Biography of Samuel J. Barco, Dade County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. 
II, page 160, 1923.

BARCO, SAMUEL J. who was an artillery officer with the Expeditionary Forces in France, is a 
member of a prominent Florida family, has achieved success and honor in his profession as a 
lawyer and is a former county judge of Dade County.

Judge BARCO was born at Bronson in Levy County, Florida, May 1, 1889, son of JAMES MADISON 
and SUSAN CAROLINE (NIBLACK) BARCO, also natives of this state.  The Barco family came from 
North Carolina and were pioneers in the section of Florida comprising Marion, Levy and Citrus 
counties.  JAMES MADISON BARCO who was born in the western part of Marion county, held a 
prominent place in the public affairs of the state for a number of years, was clerk of the 
Circuit Court of Levy County, and during the Cleveland administration was register of the 
United States Land Office in Florida.

SAMUEL J. BARCO was liberally educated, both in a general way and in preparation for his 
chosen profession.  He attended public school in Ocala, spent two years in the noted preparatory 
school of the Bingham Military Academy at Ashville, North Carolina, and for three years was a 
student in the Literary and Law Department of John B. Stetson University at DeLand, Florida.  
Mr. BARCO began the practice of law at Miami in 1913, and the only interruption to his continued 
work as a lawyer came during the World war.

He joined the Third Officer's Training Camp at Camp Gordon, Atlanta, January 1, 1918.  He was 
commissioned as second lieutenant, and had the good fortune of going to France in May, 1918, with 
the Three Hundred and Nineteenth Regiment of the Eighty-second Division.  On reaching France he 
was assigned as a student in an artillery school, and after completing his intensive training was 
transferred to the Eighteenth Field Artillery of the Third Division.  He was with this command 
until the armistice and was then on duty along the German border four months.  He received his 
honorable discharge April 28, 1919.

Judge BARCO handles general civil practice, and now at Miami is attaining rank as a maritime port, 
he is specializing somewhat in admiralty law.  Ever since beginning practice he has enjoyed 
considerable prestige in the democratic party in his home city and county.  In September, 1914, 
he was appointed county judge to fill a vacancy, and was elected to the same office on November 3,
of that year, serving out the un-expired term until 1916.  In the democratic primaries of that 
year he was nominated for election for the regular term of four years, and had served something 
more than a year of that term when he resigned at the beginning of 1918 to join the Officers' 
Training Camp.  Judge Barco is a member of the Miami Chamber of Commerce and the local post of 
the American Legion, and the Greek letter fraternity Sigma-Nu.

He married Miss BLANCHE WEMPLE, a native of Nebraska.  Their two children are BETTIE SUE and 
JAMES MADISON.