923, two years after he joined Mabry & Carlton, Reaves was offered but declined a seat on the Florida Supreme Court which at the time referred to him as “one of the two best lawyers in Florida.” Reaves was considered to be the best chancery lawyer in Florida.

Judge Reaves' son, Charles Kay Reaves, and wife Virginia, had 3 daughters: Virginia, known to all as Ginger, Betty Lou (Turner), and Kay the youngest.
 
   

Judge O. K. Reaves, West Central Florida Leviathan, by Judge Morison Buck, 1998  Courtesy of USF Scholar Commons
 

The year was 1877. It had been a scant twelve years since the last shots were fired in the nation's long nightmare - the calamitous Civil War. In the spring of that year, Rutherford B. Hayes was elected President and in late April the last federal troops withdrew from the South by leaving New Orleans. Meanwhile in Florida, George F. Drew, a Democrat, was sworn in as Governor, ending the era of so-called "carpetbag" government.

  It was also the year in which two later closely-connected lawyers were born. One was Giddings E. Mabry, a Mississippian, who ventured into Florida and ultimately settled in Tampa where he formed an association with Doyle Carlton for the practice of law in 1912. The other, centerpiece of this article, was O.K. Reaves, native Floridian. Biographical references and his own notes reflect his birth in Sarasota. At least one record, however, reflects he was born in Fruitville, which is more likely correct in that the founding of Sarasota reportedly did not take place until about 1884.

  That O.K. Reaves lived, practiced law, became a judge, then resumed the practice, and was a pillar of his church and community leader are facts. That his professional reputation and stature made him a man apart from most of his contemporaries is the stuff that gives birth to legends. He was of the common clay no doubt but clay of a unique mold. Famed film director, John Ford, is the origin of a remark attributed to a character in one of his classic Westerns, "If a legend becomes fact, then print the legend."

  Judge Reaves, as he was forever known following his judicial service, was appointed Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in 1915 and held that office until 1921.

  That Circuit is presently comprised of Pasco and Pinellas Counties; during Reaves' tenure it also encompassed Manatee. When the 6th Circuit was restructured in 1915 by Ch. 6975, Laws of Florida the 13th Circuit was created exclusively for Hillsborough County.  Preparing for his long career which lay ahead, Reaves attended Stetson University Law School graduating in the Class of 1903, just three years after that institution was founded.

     A half century later, Reaves was honored with other 50-year graduates by Stetson. Judge Reaves' law partner, former Governor Doyle Carlton, was principal speaker for the occasion. Reaves launched his law practice in Bradenton in 1903 and established himself in what must have been a highly competent fashion for the next 12 years. Attesting to that conclusion is the fact that he became judge after that relatively brief time in the profession. In 1921 the salary of Circuit Judges was $5,000 a year.

  A Tampa Tribune story in the 40s featured Judge Reaves calling him one of the "Builders of Tampa" and quoted him as saying that he left the bench with a ten year old son, was prompted to resign his judgeship and resume private law practice. Perhaps it was the lure of big city life that brought him to Tampa, at that time a metropolis of 51,628 souls. However it came about, he came and was made a partner in the firm known as Mabry, Reaves and Carlton.

  Governor Carlton took third position in the firm name perhaps out of deference to Reaves who was older and a former judge. Some years ago, Reece Smith, who joined the firm early in his career in 1953, composed a splendid, in-depth profile of firm members and associates. The firm name has undergone a number of changes of the years, ultimately dropping the familiar Mabry, Reaves signature, and is presently titled Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith and Cutler. As further evidence of his stature, Reaves was once offered but declined a seat on the Florida Supreme Court, which at one time is said to have referred to him as, "One of the two best lawyers in Florida."

  He served a term in the State Legislature, and later was a charter member and President of the Florida Bar Association, forerunner of The Florida Bar, in 1920.

  In addition to his career in the law, Reaves had extensive business and financial interests, reportedly being a shareholder in Bradenton Bank and Trust, National Bank of Commerce, Commercial State Bank, Merchant's Mechanics Bank, Guaranty Mortgage Co., Seminole Furniture Co., Beach Park Company and others. In 1949, O.K. Reaves attracted public attention when he took a strong stand against strikes by organized labor, calling for federal legislation outlawing strikes or requiring all labor disputes to be resolved by a three-judge panel in federal courts.

   Described by Reece Smith as a "lawyer's lawyer" who never ceased to be a model of legal excellence for his firm's junior members and associates and indeed, for all who dealt with him, Judge Reaves was, perhaps surprisingly, a man with self-deprecating humor. Reece tells the story, "When he was over 90 years,  Judge told Broaddus (Livingston) of the firm that he was worried about the hereafter. Broaddus said he couldn't see why since Judge had been a devout Christian all his life. Judge replied, "Yes, but I voted for Franklin Roosevelt in 1932."

  While Reaves was not a man of the cloth, he was an individual made of rock-ribbed, moral fabric. A stalwart Baptist, he was chosen while still in Manatee County to lead the Florida Baptist Convention. In 1962, he was recognized as a "Christian layman of unusual achievements" by Tribune Church Editor Adiel J. Moncrief in his column.

  The writer met O.K. Reaves only once. In 1953, a committee to prepare a resolution honoring Judge L.L. Parks on the 30th anniversary to his 13th Circuit Judgeship was appointed by Bar Association President, William H. Gillen. It consisted of Judge Reaves, T .M. Shackleford, Jr., Esq. and a thirty-year-old fledgling lawyer out of his league.

