In Search of the Phillips Satsuma Grove

Part Four: Philip, Philips & Phillips of Florida

In Search of Dr. Philip Phillips Satsuma Grove

A central Florida citrus mogul and philanthropist, Dr. Philip Phillips of Orlando, it is reported, came to Florida twice, arriving the first time in 1894. This man’s bio also tells us: “Philip Phillips was born January 27, 1874, in Memphis, Tennessee. Little is known about his early years other than he attended Columbia University where he was awarded a medical degree.”

Little is known is an understatement, for much of what is thought to be known about Orlando’s mysterious Dr. Phillips is unverifiable.  He was 63 at the time of the 1940 Orlando census, for example, in which Philip Phillips states he completed only the first year of high school. His wife Della said she had completed two years. Their son Howard said he had completed four years of college. So, did Dr. Philip Phillips of Orlando really graduate from Columbia University?

Much of the mystery surrounding young Dr. Philip Phillips can be attributed to the man himself. His 1921 passport application included a statement from Dr. Phillips himself, stating he had been a citizen of Florida since before 1906. He could not however locate records prior to that date. The passport office then had requested that Phillips give the “name of persons in Baltimore who knew the place and date of his birth.” No response to that request has been located.

Dr. Phillips also stated in his passport application that his father, Herman Phillips, was deceased (in 1921), and that his father had been born in France.

Dr. Philip Phillips consistently gave his birthplace as Memphis, Tennessee, and was also consistent in stating his birth date as January 27, 1874. Of 26 Phillips families listed in the 1874 Memphis Directory, only one, a dry goods merchant, was Herman Phillips. Could this be the Herman Phillips? I have serious doubts!

Living heirs of Herman Phillips of 1897 Memphis, Tennessee were his four daughters, each listed as also residing with their father in 1880. Dr. Philip Phillips was, according to the birthdate he consistently gave, would have been six in that 1880 census. No such 6 year old Philip Phillips can be found with Herman, or anywhere in Memphis for that matter! No 26 year old Tennessee native named Philip Philips has not been located in any 1900 census as yet either. So where was Philip Phillips in 1880 and 1900?

Over the summer of 1910, Walter, youngest son of Dr. Philip and Della Phillips, was visiting his grandparents at Forest, Mississippi the day census takers arrived at their home. Walter Phillips was listed as the Florida born “grandson” of Benjamin & Anne Wolf. Of particular interest however is the birthplace given for Walter’s father. The in-laws stated that Walter’s father had been born in France. Were the in-laws of Dr. Philip Phillips mistaken?

The phrase “little is known” caught my eye. How could such a prominent Floridian have such a mysterious background? That was why I went in search of answers, challenging myself to fill in the missing 19^th century history of central Florida’s Dr. Phillips, a man who by the age of 27, was referring to himself as Dr. Phillips.

As mentioned in Part 1 of this 4 Part Blog series, I discovered he had married January 20, 1901 at Forest, Mississippi. The wedding, so it seems, was a coming out party, for that very same year, Dr. P. Phillips ran a newspaper ad giving his Forest, Mississippi address. The Ocala Banner also told of Dr. Phillips, of Forest, Mississippi, in 1901, selling Hereford cattle at Valdosta, Georgia. Yet another 1903 Ocala article reported that Dr. Phillips would soon be arriving there, for he was driving his herd of Herefords to Florida from northwestern Texas.

The whereabouts of Dr. Philip Phillips prior to 1901 remains uncertain.

The Satsuma Grove, or A Satsuma Grove:

It has been said that Dr. Phillips first came to Florida in 1894, but departed the State after losing his Satsuma Grove in the freeze of 1895.

Florida’s Great Freeze of 1895 killed much of the citrus crop. Two back to back freezes, the first in late December 1894, followed in early February 1895 with a second, killed many of the trees as well as that season’s crop. Growers throughout central Florida lost nearly everything they owned. Many fled the State, leaving unpaid property taxes. The dreadful tragedy also led to the loss of much of the region’s 19^th century history.

Satsuma, Florida on St. Johns River. Florida Memory Project

Palatka and its surroundings had a thriving citrus industry in the 1880s. As settlers arrived, new towns began to sprout up. Satsuma, Florida was described in 1885 as being located 15 miles from Palatka, on the bank of St. Johns River, an eight hour trip by steamboat from Jacksonville.

Satsuma was founded in 1882 by “Messrs. Whitney, Bently, & Hodges.” Judson W. Whitney was one of the towns’ residents as well, and the town’s postmaster in 1884 was H. B. Philips. (Postal Archives spell the Postmaster’s name as ‘Philips’.)

Could H. B. Philips be one and the same as the Herman Phillips of Memphis, father of Dr. Phillips of Orlando? That answer would be a resounding NO!

