A History of LAKE UNDERHILL
Rick’s
CitrusLAND Holiday Blog
Part 4: The Finale - Naming Lake Underhill
What’s
in a name?
Names of 19th century streets, lakes, and towns are
oftentimes clues to discovering the story of that area. South Street makes little sense, for instance, until one realizes
the street had been the southernmost east-west artery of the 1880 town of Orlando. The name even makes more sense when considering North Street, its original counterpart,
existed until its name was changed to Robinson
Street. Half way between the two was, and remains, Central Avenue.
Lake
Underhill looking east from Orlando’s Joe Kittinger Park
Misspelled by the surveyor hired to lay out Jacob Summerlin’s,
‘Add to Orlando’, the town’s iconic Lake
Eola (blog of 12/6/2016), was intended as a memorial to Eula,
one pioneer’s childhood sweetheart. The 1840s Reed misspelling, a fort named for Florida Territorial Governor Reid, father of Orlando’s 1867 rescuer, Robert R. Reid, (blog of 8/14/2015),
confused history with the unrelated Sir
James Edward Reed (Part 3 of this blog). Maitland, the lake, town and streets, were all named for died in Florida’s
Second Seminole Indian War, whereas
the town’s Lake Sybelia was named
following the death, at a young age, of the first wife of one of Maitland’s
early town developers.
Names indeed provide clues for researching central Florida’s
early history. Sanford got its name
from Henry S. Sanford, the town’s
founder, whereas the name Orlando
had long remained a mystery in large part because of a false narrative
regarding a Mythical soldier. Place
names truly serve as an excellent starting point for searching the past, and so
as I began researching this Lake
Underhill blog, I began looking as well for the one person responsible for
selecting the name, and why.
As established in Part 3 of this blog, the earliest verifiable
use of the name Underhill at this
east Orange County location was December 16, 1884. A deed written by newlyweds William & Ida Palmer made reference to the shoreline of “Lake
Underhill.”
Surveyed as an unnamed ‘pond’ in 1843, the Palmer deed opened a 40
year window for possible pioneers to have named the lake. But the name Underhill is rare in all of pre-1885 central Florida. Lakes Conway & Butler were named for Survey Generals; Lakes Eustis & Harney for
Generals serving in Florida’s Indian Wars; Lakes Anderson & Holden
for early homesteaders on those lakes. But even with these examples in hand,
the search for an Underhill in
central Florida repeatedly came up
empty handed.
Twenty-one (21)
known pre-1885 landowners fronting Lake Underhill, including 38 confirmable spouse surnames, failed
to reveal a connection to an Underhill family name or place. So, believing I
had hit that proverbial brick wall, I started drafting a conclusion for this
blog by telling of the many other
ongoing mysteries, and suggesting the lake may remain one such example. I did
not want to admit defeat in my research though, and so I dug deeper, deciding
to research further the first known users of the name, William & Ida (Babbitt) Palmer.
My
belief as to how Lake UNDERHILL got its name:
A 15 year old in 1880, Miss Ida May Babbitt was residing at Louisville, KY with her teacher, Miss Henrietta Barbaroux. Four years
later, November 19, 1884, the 19 year old Ida (still a minor at that
time) married William D. Palmer. The
wedding took place at Louisville, KY, with one witness being Henrietta Barbaroux.
Newlyweds William D. & Ida M. Palmer, in 1885, lived with Henrietta Barbaroux at Summerlin Hotel in Orlando, FL. Ida stated in
the Orange County census that year that her birthplace was Natchez, Mississippi (line 2 below). Henrietta Barbaroux gave her
birthplace as Louisville (line 3 below).
1885
Census of Orlando, Orange County, Florida
Henrietta consistently listed her birthplace as Kentucky. Ida May consistently gave her
birthplace as Mississippi. Why was
the young girl from Mississippi not living with her parents? Why were Ida
Babbitt and Henrietta Barbaroux always living together? More importantly for my
blog’s ending, could Ida and Henrietta lead me to learning the long forgotten
reason for naming Lake Underhill?
The
girl from Natchez, Mississippi:
1880 May 1: “NOTICE to NON-RESIDENTS: State of
Mississippi, Adams County: In the matter of Ida Babbit, a minor, is absent from this State, and now in
Louisville, KY, her post office address being “care of Miss Henrietta Barbaroux.” This ad, notice of an impending
auction of Natchez property, directed my attention away from Louisville and
toward the birthplace of Ida. Only then did I find the answer I had been
searching for. That, or I stumbled upon the most remarkable coincidence ever.
Ida May
Babbitt, a minor, owned an eighth interest in “Brighton”, a 170 acre estate
situated on “Second Creek.” A
plantation, the parcel had belonged to Ida’s deceased grandfather, Charles W. Babbitt. Ida and her brother
were each due a portion of the grandfather’s estate because their father, Adam, had died in 1867 from injuries he had sustained during the Civil War. Ida’s
mother was also deceased, so in 1880,
a sister of Adam Babbitt had become the Guardian of Ida May Babbitt, a minor child.
“Natchez, which is
situated on the east bank of the Mississippi
River, 280 miles, by water, above New
Orleans.” The newspaper Marshall County Republican, in an 1875 article describing several
Mississippi River towns, wrote this of the river port city: “It is built on the summit of a bluff 150 feet above the water, and on the
narrow strip of land between the foot of the hill and the river. The latter
portion of the city goes by the soubriquet of ‘Natchez Under-the-Hill’, or Natchez Landing.”
Born at Natchez, Ida
May Babbitt traveled the Mississippi to and from Louisville, KY, where she lived
with a ‘family friend’ Henrietta
Barbaroux. Because Ida was not of age, court records maintained an ‘estate’ for
the minor child, records of income received and expenses paid. Expense receipts
establish that Ida had returned home
on occasion, once within six months of her wedding. After shopping at
Chamberlain & Patterson on the 6th of May, 1884, Ida may Babbitt
would have departed from the port of Natchez
Under-the-Hill to return to Louisville, KY for her November marriage.
Natchez,
Mississippi receipt, Miss Ida Babbitt, May 6, 1884
Seven months after shopping at Natchez, six months after
walking down the aisle to marry William at Louisville, KY, Mrs. Ida May (Babbitt) Palmer, and her
husband, signed three deeds, each at Orlando, FL, on 16 December, 1884. Each deed made reference to “Lake Underhill.”
Natchez,
Under the Hill, source Library of Congress
I believe Lake Underhill
at Orlando, Florida was named for a notorious Mississippi River port at the
foot of Natchez, a riverside area known,
even today, as Natchez Under-the-Hill.
And now that you know my theory, let me know what you think.
CitrusLAND wishes
you and yours a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR. This Blog returns in
January, 2018 with the first of a
New Year chock full of fascinating central Florida history & mystery. January’s
Series: WEKIVA MISFITS.
CENTRAL
FLORIDA HISTORY STORE
Author
Richard Lee Cronin
Proud recipient
of the 2017 Pine Castle Historian Award
I don't think so. I think it was named after 'Underhill'.
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