  My recollection of Judge Reaves from that distant and brief association is that he was a man of commanding presence and sincerity, and possessed of a wondrous speaking voice. Lawyer/writer Louis Auchincloss once remarked of his boarding school headmaster, Endicott Peabody, "Hearing him talk was a little like listening to God." That was a feeling experienced by me after meeting and hearing Judge Reaves 45 years ago.

  His long and productive life came to an end in 1970 at age 93. Survivors included his son, the late Charles K. Reaves, and three granddaughters, one of whom, Betty Lou Turner, still lives in Tampa. Son, Charles, was trained as a lawyer, associated for a time with the Mabry, Reaves firm, then served with the F.B.I. Later, he engaged in business in Tampa. Mrs. Charles K. Reaves still lives actively in Tampa. To paraphrase Sydney Smith's** praise of a particular food, doubtless God could have made a better man than O.K. Reaves, but doubtless He never did.    - Morison Buck

**Judge Buck has mistakenly attributed this paraphrased quotation to Sydney Smith, but the actual source is attributed to English physician Dr. William Butler (1535–1618).  "Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did (of the the strawberry.)  Isaac Walton, an English angler, attributes the phrase  to “Dr. Boteler,” who is generally believed to be the English physician, Dr. William Butler. (Variant spellings of names and words were common back then.)  Walton’s best known work is The Compleat Angler, first published on October 10, 1653, one of the earliest and most celebrated books ever written about recreational fishing. In it, Walton states:

“No life, my honest scholar, no life so happy and so pleasant as the life of a well-governed angler; for when the lawyer is swallowed up with business, and the statesman is preventing or contriving plots, then we sit on cowslip-banks, hear the birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams, which we now see glide so quietly by us. Indeed, my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, ‘Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did’; and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.”

This Day in Quotes, Oct. 10, 2015

 

1923-01-05 Tampa Tribune - T. J. SHACKLEFORD MAY SUCCEED JUDGE MABRY [sic]

THE TRIBUNE published an entire article  referring to the wrong Mabry; Judge Milton Mabry passed away in Tampa in 1919.  Shackleford succeeded Giddings Mabry as county attorney.

 

1923-01-06 TAMPA TRIBUNE - SHACKLEFORD SUCCEEDS G. E. MABRY AS COUNTY ATTORNEY
The Tribune did not call attention to their error the next day.

 

DOYLE CARLTON APPOINTED CITY ATTORNEY

From Feb. 2, 1925 to the summer of 1927, Doyle Carlton was the city attorney of Tampa, replacing Hilton S. Hampton who retired.  Though Carlton campaigned in 1923 for the mayoral candidate Charles Brown's re-election, who was defeated by Perry G. Wall, Mayor Wall still appointed Carlton to the position.

Read about the Walls of Tampa.

 

 

   

 

Carlton resigned his city attorney position in June 1927 in order to campaign for governor of Florida, and until Karl Whitaker was appointed as city attorney on Jan. 11, 1928, the City relied on the legal services of Giddings Mabry and Judge Reaves.  (The Tampa Tribune - Jan. 11, 1928)


 

 

 

City Attorney Karl Whittaker
Jan. 11, 1928 - Tampa Tribune

 

BUILDERS OF TAMPA - GIDDINGS E. MABRY
The Tribune has forgotten Mabry's public office service as County attorney.

 

        DEVELOPMENT OF DAVIS ISLANDS

The City of Tampa had purchased the 16 acres of Little Grassy Island from Mrs. Mary Brown for $25,000. and Big Grassy Island or Depot Key which included 104 acres which was owned by the estates of three Southwestern Florida pioneers: Micajay C. Brown, William B. Henderson and William Whitaker.


The grassy islands looking north before dredging, Feb. 4, 1925, with Hyde Park, the Hillsborough River and downtown Tampa in the background and Seddon Island at far right.
Courtesy of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System Burgert Bros. Collection.

  

The Tampa firm of Mabry, Reaves & Carlton, retained by D. P. Davis and Hamner, made an offer to purchase Little Grassy Island and the adjacent submerged lands. The Mabry firm was an excellent choice because Mabry had practiced law in Tampa since 1901 and had been City Attorney when the land was secured for estuary development.


Continuation of Sept. 10, 1924 Davis Islands article above.

 In order to be absolutely sure that the City had the right to sell the land to Davis, a friendly appeal was filed to Judge Robles' decision.  The Circuit Court upheld the decision which was then friendly-appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court decision in Sept. 1924.

Judge Reaves knew the law inside out and carried much clout in the Supreme Court appeal.  Finally after many conferences were held between the firm and City Attorney H. S. Hampton on March 4, 1924, the City of Tampa accepted Davis’ offer to purchase Little Grassy Island and adjacent submerged land for $200,000.

Continuation of Sept. 10, 1924 Davis Islands article above.

 

The first acquisition by D. P. Davis was of the Brown and Henderson lands for which he paid $100,000 to the City on a time payment basis. Next, $50,000 was paid for the Whitaker portion of land.

