Biography of A. C. Armistead, Lakeland, Polk County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol 
III, page 176, 1923.

ARMISTEAD, A. C. is one of the older residents of Lakeland, has been active in its affairs 
for many years, and is one of the best known men in the county.  He is city treasurer and 
tax assessor of Lakeland.

Mr. ARMISTEAD was born at Abingdon, Virginia, September 9, 1875, member of an old and honorable
 family of Virginia.  His parents, JAMES J. and OLLIE (ARNOLD) ARMISTEAD, were also natives 
of Virginia, and in 1888 came to Florida, spending two years at Brooksville, and then locating 
at Bartow, where they lived out their lives.  All of their nine children reached mature years,
A. C. ARMISTEAD being the sixth in age.

He was a boy when he came to Florida, and he finished his schooling in Bartow.  Mr. ARMISTEAD 
for about twelve years was engaged in the drug business.  For one year and one-half his home 
was at Kissimmee.  He returned to Lakeland in 1905, and for several years operated a profitable 
business in the tanning of alligator hides.

Mr. ARMISTEAD was appointed by the city council as treasurer and tax assessor of Lakeland in 
1912, in 1913 was reappointed, and in 1919 was regularly elected to that office.  In 1921 he 
was reelected, and at that time received the largest vote ever given any candidate in the city, 
getting 1,130 out of the 1,316 votes cast.  Mr. ARMISTEAD has now been in this office for eleven 
years and is thoroughly familiar with every detail connected with the finances and taxation of 
the city.

In 1903 Mr. ARMISTEAD married MAY IRENE GRIFFIN.  Her father is J. E. GRIFFIN, a venerable 
resident of Lakeland, now eighty-six years of age, and one of the pioneers of Polk County.  
He was the builder of the W. & B. V. Railroad for the development of the phosphate resources 
of Florida.  Mr. And Mrs. ARMISTEAD have one daughter, OLLIE, now seventeen years of age.  
They lost their two sons, JAMES and A. C. Jr., in infancy.