George W. Deen

George W. Deen, son of James Deen and Hulda Gray Melton, born 12 Mar 1855, Appling CO, GA about 5 miles south of Holmesville, the former county seat, died 06 Jun 1926 Orlando, Orange CO, FL, married Augusta N (Gussie) Ketterer, dau of Dr. Phillip Ketterer and Sarah Ada Wright, born 07 Nov 1863, Baxley, Appling CO, GA, died 08 Oct 1923, Daytona Beach, Volusia CO, FL, both buried Oakland Cemetery, Waycross, Ware CO, GA.

When his mother and father died in 1863, he and his brothers and sisters remained at the old homestead under the guardianship of an uncle until the elder ones were married and George in 1878, at age 23, headed out for better or worse. He found work on the farm of Isaac I. Moody. He was paid in gold at the equivalent of $6 per month and saved $55 his first year.

In 1880, he found work as a clerk in a drug store and the following year became a co-partner in the drug business. In 1884 he went into the mercantile business with his brother Columbus (Lum) Deen. Then a turpentine venture led him to Beach, GA with W. W. Beach and John R Young. He bought his partners out and opened a turpentine company in Nicholls. In 1892, he moved to Waycross, Ware CO, GA and 1887 organized the Excelsior Medicine Company there.

In 1898, he and David F Morrison ran a turpentine and naval store operation three miles east of Barberville, Volusia CO, FL. He also owned large turpentine interest in the present county of Flagler in FL. Several men moved to Florida with their families from Appling CO to operate the stills, either leasing them for their own operations or running the still for George W Deen. These included his brothers, Daniel Martin Deen and James Monroe Deen, nephew James Emmett Deen and Isaac I. Moody, Jr, the son of George’s first employer.

Isaac I Moody, Jr worked as a woodsman for George. Isaac’s roommate, James Frank (Major) Lambert, was a bookkeeper at one of George’s stills as well as a distiller. In 1905 these two men bought 30,000 acres from George and erected a still near their single mill located at a railroad flag stop called Bunnell Stop. After operating the still for several years they sold off some of their land and chartered the Bunnell Development Company. They laid out a town which was chartered as Bunnell, FL in 1913.

Now a Waycross developer (Deen Realty and Improvement Company), George divided his time between his operations in Florida and Georgia. He bought the Hilliard lands near present Baptist Village around 1905 and began building his own home. Nearer Waycross, in the vicinity of Carswell and Albany Avenues, he began the first suburbs which he named Carswell Park and Central Park.

At the time, George also owned some 25,000 acres south west of Bunnell (now St Johns Park) where he ran logging operations and also leased land for turpentine stills. He deeded this land to the St Johns Development Company on 21 Dec 1908 for full payment for all the stock, for himself and the other four directors. At that time the officers in the company were: Charles H Seig, president; Earnest F Warner, first vice president; John Phillips, second vice president; Herbert L Stewart, third vice president; and George W Deen, secretary and treasurer.

In January 1909, St Johns Development Company made a contract with the Ben Levin Advertising Agency of Chicago for the purpose of advertising the land parcels, both lot sizes and small farms, for sale. Earnest F Warner bought his fellow officers out on 2 Jan 1913 and it is assumed that George was paid in full.

While living Waycross (1892-1920), George served as president of the Grace-Brantley Company, president of Merchants and Framers Bank of Nicholls, president of the First National Bank of Waycross, director of South Atlantic Car and Manufacturing Company, president of Hicks Gas Motor Company and an alderman of the City of Waycross. He and H. H. Burnet formed the Waycross Abstract and Guarantee Company which abstracted titles and guarantees on realty in Ware CO.

George also served as a Senator for the Fifth Senatorial District, which at the time included Waycross.

He moved to Daytona Beach, FL in 1920 and after the death of his wife Gussie, moved to Orlando. He was a member of Holmesville Lodge No 195 F & A M.. Issue;

1. Dewitt Talmage Deen, born 17 Sep 1891, Waycross, Ware CO, GA, died 06 Feb1931, Holly Hill, Volusia CO, FL, buried Oakland Cemetery, Waycross, Ware CO, GA, married 16 Jan 1924 Savannah, Chatham CO, GA, Minnie Gruener. He separated from his wife in November 1930 but reconciled with her just before his death.

