Colonel George C. Martin

Bio

“Col. George C. Martin was law partner and campaign manager for Florida's 18th Governor William S. Jennings (1901-1905).” ¹

“By 1889, Elliott's Florida Encyclopedia reports that Brooksville boasted 11 attorneys; Barnett, O.C. Butterwick, Coogler, W.S. Jennings, T.P Floyd, G.C. Martin, T. Palman, J.C. Phillips, J.C. Preston, G.V. Ramsey and T.M. Shackelford, who later served as a justice of the Florida Supreme Court from 1902 to 1917.

One of the more colorful attorneys of this period was George C. Martin. In 1906, Harry A. Peeples, a Tampa municipal judge, penned a memoir of his early experiences in Hernando, and he chronicled several stories about Martin.

In one he writes: "On my way to Tampa, I stopped in Brooksville and spent the night. The next morning there was some excitement near the courthouse ... Colonel George C. Martin, the famous Hernando lawyer, was to argue a 'pint of law' and old man Tuck told me that George Martin was the best expectorator before a judge in the whole State of Florida." So Peeples decided to stay for the trial.

At trial, the issue was fraud, and the defendant, known to be a rough character, usually carried a weapon. Martin, knowing the defendant's reputation, placed a pistol in his hip pocket before entering the courthouse.

As Martin rose from his chair, the pistol caught on the back of the chair and flipped onto the floor near the judge's bench. It was a spectacle watching Martin as he tried to pick up the pistol without the judge seeing him. At one point, Martin almost knelt down with a finger raised in the air as he was making his "pint of law" and retrieved his errant property.

In 1895, Francis B. Coogler became the second member of the Coogler family to enter the legal profession. Three later generations of this family also became attorneys.

In 1899, there were three members of the Florida Bar Association in Hernando County: George C. Martin, William Sherman Jennings and Francis B. Coogler.” ²

Col. George C. Martin lived at 701 E Fort Dade Ave Brooksville, FL 34601

CITATIONS/CREDIT: 

Florida Memory State Library and Archives of Florida¹
St. Petersburg Times April 30th, 2007 by Roger Landers²