Walton County FlArchives Biographies.....McCaskill, Robert E. L. June 4, 1871 - 
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Nancy Rayburn http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006128 October 30, 2015, 10:36 pm

Source: Vol. II  pg.126-127  The Lewis Publishing Co. 1923
Author: History of Florida, Past and Present

        ROBERT EDWARD LEE McCASKILL. The study of the career and 
accomplishments of a successful man is full of educational value, especially 
when such an individual has achieved tangible and practical results. A record 
of the accomplishments of some men in the brief span of their life’s period
reads like a romance. Without knowledge of attending conditions, it seems
almost impossible that one man might climb so high or find time to superintend
the details of such great interests, yet there are men of today whose
capability and whose genuineness endow their work with permanence. Such a man
is ROBERT EDWARD LEE McCASKILL, president of the R. E. L. McCaskill Company, of
DeFuniak Springs, and one the leading real estate, land and timber business
operators of West Florida.
	Mr. McCaskill belongs to one of the old and honored families of Walton 
County, where he was born at Eucheeanna, June 4, 1871, a son of the late JOHN 
JETT and SARAH ELIZABETH (FLOURNOY) McCASKILL, and a grandson of KENNETH and 
SARAH (KNIGHT) McCASKILL and of JOHN and MARY (KNOWLES) FLOURNOY, the 
grandparents on both sides being natives of North Carolina who were pioneers of 
Walton County. JOHN JETT McCASKILL was born in Florida, where he spent his 
entire life, and was connected with numerous extensive enterprises. While a 
large measure of material success attended his efforts he was best known and is 
most generally remembered for his true, spiritual character. Broad-minded, sym
sympathetic and generous, he was not content to forge ahead himself, but sought
to bear others along with him and share the burdens of life with those less
fortunate. The love his associates bore him was blended with the respect his
capabilities commanded and his influence was felt by all who had the honor of
knowing him. DeFuniak Springs, the scene of his operations, felt his loss, as
any community does when one of its real men is taken away. His operations in
timber alone covered the territory line between Tallahassee and Pensacola; he
was a leading merchant and operator of naval stores, and an agriculturalist
whose broad acres produced abundant crops. A pioneer in all worthwhile
movements, he was, at the time of his death, president of the First National
Bank of DeFuniak Springs, and one of the organizers and a stockholder and vice
president of the West Florida Naval Store, at Pensacola, in addition to which 
he was prominently identified with various other great interests. To the poor,
his death was nothing short of a tragedy, for he was ever their friend. He
received from life much; he deserved much, but, he also gave much. A man of
energy, acumen, force of character, liberality of views, and, above all,
sterling integrity, he had all those qualities which inspire confidence.
	ROBERT EDWARD LEE MCCASKILL attended the public schools of Walton
County and spent one year at the West Florida Seminary at Tallahassee,
completing his education at the age of fifteen years and at that time starting
work with his father, in the mercantile and lumber business at Freeport, the
elder man being the owner of a large sawmill and lumber yard on Choctawhatchee
Bay. He remained with his father from 1888 until 1912, in which year he located
at DeFuniak Springs and embarked in the real estate, land and timber business.
It is probable that Mr. McCaskill has done more than any other one man to
encourage the development and colonization of West Florida, having advertised
extensively all through the North and Middle West, including such leading
cities as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City, etc. His land
holdings are of the most extensive character. Mr. McCaskill is one of the
trustees of Palmer College of DeFuniak Springs, and a member of the
Presbyterian Church.
	On September 15, 1895, Mr. McCaskill married at DeFuniak Springs, Miss
FLORENCE A. GRIFFIN, daughter of JUDSON and ANGELINE (JUDSON) GRIFFIN, of New
York State, both now deceased. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
McCaskill: HAROLD JUDSON, MARGARET ELIZABETH, ANGELINE LUCILE and EVELYN
JUANITA. Mr. and Mrs. McCaskill are greatly popular at DeFuniak Springs, where
they are active in all worthy movements. Fraternally Mr. McCaskill is a Knight
Templar Mason and Noble of the Mystic Shrine, an Elk and a member of the
Woodmen of the World.


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