MARY Catherine influenced her
State’s 19th century history not only from her PALATKA home, but in
ST AUGUSTINE and ORLANDO as well. At the risk of repeating myself, I’ll say
again, excluding women from the amazing story of Florida’s founding risks
telling an incomplete history of the
27th State. Mary Catherine of PALATKA is merely one example.
 |
| Robert R. & Mary C. REID residence, Palatka, Florida |
104 distinct ORLANDO 1880s deeds, for example, were not official until after MARY C of Palatka had affixed her signature. And while history did record her husband failing in 1850 to develop PALATKA, historians neglected to mention the town venture ultimately prospered thanks to MARY Catherine’s brother-in-law, Henry R. TEASDALE. Mary C’s family clearly played an important role in the story of early Florida.
 |
| Signature of 1880 ORLANDO, Florida deed for land sale |
Born 1825, Mary C was a native of
America’s oldest city and a daughter of St. Augustine merchant Pedro J. L.
BENET. Of Spanish descent, the Benet family was mentioned in an 1895 journal as
“respected St. Augustine citizens.” Mary Catherine BENET married on the 22nd
of February, 1850, to Robert R. REID III. Born at Augusta, Georgia, Reid was
the son of Florida’s Territorial Governor, Robert R. Reid II, who had died
while in Tallahassee in 1841 of Yellow Fever.
Robert & Mary Catherine
(BENET) REID relocated the year of their marriage, settling 30 miles west of
St. Augustine at a wilderness trading post on the St. Johns River.
Said to mean “crossing over,” PALATKA
was a remote community of fewer than 500 in 1850. Despite losing $5,000 in
developing the town, the Reid’s made Palatka a permanent home. All seven of
their known children were born at Palatka.
After going bankrupt, Robert R.
Reid III started over, entering a partnership with Henry R. TEASDALE, husband
of Estanislada BENET, Mary Catherine’s younger sister. The new business, Merchants
Teasdale & Reid, flourished, and became an important player in the story 19th
century Palatka.
As Florida struggled to rebuild
during the wake of America’s Civil War, Teasdale & Reid, in 1867, acquired
120 remote acres well to the south of Palatka. The successful bid of $900 was
made to the Orange County Sheriff on the courthouse steps at Orlando. The
acreage itself surrounded the tiny log cabin courthouse.
Their investment in Village of
Orlando sat idle for the next 13 years before Robert & Mary Catherine
(Benet) Reid, “of Palatka, Putnam County, Florida,” platted 80 of the 120 acres
in 1880 as an addition to the four (4) acre village of ORLANDO.
The first train to Orlando
arrived November 11, 1880, stopping at a depot built on acreage donated by,
“Robert R. Reid, and MARY C. REID his wife.” The Reid’s sold 103 parcels, with
each and every deed being signed by both Robert and Mary C Reid.
On the 29th of
October, 1889, Mary Catherine (BENET) REID died at her Palatka home.
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, including the story
of Florida, 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, Second Edition, begins with a dedication to
and brief biography of a central Florida Frontierswoman. In addition, the Reid
family’s involvement in the development of Orlando is detailed in my First Road to Orlando.
Telling the story of Florida through its people, CitrusLAND is described in detail at my
website: www.croninbooks.com
CitrusLAND books
are available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO
bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation, and Central Florida Railroad
Museum in Winter Garden, FL.
Also available at Amazon.com
and the Kindle Store
Visit
also my Goodreads Group, “Florida History”
Ricks
Blog resumes December 14, 2016
Part
8: Gertrude of Sanford
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