BY WALLY FIELDS:
DAVIS ISLANDS “Judge Reaves was employed by a man by the name of Davis (D.P.Davis) who bought up three unoccupied islands in Hillsborough Bay near the downtown section as it is today. Judge Reaves did all of the legal work in getting the permits from the State and from the local authorities, and a deed to the islands from the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund of Florida.  Davis built sea walls around the islands and filled in behind them to create additional land, making what is known today as Davis Islands. “The work that Judge Reaves did was remarkable. It probably couldn’t have been done today, because of the many agencies that have jurisdiction over navigable waters."

READ MORE ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF DAVIS ISLANDS, D.P. DAVIS, AND HIS MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE, here at TampaPix.

 

This letterhead shows why Mabry, Reaves & Carlton occupied several offices in the Stovall building.
Four associates were onboard.  J.C. Stuckey was a brother of Judge Reaves' secretary.

  

THE SUCCESS OF GIDDINGS MABRY

In addition to his successful law practice and his city and county attorney positions, Giddings Mabry was successful in many business ventures.  He was a director of the Mabry-Hall Realty Co with his brother, Milton Mabry, Jr.  Giddings was president of the Guaranty Mortgage Co., and a director of United Markets, the Tampa Tribune, and the Trice-O'Neal Furniture Co.

 
MABRY, REAVES & CARLTON MOVES INTO THE NEW FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING

In 1928, Mabry, Reaves & Carlton moved its offices into the new 13-story First National Bank Building at the corner of Franklin and Twiggs Streets, with the firm’s offices occupying the 12th floor of the building.

FOURTH HOME OF THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK

Tentative plans for 10-story Bank building - 1925-02-20 Tampa Times
Stockholders of the First National Bank approved tentative plans of President T.C. Taliaferro to build a 10-story bank and office building on the site of the present 4-story structure at Franklin and Madison streets.  Holmes & Winslow of New York are the architects and final plans are expected to be completed soon.

Plans and specifications on file - 1925-04-03 Tampa Times
The bank, Holmes & Winslow of NY, and Franklin O. Adams, resident architect, are calling for a 10-story building at the present bank site.  Bids to be closed April 13.  About 15 contractors from Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Newark, Philadelphia, Toledo, Sarasota, and five from Tampa were expected to bid on the construction.
 


Inauguration day photo courtesy of the Stetson University Archives

Fons Alyce Hathaway
Courtesy of Florida Memory,
State Library & Archives of Florida.
DOYLE CARLTON ELECTED GOVERNOR
 Some information below is from the DeLand Historical Society.

In the Democratic gubernatorial primary of June 5, 1928, Carlton received 77,569 first choice votes and 28,471 second choice votes to win from a field of five Democrat candidates which included former Gov. Sidney J. Catts and State Roads Dept. chairman Fons Hathaway.

Carlton often criticized the State Roads Department for overspending. Apparently, as a state roads department official, Fons Hathaway had submitted and received payment for a number of repair bills on an old car. The bills were exorbitant and the car could not be found.

Often literally speaking from a stump, Carlton waved the repair bills before his audience and asked the crowd, “Where is this fine car?” Carlton won the election and later he observed that he (Carlton) rode to Tallahassee in a flivver.**

**The earliest use of the word “flivver” meant a small, cheap, or old run-down car, and in the early days referred especially to a run down Ford Model A or Model T. This sense is first found in 1910. Nowadays this use is typically historical or jocular; it's rarely found when discussing current cars.

In the final election, Carlton ran on the platform of "good government, good schools, and good roads."  In November 1928, Carlton defeated his Republican opponent, William John Howey, 148,455 votes to 95,018 votes and assumed the office of governor on January 8, 1929.

 

 
   

   

Upon election as governor, Carlton resigned from the firm and Morris E. White was brought into the firm in the Governor’s place; for the next four years the firm's name was Mabry, Reaves & White.

   
 
 

DOYLE CARLTON AS GOVERNOR

Carlton assumed the office of governor on January 8, 1929. He was the youngest ever (41) to assume this office at the time. Florida Supreme Court Justice Whitfield described Carlton’s four years of service as “the most progressive administration in memory.” Carlton was immensely popular and that popularity followed him throughout his career. He was widely acclaimed for his integrity and his commitment to fiscal responsibility. He voluntarily reduced his salary from $7,500 per year to $5,000 per year in his effort to balance the State’s budget.

Carlton served as governor during one of the most critical peacetime periods in Florida's history. During his term, he faced several difficult problems, helping the state through them all. The collapse of the state's land boom, a violent hurricane hit the state, a Mediterranean fruit fly infestation, and the Great Depression began during his term. He cut many state jobs in an attempt to reduce the state's budget. Leland Hawes, historical writer for The Tampa Tribune, commented that Governor Carlton came out of his four-year term with a reputation for integrity in the face of great pressure.

Gov. Carlton circa 1929

Courtesy of Florida Memory State Library & Archives of Florida

Wally Fields at his desk in the First National Bank Building, 1959. Photo courtesy of sons D.W. Fields, Jr. & Bob Fields.


BRIBE ATTEMPT (as told by D. Wallace Fields)

During Gov. Carlton's term, the Legislature passed the first pari-mutuel betting bill, but it could not become law without the Governor’s signature. A visitor to his office offered him a box of cigars to sign the bill and not veto it.  Governor told the proposed giver of the cigars that he didn’t smoke and thanked him very much, but the proposed giver said ‘Rake those top cigars back and see what’s in the bottom of that cigar box.’ Governor did and found a check for $100,000. He pulled the cigars back over the check and handed the box back to the man and said "I still don’t smoke" and “if my name is worth that much, I think I’ll just keep it.”  He did veto the bill, but it was overridden by the legislature by a very close vote.  Carlton had a reputation for being eminently honest and this is one way of showing it.

