IRENE of SANIBEL ISLAND

Part 4: Florida's Forgotten Frontierswomen

IRENE (Cook) Rutland - Shanahan of SANIBEL ISLAND

Three (3) days before her 83^rd birthday, Irene SHANAHAN, then a 53 year resident of Sanibel Island, passed away in Lee County. Her October 29, 1950 obituary in Fort Myers News-Press described the Shanahan family as having been “noted for the hospitality extended to visitors and excursions parties which made the trip to the island in the days before Fort Myers Beach became popular as a resort.”

A “popular” tourist spot now, Irene’s residency on Sanibel dated to a time when the remote island served as home to farmers and a historic lighthouse. At the time of Irene’s death in 1950, she had been a widow of Henry Shanahan for 37 years. Henry had served as the island’s lighthouse keeper from 1889 until the year of his death in 1913.

Married in 1904, Henry Shanahan was Irene’s second husband. But little else had ever been recorded of Irene’s early years. She first appears on the island at age 33 in the 1900 Sanibel census. At that time Irene was a widow as well. Born in Montgomery AL in 1867, Irene had been, by 1900, a twenty year central Florida resident.

Where was Irene prior to 1900? The Florida frontierswoman’s story spans two uniquely different Florida centuries. Mrs. Shanahan of the 20^th century, born Miss Irene COOK, became Mrs. Rutland during the State’s developing 19^th Century, while central Florida was commonly being referred to as an American Paradise.

The amazing Irene of Sanibel arrived on the island long before regular ferry service. As a young mother of five (5) children, all born in the 19^th century, Irene had also migrated years earlier to central Florida, prior to the first train arriving at CitrusLAND.  

Cook - Rutland of Central Florida:

At age 13 in 1880, Irene was living in remote Sumter County with her parents. Robert & Nancy COOK, all Alabama natives. Like most every resident of central Florida then, her father farmed citrus on the family’s 160 acre homestead.

Also living in Sumter County at the time, near the town of YALAHA on Lake Harris, now part of Lake County, was a 24 year old lad named Othman RUTLAND. Othman lived with and worked for a cousin, Miles STEWART, on a nearby Sumter County grove. In 1885, Miss Irene Cook married Othman Rutland.

The Rutland’s set up home and started a family along the west shore of Lake Apopka. In addition to farming, Othman and his cousin Miles were also active in founding the city of WEST Apopka, a tiny village today known as Ferndale.

On the east side of Lake Apopka is the city of Apopka, where for a time in the 1880s Othman’s only surviving sibling, Sarah Katherine (Rutland) VICK, lived with her husband, Ezekiel C. Vick, who was also a citrus farmer.

West Apopka of Sumter (now Lake) County:

Five Rutland children were born to Othman and Irene at West Apopka: Pearlie May (1886-1937); Sarah K (1888-1966); Clarence O. (1890-1982); Isaac N. (1892-1916); (Isaac Newton Rutland died at age 24, and is buried on Sanibel Island. His grave marker today is the only raised tombstone on the entire island); and Marguerite (1894-?).

Small cemetery on Sanibel Island includes tombstone of Isaac Newton Rutland

Florida’s Great Freeze during the winter of 1894-95 destroyed not only the crop, it killed most orange trees in central Florida as well, wiping out most orange farmers. Ezekiel and Othman were no exception, and so both families lost everything.

Wiped out financially, the Rutland and Vick families together departed central Florida, and relocated to Sanibel Island.

Starting anew on Sanibel Island:

At age 45 in 1900, Ezekiel C. Vick started over. He was employed as a farm laborer on Sanibel Island. Listed as family 286 in the census, the Vick family lived next door to a Widow. Family 285 was Irene Rutland and her four fatherless children.

Othman Rutland signed away his Sumter County property in 1897, and died between 1897 and 1900. His death remains a mystery of Florida history to this day.

Widow Irene remarried at Sanibel Island in 1904. Her second marriage was to Widower Henry Shanahan. At age 38, she gave birth to a son, Gunnell Shanahan, born on Sanibel Island.

