Milton descended from a prominent Southern family and was a relative of the
famed English poet of the same name. He was the son of Homer Virgil Milton, an officer who fought in the
War of 1812, and the grandson of
Revolutionary War veteran, United States presidential candidate of 1789, and former Georgia Secretary of State,
John Milton. Born near
Louisville, Georgia, Milton graduated from the
University of Georgia and later studied law. He married Susan Cobb in 1826, John and Caroline lived in Alabama and New Orleans, before establishing a plantation worked by slave labor in
Marianna,
Jackson County, Florida in 1845. Milton's youngest son,
Jefferson Davis Milton (1861–1947) moved to Texas, later Arizona. He distinguished himself as a Texas Ranger, police chief of El Paso, and served for over 25 years as America's first border agent.
William Hall Milton (1864–1942), grandson of the governor, was a U.S. Senator from Florida from 1908 to 1909. ==Political career==