William D. Bloxham - Second Term

Second Term

On April 18, 1885, Bloxham was appointed Minister Resident and Consul General to Bolivia by President Grover Cleveland. Bloxham took the oath of office but declined to report for the post. Instead, he accepted a November 1885 appointment to become the U.S. Surveyor General for Florida which he held until December 1889. When the state comptroller position became vacant on May 1, 1890, Governor Francis P. Fleming appointed Bloxham to fill it. Bloxham was unanimously nominated for the position in August 1890 and easily won the election, and was easily re-elected in 1892.

Comptroller Bloxham ran for governor and was victorious in 1896, 12 years after leaving the office. Despite his conservative reputation, Bloxham left his mark in his second term by reinstating and expanding the powers of a railroad commission, restricting monopolies and creating a state-wide auditor to eliminate government fraud and waste. Fire insurance company regulation was initiated and women served as public notaries for the first time during Bloxham's second stint as governor.

William Bloxham died on March 15, 1911 in Tallahassee, Florida. A planned Bloxham County, Florida centered around Williston, Florida, was rejected by a referendum in 1915.