Madison S. Perry

Infobox Governor
name = Madison Starke Perry


order = 4th
office = Governor of Florida
term_start = October 5, 1857
term_end = October 7, 1861
lieutenant =
predecessor = James E. Broome
successor = John Milton
birth_date = 1814
birth_place = Lancaster County, South Carolina
death_date = March 1865
death_place = Rochelle, Florida
party = Democratic
spouse =
profession =
religion =

Madison Starke Perry (1814–March 1865) was the fourth governor of Florida.

Early life

Madison Starke Perry was born in Lancaster County, South Carolina, the youngest child of Benjamin Perry and his wife Mary Starke. He came to Florida in 1845 and helped found the village of Rochelle, Florida in Alachua County. He became a leader among the plantation owners in Alachua County and was elected to represent the county in the Florida House of Representitives in 1849. The following year he was elected to the Florida Senate.

Perry as governor

Perry ran for and was elected governor in 1856, assuming office on October 51857. As Florida's fourth governor, Perry helped bring about the settlement of a long-standing boundary dispute with Georgia and encouraged the building of railways in the state. During the years before the Civil War, Governor Perry foresaw the possibility that Florida might secede from the Union, and in 1858 he urged the reestablishment of the state’s militia. Florida did secede three years later, on January 111861. Perry then called for the evacuation of all federal troops from Florida, intending to replace them with the militia.

Last years

After his term as governor ended on October 71861, Perry served as colonel of the 7th Florida Infantry Regiment until illness forced his resignation on April 30, 1863. He retired to his plantation in Rochelle, where he died in March 1865, shortly before the end of the American Civil War. Survived by his wife and two children, he was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Rochelle.

The city of Starke, Florida is named in his honor.

External links

* [http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=a69b224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD Biography at National Governors Association]
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~flalachu/fl7thinf.html History of the 7th Florida Regiment]
* [http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/museum/collections/governors/about.cfm?id=11 Official Governor's portrait and biography from the State of Florida]