Duval-Putnam County FlArchives Biographies.....Race, Herbert Brearly 1876 - 
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Author: B. F. Johnson (1909)

Herbert Brearly Race

    Experience is the most valuable of schools and the splendid financial
condition of the State of Florida and the soundness of her banks today is
certainly in part due to the lessons of the past. The State had not recovered
from the wildcat banking experiences of the early days when the Civil War served
to bring about renewed conditions of acute financial distress. Reckless bond
issues, defalcations of public officials and the extravagance of the decade
following the war constituted a burden from under which it seemed impossible to
emerge, but how the State has arisen to prosperity and solvency is history.

    Wise banking laws and jealous scrutiny of banking methods, have made it
impossible for any except men of the most unimpeachable character, integrity and
ability to attain any prominence in banking circles and the banks of Florida,
State and national, are officered by as prominent and high standing men as there
are in the financial world. Prominent among them is Herbert Brearley Race, of
Jacksonville, who entered upon the financial career that has proven so
successful when only sixteen years of age, and has risen by degrees holding
every position in a bank from messenger to president.

    While Jacksonville has been the scene of his success in life he is a native
of Cheraw, S. C, where he was born, July 20, 1876, his parents being Asa A.
Race, and Sarah (Keeler) Race. His father's people came from Germany and settled
in Pennsylvania in Colonial days, while his mother's ancestors were English
settlers in Connecticut where they made their home in 1770.

    His father was a merchant and removed to Florida with his family in 1886,
settling in Palatka, where the son attended the public schools as a youth. When
only sixteen years of age he went to work for the Southern Savings and Trust
Company of Jacksonville, which has since become the Florida National Bank. He
showed a natural aptitude for business, was prompt, courteous, attentive to duty
and by his ability won promotion from time to time until he had held every
position in the bank where he originally went to work, up to cashier.

    In 1907 he was elected Vice-President of the Peoples Bank and Trust Company
and in 1908 was elected President. The same year he was elected President of the
St. Lucie County Bank of Jensen, and in 1909 he was elected President of the
Brevard county State Bank of Cocoa. In 1903 he was elected a Governor of the
Jacksonville Board of Trade.

    He saw three years service in the State Militia. He is a Democrat in
politics and a member of the Congregational Church. He is a leading member of
the secret fraternities, including the Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

    Mr. Race was married September 7, 1901, to Emma E. Hernandez, a daughter of
L. R. and Sarah H. Hernandez, of Jacksonville. They have one daughter, Erma
Keeler Race.


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

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