A Life in Florida

By George Edwin Albritton

An outstanding presentation of life during the "Great Depression" and the dangers of Military flying which he experienced. A "near death" flying experience convinced him that there is a "God of of the Universe" and he has served Him faithfully since that experience

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 11, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462034048

George Edwin Albritton

George Edwin Albritton was born in Polk County, Florida in the central highlands of the state. He grew up on a citrus farm and experienced the"Great Depression"during his formative years. When World War II began,he was 20 years old and enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served as a Navigator on B17 and B29 bombers for three years. He was active in the citrus industry and retired in 1986 as General Manager of a cooperative citrus packing operation. He now lives in Waters Edge, an independent living facility in Lake Wales, Florida. He is 90 years of age in 2011.

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Copyright © 2011 by George Edwin Albritton.

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ISBN: 978-1-4620-3403-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4620-3404-8 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 06/30/2011

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OUTLINE

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Early Years

The Great Depression

World War II

Post War Personal Depression

Marriage and Family

Death and Separation

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CHAPTER I

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A son was born to John and Abby Albritton in 1776 in Pitt County, North Carolina and they named him Thomas. Shortly thereafter they sold their property and moved on to South Carolina where they lived for several years and then moved on to Effingham County Georgia where Thomas grew up.

Thomas married Polly Strickland in 1801 and she bore him ten children and died in 1824. In 1828 he then married her cousin Rhoda Parker and she bore him seven children. He fathered seven children after he was 52 years old. He later moved to Ware County Georgia and five of his sons served in the Georgia militia in the Indian wars of the 1840’s in Florida. Thomas died in 1865 and five of his sons moved to Florida. One of them was Matthew Richard Willoughby who homesteaded on the south fork of the Alafia River in 1866 in Chicora, Florida which was about 10 miles southwest of Mulberry, Florida.

He died there in 1885. His wife, Civility bore him seven sons and one daughter, one of the sons being Owen Harley, who married Mollie Hutchinson and one of their sons was James Jones who married Susan Mann in 1914.

This was an undeveloped land with vast forests of virgin pine timber. The people lived off the land with cattle and hogs, citrus groves and made syrup from sugar cane which was sold in Tampa. It was a primitive life using horses and oxen as automobiles were not available until the early part of the twentieth century. Jones and Susan had two children born in 1915 and 1918 and lived in Brewster, Florida.

In 1910 a railroad was built from Polk County to Boca Grande to haul phosphate for distribution throughout the world for the newly developing phosphate industry. The American Cyanamid Company bought vast tracts of land in the Chicora area and fenced it off denying the settlers the grazing and water for their livestock. The phosphate workers called a strike in 1920 and Jones sold his general merchandise store in Brewster and moved to Bradley Junction, about 5 miles north of Brewster while looking for a citrus grove to buy in eastern Polk County.

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Chapter II

Early Years

Into such a world on May 31st, 1921, in Bradley was born a third child to Jones and Susan, a son whom they named George Edwin. The older brother and sister