Tuesday, December 6, 2016

NAMING LAKE EOLA


A Special Holiday Edition BLOG
NAMING LAKE EOLA
An Orlando, Florida Icon

By Richard Lee Cronin, Author - First Road to Orlando

Folklore, handed down from one generation to the next, often takes on a life of its own. Central Florida history is chock full of such folklore, so the challenge for researchers becomes separating fact from fiction. Such is the case in seeking the truth as to how Orlando’s iconic Lake Eola got its name.


Follow our holiday countdown at www.Facebook.com/citruslandfl
Twitter, GOOGLE+, LinkedIn or www.CroninBooks.com

This Holiday Blog is also Day 6 of our 12 Days of Christmas celebration

Long-time Orlando resident Kena Fries wrote, in 1938: “Sandy Beach was changed to Eola in the early 1870s by Bob Summerlin, in memory of the beautiful young girl, his bride to be, who died from typhoid fever two weeks before the appointed wedding day.” This legend has entertainment value, but an obvious question comes to mind, is there any truth to this legend?

Kena Fries wrote of this legend 63 years after the first known use of the name Lake Eola. So, to solve the riddle of this legend we must begin at the beginning - the 1870s!

Florida cattleman Jacob Summerlin relocated his family to Orlando in 1873. He bought 200 acres adjacent to, and east of, the original four (4) acre village. Jacob, as well his then teenage son, Robert L. Summerlin, both attended an organization meeting at Orlando’s log-cabin Courthouse in June, 1875. The meeting had been called for the purpose of incorporating the town of Orlando.

Robert ‘Bob’ Summerlin graduated from the University of Georgia in 1875, and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1876. There was indeed a ‘Bob Summerlin’ in the vicinity of Lake Eola during the “early 1870s!” His father Jacob platted all 200 acres of his land, signing the first land deed May 8, 1875.

The name ‘Lake Eola’ appears on the 1875 Plat filed by Jacob Summerlin, suggesting Kena’s legend might indeed have some bases of truth. Bob Summerlin’s beautiful young bride however did not “die of typhoid fever.”

Robert L. Summerlin and Texas B. Parker married May 30, 1876. The newlyweds settled down in Orlando, in a lakefront home on, you guessed it, Lake Eola. Their first child, daughter Ruby, was born 1877, and another daughter, Maude, was born in 1878.


1875 Jacob Summerlin Plat of Lake Eola
Robert L. Summerlin lakefront home was on Lot 2

Attorney Robert L. Summerlin served as Mayor of Orlando in 1880, but then, Robert & Texas divorced in the mid-1880s, and his ex-wife then returned to her family home in Polk County. She remarried in 1888! Robert L. Summerlin departed Orlando too. As years passed, the legend of a mysterious girl, the young bride who died of typhoid fever weeks before marrying Bob Summerlin, a girl named Eola, eventually surfaced.

Local historians never wrote of the whereabouts of Robert L. Summerlin after he departed Orlando in the 1880s.


A New York newspaper however reprinted an 1890 San Francisco story telling of a doctor who had been treating Mexicans for yellow fever. That doctor, the article reported, “effected cures in 85 per cent” of patients treated. The story also reported Dr. Angel Bellinzaghi traveled to New York in preparation of a Brazil trip, and that the doctor was accompanied by, “R. L. Summerlin of San Antonio, Texas.” Was this Orlando’s R. L. Summerlin?

Orange County, Florida records include a February 24, 1900 deed signing by Robert L. Summerlin, a document conveying land to his sister. Robert signed as a single man, residing at the time in San Antonio, Texas. Archives also reflect Robert L. Summerlin as being a land agent in 1900, and assisting Dr. Bellinzaghi in locating land to establish a vaccine laboratory. In addition, University of Georgia Alumni records place their 1875 graduate, one Robert L. Summerlin, “a lawyer and one-time Orlando Mayor” as residing in San Antonio, Texas as of 1890.