 
 

Governor Doyle Carlton and Florida State Troopers posing on
the steps of the Tampa Bay Hotel.  USF Burgert Bros Collection.

 

Gov. Carlton and his cabinet.

 

Stetson President Lincoln Hulley in a group of attorneys attending the 26th Annual Convention of the Florida Bar Association at the Don CeSar, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1933. 
Gov. Carlton to the left of woman in white at center.
 Courtesy of Stetson University Archives

Close up from above photo.

After Governor served his full term in Tallahassee on January 3, 1933, he returned to Tampa and was taken back into the firm. At that time the firm name became Mabry, Reaves, Carlton & White. 


 

Gov. Carlton renewed his efforts in trial and appellate work and, whenever possible, bought land in Hardee County even though the price ultimately soared to $2 per acre. He became one of the State’s major landowners.

In 1936 he was defeated in a bid for U.S. Senator in what was considered to be a major upset by Orlando’s Charles O. Andrews. 

Associate C.K. Reaves was Judge Reaves' son, Charles K. Reaves.  D. W. Fields was Daniel Wallace Fields, who would soon be promoted to partner after Morris White left the firm.

Morris White left the firm in 1943 and later joined attorney Cody Fowler to form the firm of Fowler White. Associate D. Wallace Fields was then made a partner.

 

 

ARTHUR L. ANDERSON JOINS THE FIRM, D. WALLACE FIELDS PROMOTED

  



Arthur L. Anderson
Circa 1950
(1907-1953)
Arthur Anderson was an excellent trial lawyer with a substantial clientele of insurance companies.


D. Wallace Fields, 1950.
(1910-1991)
Photo courtesy of his sons,
D. W. Fields, Jr. & Bob Fields


 

Original announcement from the Carlton Fields Heritage Conference Room. Anderson was added before Fields due to his seniority as a practicing attorney. The "1" after "Tampa" was the beginning of what would become Zip Codes

.

  
ARTHUR ANDERSON

Arthur L. Anderson was born in Ocala on November 7, 1907. He was a son of Clifford Lockridge Anderson and Eula Lee lzlar Anderson. Arthur’s grandfather, Robert Anderson, was admitted to the Bar in 1883 and was the President of the Florida State Bar Association in 1907. Robert was one of several prominent Ocalans who did well on the State level in politics.

Arthur received his early education in the Ocala public schools when his family moved to the West Coast in 1915.  He graduated from Hillsborough High School and received his Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Florida in 1931. He then returned to Tampa to practice law and became affiliated as a partner with Judge George P. Raney and his son, George P. Raney, Jr.  The firm practiced under the name of Raney, Raney and Anderson.  In 1944 he became a member of the firm of Mabry, Reaves and Carlton and was practicing there at the time of his death at the age of 45 on Jan. 14, 1953. 

In addition to conducting a large law practice, Arthur gave time and labor to many charitable civic and church activities.  He was Chairman of the Hillsborough County Chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, President of the Young Democratic Club of Hillsborough Co., Chairman of the Florida State Democratic Campaign Committee, Chairman of the Hillsborough Co., Russell for President Campaign, member of the Circuit Court Commission of Hillsborough Co., and was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church on the Vestry of the church. 

In his practice, he displayed an extraordinary knowledge of the law, acquired by his efforts and diligence in study and attention to his beloved profession; and that which stood him even better than his Assiduous work was his understanding of people with their vices and virtues, making all realize that he well knew that in every lawsuit there were flesh and blood on both sides, and that justice should prevail in any event.  He was loyal to his clients, and fought valiantly for the protection of their rights, but he didn't forget his loyalty to the right.  His integrity matched his superb ability, and although he was the recipient of many honors as a lawyer and leader in his community, he bore them all with dignity, never with lordly pride.  In his mind every honor implied a duty, and to that duty he bent his energies. 

Those who knew Arthur were indeed fortunate, and their lives were fuller from their acquaintance with him.  He enjoyed fellowship, and his quick wit and friendliness endeared him to all.  Arthur's untimely death left an empty place in his law firm, and deprived his splendid wife and daughter of a devoted husband and father. 
 (From a Resolution by the members of the Bar Associations of Tampa and Hillsborough County.)

DANIEL WALLACE FIELDS 

D. Wallace “Wally” Fields was born in Whitesburg, Kentucky, on Feb. 9, 1910. He was one of four children of Leroy Wilson Fields and Belle Salyer Fields. Wally’s father was an attorney, and so was Leroy’s father, Daniel David Fields.

Wally was educated in the public schools of Kentucky and completed his undergraduate work at the University of Kentucky. After he moved to Florida, he entered John B. Stetson University from which he received an LL.B. degree in 1933. In the same year, he was admitted to practice in Kentucky and Florida. Wally enjoyed music and played the trumpet in dance and school bands during his high school and college days. In 1929, he was a member of the Stetson band that played at Governor Carlton's inauguration. While at Stetson, Wally became friends with Judge Reaves' son, Charles K. Reaves, and at some point in time Charles dated Wally's younger sister.
 


Wally Fields circa 1930.  Fourth from left.
Photo courtesy of his sons, D. W. Fields, Jr. & Bob Fields

 

While still at Stetson, in 1933, Wally married Martha Ann Smith. Martha was a daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Rodney G. Smith of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Martha also graduated from Stetson University and shared a love of music; she was a concert pianist.