The Vick family returned to central Florida, living out their lives at Oakland, in West Orange County. Irene, and children by two marriages, remained at Sanibel. The home of a son by her first marriage, Clarence Othman Rutland, is today part of Sanibel Island’s local museum complex.

The Rutland House is part of the Sanibel Island museum complex

Footnote about Othman Rutland, first husband of Irene Cook: Born 1856 on the east bank of Orange County’s Wekiva River, presently Seminole County, Othman was a son of Isaac Newton & Margaret (Staten) Rutland.

A 4 year old boy in a family of 6 in 1860, by 1870, the four Rutland children had become orphans, sent to live with their grandmother in Georgia. Two Rutland children returned to central Florida in the late 1870s, Othman and his sister, Sarah K. (Rutland) Vick. The Rutland Mule Matter, by Richard Lee Cronin, is a historical novel based on the true-life story of how the Rutland family was torn apart by the Civil War. Main characters in The Rutland Mule Matter include Othman, his wife Irene (Cook), Othman’s sister, Sarah Katherine (Rutland) Vick, and Sarah’s husband, Ezekiel C. Vick.

The role of women in history is not easily found, but it’s a challenge gladly undertaken by the author of CitrusLAND books. The true-life American story can only be told through the lineal descendants of the earliest pioneers, men and women alike. Each of twelve chapters in CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, Second Edition, starts off with a dedication and brief biography of a Florida Frontierswoman.

Telling the story of Florida through its people, CitrusLAND books are described in detail at my website: www.croninbooks.com

Available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation and the Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden, Florida, and Amazon.com.

Join my Goodreads Group FREE: “Florida History”

Ricks Blog resumes November 2, 2016

Part 5: Francie of Sarasota & Venice

Two LAURA'S & their FORT REID Secret

Special Orange County Library Edition

Local Authors Book Festival

October 16, 2016

Downtown Orlando Library, 2-4 PM 

Special Edition Blog: Florida’s Forgotten Frontierswomen

Orlando, and ghost town sister city Fort Reid of Seminole County, competed in the 1850s for the coveted title, Orange County Seat of Government. A tiny Four (4) acre village of Orlando of course was the victor, and the then much larger Fort Reid, a town planned in excess of 120 acres, lost more than merely its desire to be a 19^th century central Florida hub. Located at Mile 1.5 on an old forts trail, a/k/a First Road to Orlando, the want-to-be city of Fort Reid lost much of its rich heritage as well.

A mystery to this day, historians disagree as to the true scope of this place called Fort Reid. Originally a 1840s fortress, among its earliest settlers had been a soldier who built a residence beside the fortress. By 1851, the first traces of a settlement named Fort Reid began to appear at this site. Five years later, evidence suggests a major Florida town, an Orange County Seat of Government, was being planned for this settlement.

Florida history is often a mystery until genealogy is added to the mix. Pioneer family lines are typically easier to research for the male, but genealogy of frontierswomen quite often holds the keys to unlocking the true story of a region’s earliest days. One case in point: Two Laura’s and their Fort Reid Secret!

History blurred after county surveyors made a huge blunder in 1890. The mistake did not pertain to layout or property corners, rather a town’s spelling. Reid was printed as Reed. As a result, historians of the 20^th century often believed archives suggested there were two different places. But Fort Reid and Reed were one in the same!

On the 3^rd of December, 1874, in far off Albemarle County, VA, a husband and wife signed over rights to Orange County property. An intriguing deed, John W and Laura T Thompkins transferred 73.84 acres, described as being: “on the road to Orlando” (Blue Line at left). One-quarter of a mile of the road crossed the 73.84 acre site. The land went to family members: Speer, Brantley, & Doyle. The historical significance of this transaction has long been overlooked.

1850 Survey of Fort Reid / Mellonville Region
Blue line indicated path of FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO 

Born 1837, John W. Thompkins had been a native of Virginia. His wife, Laura T Tompkins, stated in 1880 that she was born 1846 at New Hampshire. This 1880 census also asked birth places of each parent. John’s folks were born in Virginia. Laura’s father according to the census was born in New Hampshire. Her mother however stated she had been born in “Florida.” 

William H Farrah was the father of Laura. Her mother, Laura C. Hart, was born 1823 at Jacksonville, Florida. Fort Reid’s plot begins to thicken.