U. S. Postal Archives, Satsuma, Florida Post Office

Henry Bethune Philips (correctly spelled using only one L) was a Florida native. He was the son of Georgia natives Andrew J. & Penelope (Blake) Philips. This family lineage traces to Colonial Virginia and then Georgia. Dr. Philips of Sanford (Part Two of this 4 Part blog) was Henry’s brother.

Attorney Judson Whitney, one of the founders of Satsuma, had also been a neighbor of H. B. Philips of 1880 Jacksonville, the city most associated with this Philips family.

Satsuma however is not merely a place. It’s also a fruit. The Satsuma Mandarin, says the University of Florida, was named for a former province of Japan, and it is believed to have been introduced into the United States by George R. Hall around 1876. He is believed to have been first to plant the Satsuma trees in Florida.

At the time of the 1895 freeze, there were also Satsuma citrus trees in Louisiana.

By 1902, around the time Dr. Phillips of Orlando was driving his herd of Herefords from Texas, Palatka News was running ads about parcels being auctioned at Satsuma for unpaid taxes. Henry B. Philips had moved back to Jacksonville by then, while his brother, Dr. Philips of Sanford, had given up his practice of medicine so as to open a drugstore, at Sanford, Florida.

Also at that time, Dr. Philip of Orange County’s Ghost Town Philipsburg had already died, at his home in Catskill, New York, in 1887 (Part 3 of this 4 Part Blog).

The freeze of 1895 resulted in tens of thousands of acres of abandoned groves, land that could be had dirt cheap. A mysterious young man, possibly from Tennessee, discovered that fact after arriving in 1903 Florida with 200 Herefords. By 1921, Dr. P. Phillips of Orlando had amassed eight very large central Florida groves.

1921 Groves of Dr. P. Phillips of Orlando

There’s a lot of satisfaction in digging up a long-lost history of a central Florida pioneer, and I almost always find the individual I’m searching for. But the mystery of Dr. Phillips may remain a mystery unless another researcher accepts the challenge to unlock secrets of central Florida’s past, and reveal the true identity of a young 19^th century adventurer by the name of Dr. Philip Phillips of Orlando.

Upcoming FREE Speaking Engagements

BEYOND GATLIN, A History of South Orange County

Orange County Library South, 1702 Deerfield Blvd

March 18, 2018; 2 to 3 PM

ORLANDO REEVES, Fact or Fiction?

Orange County Library Downtown Orlando

March 25, 2018; 2 – 3 PM

Visit my website, www.CroninBooks.com 

Jane (BROWN), wife of Dr. PHILIP of Philipsburg

Part Three: Philip, Philips & Phillips of Florida

Jane (Brown), wife of Dr. PHILIP of Philipsburg

1884 Philipsburg, Orange County, Florida

On a rural stretch of County Road 44A in Lake County, five miles east of Eustis, is an out-of-place 4^th street, a lone numbered road that is little more than a city block long. First laid out 134 years ago as an Orange County street, 4^th is today one of only few surviving roads of a Ghost Town: PHILIPSBURG. The 19^th century city is identified as PHILLIPSBURG (two Ls) at Lake County’s Property Appraisers Office, but Lake County deeds, as well as the plat, confirm the town’s name had but one ‘L’.

But folks always misspelled Philip, Philips and Phillips in 19^th century central Florida.

Surveyed as a 640 acre, one-square mile city in 1884, the town planners were Dr. Jacob PHILIP & wife Jane Elizabeth (BROWN), both natives of and life-long residents of the State of New York. Buying this land June 26, 1883, Jacob & Jane Philip subdivided their land into a town, having seven east-west roadways: North, Orange, Washington, Iowa, Maine, Burlington (now CR 44A), and Magnolia; and seven north-south cross streets, First thru Seventh.

Sarah F. Loughridge, a Professor of Latin at University of Iowa, was first to purchase a lot at Philipsburg, closing on her parcel, at the corner of 7^th and Burlington, August 4, 1884. The professor wasn’t the only Iowan to buy a lot at Philipsburg. Jacob Alter, a farmer from Des Moines, Merchant Cicero P. Norton of Jasper, and Dr. Frederick Josiah Mansfield of Burlington, a Dentist, each purchased a town lot in August of 1884, likely explaining why the New York town planners named two of their streets Iowa and Burlington Avenue

What attracted Iowans to buy in the Sunshine State in 1884? A Burlington Hawkeye newspaper reporter had toured central Florida in late 1883, enjoying Thanksgiving in Orlando before returning home. He then wrote an extensive article about central Florida, filling one entire newspaper page under the heading: “Eureka – America’s Italy – Orange County in Southern Florida – ‘tis Summer Always; There’s Fruit, Health, Wealth and Beautiful Scenery.”

