John T Lesley

John T. Lesley was a pioneer in the Tampa, Florida area, a cattleman, an American Indian fighter, and a Captain in the Confederate Army. In 1860 the U.S. Civil War, Lesley formed his own volunteer company the "Sunny South Guards". After the war he became a state senator. Major William Iredell Turner (1812-1881) and Lesley (then a major) helped confederate secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin escape following the collapse of the confederacy and hid Benjamin in a swamp behind Major Turner's House. He remained there for several days until they were sure the area was cleared of Federal soldiers. Benjamin was then transported to Gamble Mansion. Lesley was one of the original owners of the Tampa Street Railway. His marriage to William T. Brown's daughter Margared created what would become a powerful dynasty in business, politics and agriculture.

Lesley's son William T. Lesley was Sheriff and a member of the Florida Constitutional Convention of 1885. Theodore Lesley, John T. Lesley's other son, was a County Historian and preservationist. Lesley is buried in downtown Tampa's Oaklawn Cemetery.