FELIX J. PINARD

John B. F. "Felix" Pinard was a Haitian-born French photographer who arrived in Sarasota in 1886 shortly after the first settlers came from Scotland. Pinard, who was 38 at the time, began taking pictures of the land, settlers, and homesteads in the area, though many of these photographs were lost or unlabeled. Pinard soon met and married Helen Drew. The Drews were one of four families who settled in the Venice area in 1869 after fleeing the post-war Reconstruction in Alabama. The couple created a homestead near Sarasota Bay and had two children: Josephine and Francis T. Pinard.

Little information exists about Pinard's son Felix J. Pinard, who was born in 1873 long before his father settled in Sarasota. Felix's gravestone indicates he was born August 8, 1873, allegedly in Key West, Florida, before his father traveled to the state's western coast. We do know that Felix shared his father's love for photography. Though it cannot be confirmed if Felix or his father took the photographs in USF's collection, they are tentatively credited to the younger Felix since he reportedly lived in Hillsborough County as of the 1900 census.

At some point, Felix met German-born Margaret Jacob (also spelled Jakob), who was formerly married to a man named Joseph Pida and later became Mrs. Felix Pinard upon the pair's marriage on October 11th, 1903, at the 1st Methodist Church in Tampa, Florida. Margaret had at least two children from her previous marriage including son Philip Francis Pida, who later changed his name to Pinard, and daughter Frances Pida, who later married a man named Edward Bartlett. Felix and Margaret had two more daughters, Marjorie A. Pinard and Isobel Pinard Wojick, and were said to have three more children prior to Felix's death in 1914.

Felix was allegedly a cigarmaker from the Gary area. Gary was incorporated in 1915 but was abolished by the Florida legislature in 1919 and then annexed into the city of Tampa in 1923.

Pictured to the left: Felix J. Pinard's father, John B. F. "Felix" Pinard, who is widely recognized as Manatee County's first commercial photographer.