Thomas B. Manuel
Thomas Brown Manuel, was a Florida community leader, politician, and state official, often referred to as the "Father of the Florida's Turnpike" for his efforts to bring about the first major highway in Florida, and for his contributions generally to economic development in the state. Early life He was born November 3, 1898, near Freetown, Jackson County, Indiana, the second child of Sarah Jane and Asbury Hill Manuel. His paternal grandfather, Dr. Grafton Manuel, was the attending physician at his birth. Thomas had two sisters Estella (1893–94) and Mary Catherine (1903-1935) as well as four brothers Virgil (1886-1957), Herschel (1887-1976 ), William (1891-1970) and Paul (1895-1925). Seeking adventure and angered by Pancho Villa's raid on a New Mexico town, at 17, he enlisted in the army, and saw action in the Mexican Expedition of 1916, remaining in the army afterward, he eventually saw action in France during World War I. Following his discharge from the army, Manuel attended the University of Illinois, earning a degree in animal husbandry, and setting out start a farm in Palm Beach County, Florida, near modern-day Delray Beach. He would ultimately settle further south, in Fort Lauderdale, where he and his wife Margaret would start