by Ray Allen

Ray's maternal grandfather ("Papa") was a captain on the S.S. Florida, seen here steaming into port through the Government Cut (a navigation channel to the Port of Miami) that his father, George Washington Dillon assisted industrialist Henry Flagler with the design and execution.

These pages represent a departure for Floridata in both content and format. While this article does reference plants and inventive gardeners, it is actually a family history. Written by my friend Ray Allen, it chronicles the exploits and adventures of three generations from pioneer times to the founding of the State of Florida to the present day. The stories track family sojourns stretching from Milton, Florida in the western panhandle to Key West to Miami to pre-Castro Cuba. Ray's fascinating and often humorous recollections encompass the building of Flagler's Overseas Railroad to Key West, the installation of one of Miami's first Chiefs of Police (his grandfather) and hobnobbing with notables ranging from railway tycoons to Minsky burlesque showgirls, to midwestern industrialists building pleasure palaces in early Miami.

Floridata serialized the first part of Making Miami - A Family History in the Spring of 2007. This Spring I'm happy to bring you the second part that recalls Ray's father's side of the family called "The Hannah Sisters" - Jack 4/17/08

Making Miami - A Family Story
Part 1 - Mama and Papa: About My Mother's Side of the Family

• Introduction to Part 1
• Chapter 1 - Mama's Family: The Moodys
• Chapter 2 - Papa's Family: The Dillons
• Chapter 3 - Raymond & Adalaide
• Chapter 4 - The Chief
• Chapter 5 - The Roaring Twenties
• Chapter 6 - The Harbor Pilot
• Chapter 7 - The Inventor
• Chapter 8 - Habana Vieja (Old Havana)
• Chapter 9 - Mama
• Chapter 10 - Adventures by Boat
• Chapter 11 - The Last Years

Part 2 - The Hannah Sisters: About My Father's Side of the Family

• Introduction to Part 2
• Chapter 1 - The Trip Up From Miami
• Chapter 2 - Welcome to Milton
• Chapter 3 - The Husbands
• Chapter 4 - The Food: From Formal to Fish Fry
• Chapter 5 - Sundays at St. Mary's
• Chapter 6 - Southern Cooking and Canning, with Help
• Chapter 7 - Rural Adventures and Aunt Alma's Flowers
• Chapter 8 - The Music Man, Miss Quick, The Composer, and the Honeymooners
• Chapter 9 - A Working Woman
• Chapter 10 - Pond Creek and the Trestle
• Chapter 11 - The Hermit, Our Uncle Johnny
• Chapter 12 - Endings

Copyright 2007 Ray Allen - Used by Permission
6/10/08 Floridata.com L.C.

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