Laura C. Hart was a daughter of Jacksonville, Florida founder, Isaiah D. Hart. In December, 1874, she was also Isaiah’s only surviving child. Laura C. Hart’s sister, Julia A. Hart, had died at Jacksonville, Florida in 1871. What, one might ask, does any of this family history have to do with a little 19^th century ghost town nearly 150 miles south of Jacksonville? The answer is relatively simple when genealogy is added.

For one brief moment in time, from late 1853 until her husband’s death in 1857, Julia A. Hart was the second wife of Algernon S. Speer, one of Orange County Florida’s earliest settlers. Four children by Algernon S. Speer’s first marriage: Arthur, Algernon Jr, Ella Brantley and Mary Doyle, each received clear title in 1874 on land located at old Fort Reid from Laura Tompkins, only surviving descendant by the father’s second marriage.

Jacksonville town founder, Isaiah D. Hart, became Algernon’s father-in-law in 1853. One year later, all land east of St. Johns River became part of a newly formed Volusia County. Algernon’s first father-in-law, Arthur Ginn, Orange County’s Clerk of Court then, lived on part of the 73.84 acres sold in 1855 to Isaiah D. Hart.

Clerk of Court & Fort Reid resident Arthur Ginn was, in 1855, taking care of Orange County official business.

Algernon S. Speer, joining forces with two father in laws, hatched the idea of establishing their community as a county seat. Isaiah D. Hart, an experienced town founder who had clout in Tallahassee, then purchased the 74 acres adjacent to and north of 160 acres belonging to the 1840s soldier and Fortress Reid settler, Augustus J. Vaughn. Planning their city was next.

Fort Reid planners were soon outsmarted though by a family promising 4 acres for the site of a courthouse. In 1857, the year Algernon S. Speer drowned on his way upriver to Jacksonville, Orlando became County Seat. Isaiah and his daughter, Widow Julia A. Hart, moved back to Jacksonville. Four years later, in 1861, the year the Civil War began, Isaiah D. Hart died. His daughter, Julia, died in 1871.

Hart’s land was situated on the west side of Mellonville Road, shown at right in the photo. The Tompkins 1874 deed transferred ownership to local Speer descendants.

Mellonville Road (First Road to Orlando)
In vicinity of old Fort Reid

The first-ever train departed out of Sanford, bound for Orlando, November 11, 1880, traveling on track laid a mile west of the original First Road to Orlando. Fort Reid eventually merged into Sanford, and overtime the true role the fortress area played in the developing story of central Florida became muddled.

Laura T. Tompkins, after relinquishing property rights in 1874 to a Florida landmass known as Fort Reid, died April 28, 1926 in West Virginia. Although there is no record of her ever stepping foot in Fort Reid, Laura most certainly played an important role in documenting one portion of central Florida’s fascinating history.

About my series, Florida’s Forgotten Frontierswomen:

The role of women in history is not easily learned, yet discovery is a task gladly undertaken by this CitrusLAND author. America’s true-life story can only be told through the lineal descendants of early pioneers, both men and women. Each of chapter in my CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise starts off with a dedication to one of the many Florida Frontierswomen. Additional frontierswomen are also featured twice monthly in Rick’s 2016 Fall Blog series. Telling Florida’s story through its remarkable people, each CitrusLAND book is described in detail at my website: www.croninbooks.com

First Road to Orlando is one of five books detailing the amazing founders, and their family heritage. My books are also available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation and Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden, Florida. Also available at Amazon.com

Hope to see you at the library Sunday!

Rick’s Blog Part 3: October 19, 2016, Irene of Sanibel Island

For details on how to follow Rick’s Blog Series, visit

WWW.CRONINBOOKS.COM

REBECCA of Madison County's OAKLAND

Florida's Forgotten Frontierswomen

Part 2: REBECCA of Madison County’s OAKLAND

Florida history often remains a mystery because notable frontierswomen have been left out of the State’s true-life story. Such is true throughout Florida, but especially apparent in the State’s Panhandle, home to courageous women who of course counted among the Territory’s earliest founders even before Statehood in 1845.

