William Wade Hampton (22 January 1856–1928) was one of the first attorneys in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

. Hampton was born near

Albany, Georgia Albany ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Located on the Flint River, it is the county seat of Dougherty County, Georgia, Dougherty County, and is the sole incorporated city in that county. Located in Southwest Geo ...

. His family was descended from Anthony Hampton, one of the first white settlers in Virginia; his father, Thomas Franklin Hampton, was a clerk in

Decatur County, Georgia Decatur County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 29,367. The county seat is Bainbridge, Georgia, Bainbridge. De ...

. He went to private schools in Bainbridge, Georgia and was admitted to the Georgia bar association in 1876. He and his brother Edwin moved to Gainesville from

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

in 1876. Wade and his brother Edwin founded the town's first paper, the ''Gainesville Times'' in 1876, the first Democratic paper county since the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. This paper later became ''

The Gainesville Sun ''The Gainesville Sun'' () is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. History The paper was founded in July 1876 as the ''Gainesville Times'', by brothers E. M. and ...

''. Wade and his brother Edwin founded the town's first law firm, Hampton and Hampton and he was the first president of the Florida Bar. Wade was the first of three generations of Wade Hamptons who practiced law in Gainesville from 1875 until 2006. Wade Hampton was a leader in the efforts to bring the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

to Gainesville in 1906. Wade and his wife Minna Jordan Hampton lived in a house in the Northeast Historic district of Gainesville, but it was torn down in the 1970s. The home of one of his sons, William Wade Hampton Jr., is one of the oldest in the Gainesville Northeast Historic District. Hampton Jr. was the first president of the Florida Bar Association. One of his grandsons, William Wade Hampton III, served as a judge in Gainesville.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton, William 1856 births 1928 deaths Florida lawyers 19th-century American lawyers