Duval County FlArchives Biographies.....Ewing, John Allen 1862 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 12, 2008, 10:21 pm Author: B. F. Johnson (1909) John Allen Ewing While Florida offers opportunity for profitable employment in almost any capacity the development of her natural resources and the industrial field generally have been the basis of many fortunes and of the success of many men. To the man of ability and those who have capital to employ there is no more inviting field known. While the progress and development of recent years have been something wonderful to contemplate, still it may well be said that what has been accomplished is but the beginning. The extent of the untouched forests and of the fertile lands yet to be cleared and made to blossom as the rose can only be appreciated through an investigation. A tangle of primeval wilderness covers as rich soil as has ever been scratched and only awaits the touch of industry to become wealth producing. Naturally, ambitious men seek this section as a scene for activity and one of the comparatively recent accessions to the business and industrial interests of Florida is John Allen Ewing, now of Pensacola, a successful turpentine operator and naval stores factor, who began at the bottom and worked his way to the front. He is experienced in every phase of the business and his coming to Florida was a distinct accession to the business interests of the State. He is progressive, enterprising and public spirited, and has won an established place in the esteem of his fellow-citizens. John Allen Ewing is of Scotch descent, and comes from one of those families of early Scotch settlers, who located in eastern North Carolina in Colonial days. He is a native of North Carolina, having been born in Montgomery county, March 28, 1862. His father was D. I. Ewing, a pioneer turpentine operator and his mother was Liddie McCaskill Ewing. The Ewing family is widely distributed in America. The original stock all came from Scotland, a part by way of the North of Ireland, where they stopped for a generation. The general impression is that the two main branches first settled in New Jersey and North Carolina, but the records do not bear this out. The original spelling was Ewin, but the name is now generally spelled Ewing. The first of these Ewings appeared to have landed in New Jersey, in the early days of that colony, to have passed on to Pennsylvania and thence to Virginia where they settled in Bedford and Rockingham counties. At that time these Virginia Ewings adhered to the spelling Ewin, but a dispute having arisen over some property, in the generation of William Ewin, of Rockingham, one of the brothers adopted the present spelling of Ewing, which is now generally accepted. Another branch settled in New Jersey. The head of this branch was originally one Findley Ewing, a Scotch Presbyterian, who settled in Londonderry, Ireland, probably about 1670. He had a son, Thomas, who came to New Jersey in 1718, and located at Greenwich, Cumberland county. Thomas maried Mary Maskell. They had a son, James, who was in the Legislature of 1774, later was for many years auditor of public accounts and from 1797 to 1803, Mayor of Trenton. He was a trustee and elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton. Thomas married Alary Boyd, and they had one son, Charles, born June 8, 1780. This Charles Ewing was an accomplished scholar and able lawyer, who rose to be chief justice of New Jersey in 1824. He married Eleanor Graeme, daughter of Rev. James F. Arms-strong, for thirty years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. They had six children, one of whom, Dr. Francis A. Ewing rose to eminence as a physician. The Ewing descendants are widely scattered through that section, and the family has given many useful men to the country. The third branch is the North Carolina Ewings, from which line comes John Allen Ewing. The family tradition has it that originally five brothers came from Scotland, no two settling in the same colony. The immediate ancestor of the North Carolina family was John Ewing, who about 1787 was located in Queen Anne county, Md. He married Miss Pratt, and with a young family they moved to Richmond county, N. C. Isaac Ewing, son of John, married Phoebe Thompson, and they had John, William, Joseph, Isaac, Ann, Rebecca, Keziah, Mary and Phoebe, nine children. Mary and Phoebe did not marry, but the other children left numerous descendants, who today make up the family throughout the South. Daniel Isaac Ewing, (father of John A.) with his brother Thomas, and his sister, Sarah Ann, were children of J. E. Ewing, and great-grandchildren of John Ewing, the progenitor of the Richmond county family. All these Ewing families came from the same Scotch root, and their descendants today retain many of the strong characteristics which have made the Scotch such a notable people. The family has a long record of good citizenship in many States. John Allen was educated in the county schools of Montgomery county, and at an early age engaged in the manufacture of turpentine. In 1887 he began business for himself as a turpentine operator in Georgia and after successful operations in that State he removed to Florida, where he remained but a few months, going to Mississippi, where he was actively engaged in business until 1906, and where he still retains his interests, when he again removed to Florida, and located at Jacksonville. He is a member of the firm of Barnes, Jessup and Company, one of the prosperous enterprises which not only handles naval stores, but operates large turpentine plants both in Florida and in Mississippi. Mr. Ewing is also a Director in the J. R. Young Company of Savannah, Ga., extensive naval stores and commission merchants, and on November 3, 1908, he was elected President of the J. R. Saunders Company, of Pensacola, vice Mr. J. R. Saunders, deceased, of whom a sketch appears in this work. This is one of the largest concerns in the State. Mr. Saunders died in the prime of life, and his place had to be filled by a vigorous man of the highest capacity, and Mr. Ewing was chosen. This necessitated his removal to Pensacola, which is now his headquarters. He is an earnest advocate of the building of a system of good public roads throughout the State, and believes that the next most important question demanding attention is that of our monetary system. He is a member of the Methodist Church, and of the Free and Accepted Masons. In politics he is a Democrat. Digitized by Microsoft® Mr. Ewing was married April 4, 1905 to Malinda Cunningham, a daughter of John B. Cunningham of Noxubee county, Mississippi. They have one daughter, Adylein Ewing and a son John Allen Ewing, Jr. Additional Comments: Extracted from: FLORIDA EDITION MAKERS OF AMERICA AN HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WORK BY AN ABLE CORPS OF WRITERS VOL. III. Published under the patronage of The Florida Historical Society, Jacksonville, Florida ADVISORY BOARD: HON. W. D. BLOXHAM COL. FRANK HARRIS HON. R. W. DAVIS SEN. H. H. McCREARY HON. F. P. FLEMING W. F. STOVALL C. A. CHOATE, SECRETARY 1909 A. B. CALDWELL ATLANTA, GA. COPYRIGHT 1909 B. F. JOHNSON Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/duval/photos/bios/ewing88gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/duval/bios/ewing88gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/flfiles/ File size: 7.7 Kb