A family of Dozier women are prime examples. Nine miles south of the city of Madison, along Sundown Creek Road, there exists a tiny rural cemetery doubling today as a cow pasture. Of those buried at the two acre cemetery was the landowner, Honorable John C. McGehee. An Attorney, plantation owner, and Florida statesman. McGehee served as President of Florida’s 1861 Secession Convention.

McGehee’s notoriety however obscures a noble family this man married into. In fact, he might not have moved to Florida had it not been for his in-laws. Mrs. McGehee, also buried at Old Oakland Cemetery, was Charlotte (Dozier) McGehee, born at Abbeville, SC. Charlotte died in 1858 at Madison County.

Old Oakland Cemetery, Madison, Madison county, Florida

Prior to Statehood, Florida’s Panhandle had become home to kinfolk relocating from a present day Ghost Town of Hamburg, SC. Located across the Savannah River from Augusta, Benjamin F. Whitner I, a prominent Hamburg, SC businessman, relocated to Madison County in the 1830s. Today, a Madison County Ghost Town of Hamburg is testament to a South Carolina clan who had attempted to tame this wilderness.

Whitner’s wife was a sister of Rebecca (Spann) Dozier, the mother of four children, one son and three daughters, all of whom settled as adults at Madison County, Florida.

In a demanding wilderness of Florida’s Panhandle, the youngest Dozier, Rebecca, had owned in excess of 500 acres southwest of the town Madison. Her sister, Amelia Ann Dozier, died soon after arriving in Florida. Amelia was the first wife of James E. Broome, Florida’s 3^rd Governor. A third Dozier daughter, Charlotte, married Florida Secessionist, John C. McGehee.

Florida’s forgotten frontierswomen were as important players in this developing State as their male counterparts. While most gals married and took on a new surname, pioneers such as Rebecca Dozier, a single women and owner of a 500 acre homestead, provide a surname and pathway to uncovering the rest of Florida’s story.

Spreading out from Florida’s Panhandle, lineal descendants of Dozier and Spann moved to many other parts of the developing State. Traces of this family, for example, are found in post-Civil War Central Florida. Attorney John Dozier Broome, son of Governor James & Amelia (Dozier) Broome, had settled at Volusia County, in De Land, by the 1880s.

Oakland Cemetery is surrounded by rural land once farmed by Rebecca Dozier and her sister Amelia’s father-in-law, Rev. John S. Broome, the father of Florida’s 3rd Governor, James E. Broome. At this exact remote country location, during the year 1840, a son was born to the brother of Governor James E. Broome.

That boy, Robert W. Broome, became a Lake City, Florida Attorney after the Civil War. In 1875, this Broome travelled deep into the heart of yet another Florida wilderness. At age 35, he followed a dirt trail 22 miles south of Lake Monroe, called together the local landowners, and incorporated the 18 year old village of Orlando. After incorporating the town, Broome vanished from central Florida.

The village of Orlando had been established October 5, 1857 – the final day in office of Florida’s 3^rd Governor, James E. Broome.  

The history of Florida is far more than merely a series of dated events. Amazing people, courageous men and women alike, took on a challenge of their life - to build a home in a difficult land. Very often, the challenge cost them their life. Amelia Ann Dozier died at age 25, two years after arriving in the Florida Territory. Despite Yellow Fever and the harsh surroundings, younger sister Rebecca Dozier refused to give up on her dream. She and many others like her forged a new land in Florida’s Panhandle.

Their proud descendants then continued the story all throughout the 27^th State in our Union of States.

Watch for the story of HAMBURG, FLORIDA, coming soon to my Ghost Towns Blog.

The role of women in history is not easily found, but it’s a challenge gladly undertaken by this author of CitrusLAND books. The true-life American story can only be told through the lineal descendants of the earliest pioneers, men and women alike. Each of twelve chapters in my CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise begins with a dedication and brief biography of a Florida Frontierswoman. Telling the story of Florida through its people, CitrusLAND books are described in detail at my website: www.croninbooks.com

Available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation and Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden, Florida, and Amazon.com    

#RicksFFFBlog resumes October 19, 2016

Part 3: Irene of Sanibel Island