men. They are a product of democracy, and they are its vindication. If there were need to establish the truth of this declaration, it is evident in the thousands of men who have won success solely through the medium of their own merit. At St. Augustine there are many of this class to be found, among them a number of native sons, and in this class stands William P. Genovar, the proprietor of a thriving retail cigar business, located at 178 St. George Street.

Mr. Genovar belongs to a family which has resided at St. Augustine for many years, and was born in this city, March 17, 1866, a son of William and Monica (Masters) Genovar. His father, born at St. Augustine, in 1840, was still a youth when he took part in the Indian warfare incident to this section, and later answered the call of the South and enlisted under the flag of the Confederacy for participation in the war between the states. He wore the gray all through the four years of that struggle, at the close of which he returned to St. Johns County and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He followed this line of endeavor during the remainder of his life, became a highly respected citizen, and passed away at the ripe old age of eighty years, in 1920. He was a democrat in his political belief, and a devout member of the Roman Catholic church. Mrs. Genovar, who was also born at St. Augustine, died in 1917, when seventy-seven years of age. They were the paents of five sons and three daughters, of whom three sons and one daughter are now living, William P. being the second in order of birth.

William P. Genovar attended the public and parochial schools of St. Augustine, and his first employment was as a clerk and salesman in a retail store. He was thus employed until 1895, in which year he embarked in business as the proprietor of a retail cigar store, a business with which he has been identified ever since. He is now in the enjoyment of a large and prosperous trade, built up through industry, good management, and honorable dealing, and carries a large stock of all popular brands of cigars, tobacco, cigarettes, pipes and smokers' articles. He has an attractive salesroom, and during the course of twenty-seven years has attracted to himself many warm friends. Mr. Genovar is one of the influential democrats of his community and takes an interest in public matters, although his only public office has been that of city treasurer, in which he served efficiently for four years. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and his religious connection is with the Roman Catholic Church.

On November 18, 1892, Mr. Genovar married Miss Maud M. Miot, of Columbia, South Carolina, and to this union there have been born two sons: Harry M. and William P., Jr.

EDWARD KIRK BARRETT. In the career of Edward Kirk Barrett, superintendent of buildings and bridge and water supply of the Florida East Coast Railway Company, there is something of an encouraging nature to be found. When he started his independent career it was in a humble position, and the years that followed were well filled with hard labor. Yet through simply taking full advantage of every-day opportunities and making the most of them he found that the chance is given every youth to rise, and that it lies within his own powers to make a place for himself.

Mr. Barrett was born September 6, 1869, at Orange, New Jersey, and received a public school education in Florida, where he had been brought as a youth by his parents. After leaving the Du

val High School in 1885, he took up railroad work, first as rodman with an engineering crew. After

one month in this capacity he became transmitman and levelman, capacities in which he spent eleven months with the Jacksonville & Atlantic Railway, and in 1886 became a surveyor, a position which he occupied during that year and a part of 1887. From 1888 to 1894 Mr. Barrett was associated with George S. Morison, of Chicago, as bridge inspector and engineer, and in 1895 became resident engineer of the Florida East Coast Railway at Palatka and Palm Beach. During 1896 and a part of 1897 he was superintendent of construction and inspector of the Commercial, Cable and Queen Buildings, New York City, and from 1897 to 1902 was shop inspector of the Union Bridge Company of Athens, Pennsylvania, and the Pencoyd Bridge Works. From 1902 to 1906 Mr. Barrett was general foreman and inspector of the Florida East Coast Railway, and in 1906 became supervisor of bridges and buildings for the same road. In July, 1914, his title was changed to supervisor of bridges and buildings and water supply, and in October, 1920, his title was again changed, this time to superintendent of buildings and bridges and water supply., Mr. Barrett's home is situated at 64 Valencia Street. He is accounted one of the best-informed men in his line in Florida, and, having worked his way up from the bottom, is thoroughly familiar with the details of all departments. He has a number of civic connections and has always been a supporter of movements which have promised to advance the interests of the City of St. Augustine. He is also identified with several fraternities and clubs, and belongs to the American Association of Engineers.

