Manuel A Gomez (1857-1937) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Manuel A Gomez

Born 16 Mar 1857 in Old Cutler, Dade County, Florida, USA

Son of Antonio Manuel Gomez and Mary (Hernandez) Gomez

Brother of Sarafino Gomez [half], Francesco Gomez, Antonio Pious Gomez and Peter Gomez

Husband of Anna Lilla (Donnelly) Gomez — married 5 Sep 1885 in Key West, Monroe, Florida, USA

Descendants

Father of Mary Gomez, Frank W Gomez, Manuel Antonio Gomez Jr, Mary Hilda (Gomez) Russell, Catherine Maggie Gomez, Harry Langford Gomez, Willard Antonio Gomez, John Paul Gomez and Leo J Gomez

Died 9 Feb 1937 at age 79 in Key West, Monroe County, Florida, USA

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Profile last modified 12 Aug 2022 | Created 29 Jun 2016

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Biography

Manuel was born in 1857 in Florida to Manuel Gomez and Mary Fernandez, both born in Spain. According to a newspaper clipping on his Find A Grave Memorial, Manuel was kidnapped by a Seminole Indian as a child. A Seminole chief was instrumental in obtaining his release. Manuel was one of the first Spanish pioneer settlers in Florida, along with his father who was an Indian trader.

Manuel married Lillie Ann Donnelly in Key West on September 5, 1885.^[1]

By 1910, Manuel was a widower with a house full of children in Key West:

Manuel Gomez Jr. Son Male 22 Florida
Mamie H Gomez Daughter Female 20 Florida
Catherine M Gomez Daughter Female 18 Florida
Harry L Gomez Son Male 16 Florida
William A Gomez Son Male 14 Florida
Paul J Gomez Son Male 12 Florida
Leo Gomez Son M 9 Florida

Manuel's brother, Francesco Gomez, and a sister-in-law, Addie Mchugh, were also living in the home. Manuel was working as a house painter.^[2] By 1920, he was an empty-nester.^[3]

He passed away in 1937 of mycarditis.^[4]^[5] Burial was in the Key West Cemetery in Key West, Monroe County, Florida.^[6]

Manuel Gomez, Sr and Anna Lilla Gomez are buried at the Key West City Cemetery. Catholic Section. Lot#23. Lot was purchased by Manuel Gomez per the Cemetery survey pre-1940 Key West Records. Neither have Grave markers as confirmed with the caretaker. You can identify the location easily by locating Willard A. Gomez or Mary H (Mary Hilda Gomez) Russell. Currently there is a US Flag flying on a tall pole there. Nov 2018.^[7]

NOTE: The 1910 census has his father's birth place as Portugal and his mother's as Cuba. On the 1920 census, they are both listed as having been born in Spain.

Sources

↑ "Florida Marriages, 1830-1993", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:23C6-6S9 : 25 June 2015), Manuel Gomez and Lillie Ann Donelly, 1885.
↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MVKN-XWC : 29 October 2015), Manuel Gomez, Key West Ward 6, Monroe, Florida, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 128, sheet 4A, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,374,178.
↑ "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNY1-VFF : 7 December 2015), Manuel Gomez, Key West Ward 6, Monroe, Florida, United States; citing sheet 2B, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,820,225.
↑ Individual Record of Burial, Key West Cemetery, Key West, Florida
↑ "Florida Deaths, 1877-1939," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FP64-MCC : 24 December 2014), Manuel A. Gomez, 09 Feb 1937; citing Key West, Monroe, Florida, reference fn 3179; FHL microfilm 2,135,946.
↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 157470018 [1]
↑ Information noted by Wendy Ehrenkaufer on 17 Nov 2018.

Florida State Census, 1885 - See Household 132 on (p.15 & 16). This starts with Manuel. The census taker did not write GOMEZ as his surname but this is Manuel GOMEZ. "Florida State Census, 1885," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6XSD-SN?cc=1457854&wc=M6PP-XTG%3A41820601%2C41819602 : 1 April 2016), Monroe > Population > image 17 of 315; citing NARA microfilm publication M845 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). Household continues on next page (p. 16) with Peter GOMEZ, Antonio GOMEZ, Frank GOMEZ, Mary GOMEZ and others. "Florida State Census, 1885," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6XS8-XB?cc=1457854&wc=M6PP-XTG%3A41820601%2C41819602 : 1 April 2016), Monroe > Population > image 18 of 315; citing NARA microfilm publication M845 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNZ4-WM7 : 29 July 2017), Manuel Gomez in entry for Mary Gomez, 1880; citing enumeration district ED 112, sheet 188B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d), roll 0131; FHL microfilm 1,254,131.
"United States Census, 1860," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YBT-6FS?cc=1473181&wc=7QMS-HDM%3A1589423167%2C1589425086%2C1589425149 : 24 March 2017), Florida > Dade > The Settlement of Fort Dallas > image 1 of 1; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
Marriage records, 1829-1931; indexes, 1826-1945. Film 007621653. Image 242/998 https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/341167?availability=Family%20History%20Library
Census, obits, Family recollections

Memories: 3

Enter a personal reminiscence or story.

