Florida Sweat Thompson was the daughter of Jackson Sweat and Mary Thompson, and the granddaughter of Florida Pioneer Samuel Sweat. The Sweat family settled in north FL before statehood, and Samuel and his father Abner signed the petition to make FL a state. She was listed age 2 in the 1880 Federal Census of Bradford County, FL, but her death certificate states DOB 1881 and grave marker 1892.

On July 29, 1902, against her family's wishes, she married Silas Thompson a big man who was the "life of the party". His name is listed on the legal marriage certificate as "Bud Thompson" instead of Silas Thompson, causing genealogists a headache.

The mother of 11 children, she had five of her daughters placed in foster homes in 1916 by the State of Georgia who thought the Florida was on her deathbed after childbirth. Two older sons, carrying a toddler girl, escaped from being captured by running back to Florida down the railroad tracks to their grandparent's farm. Making a long and complex story short, Florida didn't die, and had to return to home in FL without her daughters as the State of GA would not return them to their parents.

Returning to St. Augustine with her husband and three children, she had three more children before her husband died in his sleep on January of 193O. This left her an uneducated widow in the Great Depression with several young children to support, and being a strong woman, that is what she did.

From old documents from the St Johns County (FL) Welfare office, unsuccessful attempts were made by the mother to find her children, who were in the custody of an out-of-state agency. Of course, adoption files and the State Orphan Homes records were sealed. This brokenhearted mother's financial resources were very limited, plus she depended on others to write any letters to the State of GA for her. At first, she didn't even realize that the incident had occurred in GA and was looking in FL for her daughters! Even from recent inquiries, it was learned that the State Home files are still sealed in the GA Archives almost 100 years later.

Three of the daughters had a joyous reunion with their mother in 1933. The story goes that as the daughters' car pulled up to Florida's house, she ran off the front steps crying, "My babies, My prayers are answered, My babies!" as she knew who they were even after all those years. In her elderly years, Florida lived with her youngest son Jack and his family.

The other two daughters, who were mere babies, were never be seen again by their mother:

Louise was adopted by the Grant family of Atlanta, married, had one daughter Barbara, and died before the reunion with her sisters.

The newborn infant Anita born 1916, she was "adopted" and according to rumor taken to California.

The other children have relationship links.