324. Peaden's Bagdad Taxi 1920's

Updated: Mar 25, 2022

This old 1976 Press Gazette photo of a Bagdad taxi driver is somewhat intriguing because we don't think of this small community sporting their own taxis. But in its day and time Bagdad was a large, thriving industrial community with major shipbuilding and lumber mills located along its banks of the Blackwater River. This old photo is of a tall, young man in his mid to late 20's by the name of George Proctor Peadon (spelling is Peaden). He was born in the small Santa Rosa community of "Fleming" on April 22, 1899, the son of William Ezra Peaden (1854-1930) and Nancy Elizabeth Ates (1864-1935). His parents had married on September 21, 1881 and his father supported the family his whole life as a farmer. Nancy would bear William seven children; William E. Jr. (1884-1940), John Denton (1886-1977), Charles Grover (1891-1948), Porter Lee (1865-1982), Grady Adams (1901-1982), Laney Simpson (1903-1964), and Anna Belle (1-06-1982). William would plow his fields behind his mule in the Fleming/Red Rock area until his death in 1930. But, in the meantime, his son George was content to live at home with his parents and help his father work the farm. By 1920, George had also taken on a job as a laborer at one of the local sawmills while his brother Grady was working as a "sawyer" cutting down trees for the mill.

However, his living arrangements changed drastically when he married Mattie Mack Whittle (1894-1989) on October 1, 1927. So now perhaps, a little extra cash was needed by the young groom thus the taxi job. From the looks of the car in the photograph, it appears to be a 1923 Ford Model T, which would place his taxi driving days between 1923-1929. This might have been in addition to his working his normal laborer job at one of the nearby Bagdad sawmills. Ironically, just a few years before in 1918 another Bagdad taxi run by Joseph Maurice Presley had picked up a couple and carried them across the bay to Ferry Pass. The couple were on their way to the Pensacola hospital to treat the woman for a gunshot wound thus hoping to avoid any questions from the police in Bagdad. However, before the evening was over the male passenger plus an innocent tag along had been shot dead by Pensacola law enforcement officers. But then that's another story.

In the meantime, by 1935 George's father had passed away and he and Mattie were still in Fleming surrounded by other Peaden families. He was still a laborer with a little farming on the side but no mention was made of his old taxi driving days. Mattie had already provided George with four children; George Edward (b 1928), Dick (unknown), Joyce Elaine (1930-2013), Reuben Whittle (1933-1999) with a fifth added in 1936, Kathleen Peaden.

But a man with five children needed more of a future than a depression-era laborer's job could provide! So sometime between 1935 and 1942 George became a pipefitter and went to work for the Newport Industries in Pensacola. The plant was located at the southern foot of Pace Boulevard where the remnants can still be seen there today. He and Mattie were still living in Milton, which in turn required a long drive each day back and forth. It's possible that this prompted their move to Pensacola in 1951 at a house located at 4703 Pinewood Street in Myrtle Grove. He would eventually retire from Newport before passing away in 1979. He was buried in Bayview Cemetery where he was joined by Mattie ten years later. Their son Reuben Whittle "Smokey" Peaden would join the Pensacola Police force before being elected as a Florida State Representative. Reuben would pass away in 1999 and is buried in the Crain Cemetery in Milton.