LEWIS GASKIN
Lewis Gaskin was born in Williamsburg, South Carolina on January 18, 1822. His father was James and his mother is unknown to us. We believe she must have died in South Carolina and is buried there. There is no record of his mother to be found.
Lewis had evidently married and his wife had died somewhere between South Carolina and Florida. Lewis had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth born in 1847. Lewis, his daughter Mary Elizabeth and his father along with Lewis’ three brothers William, Samuel and James left South Carolina and traveled south stopping in Jefferson County, Florida. When they left South Carolina no one knows for sure.
In 1848 James, the father, married Mary Bishop. Together James and Mary had six children. They were Tabitha, Sarah, Winniford and Delilah, who are twins, Jefferson and Rilason.
Lewis met Sarah Jane Holder and they were married February 1850. The family left Jefferson County and traveled south to the Lake Buddy area also known as the Gaskin Settlement to the old timers.
James traveled to Polk County. His wife Mary had passed away and he met and married Martha Jane Daniels. Martha brought three sons into the marriage. William, Samuel and John Wesley Daniels. James and Martha then had six children together. They were Fisher Byrd, Ransom, Willis, Emily, Adeline Susan and Annie Mae. James and Martha moved their family to Lake County. James and Martha along with some of their children are buried in Groveland in Lake County.
Lewis and Sarah had three children, James David, Lewis Jackson and Eliza Matilda. They owned quite a bit of land in the area. Together the father and sons raised cattle and had orange groves. Sarah died June 7, 1886. She is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery in Dade City. On November 18, 1886 Lewis then married Lina Jane Jasse Bryan. Jasse had seven children. They were William, Charley, James, Susan, Robert, Lilly Mae and Florence. Three of the children had died prior to her marriage to Lewis they were William, Robert and Florence. Together Lewis and Jasse had two children. They were Melvin and Agnes Mary. On April 17, 1892 Jasse passed away. She was buried in Prospect Cemetery.
In 1960 Prospect Cemetery was declared not a cemetery and the family members were contacted and were able to move the graves to another cemetery. Jasse was never moved because her son Melvin was only five when she died and did not know the exact spot she was in.
After Jasses death Lewis married Martha Jane Boyette Taylor on November 17, 1892. Martha had three children. They were Lillie Edna, Henry Newton and Len who died as a child. Together they had two children Bertie and Annie Laurie.
Lewis passed away August 20, 1905. Martha passed away in 1905 also. Upon his passing Lewis left two small children that were raised by their half sister, Lillie Edna. He also left Agnes Mary under age and she was raised by her brother Melvin. Lewis is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery next to his wife Sarah.
He registered his mark and brand with Hillsborough County in October 1855. The United States Census of 1870 for Hernando County indicated that the family was residing in the Cedar Tree District.
During his lifetime Lewis was registered with several companies for the war. It was reported that at the age of 13 Lewis was with a company fighting the Seminole Indians in Florida. At that time he said the when he became a grown man he would come back to Florida to live. And he did.
Another time Lewis and his partner were trying to out run a group of Indians. They came to the river and they decided to split up. Whichever one made it back to camp would warn the others of the danger they had encountered. Lewis was shot in the foot with an arrow but was able to escape the Indians by hiding in trees and following the river. He made it back to camp and when he got there he seen his partner. Both of them had been able to escape from the Indians.
Another story is of the time that Lewis went out side of his house to get his ax. He always left it standing beside the door. As he went out he noticed his ax was gone. He pretty well knew where the ax was. Lewis then cut a hickory switch and went to the house where he thought the ax was. Sure enough there was his ax. He never said a word to the boys that were on the porch even though he knew they had taken his ax. He went over to the ax, gave it a good whipping with the hickory switch and told the ax it had better be at home the next morning when he got up. The next morning when he got out of bed and went outside, one thing was for certain. The ax was back at the door where he had left it.
Each child prospered in their own way and raised their families to have good strong family values.
