Gazzam and Frederick

Gazzam and Frederick Families

Brief Biography of Antoinette Elizabeth Gazzam (1862-1922) and John Stanley Frederick (1853-1910) BY: Renea Lynn Adams Fialkowsky great great granddaughter

Antoinette Elizabeth Gazzam Frederick was born Sep 27, 1862 to Audley William Gazzam and Mary Elizabeth VanDeusen. Audley was a Major in the Civil War in the 103rd Pennsylvania Volunteers Infantry.

Audley's brother, Joseph Murphy Gazzam, was a very prominent individual in Pittsburgh, PA. He was an attorney and involved with many political offices. The city of Gazzam, PA was named for Joseph.

Antoinette married John Stanley Frederick in 1883. John had studied law and passed the Philladelphia Bar then practiced law in Philladelphia. His health became such that he was advised to live in the South. In 1892, leaving mine developement in Cartersville, GA, Antoinette and John came to Coconut Grove, FL to find out how true the rumors of a prosperous land were. Their children followed them later by sailboat. John soon became a real estate broker in Coconut Grove, FL. In 1895, after hearing a civil engineer was needed in Miami, FL, the family moved to Miami and pitched a tent in the Ft Dallas Park where they lived until enough lumber was delivered from Jacksonville, FL to build a house. In January 1896 John assisted A. L. Knowlton in dividing the town site of Miami into blocks and lots. John then became involved with the Everglades drainage project. Also working with the drainage project were two of John and Antoinette's sons, Edwin and Thomas. John served as City Councilman, founded the Biscayne Engineering Company, and from 1904-1908 was assistant Clerk of Circuit Court. But he was best known as County Engineer.

Antoinette was a member of The Miami Women's Club from it's beginning in 1900. She was one of the 21 pioneers listed in the Yearbook of Founder Members who began purchasing books which in turn became the first library. Antoinette was President of the Miami Women's Club from 1903 - 1909. In 1910 the club was honored by the Florida Federation of Women's Clubs by electing Antoinette as President. She held this position for 10 years. Antoinette also served a term as President of The Housekeepers Club (now the Coconut Grove Women's Club) and was a charter member of Trinity Episcopal Church. Antoinette served as Librarian for the Women's Club from the time of John's death in 1910 until 1916. John contracted pleurisy during one of his surveying trips into the Everglades.

In 1916 Antoinette moved to Moore Haven, FL to make a home for her sons, who were then surveying that area. Soon after her arrival in Moore Haven, she set up a lending library in her home to help begin building the community.

In 1922 during a visit to her daughter in Daytona, FL Antoinette suffered a stroke and passed away June 13. John and Antoinette are buried in the Miami City Cemetery, Miami, FL in the family plot along with John's parents, Thomas and Martha (Gilbert) Frederick and their son and his wife, Thomas and Ruth (LaMarr) Frederick. Thomas the father was one of the first burials in the cemetery in 1897.

Sources:
Letter from the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, written by Alice Frederick Brady, daughter of John and Antoinette Frederick.
Woman's Who's Who of America.

Here are some of my other webpages:

Photos of John and Elizabeth Frederick
Photos of John and Elizabeth Frederick and their link to the Fugate and Brady families.

Gazzam and Frederick Family
Photograph of Antoinette Elizabeth Frederick and her father Audley W Gazzam

Descendants of William Gazzam

Miami City Cemetery, Miami, FL
Photos of Frederick headstones

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This page belongs to Renea Fialkowsky