William Bloxham was born on July 9, 1835, in Florida, United States. His father, William, of English ancestry, was a native of Alexandria, Virginia, and moved with his wife, Martha Williams, to Florida in 1825. He became a planter, served in the Seminole War, and died in Tallahassee in 1862.
William was educated for the bar at William and Mary College where he was graduated in 1856.
The state of Bloxham’s health forced him also to become a planter. An early and lively interest in politics led to his election to the Florida House of Representatives where he served in the important session of November-December 1861. In the following February he was elected captain of a newly organized infantry company which was at once mustered into Confederate service for three years; but, his health again becoming impaired, he did not complete this service and returned to his planting. After the war he took part from the beginning in the resistance of the Conservatives to the radical and negro government of the state; became a candidate for presidential elector on that ticket in 1868 and supported it actively on the stump; and was elected lieutenant-governor in 1870, in a period of continual radical victories, but only after a noteworthy campaign in which, notwithstanding the lack of railroads, he spoke in almost every county. Again leading the party in the same fight in 1872 he was defeated for the office of governor; but, still a leader, he had a large share in the overthrow of the foreign and negro element in 1876, was appointed secretary of state, and was finally elected governor in 1880.
The success of Bloxham’s administration (1881 - 1885) was without precedent in the state. He recommended to the legislature a reduction in taxation from a levy of nine mills to five mills, and this was reduced by an additional mill the next year. His most serious and pressing problem was the relief of the Internal Improvement Fund which was overwhelmed by debt and litigation. By effecting a sale to Hamilton Disston, on June 1, 1881, of 4, 000, 000 acres of lands held under the Fund, at twenty-five cents per acre, nearly all in cash, the Board of Trustees, of which he was chairman, rescued the Fund from insolvency and prevented a forced sale by its creditors.
After the close of his term as governor, Bloxham declined appointment as United States minister to Bolivia, but accepted that of United States surveyor-general of Florida, in which office he served four years, to 1889, when he was appointed state comptroller. Elected to that office the next year, he was reelected in 1892 for the four-year term. His service as comptroller left its mark upon the financial history of Florida; his recommendations for reforms, dealing mainly with the cost of criminal prosecutions, the equalization of assessments, and payment of interest on state deposits in banks, were carried out by the administration, the legislature, and the people through constitutional amendment.
In January 1897 Bloxham was again inaugurated as governor, the first to be elected to that office for the second time. During this term (1897 - 1901) occurred the Spanish-American War, when Florida became the principal theatre of encampment and embarkation of the army. Bloxham's public service had now covered a period of forty years and he had been all but continuously in office for twenty-five years.
William Bloxham is best remembered as Governor of Florida, which position he held two non-consecutive terms from 1881 to 1885 and from 1897 to 1901. During his first term, for the first time in the state's history, there was no floating debt and no deficit; funds were in the treasury for current expenses, and the reduction of the large debt contracted by the radical government had begun. His second term was marked by reinstating and expanding the powers of a railroad commission, restricting monopolies and creating a statewide auditor to eliminate government fraud and waste.
William Bloxham was a member of the Democratic party.
Bloxham was above medium height, with erect carriage, a high, broad forehead, small bright eyes, and thin compressed lips. Though aggressive he was conservative, was uncommonly effective as an orator, and "a thoroughly likable man"
In 1857 he had married Mary C. Davis, who died in 1904. In 1907 he married Mrs. G. Moss Norvell.
