Calhoun County FlArchives Biographies.....COXWELL, THOMAS L.  June 24, 1880 - 
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Nancy Rayburn http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006128 July 27, 2008, 2:32 am

Author: The History of Florida: Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1923, Vol. II pg.273

	COXWELL, THOMAS L.  Few of the men of Calhoun County who have worked 
their own way to positions of independence have a better claim to the title of 
self-made man than has THOMAS L. COXWELL of Blountstown, who occupies the 
position of county assessor.  Left an orphan when still a lad, without friends 
or finances, and with only the rudiments of an education, he entered upon his 
independent career when still in his early teens, and through his own 
initiative and resource has made his life a success.
	Mr. COXWELL was born June 24, 1880, in Worth County, Georgia, and is a 
son of GEORGE and SARAH (JOHNSON) COXWELL.  He is of Welsh descent on his 
father’s side, his grandfather having been born in Wales, whence he immigrated 
in young manhood to the United States, and took up his residence in Georgia, 
where he passed the remainder of his life as a farmer, and when the 
controversy between the South and the North assumed proportions that meant 
war, was employed in the shops of the Confederate government at Montgomery, 
Alabama.  While testing a cannon he was wounded in the head which affected his 
hearing for life.  In 1883 he and Mrs. COXWELL, also a native of Georgia, came 
with their family to Florida, and here rounded out their lives in the vicinity 
of Blountstown, where they followed agricultural pursuits.
	THOMAS L. COXWELL attended the public schools of Calhoun County until 
he was fifteen years of age, at which time he was forced to seek employment in 
order to support himself.  He was engaged as a farm hand, on public work, in a 
sawmill, and in fact, at whatever honorable employment presented itself, and 
in the meantime furthered his education by studying at night, after his hard 
day’s work was through.  His first real position was as postmaster at Chipola 
Landing, a little community of Calhoun County about eight miles from 
Blountstown, from which the office has since been removed.  While there he 
became well known to the people as a young man of progressive spirit and 
integrity, and in 1912 was elected county treasurer, a position which he 
filled efficiently during that and the following year.  His next office was 
that of county assessor, in which he has since been retained by three 
successive re-elections, having been the incumbent since January 1, 1915.  Mr. 
COXWELL has an official record that is second to none for efficiency and 
devotion to duty, and as a result is to be numbered among the men who have 
contributed materially to their community’s advancement.  He has made a 
careful study of conditions existing in the territory under the jurisdiction 
of his office and thus has been able to regulate assessments in a way that is 
eminently fair to all.  He is a stanch democrat in politics, a Blue Lodge 
Mason fraternally, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
	On January 23, 1908, Mr. COXWELL married at Blountstown Miss ANNA 
SIMPSON, daughter of SAMUEL and EMMELINE (ELERBEE) SIMPSON, farming people and 
natives of Georgia, the latter now deceased, and to this union one child has 
been born, VERA.


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