Duval County FlArchives Biographies.....Jackson, William K. November 18, 1886 - ************************************************ 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 October 27, 2015, 9:50 pm Source: Vol. II pg.125-126 The Lewis Publishing Co. 1923 Author: History of Florida, Past and Present WILLIAM KENNETH JACKSON a record of achievement of more than local significance has marked the career of this representative member of the bar of the Florida metropolis. Mr. Jackson was born at Box, a village now known as Denver, in the State of Tennessee, on 18 November, 1886, and is a son of WILLIAM KENDRICK JACKSON and MEDORA (MONTGOMERY) JACKSON, both likewise natives of Tennessee, where the former was born in Humphreys County, August 13, 1848, and the latter, in Hickman County, December 3, 1852. Of the family of three sons and three daughters all are living except one daughter, who died in infancy. The father was reared and educated in Tennessee and became a successful commission and general merchant at Box, that state. In 1891 he came with his family to Florida and engaged in orange growing and the phosphate business at Inverness. Later he was there identified with the real estate and hardware business until 1913, since which year he has lived virtually retired. He represented Citrus County in the Florida Legislature in 1899-1901-1903, and was a member of the State Senate in 1905-07. He served one term as mayor of Lakeland, this state, was treasurer of the Florida Real Estate Association, and was one of the organizers of the Florida Retail Hardware Association. He held for a number of terms the office of Master of Inverness Lodge of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he has been active and influential in the councils of the democratic party in this state, as a citizen of distinctive progressiveness and public spirit. WILLIAM KENNETH JACKSON was a lad of about five years at the time of the family removal to Florida, and he acquired his preliminary education in the schools of Citrus County. He thereafter entered the University of Florida, in which he was graduated in 1904, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the law department of the historic old University of Virginia he was graduated as a member of the class of 1908, and with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In 1905 he held the position of recording clerk of the State of Florida. In 1908 Mr. Jackson initiated the practice of his profession in Jacksonville, is a member of the law firm of Jackson & Nixon, but in March of the following year he received appointment to the position of assistant prosecuting attorney of the Panama Canal Zone. Later he was made assistant attorney for the Isthmian Canal Commission and the Panama Railway Company, and in April, 1910, he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the Canal Zone. In addition he was supervisor of elections in Panama in 1912. In 1914 he was appointed United States district attorney for the Canal Zone, which office he retained until 1915, when he resigned to return to Jacksonville, Florida, and resume the private practice of law. He built up a substantial and representative law business and was one of the able and popular members of the Duval County Bar. When the nation became involved in the World war Mr. Jackson forthwith gave evidence of his patriotism and his readiness for service. In 1918 he was appointed captain in the Chemical Warfare Service of the United States Army, and was made a member of the Finance Board of Control of the War Department. He continued his work in the Army until 19 February, 1919, when he returned to Jacksonville and to practice of the law. He served as chairman of the Jacksonville Chapter of the American Red Cross in 1920, 1921 and 1922, and in 1922 as secretary of the Florida Bar Association. He is a democrat in political allegiance; his basic Masonic affiliation is with Temple Lodge No. 23, A. F. and A. M., and in Florida Consistory of the Scottish Rite he has received the thirty-second degree. September 9, 1916, recorded the marriage of Mr. Jackson and Miss KATHERINE MITCHELL, who was born in the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a daughter of the late United States Sen. JOHN L. and HARRIET (DANFORTH) MITCHELL, the latter of whom survives her honored husband, as do also six of their nine children, the son WILLIAM having attained the rank of brigadier-general and the American Aviation Service in the World war. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have three children: DANFORTH, KATHERINE and RICHARD MONTGOMERY. The late Col. JOHN L. MITCHELL, father of Mrs. Jackson, was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 19, 1842, and his early education was gained in the schools of his native city. Thereafter he continued his studies at Hampton, Connecticut; Chester, England; and Munich and Dresden, Germany. In 1862 prior to his twentieth birthday anniversary, he enlisted for service as a Union soldier in the Civil war, and he was advanced to the rank of first lieutenant of Company I, Twenty general and the American Aviation Service in the World war. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have three children: DANFORTH, KATHERINE and RICHARD MONTGOMERY. The late Col. JOHN L. MITCHELL, father of Mrs. Jackson, was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 19, 1842, and his early education was gained in the schools of his native city. Thereafter he continued his studies at Hampton, Connecticut; Chester, England; and Munich and Dresden, Germany. In 1862 prior to his twentieth birthday anniversary, he enlisted for service as a Union soldier in the Civil war, and he was advanced to the rank of first lieutenant of Company I, Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until incapacitated by physical disability. Thereafter impaired eyesight caused him to abandon the study of law, but he became a figure of prominence in connection with public affairs in his native state. In 1871 and again in 1875 he was elected a member of the State Senate of Wisconsin; in 1873, Governor Washburn appointed him colonel of the First Regiment of the Wisconsin National Guard; in 1878 he went abroad, where he remained for years; and after his return to Milwaukee he served as president of the Board of Education of that city, president of the State Agricultural Society, and president of the Northwestern Trotting Horse Breeders Association. In 1886 he was elected a member of the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and to this position he was reelected in 1892 and 1898. In 1888 the colonel became a member of the National Democratic Committee, and in 1890 he was elected a representative of Wisconsin in the United States Congress, the following year having recorded his selection for the position of chairman of the National Democratic Committee. In 1892 he was reelected to Congress, and in the following year he was elected United States senator from Wisconsin, a position which he retained until 1899. With his family he passed the ensuing three years in Europe, and in 1902 he graduated from the University at Grenoble, France. In 1904 he was appointed a member of the Wisconsin State Board of Agriculture, but his death occurred on 29th of June of that year. He was a distinguished member of one of the honored and influential pioneer families of Wisconsin. On July 1, 1922, Mr. Jackson moved to Boston to specialize in general practice in Latin-American and Spanish law. He represents the United Fruit Company as general attorney in charge of Tropical divisions, and his offices are with them at 131 State Street. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/duval/bios/jackson231bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/flfiles/ File size: 8.0 Kb