Frontierswomen
of Central Florida
Heritage Square, 1857 Village of Orlando, Florida
A
Women’s History Month Tribute
By
Richard Lee Cronin, CroninBooks.com
20
March 2022
Day 20
CitrusLAND is observing Women’s History Month by
honoring extraordinary Central Florida frontierswomen. And as we celebrate
Women’s History Month throughout March, we are also featuring each day a
History Museum, listing their days and hours of operation.
See
also our featured History Museum in this Post
Nancy #Mizell Holden of Lake Holden
Nancy Amanda #Mizell, daughter of David Mizell, Sr.,
married William Harrison Holden. The Holden’s, according to Find-A-Grave
memorial 21440155, “had a large home on Lake Holden which became a mecca for
travelers passing through the area. The Holden residence was likely one of the
earliest residences in all central Florida besides being one of the largest,
for at 600 acres, the Holden complex encompassed the original 160 acres homestead
of Isaac Jernigan.
1890 Holden Residence (circled in
red)
South of I-4, East of Orange
Blossom Trail
William and Nancy Holden’s property, described in
1882, “had a beautiful and healthy grove of three-thousand trees, many in
bearing, valued at not less than $100,000. Trees include orange, lemons,
shaddocks, and other fruits, but he also raised crops of tea, coffee, camphor
and sugar cane.”
William, a Virginia native, and Nancy Amanda Mizell, a
native Floridian, were both among the earliest Orlando families. Nancy’s
parents and siblings arrived at Orlando in 1859, three years after the founding
of the town of Orlando (Nancy has been wrongly identified at times as a child
of Sheriff David Mizell but was in fact the Sheriff’s sister). Married in 1860,
the first of six Holden children was born in 1861. William and Nancy came from
Volusia County to Orlando around the end of the Civil War, and William entered
the cattle business with the Mizell family around the start of the infamous
Barber-Mizell feud.
Nancy Amanda (Mizell) Holden died in 1902.
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Lida Amanda #Morehouse Wilson of Clermont
Lida Amanda #Morehouse Wilson, a native of New
Milford, Connecticut, was for 60 plus years a resident of Clermont, Florida. A
true frontierswoman, she relocated to Clermont while the area was still part of
Sumter County, settling at Lake Minneola with her husband, Cyrus H. Wilson, when
the lake was still referred to by some as Cowhouse Lake. There was no railroad,
nor a town called Clermont, and there was no easy means of traveling to and
from the Wilson homestead.
While living at Clermont, Lida buried her father in
1904, husband Cyrus in 1922, and then her mother, Bessie Ann (Sherwood)
Morehouse. Bessie died in 1932, six-months shy of her 100th birthday.
In 1940, Lida Amanda (Morehouse) Wilson was laid to rest at the age of 83.
Louisa B. #Morris Caldwell of Orlando
Louisa B. #Morris (aka Morriss), born in Georgia November
16, 1831, married Benjamin F. Caldwell on 8 March 1855 at Talladega, Alabama. Although
most fans of Orlando history know the name Benjamin F. Caldwell, few likely ever
heard of his wife, Louisa Morris, despite her being a Central Florida
frontierswoman, even if only for one year.
Original 1857 Village of Orlando, 417' x 417'
Orlando, officially established in 1857, came to be
because of four acres gifted by “Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, Alabama”.
The land Caldwell deeded to the county was given on the stipulation that it be
used for a courthouse. Little else had ever been published by historians about
Benjamin F. Caldwell other than he was from Talladega, Alabama.
Benjamin F. Caldwell, born 1834 in South Carolina, was
23 years old when he gifted the land in 1857 for the Orange County Courthouse.
A deed showing Caldwell owned the property though was not issued to him until three
years later, in 1860, raising the obvious question, how did Caldwell give away
land he did not yet own?
Louisa B. Morris provides answers to all crucial
questions concerning her husband, Benjamin Franklin Caldwell, including the deceptive
land deal that is today Heritage Park in downtown Orlando.
Benjamin F. Caldwell wrote two letters to his
father-in-law, one dated January 1, 1858, the other December 25, 1858, letters were
then archived in the “Morris and Morriss family Genealogy.”
“Dear Pa, we landed on the 22nd of December,
and I am much pleased with my place, better than I had any idea I would be when
I left Talladega.” Ben’s first letter, penned at “Lake Apopka, Orange County” told
of he, Louisa, and little William’s journey to central Florida. Of particular
interest in this first letter is the date, for the Caldwell’s first arrived
after his lawyer had gifted land for the courthouse. Benjamin signed the letter,
“B. F. and Lou Caldwell”.
Benjamin wrote again to his father-in-law from the
“New Orleans Steamboat House”. Dated Christmas Day 1858, he mentioned that his
wife ‘Lou his complaining of a sore throat,” and that they would soon depart
for “Shreveport, on the Red River, which is 75 miles” from their new home in
Texas.
Louisa lived in Central Florida with her husband
Benjamin for one year, the very year typhoid fever was making its way through
land that is today Oakland and Winter Garden. In 1860, the Caldwell’s were
living at Cass County, Texas. Then, Benjamin enlisted in the Confederacy, and
in 1864 he died at camp of friendly fire.
Widow Louisa B. (Morriss) Caldwell returned to
Talladega, Alabama to live with her father.
1879 Quit Claim by Caldwell’s of
Talladega, Alabama
The story of Louisa and Orlando, Florida however is
not yet over, for on 1 April 1879, James G. Speer traveled to Talladega,
Alabama on crucial business. Entangled in an uncertain landowner mess, the town
of Orlando had been auctioned off on the steps of the courthouse in 1867. The
successful buyer at the auction, was, in 1879, ready to develop the town of
Orlando, but could only do so by clearing the title. Louisa B. (Morriss)
Caldwell, Widow of Benjamin F. Caldwell, deceased, signed a quit claim to present-day
downtown Orlando, allowing Robert R. Reid of Palatka to proceed with selling town
lots.
Lousia died at Talladega, Alabama on May 6, 1906
[Further reading: First Road to Orlando, by
Richard Lee Cronin]
History
Museum of the Day
Historic
Clermont Railroad Depot
Clermont
Historic Village Museum
Saturday
and Sunday, 1 PM to 4 PM
490
West Avenue, Clermont, FL
352-242-7734
BECOME A VOLUNTEER IN A MUSEUM OR SOCIETY
SUPPORT CENTRAL FLORIDA HISTORY
Questions or comments? Rick@CroninBooks.com
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