GERTRUDE of SANFORD

If you believe the entire story of Henry S. SANFORD and the founding of Sanford, Florida has been told, think again! A native of Connecticut, Henry Shelton Sanford purchased the 12,000 acre Moses Levy Spanish Land Grant in May of 1870. A year prior to his Florida land deal, Sanford was wrapping up a 22 year career as an American diplomatic.

Henry acquired the Levy Grant with an $8,200 down payment and a $10,000 note due in 12 months. A public servant for much of his life, an obvious question seems to be, where did Sanford get the $18,200 to buy his land? One likely answer points to a Philadelphian and one-time owner of the once-upon-a-time 19^th Century orange grove Belair.

Born at Philadelphia in 1841, Gertrude Ellen Du Puy was living in Paris with her widowed aunt when she met and married Henry S. Sanford. Gertrude married Henry in 1864. Sanford retired from diplomatic service five years later, in 1869, and a year later, found his way back to the USA and to central Florida. Henry S. Sanford then invested a sizeable sum of money in undeveloped Florida wilderness land.

Gertrude E. DuPuy (left) with her mother

Three miles inland from a planned town of Sanford, Henry Sanford reportedly developed an estate known as Belair. “I sometimes feel the 18^th day of December at Belair was a delicious dream” wrote a journalist visiting General Sanford’s estate in 1882. Continuing the write-up the reporter wrote: “Having dismounted at the rustic Belair Station, on the South Florida Railroad line, carriages then transported our party through a broad gateway into a shady avenue. The pure fresh air is ambrosial.”

Ten railway minutes south of Sanford, Belair was the first stop on South Florida Railroad’s 1880 first train to Orlando. “The grove and residence of H. S. Sanford,” wrote a reporter in 1889, viewing the estate from onboard his train, “had Crystal Lake on one side and Belair Station the other.” Upon 145 acres, said that reporter, were “all the principal varieties of oranges grown in Florida.”

Early write-ups reference Belair as dating to 1870, yet during 1875 and 1876, Henry S. Sanford and wife Gertrude signed deeds as: “residents of Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida”. Belair occupied acreage included in Sanford’s 1870 Land Grant purchase, so an 1878 deed raises a rather interesting question.

Among Orange County’s early deeds is a transaction regarding Belair estate: “Reverend Charles Du Puy, of the City of Philadelphia, PA, did give and bequeath to Gertrude E. Sanford, his niece, certain property, real and personal.” The parcel transferred in 1878, to Gertrude in exchange for the receipt of $18,000, was 400 acres described as “property known as Belair, bounded on the south by Crystal Lake.”

As Belair was part of the 12,000 acres purchased in 1870 for $18,200, why had Reverend DuPuy bequeathed the 400 acres in 1878 to Gertrude E. Sanford for $18,000?

Reverend Charles Meredith Du Puy, brother of Gertrude (DuPuy) Sanford’s father, died November 26, 1875 at Philadelphia. At the time of the Reverend’s death, Belair, the citrus grove near Sanford, Florida, belonged to a member of the DuPuy family.

Likely the source of funds for Henry S. Sanford to acquire the Levy Land Grant, the 1878 deed may well have settled that loan. Gertrude’s family may have given Henry the idea of not only developing the town of Sanford, but the naming of Belair itself.

Gertrude’s brother, also a Charles Meredith Du Puy, was serving in 1870 as President of a railroad venture at that time constructing a line between New York and Philadelphia. Gertrude’s brother, named for her uncle, had also been instrumental in this nation’s westward movement into Illinois prior to his Philadelphia venture.

The DuPuy family of Philadelphia predates William Penn by five years, says a detailed history of the DuPuy family. DuPuy’s Rock is noted on early Philadelphia maps, while nearby, Bellaire Manor, “a building known by all variations of Bell Air,” according to the building’s historic preservation records, dates to the very early 1700s.

Henry S. Sanford is remembered as founder and developer of Sanford, Florida, but as is often the case with early Florida history, an amazing frontierswomen was clearly involved as well. Presently the County Seat of Seminole County, Sanford, it appears, truly owes its very existence not only to Henry Shelton Sanford, but to his lovely wife, Gertrude Ellen (Du Puy) Sanford (1841-1902) as well.

The next and final installment of my fall 2016 series will be posted December 30, 2016.

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 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 and brief biography of an exceptional central Florida Frontierswoman. Telling the story of Florida through its people, each CitrusLAND book is described in more detail at my website: www.croninbooks.com

CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida's Paradise

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Ricks FALL Blog finale: December 30, 2016

Part 9 of 9: Florida’s Indian River Princess