Photo courtesy of his sons,
D. W. Fields, Jr. & Bob Fields

 Upon graduation from Stetson in 1933, Wally joined Hull, Landis & Whitehair, a Deland law firm. Francis Whitehair was a well-known Florida politician who was once a candidate for Governor of Florida. The firm later became known as Landis, Graham, French, et al.

The Deland law firm was politically oriented and Wally said "I wasn't suited for that kind of practice.” He practiced there for two years then wanted a change.

He and his wife, and all the Fields family, moved back to Kentucky and Wally joined his father and brother in a law practice at Whitesburg, Ky in Feb. 1935.


 


Photo courtesy of his sons,
D. W. Fields, Jr. & Bob Fields
WALLY GETS AN INTERVIEW AND JOB OFFER
 
The Fields family then spent winters in DeLand, Fla. and after a couple of years, Wally and his family decided that Tampa was where the “action was” so they moved back down to Florida.  At the time, Charles K. Reaves was practicing with Mabry, Reaves & Carlton and "although the Depression was not completely over" and "lawyers were just not making any money," Charles suggested that the firm had begun to generate enough work to employ another lawyer. Thus, on a Saturday morning (back then, the firm then kept its doors open until after dark, six days a week,) Wally interviewed in Tampa with Judge Reaves and Giddings Mabry, after which he went back home.

Soon Wally received a telegram from Mr. Mabry in 1938 asking him to come again. Mr. Mabry suffered poor health much of his adult life and  when he next met Wally, he said: "Wally, I'm sick and I'm going to North Carolina this morning and try to get myself in better physical condition. I want to hire you. We'll pay you $75 a month and I want you to take over my work and when I get back I want it to be in as good order as I leave it with you. My secretary knows everything there is to know about the work so don't worry, just work hard." With that, Mr. Mabry introduced Wally to his secretary, put on his hat and left the office for an extended rest in North Carolina.

APPLE PIE ORDER

In those days, lawyers kept a docket book in which they recorded the current status of every case. Each case in court had to be advanced on "rule day," the first Monday of each month, otherwise the case would be dismissed. Mr. Mabry then had 110 lawsuits pending involving real estate and some fifty estates. Wally says he had his "hands full" but, by the time Mr. Mabry returned, the lawsuits were completed, the estates were "in apple pie order," all fees were collected and "a lot of money had been made for the firm for that day and age." It was a good way to start. Wally worked for Mr. Mabry, mainly in the real estate field. In his early years, others in the firm included Morris White, later of Fowler, White, and E. Calvin Johnson, who subsequently became a member of the firm later known as Allen, Dell, Frank & Trinkle. Ultimately, Wally became the highest paid associate in a Florida law firm at a salary of $350 per month. The partners, said Wally, then made about the same amount.

Wally Fields became one of Florida's leading real estate practitioners, specializing in shopping center, condominium, oil and gas law. He represented B&B Cash Grocery Company for over 30 years, which became one of the major supermarket operations on Florida's West Coast. The U-Save and Handy Food Stores were developed by B&B. Wally represented that company when it built the first shopping center on Dale Mabry at its intersection with Henderson Boulevard. At that time, the west side of Dale Mabry was completely unoccupied in that area. 
 


B & B Supermarket at Dale Mabry Highway and Henderson Blvd, Sep. 7, 1950.
Courtesy of Tampa-Hillsborough Co. Public Library System, Burgert Bros.

Around 1940, Governor Carlton & Wally began to represent major oil companies, one of which was Humble Oil & Refinery Company. In the mid 1940s, Humble Oil & Refining brought their Sunniland oil field to Florida when oil was first discovered here. Humble was later acquired by the Exxon Corporation.  

 

In 1946, Wally moved to Tallahassee where the firm opened an office in the Midyette-Moor Building to serve oil and gas clients. Joe Sharit, Jr. worked with him there as an associate. During the ensuing years, Wally practiced oil and gas law exclusively and examined titles for oil company leases on millions of acres of land. He also helped write the oil & gas legislation for the State of Florida. At that time, he represented 17 major oil companies engaged in exploration, including Humble, Phillips Petroleum, Amerada Hess, Getty Oil, Sun Oil and Louisiana Land & Development Company. When the leasing work was completed in 1950, the Tallahassee office was closed and Wally and Joe returned to the firm in Tampa. Thereafter, he continued his oil and gas work in Tampa, solidly established as THE oil and gas lawyer in Florida.  In the 1950s when Phillips Petroleum decided to enter the state as a major gasoline retailer, they went straight to Wally Fields for help.
 

Wally became a pioneer again, this time in condominium and shopping center work. His condominium representation began in Pinellas County where he attended meetings of hundreds of persons in order to explain the condominium concept. In Tampa, he represented the 27 developers of  the Henderson Boulevard Center, Northgate Shopping Center, Britton Plaza, and Tampa Bay Center, as well as other major shopping centers.

Seen above in 2005, the Midyette-Moor building in Tallahassee is on Florida’s register of historic buildings. Located at 201 South Monroe Street, it was built in 1927. The building was designed by architects Edwards and Sayward of Atlanta as a prestigious multi-story office building during Florida’s economic land boom of the 1920s. Originally it accommodated the Exchange Bank and Midyette-Moor Insurance Company. It was the location of the first office of Mabry, Reaves, Carlton, Anderson & Fields in Tallahassee in 1946.  (Photo by T. Varnum)

See this building in 1952.

