Abraham B. Dixon

Term of Office, 1865-1867

 A.B. Dixon, as his friends knew him, was born in 1820 in Hancock County, Georgia. His parents, Martha Peavy and John Dixon, named him after his great grandfather, Abraham Peavy. Dixon spent his childhood years in Conecuh County, Alabama. In 1839, he married Ann Terry of Pensacola. Following Ann’s untimely death, Dixon remarried to Sarah Brock.

Dixon’s father had made a name for himself as an entrepreneur, timber man, and cotton grower. Upon his demise, Abraham inherited $3,100.00, a large sum in those days. This inheritance allowed him to purchase land and a home, between Crestview and Milton, where his three children spent their youth.

In 1850, Dixon was employed as a county watchman and a decade later he engaged in the trading business.  When the War for Southern Independence commenced, Dixon enlisted in the Company A (Pensacola Rifle Rangers) 2nd Florida Infantry, serving the confederacy.  In 1865, he was elected sheriff of Santa Rosa County. He served during the post-war period and was the last duly elected sheriff until after Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president. Like many other sheriff’s, he fulfilled a dual role as both sheriff and county tax collector. However, he faced difficulty in collecting some of the tax revenue since many citizens refused to pay their tax share stating that the U.S. government considered the area to be a territory and not a state.

In 1888, Dixon filed for his pension for service in the 1st Regimental Infantry Reserves for the Confederacy. A year later, he became the postmaster of Dixon, Florida, a lumber and farming community of about 100 people. He also served as a commissioner for Santa Rosa County, during a time when the county had a population of about 10,000 people, an area of approximately 1,300 square miles, and land that could be purchased for about $10.00 per acre.

On March17, 1894, Dixon died. He is buried at the Yellow River Baptist Church Cemetery located between Milton and Crestview.