BIO

My name is Andre Ionescu, I am from Miami, Fl. My research interest included territorial Florida and more specifically the Duval era. I look forward to sharing all the progress I have made as well as continuing the exploration of new sources in order to show the dynamic character that is William Pope Duval.

William Pope DuVal in Territorial Floris (1822-1834)

Abstract

In this project, my focus is on William Pope DuVal (1754-1854) and his legacy in Florida. DuVal served as governor of Florida Territory from April 17, 1822, till April 24, 1834. He was the first civilian governor of the Territory, succeeding Andrew Jackson’s nine-month term as military governor. DuVal was also the longest-serving Florida governor in history.

How did DuVal’s character shape the character of Florida? What scenes from DuVal’s life still speak to Floridians today? How can research help us recover the multidimensionality of this larger-than-life character? My research addresses those questions by exploring connections between DuVal’s life story and the Ralph Ringwood stories published by America’s first literary superstar, Washington Irving (1783-1859). I analyze stories that Irving based on DuVal’s life to gain insight into DuVal as a public servant and Florida as a territory.

Keywords: DuVal, Ringwood, Florida