Wendy Ehrenkaufer

Manuel Gomez, Sr is buried at the Key West City Cemetery. Catholic Section. Lot#23. Lot was purchased by Manuel Gomez per the Cemetery survey pre-1940 Key West Records. His wife Anna Lila Gomez is also buried in the same lot. Neither have Grave markers as confirmed with the caretaker. You can identify the location easily by locating Willard A. Gomez or Mary H (Mary Hilda Gomez) Russell. Currently there is a US Flag flying on a tall pole there. Nov 2018

posted 16 Nov 2018 by Wendy Ehrenkaufer [thank Wendy]

Wendy Ehrenkaufer

Pioneer Settler of South Florida Dies. Manuel A Gomez Kidnapped by Indian 70 Years Ago. (Special to the Bulletin) KEY WEST. Fla. – The death of Manuel A. Gomez, a member of St. Mary, Star of the Sea parish, whose funeral was held from the parish church, the Rev. Wm. J. Reagan, S.J., pastor, officiating, removes a link with the pioneer days of Florida. Mr. Gomez, who was eighty years old, was one of the first Spanish settlers of Florida. As a child he was kidnapped by the Indians; a Seminole chief effected his rescue, and the Indian who did the kidnapping had the tendons of his legs cut as a punishment, making him go through life as a cripple. Mr. Gomez’s father first came to Dade County, Miami, where he was an Indian trader with the Seminoles. Mr. Gomez had an interesting and at times an exciting life, but no incident in that life was more vividly impressed on his memory than the days during which he was held in captivity in the Indian camp. 27 Feb 1937

posted 26 Oct 2018 by Wendy Ehrenkaufer [thank Wendy]

Wendy Ehrenkaufer

South Florida Newspaper: Newsleader. 1 Nov 1978. A PIONEER FAMILY. AT 91, HIS MEMORIES HAVEN’T FADED. BY CLARA JONES. A man gets to be 91-years-old and the years take their toll. Good health is not what it used to be and the mind works slower. For one man the memories have remained sharply edged against the inroads of time. Manuel Gomez is such a man and although his physical needs must be taken care of in a nursing home, Homestead Manor, he needs to help to recall the day when he was an electrician and told the inventor of the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, how to use the instrument. It was 1917 and Gomez was working for a man who had established a telephone exchange in Coconut Grove and W.J. Matheson who sent Gomez to install a telephone in the residence of Dr. Fairchild. Gomez had the telephone in place and was giving instructions on its use to a white bearded man who was watching from a nearby chair. “The old fellow,” said Gomez, “chuckled and listened.” Mrs. Fairchild entered the room and explained to Gomez that he was talking to the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, who also happened to be her father. “It was, “ recalled Gomez, “life’s most embarrassing moment.” His trade as an electrician brought Gomez into contact with history. In World War I, when he was working in the Key West Navy yard he installed a telephone for Thomas Edison, inventor of the electric light. Edison had an office in the old post office building adjoin the Navy yard and was doing research work in connection with the war effort. “Perhaps on depth bombs,” surmises Gomez. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the San Francisco World Fair in 1939 from his Key West base, he did it an automobile to which telephone wires had been strung by Gomez, who was with the Coast Guard at that time. Back in 1910, he laid the first piece of underground telephone cable in Miami. It ran from the Seybold building to Whaler’s drug store across 12th Street which is now Flagler Street and where the telephone exchange owner by Whaler and a man named Fuzzell, was located. When Gomez strung the first telephone line to the homestead of George Merrick’s father which later became the site of Coral Gables, he cut his own telephone poles out of the pine trees. Gomez and his wife came to Homestead in 1945, when he retired after 26 years of service with the U.S. Coast Guard. They lived on NW First Avenue and Fifth Street and had seven children. A daughter, Mrs. Mabel Simmons is a telephone company employee in Homestead. Mrs. Williams’ (Simmons) daughter and several in-laws, all work for the Bell System. Gomez was born in Key West. His father Manuel Gomez St., was born in a community named Cutler, the site of Old Cutler Road in 1857 and his grandfather, Antone Gomez was one of the early Spanish settlers of Key West. In later years, he became a founder of the Cutler community. Homestead’s Manuel Gomez has a newspaper accounts of the kidnapping of his father as a boy by an Indian and his rescue by a Seminole chief with whom the Cutler Gomez family traded. For punishment the chief cut the leg tendons of the kidnapper making his a cripple for life. Later in the century when relations with the Seminoles became strained, Manuel Gomez SR., moved his family to Key West. “My father,” says daughter Mable Simmons, “used his bicycle for his telephone work in Key West and when he retired liked to watch Homestead’s telephone crews at work.” “Hell, I installed more telephone using my bicycle that you fellows can with your truck, “ he’d tell them

posted 2 Aug 2018 by Wendy Ehrenkaufer [thank Wendy]

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