He attended public school in Waycross and later Emory University and the University of GA where he received his law degree in 1913. He did post graduate work at Columbia. He practiced law in Waycross before coming to FL. Dewitt moved to Daytona Beach in 1922. He was elected city attorney of Daytona in 1925 before it consolidated with Seabreeze to become Daytona Beach. He was a member of the Elks, Knights of Phythias and Delta Tau Delta college fraternity.

2. Esther Deen, born 14 Oct 1893, Waycross, Ware CO, GA, died 24 Dec 1966, Waycross, Ware CO, GA, married 17 Sep 1931, Waycross, Ware CO, GA. Edwin Joseph Jordan, son of David Abraham Jordan and Leanna Taylor, born 07 Nov 1888, Ware CO, GA, died 03 Aug 1960, Ware CO, GA. Both buried Oakland Cemetery, Waycross, Ware CO, GA. Issue;

(1) Majorie Jordan, born 03 Jun 1917, Ware CO, GA, died 29 Sep 1987, Waycross, Ware CO, GA married 09 Oct 1937, Joshua Zachariah Little Spence, son of Joshua John (Josh) Spence and Linnie Bell Pittman, born 30 Apr 1915, GA, died 28 Mar 1987, Ware CO, GA. Both buried Oakland Cemetery, Waycross, Ware CO, GA.

(2) Happi Jordan, born about 1920, Ware CO, GA, married James Stewart, Jr

(3) Mary Jean Jordan, born 28 Sep 1924, Ware CO, GA, died 29 Dec 2000, Waycross, Ware CO, GA, buried Oakland Cemetery, Waycross, Ware CO, GA, married L R (Bob) Bailey, Jr.

3. George W Deen Jr, born 27 Mar 1896 Waycross, Ware CO, GA, died Jun 1959, Miami, Dade CO, FL. According to his WW I Draft Registration Card dated 05 Jun 1917, he was an automobile salesman for the Deen Motor Company in Waycross and was a member of the GA National Guard - was thought to be in the real estate business in Miami, Dade CO, FL.

4. Mary Augusta Deen, born 12 Feb 1898, Waycross, Ware CO, GA, died 01 Feb 1981, Macon, Bibb CO, GA, buried Oakland Cemetery, Waycross, Ware CO, FL

 

Source: The First Families of Flagler by Mary Ketus Deen Holland who cites as her sources, Public Records and Published Articles.

Additional sources used by the compiler were: 1900 Census, Ware CO, GA, Watertown, Dist. 89 (very poor image, very difficult to read); 1910 Census, Ware CO, GA, Waycross, Dist. 172, 27 Apr 1910 (Listed as Diller); 1920 & 1930 United States Federal Censuses, Waresboro, Ware CO, GA;
Waycross Evening News, Industrial Edition, Waycross, GA, June 1907, pg 12; The St Johns Tribune, 06 Feb 1913; The Flagler Tribune, Thursday, June 29, 1967; The Baxley News Banner, 10 Jun 1926; The Evening News, Daytona Beach, FL, 06 Feb 1931; Volusia, The West Side, page 177; History of Ware CO, GA, Revised, pg 154; This Magic Wilderness, Parts I & II, by Robert Latimer, Wilderness Publications, pgs 378-380; Huxford Genealogical Society Magazine, Vol. 05, No 1, Mar 1978, pg 836, cemetery listing; Huxford Genealogical Society Magazine, Vol. 13, No 1, Mar 1986; Our Heritage, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Phillip Deen by Mary Ketus Deen Holland, 1979, pg 30; History of Volusia County - Biographies, pg 313; World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 Record; Social Security Death Index Record; Florida Death Index, 1936-1998 Record; and Georgia Deaths, 1919-98.

Please send questions, corrections or additions to Sisco Deen, P.O. Box 637, Flagler Beach, FL 32136 or email him at Sisco_Deen@hotmail.com