Ancestry
Paternal Ancestry
My paternal grandfather immigrated to Jacksonville,
Florida from Grimstad, Norway in 1885 with his two brothers, Nickolai and
Christian. All were ship captains and civil engineers. They worked building
the harbors, passes, channels, and the intracoastal waterways of Florida. When my
father, Osmonde Reimert Bie, lived in Miami as a young boy around 1908-10, it was a fishing
village with a population of only about 1,000 people! Daddy was nicknamed
"Ozzy". He dropped the "e" from the end of Osmonde
when he was in junior high school, because he thought it looked "sissy".
(There is a fairly common Norwegian name which is spelled "Asemunde",
which may be the origin of that name.) Spending much of his life aboard
ship or on the beach, Ozzy became champion high diver of the state of Florida.
He was captain of his high school and college football teams and played
in a Sugar Bowl game, even though he was only 5" 5" tall. He became a lawyer in
both Florida and Georgia and was one of the founders of the Hillsborough
and Pinellas County Bar Associations. He was also a founder of Tampa Society's
"Merrymakers" organization. Along with his father and brother
he often took part in the Pirate invasion of Tampa at Gasparilla time.
His mother, Martha Ellen Townsend, nicknamed "Jimmy", was an orphan,
so we don't know much about her background except that she was English
and German. Her parents were killed together in a carriage wreck on the
way south to Florida. She and her brother were adopted and grew up in Monticello, Florida, near Tallahassee. She married Captain Bie in Jacksonville before
1890. They had three sons, the eldest of which, Cecil, died in infancy. She was very
active in St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Tampa, where my parents were
married and I was baptized. During World War II Ozzy worked for Sun Ship
Building Company in Pennsylvania, then transferred to Sun Oil Company in
Dallas. The company sent him to work in many southern states helping with
the WWII effort in the search for new oil fields. My father cleared the
titles to the land. After he retired from Sun oil in 1966, he resumed private law practice in
Belleair Beach, Florida. Most of the time he was a jolly, fun, generous
person. I never heard him say a "cuss" word. He entered into
eternal rest on April 16, 1983.
MATERNAL ANCESTRY
My maternal ancestors emigrated to the
USA from France, Scotland, and England. My mother's great grandfather's
family was named Bradbury, and emigrated from England to Williamsburg,
Virginia, the first American colony. One ancestor in that family was Lord
Mayor of London. Later they emigrated to Maine, where there is a Bradbury
State Park and a Bradbury mountain. Another member of the family, William
Bradbury, was a great writer of sacred music and hymns during the early
19th century. And I am certain many have read Ray Bradbury's books.
My grandfather, John Sturgis Bradbury, homesteaded
the Gulf barrier island near St. Petersburg, Florida which includes today's
Madiera Beach, Redington Beach and Indian Shores. He developed it as a
tourist attraction. My mother moved to the island in 1909 when she was
three years old. There were no bridges or cars - the only way there was
by boat. Mother was home schooled until at the age of nine she was sent
to live with her paternal grandparents in Tampa to attend public school and later
high school at Holy Names Academy (Catholic).
Her maternal grandfather's family was
named Parent and Biseaux (later Besaw). The first American "Parent"
baby was born on shipboard in the St. Lawrence River, on the way from Paris,
France to Montreal, Quebec. My great grandfather Parent was an artist, and had several patents for inventions
involving carriages.The family later moved to Boston, then Maine, then Florida. The
"Parents" were Catholics, and worked as artists, musicians, teachers,
engineers, contractors, and philanthropists. My grandmother and her sisters were graduates of the New
England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and played violin and piano. Some settled in Foster, Rhode Island. My grandmother founded the first home for "wayward girls" in Tampa. My mother, Viola Evelyn, nicknamed "Peggy", was salutatorian of her high school class at Holy Names Academy in Tampa, then attended Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee
(now Florida State University). She was a court reporter, legal secretary,as well as housewife and artist. During WWII she did her bit for the war effort by becoming a certified airplane engine mechanic! She also booked tours and
art shows for Artists and Craftsmen, a Dallas, Texas organization. Her
mother, nicknamed "Joy" Carol Bradbury, was a teacher, governess, and author.
My parents were lifelong partners in their law office. They had been married
fifty-five years when Daddy died. That was 15 years ago. Mother is now
almost 95.
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