Britton Plaza at Dale Mabry Hwy. and Euclid, Dec. 21, 1956.
Notice the vacant lot at upper right.  Belk Lindsey wasn't built there until Jan. 1961. Courtesy of Tampa-Hillsborough Co. Public Library System, Burgert Bros.

 

For a while, Fields was swamped with the legal work involved in acquiring filling station sites throughout Florida. He became so good at it that when Humble Oil decided to do the same a few years later, Wally handled it “with his left hand while his right hand was busily engaged in doing the legal work on the burgeoning shopping centers being built in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco Counties.

 
In 1955, Governor LeRoy Collins appointed Wally Fields as Florida’s representative on the Interstate Oil Compact Commission, a position he held for 5 years. Wally wrote the chapter on “Minerals” for the Florida Bar’s Continuing Legal Education series and authored a much cited article in the ABA’s Ten Year Symposium on Oil and & Gas Conservation.

 

Wally Fields at his xylophone, Christmas, 1962.
 Photo courtesy of sons Dan & Robert Fields.

 

 

Wally remained active in the firm for many years thereafter. He trained most of his firm's young lawyers who did real estate, oil and gas work. He saw countless changes – many of which stemmed from his leadership.  When the Firm incorporated as a Professional Association in 1969, he served as its first president. Wally did legal work for major contractors such as Disney World who were seeking homes to live in while their companies were on site at Disney.  Throughout his active years with the Firm, Wally staunchly supported the view that they should not keep records of individual fee production. Rather he believed, as many still do, that advancement in the Firm should be based on a lawyer's overall contribution to its welfare. Wally retired from the firm in 1977. 

Wally and Marty had three sons, all of whom resided in Tampa.  Dan, who in 1980 was a division manager for a large pharmaceutical company, Rodney, a well-known and well-loved dentist in Tampa (who passed away in 2002); and Robert, a well-known Tampa lawyer. Bob was the fourth generation of the Fields family to carry on in the legal profession.

For many years, Wally and his family resided at 2804 Parkland Boulevard in the Palma Ceia area. After Marty’s death, Wally married a friend of many years, Virginia Straus, the widow of George Straus, a prominent Tampa banker. Wally & Virginia lived at Harbour House. 

Special thanks to Dan W. Fields, Jr., and his brother Robert Fields for their contributions to this feature, including photos.

 

 

 


The "1" after "Tampa" was the beginning of what would become zip codes. Tampa was divided into 4 zones.


Doyle E. Carlton circa 1950

Stetson University Board of Trustees members pose in front of Elizabeth Hall with President J. Ollie Edmunds, Judge Reaves & Gov. Carlton. 1948.
Place your cursor on the photo to see names.

 

Doyle E. Carlton, Sr. posed with President Paul Geren, Chancellor J. Ollie Edmunds, and Board of Trustees chairman Earl Edington, at the dedication of the Carlton Union Building, 1969

 
 

   GIDDINGS MABRY

Mr. Mabry’s specialty was real estate law. Some of the largest Florida developments of his lifetime were built under his legal direction.   In his post-1930 career, Mr. Mabry didn't go to court, although he did handle a lot of cases that he’d have others in the firm go to court (to try) for him. He was a fine-looking man, thin and tall and good looking looked like a movie actor, even in his old age.  (D. Wallace Fields)

Giddings  was a member of the Masons and the Seminole Baptist church, and enjoyed playing golf. His 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 and was built for the Mabrys in 1925.  The old rose bush that Giddings would pluck a fresh rose from to wear on his lapel to work every day, still existed.  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.

 

 

 

 

 

MEMORIES OF GIDDINGS MABRY BY MICH EMMANUEL

Giddings E. Mabry, who everyone except Governor Carlton and Judge Reaves called “Mr. Mabry,” was a tall, erect, kindly man who was quite easy to get along with so long as you met his high standards of professionalism. Mr. Mabry was 72 years old when I joined the firm in 1949 and not in the best of health. He was a widower and lived in a lovely home on the Bayshore with his daughter Mabel. All of the firm’s closed files resided in the third floor attic of his Bayshore home. Mr. Mabry worked at a leisurely and deliberate pace. He kept five piles of work on his desk; the first pile being the current day’s accumulation, the second pile first drafts of responses and instruments, the third pile marked up drafts, the fourth pile the finished or almost finished product, and the fifth pile finished work awaiting his signature and sending to the client. In all difficult matters Mr. Mabry liked to review his work with another lawyer and one of his favorite sayings was, “Two heads are better than one, even if they’re both cabbage heads.”

THE MABRY HOUSE AT 1503 BAYSHORE BLVD.

In 2005 I had the opportunity to visit the Mabry house. I was cordially greeted by the present owners who were kind enough to allow me to photograph their home and learn a little of its history.

They, in turn, were very interested in learning more about the original owner of their home. His parents bought the home directly from Giddings Mabry in 1962.   

  

The rose bush where Giddings Mabry would
 pick a rose to wear on his lapel to his office.

 

 

 


 

    

 

GIDDINGS MABRY LAW BOOK
Compilation of the Public Acts of this Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida, passed prior to 1840.
By John P. Duval, Esq.
Tallahassee: Samuel S. Sibley, printer.  1839.  Bound by P. A. Hayward, Tallahassee.
From the Carlton Fields Law Library collection.
Click the image to see it larger.

