Judge Don Register
The judge who told the Avon Park city council, in October 1951, that it could not “usurp the judicial function of declaring all ballots cast in polling place No. 2 to be void,” and made it put the Black precinct’s votes back.[trib-1951-10-11]
The bench
The State of Florida’s own biennial Report of the Secretary of State lists the circuit judges. For the Tenth Judicial Circuit — Polk, Hardee and Highlands Counties — the 1943-44 report names H. C. Petteway of Lakeland and D. O. Rogers; from the 1945-46 report onward it names Don Register in Petteway’s place, alongside Rogers, and from 1953 William P. Allen of Sebring as well.[sos-reports] So Register came to the bench between the 1943-44 and 1945-46 reporting cycles, and the 1951-52 report confirms him as one of the circuit’s two judges in the autumn the Avon Park case was heard — which is why he could sit at Sebring on the Monday and at Wauchula on the Wednesday of the same week.[sos-reports][trib-1951-10-11]
He was recommissioned on 4 January 1955 for a new six-year term, and resigned on 7 November 1958, not three years into it; William K. Love of Lakeland was commissioned the same day to serve out the term.[sos-reports]
The man
Born 14 January 1881 at Dover, Hillsborough County, the son of Ivy Register (1858-1918); married to Frances Kelso Register (1888-1967); died 23 October 1959 at Winter Haven, aged seventy-eight, less than a year after leaving the bench; buried at Lakeside Memorial Park, Winter Haven.[findagrave-register]
Before the bench he was a working Winter Haven lawyer for at least two decades, appearing in reported cases from 1932 — State ex rel. Drane v. Robles and Wiggins v. State (1932), State ex rel. Landis v. City of Winter Haven (1934), Stewart v. Manget (1938). On the bench his reported cases are the ordinary civil docket of Polk County — Wear v. Faulkner (1946), Dwiggins v. Roth and Kramer v. City of Lakeland (1948). Nothing else resembling a civil-rights case has been found among them.[register-cases]
In chambers, 10 October 1951
The Tampa Tribune’s reporter watched him deal with four Avon Park councilmen who had ignored his writ:
The judge in softly spoken words advised them that their city attorney, S. C. Pardee, Jr., had telephoned him Tuesday night and explained their delay in carrying out the court’s orders. … “This court has no desire to adjudge anyone in contempt of court — unless it is necessary. The only time I have done that is in cases where a father fails to support his wife or family.” The judge smiled as he spoke, and councilmen, apparently relieved, laughed a little. … “You will go home, meet tonight and carry out the court’s order.”[trib-1951-10-11]
They did.
References
- sos-reports — Florida Secretary of State. Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Florida, biennial editions 1943-44 to 1959-60: rosters of circuit judges. 1960. https://archive.org/details/reportofsecr1951flor
- findagrave-register — Find a Grave contributors. Find a Grave memorial 159612755, Don Register (1881-1959), Lakeside Memorial Park, Winter Haven. 2 September 2026. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/159612755/don-register
- register-cases — Supreme Court of Florida. Reported Florida decisions naming Don Register as counsel (1932-1938) and as trial judge (1946-1951), as reproduced by vLex and other case-law mirrors. 20 November 1951. https://case-law.vlex.com/
- trib-1951-10-11 — The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Fla.). Avon Park Council Action Questioned, by Hayden Williams — The Tampa Tribune, 11 October 1951, page 17. 11 October 1951. tampa-tribune-1951-10-11-avon-park.md
Related
- Report: The Avon Park election of 1951
- Reference: Gough v. State ex rel. Sauls, 55 So. 2d 111 (Fla. 1951)
- Entity: Keith E. Collyer
- Entity: S. Colquitt Pardee, father and son
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
- Florida Secretary of State, Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Florida, biennial editions 1943-44 to 1959-60: rosters of circuit judges (1960)
- Find a Grave contributors, Find a Grave memorial 159612755, Don Register (1881-1959), Lakeside Memorial Park, Winter Haven (2026)
- Supreme Court of Florida, Reported Florida decisions naming Don Register as counsel (1932-1938) and as trial judge (1946-1951), as reproduced by vLex and other case-law mirrors (1951)
- The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Fla.), Avon Park Council Action Questioned, by Hayden Williams — The Tampa Tribune, 11 October 1951, page 17 (1951)
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