Neither the Iowans nor Dr. Philips and his wife ever relocated to America’s Italy. The Orange County planned town of Philipsburg faltered, becoming, in May 1887, a rural part of Lake County.

Philipsburg, Then and Now

Jacob S. Philip and Jane Elizabeth Brown were each a native of Columbia County, New York. After marrying in 1849, they moved a distance of 25 miles from home, to Catskill, in Greene County, New York. The couple remained Catskill residents for the remainder of their lives. Dr. Philip died at Catskill on the 25^th of April, 1887, one month after his Florida town had become part of Lake County.

Dr. Phillips of Orlando is where I began this four part blog, attempting to fill in a few gaps in that individual’s early years. Dr. Philip Phillips married in 1901, to Della Wolf of Forest, Mississippi. Their marriage is documented by a license, and then newspaper accounts tell of Dr. P. Phillips driving a herd of 200 Herefords from Texas to Florida in 1903. But this Orlando citrus grower was also said to have lost a Satsuma Grove in the freeze of 1895.

My search for Dr. Phillips in 19^th century central Florida turned up two such men but, by researching wives of each, neither doctor was Dr. Phillips of Orlando. Dr. Albert E. Philips of Sanford, a Putnam County, Florida native, married Miss Louise Tucker at Sanford in 1890, whereas Dr. J. Philip of Philipsburg had married Jane Brown in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

I established in part two that the first Postmaster for the 1884 Putnam County town of Satsuma was Henry B. Phillips, but this Henry had no Known lineal relationship to Dr. Phillips of Orlando. Henry was related though to Dr. Philips of Sanford. By 1894, Putnam County had become a major citrus producer. The Great Freeze of 1895 wiped out many a citrus farming dream, but was one such lost dream a grove belonging to Dr. Phillips of Orlando? Did Philip Phillips lose everything in 1895, only to return and start anew in 1903?

The conclusion to this series will be posted Wednesday, February 28, 2918: Dr. Philip, Philips and Phillips: The Satsuma Grove!

 Bibliography is available upon request to Rick@CroninBooks.com

VISIT CroninBooks.com Booth A-7 February 24 & 25, 2018

PINE CASTLE PIONEER DAYS

Two upcoming speaking engagements include:

BEYOND GATLIN, A History of South Orange County

Orange County Library South, 1702 Deerfield Blvd

March 18, 2018; 2 to 3 PM

ORLANDO REEVES, Fact or Fiction

Orange County Library Downtown Orlando

March 25, 2018; 2 – 3 PM

Visit my website, www.CroninBooks.com 

Louise (TUCKER), wife of Dr. PHILIPS

Philip, Philips & Phillips of Florida

Discovering central Florida families through Spouses

A CitrusLAND Four Part History Blog Series

Part Two: Philips & Phillips of Florida

Louise (Tucker), wife of Dr. PHILIPS of Sanford

Louise (Tucker) Philips

Philips or Phillips?

What’s one ‘L’ between friends? With regard to some central prominent surnames, the difference actually means setting history right.

Consider, for example, the biography of Dr. Phillips of Orlando, which states the man first came to Florida during the 1880s, but left the state after losing his SATSUMA grove during the Great Freeze of 1895. Dr. Phillips returned, we are told, to start anew in the new century.

Not much is known of the early years of Dr. Philips of Orlando, although as evidenced in Part one of this series, pieces of the man’s earlier years comes into focus by learning of his wife, Della (Wolf). They married January 20, 1901 at Scott County, Mississippi.

What about the Satsuma Grove? Did a 20 year old Dr. Phillips own a grove of Satsuma in 1894? Or was the young man’s grove located AT Sutsuma? Reference to such a grove in the biography of Dr. Phillips of Orlando becomes especially interesting considering a historical fact that the first Postmaster of the Florida town of Satsuma was Henry B. PHILLIPS. The grave of Judge Henry Bethune PHILIPS is located at Jacksonville.

In 2016, as Jacksonville was completing an expansion of Interstate 95, travelers on that new highway were teased by new exit signs for the historic road paralleling I-95. At one end of the highway signposts pointed the way to PHILIPS Highway, while signs at the opposite end directed traffic to the PHILLIPS Highway.

Jacksonville’s Philips Highway and gravesite pays tribute to the same person, Henry B. Philips, a native of Florida who began his career as the first Postmaster for the town of Satsuma, Florida. Misspelling of surnames runs rampant through Florida archives. Reed often meant Reid; Tiner varied as Tyner; and it was a decision of whoever wrote down the name at the time to write Philips or Phillips.

