The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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The Cuellar Peterson Lineage: Resolving the Father and Son of Avon Park

For decades, local historical tradition and cemetery preservation accounts celebrated Cuellar Peterson as “the first black person born in Avon Park.”[maxwell-1976][hns-2025-03-10] However, cemetery records at Lakeside Historical Cemetery documented a headstone for Cueller Phillip Peterson recording his birth at Bainbridge, Georgia, on 2 June 1888, and his death at Tampa on 22 August 1967.[fg-peterson-sr] This apparent conflict between an 1888 Georgia birth and the distinction of being the first Black native of Avon Park arose from the conflation of two generations bearing the identical name: Cueller Phillip Peterson Sr. and his son Cueller Phillip Peterson Jr.[maxwell-1976][or-709-905-peterson-blackmon-1981]

Cueller Phillip Peterson Sr. (1888–1967)

Cueller Phillip Peterson Sr. was born in Bainbridge, Decatur County, Georgia, on 2 June 1888.[fg-peterson-sr] In the early decades of the twentieth century, he and his wife Sarah Peterson moved to central Florida and settled in Avon Park’s historic Southside African American community.[maxwell-1976] The family established their homestead at 904 South Pineland Avenue in Section 26, Township 33 South, Range 28 East, platted as Lot 2, Block B of Marsh’s Subdivision Unrecorded.[maxwell-1976][hcpao-pineland-parcel]

All of Cueller Sr. and Sarah Peterson’s children were born in the family residence on Pineland Avenue.[maxwell-1976] In his later years, Cueller Sr. was hospitalized in Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida, where he passed away on 22 August 1967 at age seventy-nine (Florida Death Index certificate 41002, volume 2987).[fg-peterson-sr] His remains were returned to Avon Park and interred at Lakeside Historical Cemetery on Cummings Avenue, where his grave is catalogued as Find a Grave memorial 68359768.[fg-peterson-sr]

Cueller Phillip Peterson Jr.

Cueller Phillip Peterson Jr. was born in the family home on South Pineland Avenue in Avon Park, earning recognition in community oral history as the first African American child born in the municipality.[maxwell-1976][hns-2025-03-10]

In 1949, Cueller Peterson Jr. married Freddie Mae Gipson (1925–2014) of Gifford, Florida, valedictorian of Gifford High School and a 1949 graduate of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College (FAMC).[obit-freddie-mae-peterson-2014] Following their marriage, Freddie Mae Peterson began her three-decade career in public education at Avon Park’s segregated Hopewell Elementary School, teaching there for a decade (1949–1959) before returning to Gifford in 1961.[obit-freddie-mae-peterson-2014] From their union, three children were born: Gilda Renee, Dale Phyllis, and Darius Dwayne.[obit-freddie-mae-peterson-2014]

Cueller Peterson Jr. subsequently married Beatrice Brown (1942–2020), a dedicated community organizer and thirty-year paraprofessional in the Highlands County School System.[obit-beatrice-peterson-2020] Beatrice Peterson became one of the town’s most prominent civic leaders, serving with the Highlands County NAACP, the United Negro Women’s Council, the E. O. Douglas Alumni Association, and founding the annual Avon Park Martin Luther King Jr. Walk.[obit-beatrice-peterson-2020] In February 2025, the Avon Park Depot Museum honored both Cuellar Peterson and Beatrice Peterson, alongside civic pioneers Fred and Wilma Conner, Mayor Robert Britt, and Bishop Thomas J. Brown, in its permanent African American history exhibit.[obit-beatrice-peterson-2020]

Property Continuity and the Blackmon Family

The generational connection between Cueller Sr. and Cueller Jr. is corroborated by the chain of title for the Peterson homestead at 904 South Pineland Avenue.[maxwell-1976][hcpao-pineland-parcel] On 14 December 1981, Cuellar P. Peterson Jr. and his wife Beatrice Peterson executed a warranty deed conveying Lot 2, Block B of Marsh’s Subdivision to Cuellar Jr.’s sister, Christophine Peterson Blackmon (Highlands County Official Records Book 709, Page 905).[or-709-905-peterson-blackmon-1981]

Christophine Blackmon resided in the ancestral home and served for many years as a Title I instructional aide at Avon Park High School, directly corroborating the account published in Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell’s 1976 centennial history.[maxwell-1976] In May 2000, Christophine Blackmon executed a quitclaim deed transferring title to herself and her daughter Delores Shawn Blackmon (Official Records Book 1500, Page 102), preserving the Peterson family’s continuous ownership of their pioneer Pineland Avenue homesite across more than a century.[or-1500-102-blackmon-2000][hcpao-pineland-parcel]

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (Held at the Avon Park Historical Society Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida) (1976) · book
  2. Find a Grave contributors, Cueller Phillip Peterson (2 Jun 1888 - 22 Aug 1967), Lakeside Historical Cemetery, Find a Grave memorial 68359768 (2011) · secondary
  3. Highlands County Clerk of Court, Warranty Deed from Cuellar P. Peterson, Jr. and Beatrice Peterson to Christophine Blackmon, 14 December 1981 (Highlands County Clerk of the Circuit Court, Official Records Book 709, Page 905) (1981) · official
  4. Highlands County Property Appraiser, Highlands County Property Appraiser Parcel A-26-33-28-070-00B0-0020, 904 S Pineland Ave, Avon Park (2026) · official
  5. Highlands County Clerk of Court, Quit Claim Deed from Christophine Blackmon to Christophine Blackmon and Delores Shawn Blackmon, May 2000 (Highlands County Clerk of the Circuit Court, Official Records Book 1500, Page 102) (2000) · official
  6. Vero News, Freddie Mae 'Gipson' Peterson-Monroe, 89, Gifford, Vero News, 24 April 2014 (2014) · newspaper
  7. Fountain Funeral Home, Beatrice (Brown) Peterson Obituary, Fountain Funeral Home, Avon Park, 4 February 2020 (2020) · secondary
  8. Highlands News-Sun, Duke Energy funds African-American Cemetery restoration, Highlands News-Sun, 10 March 2025 (2025) · newspaper

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