Biography of Theodore Lamar Belser, Bonifay, Holmes County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. 
III, page 116, 1923.

BELSER, THEODORE LAMAR assumed on the 1st of January, 1921, the office of County Judge of 
Holmes County, and in this office, to which he was elected in the autumn of 1920, for a 
term of four years, he is giving an administration that is fully justifying the popular 
verdict that compassed his election.  He is one of the loyal and progressive citizens of 
Bonifay, the attractive little city that is the judicial center of the county, and he takes 
due pride in claiming Florida as the state of his nativity, his birth having occurred near 
Neals Landing, Jackson County, on the 23rd of May, 1891.  Judge BELSER is a son of NATHANIEL 
and NANNIE (GILBERT) BELSER, who still reside on their excellent homestead farm in Jackson 
County, the father having been born in Alabama and the mother in Georgia.  IRVIN BELSER, 
grandfather of THEODORE L. of this review, was born in Alabama and was a resident of Alabama 
at the time of his death, the maiden name of his wife having been HARRIET PACE.

The home farm in Jackson County compassed the childhood and early youth of Judge BELSER, and 
in the public schools his educational work included the discipline of the high school at 
Abbeville, Henry County, Alabama, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1910.  
For six years Judge BELSER was engaged in independent farm enterprise in Holmes County, 
Florida, on rural mail route No. 1 from Geneva, and thereafter he was actively identified 
with saw-mill and lumbering enterprises in this county until his election to the office of
County Judge, in the fall of 1920.  The judge is a well fortified advocate of the principles 
of the democratic party, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Modern Woodmen of 
America, and he and his wife hold membership in the Baptist Church.

At Bonifay, on the 14th of February, 1914, was solemnized the marriage of Judge BELSER to 
Miss ABBIE LEE GILLIS, daughter of MURDICK GILLIS, who is one of the representative farmers 
of Holmes County.  Judge and Mrs. BELSER have four children; EULA MAY, HARVEY J., MURDICK, 
and LOUISE.