History of Columbia Co. Pg. 60 - "In 1850, of the 202 slave owners in the county, Garrett Vanzant, William B. Ross, John Peoples, G. W. Ellis and J. Blue joined the club of planters with more than 20 slaves, but the largest, William Ross, only held 39. One hundred and fifteen owned 5 or less. In Middle Florida at the same time the larger plantations had as many as 200 slaves." Pg. 68 - "The county had five whiskey merchants (B. C. Branning, Thomas Dexter, John Dalany, Allen Histon, William Ross) and four saloons......William B. Ross, who also owned 28 slaves, paid $45.64, the highest tax in the county." Pg. 74 - William B. Ross was in a group that drove off an official state surveying party. " William B. Ross met the surveying party near the courthouse. Ross bluntly told Randolph "Sir, you cannot pass.". When Randolph persisted, asserting that he was there as an official agent of the state, his compass and surveying chains were seized. He was told that any additional attempts would be at the peril of his life. Randolph quickly judged that the issue was not worth a life, so he returned to Tallahassee...." Pg. 75 -" In 1859 Alligator became Lake City. One tradition holds that the legislative council changed the name at the insistence of Mrs. William B. Ross who feared her daughter's friends at the school she was to attend would ridicule her if she was from a town called Alligator. Whether or not Mrs. Ross had such a direct role cannot be documented, but the residents of Alligator certainly did not oppose the new name." The only Francis is a Timothy Francis - pg. 123 "Between the fall of 1868 and 1871 sixteen Republicans, mostly blacks, were murdered in Columbia County...Timothy Francis had been threatened by the local KuKlux because he had been active in politics.".... Hope this helps some. Louise Sullivan -----Original Message----- From: Bookers127@aol.com <Bookers127@aol.com> To: FLCOLUMB-L@rootsweb.com <FLCOLUMB-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Thursday, February 24, 2000 7:06 AM Subject: [FLCOLUMB] Re: history of Columbia County >I was wondering if someone would look up the following names; > >William B. Ross >Adolphus Ross >Emma Francis > >thank you for you effort > >