Yonge, Chandler Cox, 1818-1889

Lawyer, politician, and soldier.

Yonge was secretary of the Florida Constitutional Convention at St. Joseph (1838); member of the Florida Senate (1843-1844); U.S. district attorney; district attorney for Florida under the Confederacy; and in the Confederate military (1863-1865).

Chandler Cox Yonge was born on October 3, 1818 in Fernandina, Florida. He moved to Pensacola, Florida in 1859 and spent the rest of his life there. Yonge attended the University of Georgia, then studied law in Florida and became an attorney by 1839. In 1838 he served as an assistant secretary for the first Florida Constitutional Convention and, based on notes in one of his letter books, may have been involved in a later one though this is uncertain. He served in the first Florida State Senate and helped write Florida law. In 1845 President James Polk appointed him the district attorney of Florida and Yonge held this position under Presidents Pierce and Buchanan as well. When the state of Florida seceded in 1861, he initially served as district attorney under the Confederacy, though he also served as a Quartermaster for the Confederacy and achieved the rank of major. His headquarters were in Tallahassee. Chandler Cox Yonge was married to Julia Cole Yonge and was the father of Philip Keyes Yonge and Chandler Cox Yonge. He died on February 17, 1889.

Sources: 1) Clubbs, Occie. "Philip Keyes Yonge, 1850-1934." Florida Historical Society Quarterly 13:3 (1935): 167-172. Accessed February 28, 2011. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30150188 . 2) Rowland H. Rerick, "Memoirs of Florida." The Southern Historical Association 1. 1902 Atlanta, Ga., pp. 738-739. 3) Pensapedia . 2009. Accessed February 28, 2011. http://www.pensapedia.com/wiki/Changler_Cox_Yonge .