     


 

 
DOYLE CARLTON 

Upon his return to private practice, Doyle Carlton devoted his attention to his law practice, business interests, and civic and church activities, being a member of the First Baptist Church of Tampa. In 1947 he was special attorney for Florida in the settlement which brought to the state ownership of the Ringling Museums at Sarasota. Carlton also served on the first U.S. Commission on Civil Rights upon appointment by President Eisenhower (a position he was most proud to serve), and was appointed by President Kennedy to the National Agricultural Advisory Commission.

Doyle Carlton’s reputation as a statesman, trial and appellate lawyer, long attracted clients to the firm. In later years, he left to those who were younger the actual trial and appellate work but he supervised the efforts and gave wise counsel. Carlton was responsible for attracting Humble Oil Company to the firm which provided much of the work for the Firm in the 1940s. 

Despite his distinction, Doyle Carlton was a humble man. His oratorical prowess and great sense of humor abided until his death. Older lawyers still remembered him with great admiration the day he and Fuller Warren debated before the Hillsborough County Bar Association.

 
     

Gov. Carlton seated in his law office in the First National Bank building, circa 1960  Courtesy of USF Digital Commons George Skip Gandy IV photographs collection.

 CARLTON A MASTER AT THE CLOSING ARGUMENT (By D. Wallace Fields)

“Governor Carlton was the best speaker of anyone I ever knew and he and Judge Reaves were a team in court. Judge Reaves would try the case before the jury and Governor Carlton would make the closing argument. He was a master at this.” “Governor Carlton was trying a lawsuit in which he was defending a man who was being sued by a small loan company. In his closing argument he referred to the plaintiff as a ‘buzzard.’ He went on to say that he didn’t have anything against the buzzard, but he didn’t like the business he was in. Governor was a genius at getting to the facts of a case, the equitable facts, leaving out those that weren’t, and he’d have Judge Reaves get those things out, and occasionally he’d take over and question a witness himself, but Judge Reaves was the one who did that most of the time. “Governor was a marvelous, marvelous speaker and he would make the oral arguments to the jury, and they appealed hundreds of cases and Governor would always make the oral argument before the Appellate Courts, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.”  

 


Portrait in the Heritage Room at Carlton Fields,  PA.

 

 


 Mich Emmanuel in 1979
Photo courtesy of Carlton Fields PA photo archives
 

 GOVERNOR CARLTON'S MILLION-DOLLAR JOKE

When Michel G. Emmanuel was a young lawyer in the late 1940s, he had occasion to travel a great deal with Governor Carlton. Travel in those days was almost invariably by automobile and Governor and Mich often had lengthy conversations. Mr. Emmanuel is a source of many stories of the founders of the Carlton Fields firm, and he was asked to relate the story below.

During the 1930s, the period of the Great Depression, our firm represented the Lake Istokpoga Drainage District, a quasi-governmental entity with the power to levy taxes and float tax exempt bonds. Of course, levying taxes during the Depression was an exercise in futility since most people were in default on their basic city, county and school district taxes.
Accordingly, Governor Carlton was directed by the board of the Lake Istokpoga Drainage District to apply to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), a federal agency, for a loan. After several months, a loan of $2 million was negotiated and the date for closing set.

As was the custom In those days, the entire Istokpoga board took the train to Washington D.C. to meet with the chairman of the RFC, a hard-bitten Texan by the name of Jesse Jones. The meeting began at 10:00 a.m. in the RFC board room with Governor and his people on one side of the table and the RFC people on the other. Jesse Jones sat at the head of the table and the paperwork took up several feet of space at the foot. Jones called the meeting to order and announced that they were present to close a loan to Istokpoga for $1 million, which would be forthcoming only after $1 million was raised locally by the Istokpoga board.

There was stunned silence since this was not the deal that Governor had negotiated. Two or three minutes passed before Governor leaned forward to address Mr. Jones.

“Mr. Chairman,” he said. “This reminds me of the farmer who wrote to Sears & Roebuck to order a gross of toilet paper. In due time, he received a response: ‘When ordering from Sears & Roebuck, please give catalog page and item number.’ To which the farmer replied: ‘Dear Mr. Sears and Mr. Roebuck, if I had your catalog, I wouldn’t need your d---- toilet paper.’”  

Jesse Jones threw back his head and laughed uproariously and called a recess to consult with his staff. The papers were redrawn and that evening Governor Carlton and the members of the Istokpoga board left Washington with a check for $2 million. I have always referred to this as Governor Carlton’s million-dollar joke. (Michel G. Emmanuel)

In 2025, this joke would be worth approximately $23 million.

See Gov. Carlton's favorite recipe, in his own words.

Of all the honors and recognitions he had received, Governor’s office had few decorations, one being his appointment to chair the President's Commission on Civil Rights by President Eisenhower.

Governor Carlton in his law office at Carlton Fields Ward Emmanuel Smith & Cutler, PA,
in the Exchange Bank Tower, 600 N. Fla. Avenue, circa 1970.
Photo courtesy of the Carlton Fields history photo collection.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Judge Reaves portrait from the Heritage Conference Room of Carlton Fields, PA.

  

JUDGE O.K. REAVES 

At the time this article was written, his firm occupied the 12th floor of the 13-story First National Bank building, and the firm name was Mabry, Reaves, Carlton, Fields and Ward.
 

