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    1. Re: HAV-A-TAMPA Cigar Company
    2. April, Curiosity got the best of me, so I went ahead and looked up the little info I have regarding HAV-A-TAMPA Cigar Company. Here is the basic info....... Thomas William McELVY, born 1895 in GA, was vice-president of Hav-A-Tampa Cigar Company until his death in 1966. Daniel Hoyt Woodbery, born ca 1892 in Gadsden Co, FL, was president of Havatampa Corp. from 1947 until about 1972. Then his son-in-law, Doyle E. Catlton, Jr., became chairman of the board of Havatampa Corp. Mr. Woodbery died in 1973. He started with the firm at the age of 18 in 1910. He began as a bookkeeper for Eli B. Witt, founder of what later was to become Havatampa. Woodbery became president of the Witt wholesaling and cigar operations when Witt died in 1947. In 1962, Woodbery engineered a merger of Witt's wholesaling operations, the Havatampa operations and several wholesale houses into the current Havatampa Corp., one of the top 500 companies in the US. In 1972, the firm moved near Brandon from Ybor City. Ybor City had been Havatampa's home for more than half a century. I was wrong about McElvy being the founder. Oh, well! Anyway, McElvy and Woodbery were cousins and I am their cousin. Which one of these men was your g-g-grandfather? Maybe you and I are cousins??? Hope this helps. Liz Gerlits Palm Bay, FL

    11/27/1998 01:02:19