Since my husband is from Quincy (and also grew up working tobacco) we have some books on Gadsden Co, too. This following was scanned from David Avant's book "History of Gadsden County". I saw no reference to Have-A-Tampa but wonder if Hav-A-Good Cigar Co merged with a Tampa co later?? David does not mention McKelvy or Garcia. >178 HISTORY OF GADSDEN COUNTY Around 1840, when markets were found for the leaf, the growers stopped making cigars, and it was not until after the Civil War that the home factories appeared again, when a few farmers kept the culture of tobacco alive by selling their small crops of leaf in the manufactured state. Arch and Angus Nicholson, sons of Dr. Malcolm Nicholson, prominent early pioneers, were credited with growing tobacco and manufacturing cigars during the Reconstruction period, which they sold under their own label. (Ancestors of the owners' of the "Nicholson Farmhouse Restaurant") The first attempt to manufacture cigars at Quincy on a large scale was made in 1887, when the Owl Cigar Co. built a factory on North Madison street. The company brought to Quincy a number of Alsatian cigar makers and employed many of the local young men to roll cigars. A story in the Florida Herald in 1892, discloses the company were employing 500 people and making 150,000 cigars weekly, which was a large operation at that time. Labor troubles and the reorganization of the parent company in New York resulted in the permanent closing of the Owl factories in 1893. The Owl company made several brands of cigars which are still popular with the trade, and sold nationally, including the Robert Burns, Little Bobbie, Owl, and Copedure. Several Gadsden countians started small factories about this time, including Many years passed before another attempt was made to manufacture cigars on a large scale at Quincy. However, small factories operated continuously. In 1925, J. L. McFarlin and J. T. Budd established the Hav-A-Good Cigar Co., which was the largest since the old Owl factory was closed. This business was liquidated following Mr. McFarlin's death in 1927. In 1930, J. Walden Corry, son of Wm. M. Corry, who had operated the Owl factory, started business in the old Wilson packing house where McFarlin and Budd had been located He acquired some of the old firm's equipment and brands, including the Hav-A-Good Cigar, one of the oldest brands in the trade, registered in 1889. < ~ Peggy Munroe peggy@talstar.com My most wanted: ACOSTA~ALDERMAN~ARNAU/ARNOW~CARLTON~CASE~CLEARY~HOLDEN~HOPE~LAMB~ MAGEE~MUNROE/MUNRO~PARDEE~WALLIS -----Original Message----- From: LIZGERLITS@aol.com <LIZGERLITS@aol.com> To: FLORIDA-L@rootsweb.com <FLORIDA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, November 28, 1998 7:39 AM Subject: Havatampa >April, > >I have no other info regarding Havatampa. I searched my books on Gadsden Co, >FL where McElvy and Woodbery are from and do not find the name Charles Garcia >listed. I looked there because Gadsden Co, FL was the center of the tobacco >industry, I believe from the mid 1800's until the mid 1970's. (I was born and >raised in that area and I worked in the tobacco fields all summer every summer >from the time I was 6 years old until I was 17 years old. I worked 10 hours a >day, Monday thru Friday.) I found a number of tobacco companies and their >founders, but no Charles Garcia. However, this does not mean that your info is >entirely incorrect! > >McElvy was vice-president of Havatampa Cigar Company. My source does not say >who founded the company. Eli B. Witt was founder of what later was to become >Havatampa Corp. Witt started the business in a 9' by 30' store on Franklin >Street in downtown Tampa in 1910. The name of the store was "Hole in the >Wall". Woodbery merged Witt's wholesaling operations, the Havatampa operations >and several other operations into the current Havatampa Corp. > >If I were you, I would contact the Havatampa Corp. and the Chamber of Commerce >in Tampa. But, whatever you do, don't give up. > >Liz > >