Tracking pioneers can at times be challenging, a lessen I learned early on while looking for the Orlando Reeves, only to discover a Reaves family and the legend of Orlando Rees. All too often, the best way to verify research is by looking into the pioneer’s “other half.”

Floridian Philips:

Dr. Phillips of Orlando consistently gave his birthplace as Tennessee. A biography of Dr. Philips of Sanford, published while he was still living at Sanford, states that: “Dr. Philips is a native Floridian and a Confederate soldier who returned to his father’s farm in Putnam County after the war.” The Sanford Chronicle published this account of the man’s life in the autumn of 1908. Sanford was then part of Orange County.

Jacksonville’s Henry B. Philips, Postmaster in 1884 of SATSUMA, Florida, was a son of Alfred G. Philips, a brother of Dr. Albert E. Philips. Dr. Albert E. Philips of Sanford therefore had lineal ties to Satsuma, in Putnam County.

The 1921 passport application filled out by Dr. Phillips of Orlando gives his birth date and place as January 27, 1874, at Memphis, Tennessee. The passport application also states that his father was Herman Phillips, and that his father was born in France.

Miss Louise Tucker:

Ten (10) years before Della Wolf married Dr. P. Phillips at Mississippi. Miss Louise Tucker, in 1890, became the second wife of Dr. Albert Edwin Philips, the man referred to in this blog as Dr. Philips of Sanford. Albert’s father was a Georgia native.

Dr. Albert Edwin Philips of Sanford

Life in Florida’s 19^th century wilderness was terribly challenging for men, but all too often life-threatening for woman. Dr. Philips of Sanford had married Eugenia Rawls first. Married in 1884, the next year they welcomed their first only child. Following the birth of their daughter Alma Eugenia, the mother died, possibly from complications of childbirth, a serious danger confronted by every pregnant frontierswoman.

Fondly remembered today as an accomplished musician and lover of the arts, Della, wife of Dr. Phillips of Orlando, had given birth in 1905 to her second child. In May of 1908, the 31 year old Della was “adjudged a lunatic,” and a guardian was appointed with full power of attorney to sign her name. Della (Wolf) Phillips obviously recovered from that which ailed her in 1908.   

The St. Louis Boat-Burner:

I came across Dr. Philips of Sanford while researching the man’s second spouse. This Dr. Philips remarried in 1890 to Sanford resident Louise Tucker. She was a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, but her father, John Wofford Tucker, relocated first to St. Louis, Missouri, where by 1860, he had become a prosperous Attorney. His daughter Louise turned 14 the year America’s War of Rebellion broke out. (A younger sibling was listed in the 1900 Sanford census as being born after War’s end in “Bermuda.”)

The father of Louise peaked my curiosity first because of his middle name. ‘Wofford’ was one and the same as that of the maiden name of Narcissus Wofford (1832-1897), spouse of the prominent central Florida pioneer, William Allen Lovell.

A post-War Sanford Attorney and later Judge, John W. Tucker departed St. Louis after the Civil War, fled first to the Islands, and then settled at Sanford, Florida. But Tucker’s tenure at St. Louis, it turns out, had earned him the infamous title as the Confederate Boat Burner, a story deserving of its very own blog at a future date.

By 1903, as the future Dr. Philips of Orlando was ushering 200 Texas Herefords in the direction of Ocala, Florida, soon thereafter settling at Kissimmee and the Orlando, Dr. Philips of Sanford was settled in at Sanford, having married at Sanford in 1890. Along with two brothers he operated a drug store at Sanford.

Satsuma: The town or the fruit?

Central Florida had at least three Dr. Philips aka Phillips aka Philip in the 19^th century and first decade of the 20^th. Dr. Phillips of Orlando is said to have lost a Satsuma grove during the freeze of 1895. Dr. Philips of Sanford had lineal ties to Putnam, location of a town established in the 1880s named Satsuma. Dr. Philip of Philipsburg, founder of yet another Orange County 1880s Ghost Town, along with his wife, Jane (Brown), are the subjects of Part 3 of this blog series, to be published February 17, 2018.

As for Satsuma, the question remains this: “the town or the fruit?” And that question I’ll be exploring in Part 4, the conclusion of this series. Stay tuned, there’s much more to come!

Bibliography is available upon request to Rick@CroninBooks.com

VISIT my CroninBooks.com Booth A-7 February 24 & 25, 2018 at

PINE CASTLE PIONEER DAYS

Two upcoming speaking engagements include:

BEYOND GATLIN, A History of South Orange County

Orange County Library South, 1702 Deerfield Blvd

March 18, 2018; 2 to 3 PM

ORLANDO REEVES, Fact or Fiction

Orange County Library Downtown Orlando

March 25, 2018; 2 – 3 PM

Visit also my website, www.CroninBooks.com