Source: The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol.II pg.83 1923
Author: The History of Florida: Past & Present
DART, ERNEST, Jacksonville attorney since 1914, prominently connected
with the professional and business interests of Florida, is a member of an old
and distinguished Georgia family, and he laid the basis of his reputation as a
lawyer in that state.
He was born at Brunswick, Georgia, February 22, 1872, son of URBANUS
and ANGELA (McCONN) DART. His father was born in Brunswick. Georgia, in 1840,
and died in 1911, and his mother was born at Quitman, Georgia, in 1850, and
died in 1907. They were the parents of two sons and two daughters, and the
two now living are ERNEST and Mrs. RUSSELL RICHARDS, of Atlanta, Georgia.
URBANUS DART was educated in a military school at Marietta, Georgia. He was a
member and captain of the Brunswick Rifles, and at the outbreak of the Civil
war joined as a member and captain of that company, Stonewall Jackson’s
command, as a sharpshooter, and served in Jackson’s Brigade during the Civil
war. The Brunswick Rifles is the only military organization in the south that
has been maintained continuously since 1861. At the last reunion of the
survivors of the old company in 1921 there were only three members left, HENRY
HOLMES, JOHN J. SMITH and J. J. SPEARS, all of Brunswick, Georgia. After the
war URBANUS DART practiced law at Brunswick for a number of years, and later
was engaged in the steamboat business. At the battle of Gettysburg he
captured a sword belonging to R. C. KNAGG of a Michigan regiment, and at his
request the sword was laid on his breast and buried with him. He was a member
of Ocean Lodge No. 241, F. and A.M., of Brunswick, Georgia, served as alderman
and mayor of Brunswick, was a democrat and a member of St. Mark’s Episcopal
Church.
ERNEST DART was carefully educated attending North Georgia Military
School at Dahlonega, Georgia, and in the University of Virginia he studied law
under the eminent jurist and law teacher, JOHN B. MINOR, who was dean of the
law department of the University of Virginia for fifty years. Mr. DART left
the university with the class of 1892, and for over twenty years he carried on
a successful general practice at Brunswick, Georgia, being local counsel of
the A. C. L. southern and A. B. & A. railroads. In 1914 he removed to
Jacksonville and in addition to practice in all the courts he acts as special
counsel for the Atlantic Coast Line Railway Company. While in Georgia Mr.
DART served two terms as county attorney of Glynn County, was elected to the
Legislature in 1898, but resigned his seat to join the army during the Spanish-
American war. He went into the service as captain of the Brunswick Rifles,
his father’s old company, and he wore the captured sword belonging to his
father in the Civil war. He was honorably discharged November 18, 1898, and
was appointed major and lieutenant-colonel of Georgia Volunteers after the
war. Mr. DART was appointed solicitor, City Court of Brunswick, Georgia,
February 8, 1909, by governor HOKE SMITH, serving four years, and throughout
Governor Smith’s administration he was a lieutenant-colonel on the governor’s
staff. Mr. DART was affiliated with Ocean Lodge No. 214, F. and A. M., at
Brunswick, Georgia, and was also a member of the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, at
Brunswick, Georgia. For eight years he was organist of St. Mark’s Episcopal
Church at Brunswick, and is now a member of the church of the Good Sheppard at
Riverside, Florida. He is a lifelong democrat in politics. Mr. DART traces
his ancestry back to Sir JOHN DART of Devonshire, England, and the first of
the family in this country was Dr. CYRUS DART, who served as a surgeon in the
American army during the Revolutionary war. Mr. DART’s ancestors also saw
service in the Mexican war in 1812. Mr. DART is eligible to membership in the
Sons of the Revolution and is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and
a past commander of Thomas W. Woodruff Camp of the Spanish-American War
Veterans of Jacksonville.
In 1901 Mr. DART married HELEN FORSYTHE, daughter of JOHN C. FORSYTHE,
a native of Inverness, Scotland. Her mother was EMILY COMPTON, a cousin of
CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW. Mr. DART lost his first wife in 1911. Their three
children are: EMILY ANGELA, ELINOR WINN and ROBERT ERNEST. On December 29,
1912, Mr. DART married CAMERON LAY, a native of South Carolina, of Scotch
ancestry and related to the distinguished Holt and Hickman families of North
and South Carolina. They now live at 1824 St. Johns Avenue, Jacksonville,
Florida.
Presented by Nancy Rayburn