Michael Axer

The man known as Michael Axer used many names in his life: William Oxler, William Oxer, Mitchell Oxer. He was an early settler on Biscayne Bay, about one mile north of Miami. He probably was born in Germany about 1825, and possibly grew up in Darmstadt, Germany, before stowing away on a ship to America. In the middle of the century he moved to Texas. He served in the Civil War under the name of William Oxler, and was a prisoner of war in Galveston. After the war, he worked as a baker in Key West, and then moved to Miami to run a comptie starch mill for George Washington Ferguson. He was known by locals as "Dutch Mike." Starting in the 1860s, he served as a barefoot mailman delivering mail between Jupiter and Miami. He became a naturalized citizen in 1866 under the name of Michael Axar. He married Elizabeth "Lizzy" Sullivan in 1868. Michael began using Axer as his last name, but his descendants use the name Oxar. He sold a lot of his land to Henry Flagler.

• Birth: Circa 1825
• Death: 1910

Name Variations:

• William Oxler
• William Oxer
• Mitchell Oxer

Sources:

• "Michael Oxar: An Early Pioneer of Miami", South Florida History, Vol. 37, No. 1, 2009
• South Publishing Company's Florida State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1886-1887
• Map showing location of his land, page 35 of "Miami During the Civil War, 1861-65," Tequesta: The Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida, 1993
• Charles W. Pierce, Pioneer Life in Southeast Florida, 1970
• Various census, marriage and other records

References in the Texts:

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• April 7, Thursday
• April 10, Sunday

For other topics referenced in the Expedition texts, please refer to the Index to Subjects and Names.
1892 Everglades Exploration Expedition : Three Digital Texts, 2015