Thursday, January 18, 2018

Della (WOLF), wife of Dr. PHILLIPS

Della (Wolf) Phillips
Frontierswoman, Mother, & Wife of Dr. Philip Phillips

“Little was known!”

Leo Wolf conveyed a tiny downtown Orlando parcel to P. Phillips, a transaction that at first glance appears to have little intrinsic value. A closer look however finds a window to a treasure trove of central Florida history. The reason for taking a closer look at an old 1916 deed was Leo’s surname, as the party of the first part happened to have the same last name as that of the maiden name of the wife of the party of the second part.


Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Orlando, Florida

Learning that “little was known” about Della Wolf, wife of Florida’s 20th century citrus grower, Dr. Philip Phillips, were words that served as a call to action for me. All of the mystery that is central Florida history is what had enticed me to begin researching the past in the first place. Most every local researcher knows the tantalizing little is known phrase is very often found while digging into central Florida’s past.

The one truth I’ve learned after a decade of researching central Florida is that to fully understand and appreciate this region's real history, one must include research of the spouse, as well as her family. This is the case for the story of Orlando’s Dr. P. Phillip too, a pioneer said to have first lost a grove in the Great Freeze of 1895, departed Florida, then returned in the 20th century to achieve his family’s fame and fortune.

About that Mr. Leo Wolf:

The 1916 Orange County document cited above identifies, “Leo Wolf (unmarried) of Scott, Mississippi, party of the first part, and Dr. P. Phillips of Orlando, Florida, party of the second part.” The 1910 census of Scott County, Mississippi, at the Village of Forest, lived a young man named Leo H. Wolf, age 35, living with his parents, Ben & Anna Wolf.

Was this the same Leo Wolf? The 1910 census listed as well the names and ages of three siblings, as well as a grandson. Sloppy handwriting suggests the grandson was “Nalter Philipo, Age 4, born 1906 in Florida.” Census takers had visited the Scott County family on May 7, 1910. Walter Phillips, the second son of Philip & Della Phillips of Orlando, was visiting his grandparents. One month earlier, Orange County census takers included four year old Walter, listed on April 18, 1910, as residing with his parents at Orlando, Florida.

A decade before the 1910 census, Leo was living with his parents at Scott, Mississippi, with the same three younger siblings, and two older siblings, brother Ezekiel, and a sister, Della B. Wolf. That 1900 census lists Della as 23 years old, born Mississippi, March 1877.
The Mississippi Marriage Index, 1800-1911, records a January 20, 1901 marriage, at Scott County, Mississippi, stating the bride was Della Wolf, and the groom was P. Phillips.

Della was believed to have been a native of Alabama, in large part because of information given by Della herself. The reason was likely due to Della’s family history. The parents of Della (Wolf) Phillips, Benjamin & Anne (Kosminsky) Wolf, were married May 17, 1876 at Mobile, Alabama. Anne’s father, Abraham (at times spelled Kozminski), had been a Polish immigrant. Arriving in the United States in 1849, settling at Mobile, and establishing a clothing business that was still going strong at the time of his daughter’s wedding in 1901.


Leo Wolf’s Occupation:

The 1916 party of the first part, “Leo Wolf of Scott, Mississippi” not only leads us to learning the true identity of the wife of Dr. Phillips, Lou Wolf’s occupation of 1900 and 1910 reveals too a lot about the Wolf family, and even more about Dr. Philip Phillips.


Dr. P. Phillips, Forest, Mississippi 
Ocala Banner Newspaper, November 1, 1901

Ten (10) months after marrying, “Dr. P. Phillips, of Forest, Mississippi”, ran an ad saying he had 200 head of Hereford Bulls and Heifers “acclimated for Florida. Now is the time,” said the ad, “to do away with the scrub cattle of Florida by crossing on the best beef cattle in the world.

The extent of influence Della Wolf’s family played in a choice of careers of the then 27 year old Dr. Phillips is uncertain, but it’s important to note that Della’s father, at the time of the 1901 Phillips marriage, had been in the meat business for more than three (3) decades. All three of Benjamin’s sons, by 1901, had followed in their father’s footsteps.

Dr. Phillips comes to Florida (again?):

During the fifteen (15) months between the Forest, Mississippi advertisement, and a January, 1903 notice published in the Ocala Banner, telling of the delayed arrival of Dr. Phillips’ Herefords to Florida, the first of two boys was born to Philip & Della. Named Howard, the family’s new addition was born March 27, 1902 at Lebanon, Tennessee.

Married 1901 at Forest, Scott County, Mississippi, a son Howard Phillips was born 1902 at Lebanon, Tennessee. Dr. Phillips’ Herefords arrived at Ocala, Florida, direct from Texas, according to the Ocala Banner, in February, 1903. The Hereford herd was then taken, that very same month, to Arcadia.


Telegram from Dr. P. Phillips 
Ocala Banner Newspaper, January 9, 1903 (not 1093!)

Was the 1903 arrival in Florida the first for Dr. Philip Phillips? According to the pioneer’s time-honored history, this was in fact his second time in Florida. Dr. Philip Phillips, says local legend, had a grove at Satsuma, and lost that grove during Florida’s Great Freeze of 1895.

Phillips of Satsuma:

US Highway 17 passes through Satsuma today, a roadside village fifteen miles south of Palatka. First established in 1882, on land originally known as the Hernandez Spanish Land Grant, New Englanders Whitney & Hodges began offering grove sites to anxious settlers desiring to cash in on the 1880s Citrus boom. 