Judge and Mrs. Reaves lived for many years at 3606 Waverly Court, South, their “back yard” adjoined Bayshore Blvd.
 

#1 in the article:  This paragraph refers to Judge Reaves arriving in his new office in the new 13-story First National Bank building.  It's not a reference to his first time working with Mabry & Carlton which occurred in 1921 at the Stovall building.

#2 in the article:  A mistake by the Tampa Times, they omitted the next line.

#3 in the article: Regarding the desk described in the article and seen in the photo.  This article presents a different origin of the desk Reaves used during his judgeship and eventually given to Reece Smith. If the County provided Judge Reaves with a desk, it would not have been the partnership desk he used while partnering with John Singletary.  His partnership desk would not have been described as "nothing fancy about it" because it was very unique.  Also, the County would certainly not have furnished Judge Reaves with such a massive desk as the partnership desk was, as his office would probably not been able to easily accommodate it. 

The most probable scenario is that John Singletary (born c.1869, died 1953) being the senior partner of Singletary & Reaves, retained the partnership desk when Reaves became a judge in 1915. Reaves was then provided with the desk in this photo by Manatee County in 1915.  Upon retiring as a judge in 1921, he could have bought the desk seen here from the county when he joined Mabry & Carlton, and used it while located in the First National Bank building when this article was written. At some point before John Singletary died in 1953, he could have given the partnership desk to O.K. Reaves (or left it to him afterward in his will) but Reaves may have had no room for it in his office in the First National Bank building. Reaves may have used it at home or stored it. When the Firm moved into the new Exchange Bank tower in 1964, the partnership desk could have been given to Reece Smith.


Clearly, this photo was not Mr. Singletary at age 80.
He died in Bradenton in July 1953.  That article about his death states that he was 84..  So he only aged 4 years during the 7 years after his 80th birthday.

 

 In Sept. 1954 Judge Reaves was honored at Stetson (with other 50-year graduates) by former Governor Carlton as the principal speaker for the formal ceremonies of the new Stetson University in St. Petersburg.


This portrait by TampaPix is a composite of three individual portraits of
Giddings Mabry, Judge O.K. Reaves & Gov. Doyle Carlton displayed
in the Carlton Fields Heritage Conference Room.
Those can be seen later below on this page.

 
By Wally Fields.
In 1963 Giddings Mabry and Judge Reaves were both advanced in years.  They insisted that their names be removed from the firm name (Mabry, Reaves, Carlton, Fields & Ward) so that the names of Michel G. Emmanuel, Wm. Reece Smith, Jr. and Edward I. Cutler could be popularized by adding their names to the firm name. The firm became Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith & Cutler. (CFWES&C)

 
 
 

    

In 1967, CFWES&C moved into the new Exchange Bank tower.
 


READ ABOUT THE HISTORY OF EXCHANGE NATIONAL BANK OF TAMPA

 

Giddings was 12 or 13 when he moved to Dade City from Leesburg with his parents.  The Mabrys moved from Tupelo to Leesburg when Giddings was around 2.

 

 

Judge Reaves died in Tampa on Aug. 22, 1970.  He was 92.
His brother, George Franklin Reaves, died in Bradenton on Dec. 5, 1969.

 

Governor Carlton died on Oct. 25, 1972, a month after a fall at his home.  He was born in 1885 so was 87.

Gov. Doyle E. Carlton died at age 87 on October 25, 1972. An editorial in the Tampa Tribune commented: “No Floridian ever made greater contributions to his state, and in such varied areas of vital interest as Doyle E. Carlton, Sr.  He remained first in the hearts of Floridians until his death.” 

1984 Annual Firm Christmas luncheon, Hyatt Regency ballroom, downtown.
Photo by D. Perez

Place your cursor on the photo to see names.

Next Page
 FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF TAMPA HISTORY
with events concerning the Stovall office bldg, the Whiskey bottle water tank, Wolf Bros., the Citizens Bank bldg., the Tampa Gas Co. building, and Lykes Gaslight Park
 
The Bank of Tampa
Second home of the FNB of Tampa
Third home of the FNB of Tampa
Sale and removal of third FNB building
The new life and demise of the third building
Fourth home of FNB - New 13-story skyscraper
Fifth home of FNB - 35-story tower announced
Previous history of the new Stovall Office Bldg, Page 1
Stovall Office Bldg. rename, declining years and demolition
First Financial Tower construction
Tampa eyesore: The whiskey bottle water tank
 
Continued in next column

 
Wolf Brothers store in the Citizens Bank Bldg.
The addition of two floors to the Citizens Bank Bldg, 1925
Wolf Brothers history First National Bank moves into new First Financial tower
Blaze in Citizens Bank Bldg. ruins Wolf Bros. store
Citizens Bank bldg. demolition
Lykes Bros. Corp buys FNB bldg. and moves in
Wolf Bros. must move out, FNB bldg. & Tampa Gas bldg. targets for demolition
Tampa Gas Company building history
 Lykes Bros. battle with preservationists over FNB bldg. & Tampa Gas bldg.
Demolition of the Tampa Gas bldg. and old FNB bldg. clock spared
Lykes Gaslight Park
First Florida Tower renamed Park Tower
 
 

THE MABRYS
Milton Harvey Mabry, Sr.


Mabry Family Ancestors

  Milton H. Mabry Sr's Descendants

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