In 1849 Charles Jones Mixson had heard of a several South Carolina families moving to an area in northern Florida called Marion County where land was available at a very reasonable price.  From the reports he heard from those families, the area was not like southern Florida with its swamps but was more like their home in South Carolina with its oaks, hickory and pine  forests, but with warmer winters then South Carolina.   Charles talked about Florida with his three older brothers, Archibald#709, James#711, and Edward#712 but they were hesitant in moving there because war with the Seminole Indians which had been going on for a number of years.  As Charles thought more about it, said he wasn’t afraid of no Indians and in 1850 packed up everything they owned in a couple of covered wagons and moved to Florida, settling in Marion County, in an area called Flemington just south of Micanopy.   

After getting settled, Charles wrote back to his brothers telling them about the land and conditions and encouraged them to come down.  A few years later his older brothers Archibald, James and Edward followed and moved their families to Florida.  James settled near his brother Charles, Archibald settled in the piney woods region near present day Williston, and Edward settled on a lake near Johnson Prairie which later became to be known as Mixson Lake.

For the brother, James Joyce Mixson it would be a new start for in 1850 he and his wife, Maria Perry, had their fourth child, a daughter who they named Rosa Lee but Maria died short after the birth from complications.  Moving to Florida was leaving the sorrow behind, but with no wife a slave woman took care of his new daughter during the arduous wagon journey to Florida.

1852
Rosa Lee Mixson is Born

In 1852 James Joyce Mixson#711 (one of the four brothers) and his wife, Maria Perry, had their fourth child, a daughter they named Rosa Lee Mixson#749.  

Updated: 09-24-2021

1854