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231. The Legend of Flomaton's Swimming Bill Jackson

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Updated: Mar 29, 2022

William "Bill" C. Jackson was born in Flomaton, Alabama on June 14, 1900 to the union of Allen J. Jackson (Flomaton) and Amelia Beasley (Bluff Springs). His father was born in Flomaton in 1851 and by 1910 was living in Pollard and supporting his family from his livery stable. Unfortunately, he would pass away just five years later and was buried in Flomaton. By 1930, William had become a druggist in Flomaton while living alone and supporting his widowed mother.


After WWII broke out, William left his home in Muscogee, Florida and entered the US Army to serve his country as a corporal. After the war, he relocated to Mobile to continue his vocation as a pharmacist. But neither his military service or his occupation as a druggist served to promote William's notoriety in the Flomaton and Mobile area. Ironically, it was his long distance swimming that led to his widespread fame. His watery feats of endurance became legend by such events as swimming from Mobile to Daphne, Alabama or the time he swam from Mobile to Ft. Morgan.


One memorable feat was swimming the alligator infested waters of Escambia River from Highway 4 at Century all the way to Pensacola Bay, a twisted route of over 90 miles. Having fished Escambia River, I can't imagine running the gauntlet of ornery alligators for that distance and surviving! Eventually, the man known as "Mobile Bill" or "Swimming Bill" would pass away at the VA hospital in Montgomery, Alabama at the age of 70-years old. His body was returned to Flomaton and buried in the Flomaton Cemetery. (Reference "A Pictorial History, Settlements Along the Escambia-Conecuh River" by Jerry Fischer and Neal Collier)

"Swimming Bill" Jackson


Bill's gravesite in the Flomaton Cemetery


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