A google search for "Dean Adcock" quickly retrieved this picture of the Baptist minister who officiated at the 1925 funeral of my ancestor Mary Elizabeth Blakesley (#35) in Orlando.It led me to a good resource for anyone researching Baptist roots in the Sunshine State:
http://www.floridabaptisthistory.org/
There I found the Rev. Adcock was born 10 July 1876 in Tennessee. So, he would have been 49 years of age at the time of the Blakesely funeral.
As a younger man, he studied both at Union University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Upon graduation, he was called to Louisiana and served as a pastor in the towns of Mansfield, Bunkie, and Leeville.
It was in Mansfield that he met and married Miss Frances Rives.
The Adcocks came to Florida in 1912, when he was called to the pastorate of First Baptist Church of Tallahassee.
He became pastor of First Baptist Church of Orlando in 1920, so could not have known Mary Elizabeth for very long before she died in 1925.
He left Orlando in 1938 to become pastor of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church in St. Petersburg. But, he would have still been in town when Mary Elizabeth's husband (and distant cousin!!) Edson McClure Blakesley (#34) died in 1931. Perhaps he officiated at his funeral as well?
He retired in 1943, and died the following 28th of May.
Some new peregrination starting points from this find:
* The web site referenced obituary details to be found in Florida Baptist Witness on 1 June 1944 (page 1) and 22 June 1944 (page 12). Is this publication indexed? Could it include references to any of my Baptist ancestors in Florida, even if they weren't clergymen?
* The web site also referenced Patricia J. Birkhead's 1996 book We've a Story to Tell: A History of First Baptist Church, Orlando, Florida. [ISBN 1577360206.] I own a copy. Can it tell me if the Blakesleys were members of the congregation, or did Rev. Adcock officiate at funerals of non-members, too?
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