Putnam County became a sprawling citrus farming region, but two back-to-back freezes, the first occurring December 29, 1894, followed 40 days later by an even worse cold snap on February 7, 1895, wiped out nearly all of Florida’s citrus crop.

Dr. Philip Phillips was 20 years old at the time of Florida’s Great Freeze, born, said his 1921 passport application, January 27, 1874. While it is certainly possible a 20 year old Tennessee lad ventured south and established a grove prior to December, 1894, the challenge for historians is to ascertain the accuracy of such a statement.

Satsuma, Florida had its very own Post Office, a mail station established when Philip Phillips was a mere ten (10) years old. Henry B. Phillips was appointed Postmaster of Satsuma Post Office on March 4, 1884. So, was this Putnam County Postmaster related to Orlando’s Dr. Philip Phillips?

Little is known,” as that popular central Florida history saying goes, about the 19th century chapter of the life of Dr. Philip Phillips. But that’s the chapter I find most interesting in the true history of CitrusLAND

Part TWO of this story, to be posted February 2, 2018, will continue the Phillips story in a Blog that I have dubbed: “Louise & the Other Doctor Phillips!” You will not want to miss it!

Della (Wolf) Phillips was among the earliest of 20th century frontierswomen to arrive in an undeveloped yet ever-expanding central Florida. Remarkable women however had already contributed immensely to settling this remote land. CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, (2013 and in Second Edition 2016) is not only a true history of 19th century central Florida, but each of 12 chapters begins with a dedication and brief biography of one very special frontierswoman. Chapter 1, for example, is dedicated to the remarkable Jane Murray - one of the first-ever women to settle in central Florida. And by first I mean 1835! Each of the 12 frontierswoman deserve a special place in local history.

Visit www.CroninBooks.com for details of this book and others by this author.  
And stay tuned, Rick’s Blog will return February 2, 2018 with Part 2: Louise & the other Doctor Phillips!

Bibliography is available upon request by emailing Rick@CroninBooks.com



 Copyright by Richard Lee Cronin 2013 & 2016

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Righting Florida History: Mr. Isaac N. RUTLAND

Righting Florida History: Mr. Isaac N. RUTLAND:
He (Rutland) never served as a state senator.”



Florida’s Clerk of the House of Representatives, the person responsible for Florida’s biennial publication; People of Lawmaking in Florida, answered my January 6, 2016 inquiry as to why Isaac N. Rutland of Orange County was missing from the state’s official roster of lawmakers by stating Rutland never served as a state senator. “Isaac was elected,” the clerk reported, “as a delegate from the 19th Senatorial District for the Florida Convention of the People, Ordinance of Secession.”

I appreciated the reply, but could not accept the reasoning as to why twenty-eight (28) of sixty-nine (69) Secession Convention delegates had been excluded from Florida’s historic roster of lawmakers. Rutland was one of the 28! In a second letter, I pointed out that while Dr. James D. Starke was indeed Florida’s Senator from the 19th District in 1860-61, he was among those Senators who also abdicated their duty as Senators by assigning to the Delegates; “the interest of the State without a suggestion as to the course proper to be pursued.”

In other words, Florida’s State Senate in 1861 passed the buck! Rather than determining their State’s future, the duly elected officials instead handed that authority to the delegates, who in turn repealed existing Florida law that established the role of the State Senators. The delegates then wrote a new Constitution. The Secession Delegates, I argued, became Florida lawmakers according to the very definition of a State ‘Constitution’.

Florida’s Clerk of the House wrote again February 23, 2016, stating: “Upon receipt of your second letter and an additional review, we have decided to include all persons who served on any constitutional convention.” Isaac N. Rutland was then included in the next People of Lawmaking in Florida, from 1822 thru 2017.



The State however had not been alone in leaving Rutland out of Florida history. Early Orange County histories said little to nothing of their early county resident. Isaac came to Orange County during the 1850s. He replaced Aaron Jernigan as the Captain of Orange County’s 1856 Militia. Rutland was not only a merchant, he also operated Rutland’s Ferry on the Wekiva River. In January of 1861, Isaac was one of two delegates to the Secession Convention from Orange County. Both delegates voted NO!

A father of four children in 1860, Isaac N. Rutland vanished in 1864. Isaac’s wife Margaret was listed as a widow in 1867. The four Rutland children were orphans in 1870, living with their grandmother in Georgia. Two of the four children returned to Orange County in 1880. Son Othman Rutland settled along the west shore of Lake Apopka. Across Lake Apopka lived his sister, Sarah Katherine (Rutland) Vick.

Righting Orange County history required finding Isaac N. Rutland, even though his trail, dating back to 1864, had long gone cold. All there was to go on was one true-life clue, a few hand-scribble notes found in an 1865 government file folder titled, The Rutland Mule Matter. One note, written in late 1864 from Mellonville, Florida, by a man named Lincoln, requested that a mule be returned to Mrs. Isaac N. Rutland

Not much to go on, but enough to unravel the mystery of a vanishing, Isaac N. Rutland.

Just finished the Rutland Mule Matter book last night. OMG! Your research is so meticulous and your storytelling so captivating; I felt that I’d gone back to another time, because I knew many of the characters and settings of which you wrote.” Apopka 2015.

Two of Isaac’s children go in search of their father in a Novel based upon true-life facts. Othman finally learns the truth of The Rutland Mule Matter, and you will too!

THE RUTLAND MULE MATTER, by Richard Lee Cronin



The Novel that assisted in RIGHTING FLORIDA HISTORY

Copyright April 20, 2015: TX8-104-400

Buy it at AMAZON