Asa Forsyth Tift (1812 - 1889)

Born 28 Mar 1812 in Groton, New London, Connecticut, USA

Ancestors

Died 7 Feb 1889 at age 76 in Key West, Monroe, Florida, USA

Biography

Asa Tift is Notable.

The Ernest Hemingway house in Key West was built in 1851 by Asa Tift, a marine architect and salvage wrecker, and became Ernest Hemingway's home in 1931.

Asa Tift was the eldest son of Captain Amos Tift, one of the early settlers of Key West. Amos built a store in Key West that was taken over by Asa and his brothers on the death of their father. They expanded the business to include most of the Mallory Square area. They were successful merchants, ship owners, ship and mail agents, and had a large warehouse to support the wrecking industry. The wrecking industry on which the Tift’s based their fortune was the major source of income in the early days of Key West.

Asa Tift was described as a tall, slender man with broad shoulders and a small waist. He was a fine distinguished man and made many wise decisions as his fortune would tell. He had the Tift fair skin and fine complexion, blonde hair and blue eyes. He was very firm to those who knew him. He stayed to himself.

Wreckers were required to save the crew, passengers, cargo and if possible the ships that accidentally ran afoul of the Florida reef. Asa built for himself the home on Whitehead Street in 1851, that was later purchased by Ernest Hemingway. Tift found out what is true throughout Florida– when the topsoil is removed you hit shale or limestone. Tift also found out the lot was sixteen feet above sea level. So he quarried the stone for the house right from the sight. He not only got the stone for the house but also ended up with the only basement in Key West that remains dry.

Tift’s wife Anna Wheeler and their two boys died of yellow fever in 1854; then came the Civil War. His daughter Annie died in 1869.

On January 10, 1861, in Tallahassee, Asa Tift spoke and voted for secession and the next day the Ordinance of Secession was signed, and Florida became a Confederate State.

Tift, a Confederate, moved to New Orleans to supervise construction of ironclad warships he designed. The ships were never completed. When Tift came home, he built a fountain in front of the house, shaped like one of his unfinished vessels. Tift later died in 1889. He is buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina.

Sources

• Find A Grave: Memorial #43599568

• Wikipedia

• The Ernest Hemingway Home - Construction