Leon County FlArchives Biographies.....Meginniss, Benjamin A. October 17, 1884 - 
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Nancy Rayburn http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006128 January 29, 2014, 2:13 pm

Source: The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. II , page 6-7 , 1923.
Author: The History of Florida: Past & Present

       MEGINNISS, BENJAMIN A.  It is a fact that needs no proof at this late 
day that the great State of Florida has many other claims to distinction than 
her beautiful scenery, her fertile soil and delightful climate, and one of 
these recognized claims is her contribution of able, thoroughly educated young 
men to her citizenship.  Hence the composition of her professional bodies are 
above the average, and this is particularly noticeable in her courts of law.  
Perhaps no city in the state has a more able bar then Tallahassee, many of its 
members being men of brilliant attainments and prominent also in other lines of 
effort.  One of the representative members of this body is BENJAMIN ANDREWS 
MEGINNISS, a former county judge of Leon County.
	Judge MEGINNISS was born at Tallahassee, Florida, October 17, 1884.  
His parents were BENJAMIN A. and MARY HAMILTON (SCREVEN) MEGINNISS, the latter 
of whom was born at Tallahassee, but of old South Carolina ancestry.  The 
father of Judge MEGINNISS was a native of Maryland, but the greater part of his 
life was passed at Tallahassee, where he was a man of consequence.  In his 
earlier business career he was a merchant, later became associated with the 
private banking firm of G. W. Saxon & Company, and for twenty-five years was 
cashier of the Capital City Bank of Tallahassee.  To some extent he was active 
in democratic political circles, was a liberal contributor to charity and was a 
faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  He was prominent in the 
fraternal order of Odd Fellows, and for twenty years was grand treasurer of the 
Grand Lodge of Florida.  Both parents of Judge MEGINNISS have passed away, his 
father dying in 1900, at the age of fifty years, and his mother in 1918, in her 
sixty-eighth year.
	Enjoying exceptional educational privileges, BENJAMIN A. MEGINNISS won 
his A. B. Degree at the Florida State College in 1903, and his LL. B. degree 
from the University of Virginia in 1906, and in the same year, although but 
twenty-two years old, was appointed county judge of Leon County, and served on 
the bench with remarkable judicial efficiency until he resigned in 1918.  He 
had early identified himself with the Young Men's Christian Association, and 
after retiring from the bench offered his services to this organization and 
accompanied a unit to Cannes, France, and served six months during the World 
war as secretary of the entertainment committee.  He returned to the United 
States in 1919 and open a general practice in his native city.
	While still serving as county judge Mr. MEGINNISS served also as 
Government appeal agent for Leon County, his willingness and capacity for work 
seeming boundless as well as efficient.  In January, 1921, he was again 
publicly honored, being appointed United States commissioner for the Northern 
District of Florida, in which office he served until the following April, when 
he resigned in order to accept the appointment of chief clerk of the House of 
Representatives in the Legislative session of 1921.  Notwithstanding the 
demands made upon his time and attention by the responsibilities of office, 
Judge MEGINNISS has never been inattentive in regard to civic affairs relating 
to the general welfare of Tallahassee, or the encouragement of substantial 
local enterprises.  He is a director of the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, 
and served for eighteen months as secretary of that important organization, and 
is a stockholder in the Exchange Bank of this city.
	Judge MEGINNISS married in 1910, at Gadsden, Alabama, Miss MARY 
MURPHREE, who is a niece of Doctor A. A. MURPHREE, president of the Florida 
State University at Gainesville, and a daughter of Hon. WALTER T.  MURPHREE, an 
attorney and formerly a member of the Legislature and mayor of Gadsden.  Judge 
and Mrs. MEGINNISS have two children, BENJAMIN ANDREWS, Jr., and MARY 
HAMILTON.  The family belongs to St. John's Episcopal Church, in which Judge 
MEGINNISS is a vestryman.  Mrs. MEGINNISS graduated in 1910 from the Florida 
State College for Women, with the degree of A.  B., and takes a prominent part 
in much of the pleasant social life of the city.  She has literary talent, and 
is correspondent from the capital to the newspapers of Jacksonville, Tampa, 
Pensacola and Miami.  She has a ready wit and wields an able pen, and her 
contributions are made features in these journals.
	Judge MEGINNISS is a Mason and Shriner, being a member and a past 
master of Jackson Lodge No. I, F. and A. M.; past high priest of Florida 
Chapter No. I, R.A.M.; past eminent commander of St. Omar Commandery No. 12. 
K.T.; and of Morocco Temple, Jacksonville, A. A. O. N. M. S.  He is also a past 
exalted ruler of Lodge No.937, Elks, at Tallahassee.  Judge MEGINNISS has led 
too busy a life to admit of much travel beyond his native state or taking part 
in many of the relaxations that appeal to tired business men, but he makes an 
exception of tennis and is recognized as no easily vanquished antagonist in 
this game.

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