In the Sunshine State on this day in:

1782 John Branch, the sixth territorial governor of Florida, was born today in Halifax County, North Carolina. He died at Enfield, North Carolina, on January 3, 1863.

1885 Clara Louise Guild enrolls as the first student at Rollins College in Winter Park.

1906 Mrs. Lamar Bledsoe, former Chief Clerk to the Florida House of Representative, was born today in Apalachicola, FL.

1927 The official winter quarters for the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus were established in Sarasota today