SOME EDMONDSONS OF SARASOTA, FLORIDA, USA.

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At 1232, 12th Street in Sarasota. Florida, USA, just to the east of the junction with North Tamiami Trail, is the Whitaker Cemetery. William Henry Whitaker was the first permanent white settler in Sarasota County. He worked hard at selling dried salt mullet and roe to Cuban traders as well as raising a herd of cows, but he found time to go a-courting Mary Jane Wyatt, the daughter of a local plantation owner.

William and Mary had ten children. As the family grew up and deaths occurred, burials were made in the family cemetery. In the 1930s the Whitaker family gave the cemetery to the Daughters of the Americam Revolution on the understanding that any lineal descendents of William and Mary Whitaker and their spouses could be buried there as long as space remained. There are 85 plots in all, with 39 taken to date.

William and Mary's second child, and the second white child to be born in Sarasota County, was Louisa, born in 1853. She married Captain Thomas Gordon Edmondson, and between them they had two sons, Robert B. Edmondson and T. Gilmore Edmondson. All four Edmondsons are buried in the Whitaker Cemetery.

William Henry Whitaker, b 1 Aug 1821, d 18 Nov 1888
+Mary Jane Wyatt, b 11 April 1831, d 6 Mar 1908
        (nine other children)
        Louisa Whitaker, b 1853, d 1940
        +Thomas Gordon Edmondson, Captain, b 30 Dec 1845, d 9 Dec 1890
                Robert B. Edmondson
                T. Gilmore Edmondson, b 20 Mar 1885, d 10 May 1942
                Esther Edmondson, b 8 Nov 1888, d 6 Jun 1979
                +Mr White (not in cemetery - where might he be buried - was he a Great War casualty?)

A general view of the Whitaker cemetery, with William Henry Whitaker and Mary Jane Whitaker, née Wyatt's vault in the centre. The three graves in the middle right foreground are T. Gordon and Louisa Edmondson's with a smaller unmarked grave between.
T. Gordon Edmondson's grave on the left with Louisa Edmondson's on the right. The smaller grave between is unmarked and is probably Robert B. Edmondson.
Captain Thomas Gordon Edmondson born 30 December 1845, died 9 December 1890.	Louisa Whitaker born 1853, died 1940.
T. Gilmor Edmondson, born 20 March 1885, died 10 May 1942.	Esther Edmondson, born 8 November 1888, died 6 June 1979.