Ossian B. Hart

Ossian Bingley Hart (January 17, 1821 – March 18, 1874) was the tenth Governor of the U.S. state of Florida, and the first governor of Florida who was born in the state. Born in Jacksonville to Isaiah Hart, one of the city's founders, he was raised on his father's plantation along the St. Johns River. He was a lawyer in Jacksonville. He moved to a farm near Fort Pierce, Florida in 1843, and was a founding member of the St. Lucie County Board of Commissioners.[1] In 1845, Hart became Florida State Representative for St. Lucie County. In 1846 he moved to Key West where he resumed his law practice. In 1856, he moved to Tampa, Florida. Among his clients was "Adam", a black man who was lynched after the Florida Supreme Court declared his murder conviction a mistrial.[2]: 269 

Ossian Bingley Hart
10th Governor of Florida
In office
January 7, 1873 – March 18, 1874
LieutenantMarcellus Stearns
Preceded byHarrison Reed
Succeeded byMarcellus Stearns
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
In office
1845
Personal details
Born(1821-01-17)January 17, 1821
Jacksonville, Florida
DiedMarch 18, 1874(1874-03-18) (aged 53)
Jacksonville, Florida
Political partyRepublican
SpouseCatherine Smith Campbell Hart
Signature

Despite his upbringing, Hart became a Republican and openly opposed secession from the United States, causing some difficult times for him during the American Civil War. Following the war, he helped reestablish the governments of the state and of the city of Jacksonville. In 1868, he was appointed a justice of the Florida Supreme Court. In 1870, he ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress, only to be elected governor two years later on January 7, 1873. He appointed Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs as Florida's first African-American Superintendent of Public Instruction. During his tenure, "limited civil rights legislation was passed, and some improvements were made in the state's weakened finances."[3] Weakened by the campaign, he fell ill with pneumonia and died in Jacksonville. He was succeeded by lieutenant governor Marcellus Stearns, Florida's last Republican governor until 1967.

References
  1. Shofner, Jerrell H., History of Brevard County volume 1
  2. Allman, T. D. (2013). Finding Florida. The True History of the Sunshine State. Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 9780802120762.
  3. "Ossian Bingley Hart". myflorida.com (Florida Department of State). Retrieved April 20, 2018.

Further reading
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