The story I am about to relate concerns one of Pasco County's native sons, and perhaps, one of early Pasco County's largest cattle owners. at least that is what the records show.
His name was John Samuel Boyett. He was born in 1865 and spent his early days in and around the Clay Sink area in northeast Pasco County where the name of Boyett(e) is still quite well known.
His start in the cattle business was quite inauspicious in the late 1880's. But as time passed, he acquired other herds and brands, at one time having five brands registered in his name. Florida and Pasco were open range, and his cattle holdings continued to grow. They ranged far and wide from northern Pinellas County throughout west-central Pasco and north-western Hillsborough counties. His journal lists roundups, markings and brandings at the Jacob Worley Homestead in West Pasco (now known as Perrine Ranch), the McKendree Homestead in Central Pasco and the Mobley Homestead in northern Pinellas, as well as the Douglas and Garrison Homesteads.
The railroad bedsof the Seaboard and Atlantic Coastline railroad were favorite night sleeping places for the catle because of the heat absorbed during the day by the railroad beds. As a result, many cattle were killed by the trains. The railroads duly reimbursed the owner for cattle killed. Sam's journal lists one year in which 30 heads were killed. One interesting notation in Sam's journal was this quote: "I never billed the railroad for a cow they didn't pay for."
In the early 1880's Lykes Brothers started acquiring cattle and ranch interests in Florida. In 1917 John Samuel Boyett sold over 22,000 head of cattle at $11 per head to Lykes.
John Samuel Boyett did at his home in Tarpon Springs, Florida in 1954 and is interred at Cycadia Cemetery in Tarpon Springs beside his wife, Matty Lyons Boyett.