Born March 7, 1858 outside of Tampa, Robert L. Summerlin died at Los Angeles, CA, November 7, 1926. At the time of his death, Robert L. Summerlin appears to have remarried only once, that in 1901.

Connecting dots in Lake Eola’s naming certainly includes a dot for Robert L. ‘Bob’ Summerlin, but we’ve yet to mention the name EOLA, or the alleged bride-to-be. To resolve that mystery we must return to other early records of Orlando, and specifically to an organization meeting of Orlando’s Presbyterian Church. Held on the 18th of March, 1876, the congregation of this new church consisted of 11 members, including; “Mrs. Jacob Summerlin, “formerly of Flemington, Georgia.”

Flemington was a small town southwest of Savannah, located in Liberty County. The Summerlin’s were all native Floridians, but Jacob relocated his family following the Civil War. The reason for moving to Georgia was said to be to allow the children to get a better education. After returning to Florida, and while designing his Addition to Orlando in 1875, Jacob even named one street in his new plat Liberty Street. (See bottom of plat above).

In the 1870 Liberty County, GA census, family #13 was the ‘Summerlin’ clan. Children included: George, Robert, Samuel and Alice, and each noted as “attending school.” Nearby, family #6 was a Widow, Sarah A. Way, along with her eldest daughter, Florence, age 23, a School Teacher. Sarah’s other children, each listed as attending school as well, were; EULA, Ellen and Joseph Way.

Born July 22, 1854 at Liberty County, Georgia, Eulalie Way never married. She died at age 42, October 13, 1896, and was buried in the State and County of her birth. At age 6, her parents gave her name as Eulalie, but in subsequent years, the young girl went by her nickname, EULA.

In 1870, then 16 year old Eula Way was attending school at Liberty, taught by her sister. Classmates included Robert ‘Bob’ Summerlin, then only 12 years old. Bob Summerlin graduated from law school in 1875, and he followed his family south to Orlando that same year. Did young Bob leave behind his childhood sweetheart?

After the Summerlin family departed Orlando in the 1880s, Samuel Y. Way arrived in Orlando. A bachelor, he married the daughter of another celebrated Orlando pioneer, James DeLaney. Samuel became active in land development, platting in 1902, an extension of Ivanhoe and Highland Avenues, north of Colonial Drive.

Samuel Y. Way also served as Mayor of Orlando in 1940, two years after author Kena Fries published her book, a book that included telling how Lake Eola was named. One year old in 1870, Samuel’s older brother, Richard Way, was attending school at Liberty County, along with his cousin, Eulalie Way.

Eulalie was a popular name at the time of Eula’s birth in 1854, and the reason for its popularity was an Edgar Allan Poe poem, released 9 years earlier in 1845. The poem was “Eulalie”, and it has been said the poem was written about Poe’s wife. Married in 1836, one line of Poe’s poem: “I dwelt alone, in a world of moan, till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride”.

Fragments of historical facts often assimilate into mysterious legends. In the case of Robert L. Summerlin, and the naming of Lake Eola, pieces of the legend appear to be true, although facts became muddled. Eulalie, the beautiful young girl who first captured a young boy’s heart, became forever memorialized as Bob’s father laid out home sites far away in Orlando. “Dad,” one can almost hear Bob saying, “Could we name the lake EULA?” One must also wonder though, if Robert ever revealed to his wife Texas as to the source of that name?

Central Florida maps of yesteryear verify that early surveyors were detailed mappers, but terrible spellers. Fort REID versus Fort REED, Robert R. Reed vs Robert R. REID, & Lake Jesup vs Lake Jessup, are but a few examples of early place names misspelled on plats and maps. Still, I’ll let you decide, was Orlando’s Lake Eola meant to be Lake Eula?

This Special Christmas Blog is brought to you by:

FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO
CroninBooks.com

Available at Bookmark it Orlando and Winter Garden Heritage Foundation

Amazon.Com or read each book FREE at the KINDLE Store!

No comments:

Post a Comment