Duval County FlArchives Biographies.....Hartridge, John E. November 1849 - ************************************************ 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: Nancy Rayburn http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006128 September 2, 2015, 11:13 pm Source: Vol. II pg.64 The Lewis Publishing Co. 1923 Author: History of Florida, Past and Present Hon. JOHN EARLE HARTRIDGE, of Jacksonville, has long held secure prestige as one of the distinguished members of the bar of his native state, and is known as a leading corporation lawyer, in which connection he has been retained since 1885 as counsel for many of the largest and most important corporate interests in Florida. He is a scion of a family that was founded in the fair Southland many generations ago, the lineage tracing back to distinguished English origin, a representative of the Hartridge family having been a lord of the admiralty in England in the eighteenth century. JOHN EARLE HARTRIDGE was born in Madison County, Florida, in November, 1849, and is a son of Dr. THEODORE HARTRIDGE and SUSAN (LIVINGSTON) HARTRIDGE, the former a native of Savannah, Georgia, and the latter a daughter of MADISON L. LIVINGSTON, a prominent citizen of Abbeville, South Carolina. Doctor Hartridge was a young man when he came to Florida, and he gained high standing as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of his day in Madison County, both he and his wife having continued their residence in this state until their deaths. After preliminary educational discipline of effective order JOHN E. HARTRIDGE entered the University of Georgia, and after an elective academic course entered the law department of this institution and was graduated in 1873, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He had given close attention to the study of law, under effective preceptorship, and was admitted to the Florida bar within a short time after his graduation from the University of Georgia. He has since been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession at Jacksonville and is dean of the bar of Duval County, even as he is one of the eminent figures at the bar of his native state. In his graduation in the university he was selected anniversarian, the highest honor conferred by the literary society of the institution of which he was a member, and in his sophomore year he was awarded the medal for the best essay presented by any member of his class. Mr. Hartridge has been an influential factor in political affairs in Florida for many years. In behalf of the democratic party he has canvassed the state in every presidential campaign since that of 1876, when SAMUEL J. TILDEN was the democratic candidate for President. He was a young lawyer in the period marking the odious “carpetbag” regime in the South after the Civil war, when citizens all over Florida were being arrested for alleged election frauds, and when the citizens were brought to Jacksonville for trial before the United States District Court Mr. Hartridge loyally defended them, and that without compensation for his professional services. In 1888 he received from President Cleveland the nomination for the office of the United States district judge of the Northern District of Florida, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge THOMAS SETTLE. The United States Senate at the time had a strong republican majority, and as General BENJAMIN HARRISON had been elected President the nomination of Mr. Hartridge was permitted to lapse, in order that the new republican president might have opportunity to select an appointee for the bench of the District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Mr. Hartridge served from 1880 to 1882, inclusive, as city attorney of Jacksonville, and in 1894 he was elected to represent his district in the State Senate. Of a notable phase of his political career the following record has been given: “In August, 1896, he created a sensation in political circles by publishing an open letter repudiating the silver platform of the Chicago national convention of the democratic party, and espousing the gold standard. He took an active part in the movement to repudiate Mr. Bryan and his platform, a movement which culminated in the national democratic convention held at Indianapolis on September 2nd. Mr. Hartridge was a delegate to that convention and was one of its moving spirits, he being conspicuous on the floor and in committee deliberations. He it was who seconded the nomination of General JOHN M. PALMER for President of the United States as an exponent of true democracy.” On 22 September, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hartridge and Miss SUSAN FATIO L’ENGLE, youngest daughter of FRANCIS F. and CHARLOTTE J. (PORCHER) L’ENGLE, of Jacksonville. The children of this union are four sons and one daughter. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/duval/bios/hartridg147bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/flfiles/ File size: 5.2 Kb