Contributed by Rebecca Buxton

Regarding Almirante:

From Post Offices in Okaloosa County:
Established                Name                    Discontinued
1827, Jan. 31            Yellow Water         1828, May 05 to Almirante
1828, May 05           Almirante               1836, Jul. 21
1840, Jul. 27             Almirante               1867, Mar. 29
FLORIDA:  IT'S SCENERY, CLIMATE, AND HISTORY.  (A Complete Handbook and Guide) 1876  
pp. 312-336  published by J. B. Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia  Author:  Sydney 
Lanier. "Almirante:  A small settlement in Walton County, West Florida near the 
Alabama Line."

HISTORY OF OKALOOSA COUNTY,  by Fran Roberts
"The first white settlers came to the area about 1820-1825.  They were Scotsmen 
probably from North Carolina and settled around the Yellow
River.  The first church was Presbyterian, built in 1828.  Soon settled were the 
communities of Almirante (Almarante), Bethel, Beaver Creek, Oak Grove and Laurel 
Hill, Dorcas and Mossy Head."

In the vertical files of the Genealogical Section of the Valparaiso Library, I 
found a copy of a letter dated 15 March 1984...from a Major
John A. Baggett to Mrs. Fitzgerald, who was at that time a librarian at Val-P.  
The following is a direct quote from that letter:
"Enclosed is one of the more important items I promised to send while there last 
year." "This important document has until now been available only at the Alabama 
Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.  I have added the maps, 
cover, and in your copy the Florida lists, and had several copies spiral bound.  One such has been mailed to:  Andalusia Public Library, Huntsville Public Library, Birmingham Public Library and the Escambia County (Ala.) Historical Society."

"Anyone familiar with the early family names of the Florida panhandle will see at a 
glance that a number of the florida settlers stopped over
in Conecuh County for a few months or a few years, before migrating further south 
into Florida.  For those less familiar with these early
settlers, i have added several 1818 Tax Lists and the later 1820 Conecuh County Census, 
will show the southward migration of these early
families.  Most of the Conecuh County families were living in the vicinity of Fort 
Crawford in 1818 and all of the Florida lists show
families settled in the vicinity of what is now Oak Grove and Laurel Hill on or near 
the Yellow River which was previously named "Yellow
Water River", and originally named Rio Del Almirante (River of the Admiral) by the 
Spanish." "As evidence of this, one can still find tombstones of some of these pioneers 
in that area in such places as the old "Lost" Yellow River Church Cemetery in the woods 
900 paces behind the present day Yellow River Church and Cemetery at Oak Grove and at 
the Clary Cemetery, Magnolia Cemetery and the old Almirante Cemetery across the Yellow 
River nearer present day Laurel Hill, Florida.  I go to this length to point this out, 
because I suspect this early 1819 settlement at Yellow River has been largely ignored 
in the wake of the more publicized settlement at Euchee or Uchee Valley."

OKALOOSA COUNTY FLORIDA CEMETERIES, Vol. 1: Compiled by The Genealogical Society of 
Okaloosa County.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
No.    Name                    Area
Section                            Page
1        Almarante            Laurel Hill        Sec. 7, TSN,
R22W        1
Page one lists it as:  "Almarante Cemetery, Laurel Hill, Florida" 'Location:  South 
of Laurel Hill, Florida on west side of State Road
85.  Cemetery consists of three sections- the oldest, and largest, is next to the 
highway with the other two sections abutting on the North
and West of this section.  Survey updated in 1984 by Martha Rogers." There are 986 
tombstones listed in the oldest section....with about 24
carrying the name DAVIS.


--
Beckie Buxton
e-mail:  buxtontb@sprintmail.com