Tobias Anderson

Rosa Lee Mixson Anderson

In 1884 the Gold Rush was winding down with the times of quick fortunes passed, Tobias made his way to Florida by the way of Texas then taking a sailboat across the Gulf to Cedar Key Florida and then on to Bronson where he checked out the land that that he had bought sight unseen.  When he found the land was mostly sandhills, not suitable for farming, Tobias returned Cedar Key where he got a job at the Eagle Pencil Company, that made pencils from the readily available cedar trees in the area.  He would regularly return to see his parents where he met Rosa Lee Mixson, daughter of James Joyce Mixson, one of the original brothers who migrated to Florida.  In a short time, they were in love and married in 1884 and built a house next to his parents in Flemington.

Workers gathered outside E. Faber's Cedar Mill in Cedar Key, Florida, circa 1890
I like to think that Tobias is one of the men in the photo.