by Ray Allen
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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 (Coming May 14)

About the Author
Ray Allen was born and raised in Miami. He is a fifth generation Floridian and third generation Miamian. All four of his grandparents were born in Florida before statehood which gives him a unique family history. Ray attended FSU where he met his wife Chy, a New Englander who came to Florida State thinking she'd find palm trees and beaches, and of course found moss-draped oaks and southern accents, but loved it just the same. Ray spent his first career in NYC and Miami advertising agencies as a copywriter. Twenty-eight years ago he and Chy left the corporate world and turned their hobby, wildflower gardening, into a business. Today, their company American Meadows, is America's No. 1 wildflower seed source, and a major supplier of bulbs and perennials to homeowners nationwide on the internet at AmericanMeadows.com. They have two children and two grandchildren (so far?) continuing the Allen family presence in the ongoing story of Miami and the people of Florida.

Copyright 2007 Ray Allen - Used by Permission
3/1/07 Floridata.com L.C.