In 1898 Mr. Barrett was united in marriage with Miss Celestia M. Crans, of Athens, Pennsylvania. They have no children.

THOMAS COLE IMESON has proved himself a staunch apostle of progressiveness, both in connection with business affairs and his service as a member of the board of city commissioners of his home city of Jacksonville, where he is manager of the substantial wholesale enterprise conducted by the Ponce de Leon Perfume Company, 226 Hogan Street.

Mr. Imeson was born at Cross Keys, Alabama, November 10, 1880, and is the youngest child and only son in a family of three children born to Jonathan and Mary Jane (Cole) Imeson. The father and mother were both born in England, the former in 1838 and the latter in 1842, their marriage having been solemnized at Hastings, Minnesota. The death of the mother occurred in 1898 and that of the father in 1910. Jonathan Imeson was a lad of five years at the time of his parents' emigration from England to the United States, and the family home was established at Hastings, Minnesota. He was a son of Thomas and Mary Jane (Barwise) Imeson, who gained pioneer honors in Minnesota, but who later removed to Detroit, Michigan, where Thomas Imeson followed the trade of stonecutter. was a resident of Cheney, Washington, at the time of his death. Jonathan Imeson gained his youthful education in the schools of Minnesota and Michigan, and he also learned the carpenter trade. Upon coming to the South he was for some time engaged in business as a contractor and builder, and operated a cotton plantation at Cross Keys, Alabama, and from 1881 to 1903 he was engaged in the business of contracting at DeLand,

He

for twelve years an attache of the office of the city engineer of Jacksonville, and he then, in 1909, engaged in independent business by opening a well equipped novelty store. He has proved a thoroughgoing and enterprising business man, and is now general manager of the Ponce de Leon Perfume Company, as noted in the opening paragraph of this sketch.

Under a special charter granted by the Legislature to the town of Pablo Beach, Florida, summer residents of Pablo Beach who reside in Jacksonville are allowed to vote and in hold office Pablo. Thomas C. Imeson, under this provision, was elected a town councilman of Pablo Beach in 1915 for a term of two years, and one of his first efforts, along with other citizens of Pablo Beach, was to put through a bond issue sufficient to establish electric lights and a sewerage system and by ordinance create a board of bond trustees, which improvement the town now enjoys. He was reelected several terms, and served three times as president of that council, retiring of his own accord.

In 1918 Mr. Imeson was appointed a member of the Jacksonville City Council, to fill a vacancy, as representative of the First Ward. He was elected councilman-at-large the following year, and in 1921 he was elected city commissioner, the commission form of municipal government having been adopted. As a city official he has been alert and progressive, has advocated movements that have been of general benefit to the community, and among his recent suggestions in the furtherance of street improvements has been that of coating old brick street pavements with asphalt, this method making possible extended improvements at minimum expense, and a test of the matter being in process at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1922.

As is to be inferred, Mr. Imeson is a staunch advocate of the principles of the democratic party, and he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with Solomon Lodge, No. 20, F. and A. M.; is past chancellor of Montefiore Lodge No. 2, Knights of Pythias, which he has twice represented in the Florida Grand Lodge; and he is popular in both business and social circles in his home city.

November 10, 1904, recorded the marriage of Mr. Imeson and Miss Mabel Fowler, and their one child is a son, John G.

REGINALD WHITE. A resident of St. Johns County for nearly forty years, during a large part of this time Reginald White has been identified with the First National Bank of St. Augustine, of which institution he is vice president and cashier. Mr. White, while not a public man, has been identified with many of the movements which progressive men of high character and enlightened views have promoted and fostered, and is accounted one of the substantial and reliable men

upon whom the community depends for advance

ment.

