Louie, named for the doctor who attended his birth, was the first son of James
Washington (Jim Mush) and Isabelle (Belle) Virginia Graham Albritton. He was
born in Old Chicora, Polk County Florida near the Hillsborough County line.
His grandfather, Capt. Tom, had his home in the lower south-east corner of
Hillsborough county.

Louie was counted in the Polk County 1900 census as John L. and in the Desota County
census 1910 as Lewis. His last year in school was in 1916, age 20 in Fort Greene Desota
County Florida. He served three years in the Navy at the end of WW1 – May 1918 to
September 1921. He received an honorable discharge as a Seaman Second Class with a
score of 3.55 out of a 4.0.(2)

After the war and his discharge, Louie worked with his Uncle “Yeller” Tom Albritton
hauling citrus and doing grove work at Bee Ridge on the Fruitville Road near
Sarasota Florida. Here he met and married Sara Clarke. Sara, daughter of
John A. and Sarah Ann “Sallie” Dickey Clarke of Philadelphia, had moved to
Florida in 1919.

Louie and Sara married 17 April 1922. They lived in Bee Ridge for seven years on grove
and farm land where Louie specialized in
truck farming to ship north to the markets. The first three
children were born during this time. Louie then became a Federal
Government Agent
for the US Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry. From 1929 – 1935 the family lived in
Middleburg, Daytona, Fort Pierce, and Melbourne Florida.

Louie hired men to round-up cattle and horses, build holding pens and large vats in which
to dip the animals. The Texas fever ticks were a problem for cattle and the animals needed to be dipped into an
arsenic solution to kill the ticks. This procedure was repeated every 14 days for the duration of 18
months. The eradication of the ticks was nearly completed at the onset of WW2 in 1941. Louie was personally in charge
of killing the deer, which carried
the ticks and animal rights activists were furious about the number of deer
killed.

By this time, the family was settled in Orlando Orange County Florida. Louie took the position of ranch foreman for
the Peavy-Wilson Lumber Company. Their acreage was located in the north-east corner of Osceola County Florida along
the west bank of the lower St. Johns River. The timber was cut and processed at the mill in Holopaw, Osceola County
Florida and cattle were fattened upon the grass. In 1946, WW2 was at the end and the land was sold, cattle taken
to market, and the mill closed down.