Mr. White was born in England, in 1862, and is a son of Samuel and Henrietta (Price) White, both of whom passed their entire lives in England and are now deceased. They were the parents of ten children, of whom eight are living, Reginald being the seventh in order of birth. He received excellent educational advantages in his youth, completing his intellectual training by a course at Marlborough College, and shortly after his graduation therefrom, in 1883, when a youth of twentyone years, came to the United States with an English lumber syndicate, which owned a large tract of land in St. Johns County, Florida. He continued to be associated with this concern until 1892, when he entered the First National Bank of St. Augustine, in a modest capacity. Through industry and fidelity he worked his way steadily upward, and is today accounted one of the influential and well-informed financiers of the city. He has a number of civic and social connections, as well as those of a business and financial character. Mr. White is a member and senoir warden of Trinity Episcopal Church.

On May 14, 1913, Mr. White married Miss Elizabeth Fraser, who was born in North Carolina.

FONS A. HATHAWAY. The thorough modern educational plant and system that is the pride of Jacksonville owes its existence in a large measure to the responsible leadership and the enthusiasm of Fons A. Hathaway, who since 1914 has been superintendent of schools of the city.

way.

Mr. Hathaway is a Florida educator and native son, born in Holmes County, April 8, 1877, son of James Wilburn and Sarah Jane (Register) HathaMr. Education has been his life work. Hathaway graduated A. B. from Florida State College in 1902, and in 1911 received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Florida, and that institution in 1918, in recognition of his distinguished services to the cause of education, bestowed upon him the honorary degree LL. D.

Doctor Hathaway from 1902 to 1909 was principal of the High School of Orlando. In the latter year he came to Duval County, served as principal of the Duval High School in Jacksonville, and in 1914 took up his duties as superintendent of city schools. In subsequent years, in spite of the heavy handicap imposed by the war, he reconstructed the school system, involving a building program requiring an outlay of more than $2,500,000. Doctor Hathaway is a member of the University Club of Jacksonville, is a Mason and Knight of Pythias, a Phi Kappa Phi, is a democrat, a director of the N. E. A. from Florida and a member and trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville. He married on June 1003. Annie Elizabeth Van Brunt, of Tallahassee. Their home is at 100 Bayard Place.

REV. JOHN T. BOONE. Included in the ministry of the Christian Church are men of broad education, religious zeal and enlightened views, whose example and precept exercise an influence for morality that has earned recognition as one of the great factors in advancing any community. Not alone is the Christian pastor a spiritual guide to his people, but he must also possess a large measure of the practicality which will help him to advise and teach in the ordinary events of life and to protect the interests of his parish while also promoting its temporal

affairs. Much, in fact, is demanded of those who choose the unselfish life of the Christian pastor. Not all, as in other walks of life, are fitted by nature for the same sum of responsibility, and perhaps few under the same circumstances would have had such success as that which has attended the efforts of Rev. John T. Boone, pastor of the First Christian Church of Jacksonville, and one of the prominent Masons of Florida.

Reverend Boone was born in Smith County, Tennessee, a son of James North and Sarah (Barry) Boone. James North Boone, a descendant of the famous frontiersman, Daniel Boone, was reared in Wilson County, Tennessee, but in young manhood removed to Smith County, where he married, established a home and settled down to agricultural pursuits, in which he spent the remainder of an honorable and useful life. His wife was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Barry, who removed from Virginia to Smith County, Tennessee, in their early married life. James N. and Sarah Boone became the parents of nine children, of whom only two survive: John T.; and E. O., of Tallahassee, Florida.

John T. Boone attended a country school in Smith County as a child, and later was sent to the Masonic Academy at Alexandria, Tennessee. In childhood he had settled it in his own mind that he would become a minister, but kept the matter a secret, in his heart for many years, and it was not until he was approaching young manhood that, on a certain Sunday night, he greatly surprised his parents by making known his wish to attend college for the purpose of entering the ministry. His wishes being readily granted, he first attended Larimore's College at Florence, Alabama, afterward went to Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, and finally pursued a course at the Chicago University, where he completed his preparation. Prior to his advent at Jacksonville he had done little preaching, the greater part of that being at St. Louis, Missouri. While there he was united in marriage with Miss Lizzie Blattner. A call from the First Christian Church of Jacksonville came in 1898, on December 1st of which year Reverend Boone and his wife arrived in this city, bringing with them their tiny babe, Brace. Two other children have since come to the home: Paul Dryden and Carolyn Marie. Brace graduated from Bethany College, Bethany, West Virginia, in June, 1922. Paul Dryden graduated in June, 1921, from Vanderbilt University, and is now in the Government employ as a chemist at Washington, D. C. Carolyn Marie is attending Christian College, Columbia, Missouri.

At the time of Reverend Boone's arrival the First Christian Church had seventy-four members, meeting in a small wooden structure at Main and Bever streets. This was destroyed in the great conflagration of 1901, following which there was erected the handsome stone structure at the corner of Hogan and Monroe streets, which at the present time has over 1,200 members. In addition to the First Christian Church, as an outgrowth of the first congregation there are the Central Church, located on Ninth, between Main and Laura streets; the Riverside Church, the Evergreen Avenue Church, the St. Nicholas Church of South Jacksonville, and the Murray Hill Church. Reverend Boone took a very active part in the building of the Florida Christian Home for the Aged at Murray Hill. This institution can accommodate about 100 persons.

Reverend Boone, as before noted, is prominent in Masonry, being a past chaplain of Temple Lodge No. 23, F. and A. M., in which he served several terms; and a past eminent commander of Damascus Commandery No. 2, K. T., of which he has been prelate for several years.

CHARLES A. CLARK. The popular estimate placed upon the service of Mr. Clark as a member and the chairman of the Duval County Board of Commissioners made virtually his re-election a matter of certainty when he announced his candidacy for such re-election, as representative from the Fourth District. He is one of the substantial and public-spirited citizens of Jacksonville and his official service as county commissioner has shown his deep interest in and loyalty to his home city and county.

Mr. Clark was born at Campbellford, Province of Ontario, Canada, on the 26th of February, 1867, and is a son of William B. and Flora A. (Lindsley) Clark, the former of whom was born in that province, December 25, 1841, and the latter of whom was born in New York State, her death having occurred in 1892, the subject of this sketch having been the second in order of birth in a family of five sons and two daughters. William B. Clark continued his activities as a representative of farm industry in his native province until 1882, when he came to Florida, where he is now living retired in the city of Jacksonville.

Charles A. Clark gained his early education in the schools of his native province in Canada and was a lad of fourteen years at the time of the family removal to Florida. He here continued his studies in the public schools, and here he gave three years to learning the undertaking and marble business, in the establishment conducted by B. E. Oak. He thereafter became associated with his brother George W. in establishing an independent enterprise of the same order, and in 1889 he purchased his brother's interest in the business, which he thereafter conducted individually and with marked success until July, 1909, when he sold out and retired from active business.

Mr. Clark had never previously held public office until he was elected county commissioner of Duval County, in 1920, his election having been confirmed by appointment by Governor Catts, on the 17th of August of that year. On the 4th of January, 1921, he was elected chairman of the county board of commissioners, and his executive administration was marked by progressiveness and well directed efforts to conserve economy in county affairs as well as to advance measures making for civic and material benefit. From an article appearing in the Florida Times-Union of March 4, 1922, in connection with Mr. Clark's announcement of his candidacy for re-election, are taken, with minor changes, the following extracts:

"While not taking credit for the admirable way in which the present commission has functioned, friends of Mr. Clark say the present efficiency of the board but reflects his conscientious efforts to serve the people to the best of his ability. Chairman Clark, who was elected to the board on a good-roads platform, has, as far as humanly possible, fulfilled his campaign pledges, by giving Duval County better roads than it ever before had. The maintenance of county roads has been the chief aim of Chairman Clark, and it is said that no member of a county road gang has braved the elements and worked